What i have been reading Wednesday
Mar. 1st, 2017 08:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scripsiThis is really three weeks of reading…
Kindred by Octavia Butler. Odd, but interesting. It was written in 1970, but I had never heard about it before. Possibly it was never translated to swedish, or possibly because i was too young for it in 1979. A black woman, Dana, suddenly gets pulled back in time to the early 19th century and to the the American south. The first time she saves the life of a white boy, Rufus, when he is drowning. The second time he is a few years older, and now she saves him from burning. Eventually she realise he is her ancestor and she gets pulled back in time every time he is in mortal danger. And she can’t get back to her own time unless she is in mortal danger, which makes her trips to the past quite long at times. Rufus is older every time she gets pulled back and gradually dana is drawn into the life of the plantation, getting to know Rufus and his parents, as well as the slaves, and Alice, a free black woman who will eventually have dana’s great, great-grandmother with Rufus.
I liked the book a lot, even if it was a hard read at times. Dana’s view that she has the same human value and right to respect as the white plantation owner, gets her into trouble more than once. It gets even more pronounced when her husband, who is white, is pulled back with her. Her relationship with rufus also grows more complicated as he grows older, while she remains 26 years old. He loves her, but it’s a love which grows progressively more possessive. Just as his love for Alice grows darker and more destructive over the years. But Dana can’t stop being pulled back in time to save his life, and she can’t stop doing it, until Rufus and Alice have had their daughter.
Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim. I hadn’t plan to read two books about slavery in the American South, but that’s what I did. In a way it has a similar plot to Kindred; a black woman raising the child of white plantation owner, but it was also very different. Mattie, a young slave woman is made the wet nurse to her owners newborn daughter, Lisbeth. She has a son of her own who she has to leave in the care of her family, only seeing him on Sunday. Her husband lives on another plantation, so she sees him even less. Initially she resists being emotionally involved with Lisbeth, but eventually grow to love her. And Lisbeth loves Mattie back, much more than her beautiful, but distant mother. This novel has two POV’s, Mattie’s and Lisbeth, and of the two I found Mattie to be more realistic and plausible. What happens to her in the book are things which actually happened to slaves. Lisbeth, who is a sympathetic character, seems more “fixed” to fit into a happy narrative. I liked the book, it was easy to read and both Mattie and Lisbeth are character it’s easy to warm too. But I think Kindred is a better book.
Heartbreak Hotel by Jonathan Kellerman. I’ve said it before that Kellerman has turned rather formulaic, but I haven’t got as far as stop reading him. Yet. I liked the premises of this one. An old (almost 100 years old) is murdered, but there seems to be no motive at all. She was rish, but all her money goes to charity. Everyone loved her. She was, for her age, healthy, so no reason to kill her out of compassion. But then more and more of her past comes to life, and a motive slowly emerges. Good beginning with interesting premises. Sadly it ended as usual with a psychopathic killer with deviant sexuality, who gets shot. And the murder mystery would have worked well, probably even better, without it.
Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand. The problem with ghost stories is that often they explain too much, and make everything flat. But sometimes they left too much hanging, and this novella is one of those. I feel it would have ´benefitted from being a novel with a few things fleshed out. 40 years ago the member of a rising folk music band retreats to an old house over the summer to write more music. And something happens, something connected with “the girl”. I liked the storytelling which is a series of interviews with the band members and a few other key personalities, and I liked the language. It was, at times, a very spooky read. But there are some glaring holes. Like the house, Wylding Hall. It’s very old, clearly has a history, but still seems oddly without history. There is never a mention of the family who owns it, and the villagers doesn’t seem to know anything about it either. It also ended very abruptly, with an odd extra scene which made no sense at all.
Things Half in Shadow by Alan Finn. I thought this was a historic detective novel, which it is, kinda, but with a strong element of the supernatural, which I didn’t expect. A 19th century news reporter investigates fraudulent physics. At a seance which seems to be the real deal, the psychic is murdered. The reporter and a fake psychic (and a very attractive young woman) joining forces to find out who the killer is. I really enjoyed this one. Likeable and interesting characters and a plot which wasn’t completely easy to guess. A sequel is in the works, and I look forward to read it!
