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book reviews
Aug. 18th, 2024 10:32 amA recent series, where I cross-post any Goodreads reviews I've written recently that I think are worth keeping here, with a bit of context for those who haven't come across the books.
( The Water Outlaws, SL Huang )
( The Lantern and the Night Moths, Yiilin Wang )
( The Golden Girls Road Trip, Kate Galley )
( The Inhumans and Other Stories, Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay )
I've also been rereading The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (the John Le Carré classic spy novel), without feeling the need to tell Goodreads about it. I think I've only read it once and that only in the last few years, which is odd, as it was my dad's favourite book by his favourite author. (He was always vaguely disappointed that I was never tapped on the shoulder at Oxford. I did tell him, well, maybe I'm lying to you about it. I applied to MI6 in the ordinary way a little later but he said it wasn't the same.) It's very good! If... weird, now. Misogynist as hell, and sometimes just too wildly frustrating in terms of what stunted humans the main characters are. But what I have always wanted to do is a fantasy novella rewrite of the story with a woman in the lead role who's rather cleverer than Alec Leamas, in terms of what use she could make of the girl who's in love with her. (In my mental version of the story, it's this same lead who becomes Control: at least her successor, as perestroika begins.)
And, the thing is, the original is, also, a fantasy. Both because of the passage of time--the flat where Leamas ends up is grotty and cheap and miserable, in Bayswater; see also making your living as a down-and-out homosexual by translating pieces about English country life for the German press--and because the Circus, as Le Carré described it, could never have existed. Human people have human emotions. Sorry, Smiley and co. I'm pretty sure there were dour British intelligence agents throughout the twentieth century and I'm pretty sure at least some of them had feelings, kisses, favourite books, good days where they didn't worry too much, and children.
Anyway. Not sure that one will see the light of day, but I'd like it to.
I've also just read another book by Emily Tesh, The Incandescent, which comes out May of next year, and went on Bluesky to express all my thoughts and feelings about it, but the takeaway message for that was: brilliant, absurdly relevant to me in particular, but honestly just brilliant. I read it twice in three days. A gift.
( The Water Outlaws, SL Huang )
( The Lantern and the Night Moths, Yiilin Wang )
( The Golden Girls Road Trip, Kate Galley )
( The Inhumans and Other Stories, Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay )
I've also been rereading The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (the John Le Carré classic spy novel), without feeling the need to tell Goodreads about it. I think I've only read it once and that only in the last few years, which is odd, as it was my dad's favourite book by his favourite author. (He was always vaguely disappointed that I was never tapped on the shoulder at Oxford. I did tell him, well, maybe I'm lying to you about it. I applied to MI6 in the ordinary way a little later but he said it wasn't the same.) It's very good! If... weird, now. Misogynist as hell, and sometimes just too wildly frustrating in terms of what stunted humans the main characters are. But what I have always wanted to do is a fantasy novella rewrite of the story with a woman in the lead role who's rather cleverer than Alec Leamas, in terms of what use she could make of the girl who's in love with her. (In my mental version of the story, it's this same lead who becomes Control: at least her successor, as perestroika begins.)
And, the thing is, the original is, also, a fantasy. Both because of the passage of time--the flat where Leamas ends up is grotty and cheap and miserable, in Bayswater; see also making your living as a down-and-out homosexual by translating pieces about English country life for the German press--and because the Circus, as Le Carré described it, could never have existed. Human people have human emotions. Sorry, Smiley and co. I'm pretty sure there were dour British intelligence agents throughout the twentieth century and I'm pretty sure at least some of them had feelings, kisses, favourite books, good days where they didn't worry too much, and children.
Anyway. Not sure that one will see the light of day, but I'd like it to.
I've also just read another book by Emily Tesh, The Incandescent, which comes out May of next year, and went on Bluesky to express all my thoughts and feelings about it, but the takeaway message for that was: brilliant, absurdly relevant to me in particular, but honestly just brilliant. I read it twice in three days. A gift.