Mira’s Last Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold. Another novella about the sorcerer Penric and his demon Desdemona. I love Bujold and her fantasy world of The Five Gods is an excellent one. Penric is a likeable character and Desdemona too. It also makes for some interesting ideas, as Penric is sharing body with his demon. Who is not only female, but also a composite of about a dozen females. At times one of these women can emerge as her own personality, which is what happens in this novella. This one is a direct sequel to Penric’s Mission, and Penric is on the run with the lovely Nykis and her brother. Their need for disguise makes it necessary for the courtesan Mira, dead a 100 years, to take over. I liked it, but this one didn’t feel so much as a novella as part of a novel. The two first Penric novellas have a clear beginning and end, but this one had neither. I suppose there will be another sequel, but it felt a bit abruptly to leave off here.
Vampire Forensics: Uncovering the Origins of an Enduring Legend by Mark Collins Jenkins. A book trying to find the origins of the vampire myth. Fairly comprehensive, with a few things I didn’t know, and I’ve read a lot about vampires.
The Carpathian Assignment by Chip Wagar. This is a mirror novel to bram Stoker’s dracula. It takes place during the same time and characters and scenes overlap, but the main characters are a Hungarian police officer who investigates a string of disappearances and the clues leads back to a certain castle. And a young Roma girl who is forced to work as Dracula's servant.
Mostly I enjoyed it. The police officer is a good character and I liked that his love interest is a woman who like him are middle aged. The author does a good job in blending his work with Dracula. The Roma girl, however, is rather implausible. She is beautiful and courageous and for no good reason Dracula doesn’t eat her. Also, she has a love story which is basically ripped from Kostova’s The Historian, so even if she is charming, she gets a bit Mary Sue-ish. Dracula himself is well executed and I liked that we got to know his “brides” a bit better.
The First Vampire by John Davies. It’s been a long time since I’ve actually given up on a novel, but I did with this one. After having read half the book we have had random castration of choir boy in the early 15th century. Then we have a choir boy who isn’t. Halfway through the book he is in his twenties, a monk and hanging out with a hot chick and drink. Oh, and there have been a random satanic ritual. There is also a modern setting where an opera singer and daughter is in a car crash, putting her in a coma. Both mother and daughter has amazing voices.
That’s it, that is what had happened halfway through. No character is compelling and there is some tedious repetition. And really, I know you can’t actually write the way people spoke when you write historical fiction, but it is possible to try not to write too glaringly modern. A 15th century monk would not call a fair-headed woman “platinum blonde” as platinum was unknown in Europe at that point, and he would not ask if she was “OK”. The foreword indicates Vlad Tepes, the “real” Dracula, will be featured, but he hadn’t even been born yet when I gave up, very, very bored.
Kindred by Octavia Butler. Odd, but interesting. It was written in 1970, but I had never heard about it before. Possibly it was never translated to swedish, or possibly because i was too young for it in 1979. A black woman, Dana, suddenly gets pulled back in time to the early 19th century and to the the American south. The first time she saves the life of a white boy, Rufus, when he is drowning. The second time he is a few years older, and now she saves him from burning. Eventually she realise he is her ancestor and she gets pulled back in time every time he is in mortal danger. And she can’t get back to her own time unless she is in mortal danger, which makes her trips to the past quite long at times. Rufus is older every time she gets pulled back and gradually dana is drawn into the life of the plantation, getting to know Rufus and his parents, as well as the slaves, and Alice, a free black woman who will eventually have dana’s great, great-grandmother with Rufus.
I liked the book a lot, even if it was a hard read at times. Dana’s view that she has the same human value and right to respect as the white plantation owner, gets her into trouble more than once. It gets even more pronounced when her husband, who is white, is pulled back with her. Her relationship with rufus also grows more complicated as he grows older, while she remains 26 years old. He loves her, but it’s a love which grows progressively more possessive. Just as his love for Alice grows darker and more destructive over the years. But Dana can’t stop being pulled back in time to save his life, and she can’t stop doing it, until Rufus and Alice have had their daughter.
Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim. I hadn’t plan to read two books about slavery in the American South, but that’s what I did. In a way it has a similar plot to Kindred; a black woman raising the child of white plantation owner, but it was also very different. Mattie, a young slave woman is made the wet nurse to her owners newborn daughter, Lisbeth. She has a son of her own who she has to leave in the care of her family, only seeing him on Sunday. Her husband lives on another plantation, so she sees him even less. Initially she resists being emotionally involved with Lisbeth, but eventually grow to love her. And Lisbeth loves Mattie back, much more than her beautiful, but distant mother. This novel has two POV’s, Mattie’s and Lisbeth, and of the two I found Mattie to be more realistic and plausible. What happens to her in the book are things which actually happened to slaves. Lisbeth, who is a sympathetic character, seems more “fixed” to fit into a happy narrative. I liked the book, it was easy to read and both Mattie and Lisbeth are character it’s easy to warm too. But I think Kindred is a better book.
Heartbreak Hotel by Jonathan Kellerman. I’ve said it before that Kellerman has turned rather formulaic, but I haven’t got as far as stop reading him. Yet. I liked the premises of this one. An old (almost 100 years old) is murdered, but there seems to be no motive at all. She was rish, but all her money goes to charity. Everyone loved her. She was, for her age, healthy, so no reason to kill her out of compassion. But then more and more of her past comes to life, and a motive slowly emerges. Good beginning with interesting premises. Sadly it ended as usual with a psychopathic killer with deviant sexuality, who gets shot. And the murder mystery would have worked well, probably even better, without it.
Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand. The problem with ghost stories is that often they explain too much, and make everything flat. But sometimes they left too much hanging, and this novella is one of those. I feel it would have ´benefitted from being a novel with a few things fleshed out. 40 years ago the member of a rising folk music band retreats to an old house over the summer to write more music. And something happens, something connected with “the girl”. I liked the storytelling which is a series of interviews with the band members and a few other key personalities, and I liked the language. It was, at times, a very spooky read. But there are some glaring holes. Like the house, Wylding Hall. It’s very old, clearly has a history, but still seems oddly without history. There is never a mention of the family who owns it, and the villagers doesn’t seem to know anything about it either. It also ended very abruptly, with an odd extra scene which made no sense at all.
Things Half in Shadow by Alan Finn. I thought this was a historic detective novel, which it is, kinda, but with a strong element of the supernatural, which I didn’t expect. A 19th century news reporter investigates fraudulent physics. At a seance which seems to be the real deal, the psychic is murdered. The reporter and a fake psychic (and a very attractive young woman) joining forces to find out who the killer is. I really enjoyed this one. Likeable and interesting characters and a plot which wasn’t completely easy to guess. A sequel is in the works, and I look forward to read it!
Mira’s Last Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold. Another novella about the sorcerer Penric and his demon Desdemona. I love Bujold and her fantasy world of The Five Gods is an excellent one. Penric is a likeable character and Desdemona too. It also makes for some interesting ideas, as Penric is sharing body with his demon. Who is not only female, but also a composite of about a dozen females. At times one of these women can emerge as her own personality, which is what happens in this novella. This one is a direct sequel to Penric’s Mission, and Penric is on the run with the lovely Nykis and her brother. Their need for disguise makes it necessary for the courtesan Mira, dead a 100 years, to take over. I liked it, but this one didn’t feel so much as a novella as part of a novel. The two first Penric novellas have a clear beginning and end, but this one had neither. I suppose there will be another sequel, but it felt a bit abruptly to leave off here.
Vampire Forensics: Uncovering the Origins of an Enduring Legend by Mark Collins Jenkins. A book trying to find the origins of the vampire myth. Fairly comprehensive, with a few things I didn’t know, and I’ve read a lot about vampires.
The Carpathian Assignment by Chip Wagar. This is a mirror novel to bram Stoker’s dracula. It takes place during the same time and characters and scenes overlap, but the main characters are a Hungarian police officer who investigates a string of disappearances and the clues leads back to a certain castle. And a young Roma girl who is forced to work as Dracula's servant.
Mostly I enjoyed it. The police officer is a good character and I liked that his love interest is a woman who like him are middle aged. The author does a good job in blending his work with Dracula. The Roma girl, however, is rather implausible. She is beautiful and courageous and for no good reason Dracula doesn’t eat her. Also, she has a love story which is basically ripped from Kostova’s The Historian, so even if she is charming, she gets a bit Mary Sue-ish. Dracula himself is well executed and I liked that we got to know his “brides” a bit better.
The First Vampire by John Davies. It’s been a long time since I’ve actually given up on a novel, but I did with this one. After having read half the book we have had random castration of choir boy in the early 15th century. Then we have a choir boy who isn’t. Halfway through the book he is in his twenties, a monk and hanging out with a hot chick and drink. Oh, and there have been a random satanic ritual. There is also a modern setting where an opera singer and daughter is in a car crash, putting her in a coma. Both mother and daughter has amazing voices.
That’s it, that is what had happened halfway through. No character is compelling and there is some tedious repetition. And really, I know you can’t actually write the way people spoke when you write historical fiction, but it is possible to try not to write too glaringly modern. A 15th century monk would not call a fair-headed woman “platinum blonde” as platinum was unknown in Europe at that point, and he would not ask if she was “OK”. The foreword indicates Vlad Tepes, the “real” Dracula, will be featured, but he hadn’t even been born yet when I gave up, very, very bored.
