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labingiI don't think I ever posted this. Or if I did, it'll be here twice:
Some Books I Read in 2017
(Brain too dead to keep exhaustive list.)
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
A strange, reflective, fantasy-but-not-really look at life in Britain in the generation or so after King Arthur with an emphasis on the scars of war. The tone has stuck with me more than the plot specifics. It's atmospheric and worth a read and proves that it is still possible to do something original with Arthuriana.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
(I've reviewed it here.) This is one of the best books I've ever read, also one of the most disturbing: three friends' lives in a science fiction alternate history contemporary Britain. But as I praise it to the high heavens, let me be clear: it's excellent but not in a fannish love way.
The Persian Boy by Mary Renault
Now, this is excellent in a slashy, fannish way: basically it's a love story about Alexander the Great and his eunuch, Bagoas. For me, Renault's great weakness as a writer is a tendency toward misogyny, and this book, thankfully, doesn't have any major female characters. What's left over is very well researched and written, good characters and "world building," and her background as an army nurse comes through.
The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold
1973 sci fi novel about a time traveler who meets various iterations of himself. I did not expect to like as I did. It's psychologically perceptive and conceptually interesting, and Gerrold has described it as basically his coming out novel. The mainly—and understatedly—gay main character is a nice contrast to some typical sci fi tropes.
Hope and a Future by Betty Arrigotti
This is a self-published "Christian fiction" book by my neighbor's mother, which I would never otherwise have picked up, but it's not bad. She has an MA in counseling, and the book is basically about working through marital/romantic relationship problems. It's part novel, part self-help book, and while it comes from a traditional Christian perspective, that's surprisingly uncentral to the story, which focuses on grad students learning about marriage counseling and applying it in their own lives. It's not high literature, but it gets at a lot of common interpersonal stresses with sympathy and decent advice for navigating them and preserving relationships.
Acid Town by Kyuugo (manga volumes 1-5)
I've reviewed it here. This is hands down my favorite squeeish find of the year. It's a yakuza BL manga, which is not usually my thing, but it is truly one of the best BL works I've ever read in its excellent characterizations and gripping entanglements as people's goals and relationships butt up against each other with, I suspect, ultimately tragic consequences.
The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon
This is a near future science fiction novel about an autistic man faced with whether or not to try an experimental procedure to "cure" his autism. Moon has an autistic son, and her sensitivity to autistic experience and society's responses is very well on display. The protagonist is interesting, but the other characters were flat. In fact, I felt that the "normal" people were not very realistic, and not because the protagonist didn't perceive them they way most of us would but because their actual words and actions felt fake/forced. On the whole, though, this is well worth reading.
Mirage of Blaze by Mizuna Kuwabara, summaries up to the end!
This ended up dominating my 2017 fan year, but I'm burying it here because it's not really reading a full text, and it's hard to rec just this bit if you're not already a fan. I wish I could read it in Japanese. I wish it were all translated, but damn, Rina put a lot of work into those summaries, and the depth and power of this preeminent BL epic of 400 years of struggle and coming to terms with oneself mostly really pays off.
A Fisherman of the Inland Sea by Ursula Le Guin
It is with regret that I realize I have now read the vast majority of Le Guin's Hainish works. I want more Ekumen! That body of work is perhaps the most memorable and relevant of my whole science fiction experience, profoundly inspirational for my own science fiction and the Workable Utopias program I'm developing. This short story anthology includes a variety of stories: slight and significant, comic and serious, Hainish and not, but I love it for some of the best Hainish novellas ever. A definite rec for Le Guin fans.
City of Illusions by Ursula Le Guin (1967)
One less Hainish book for me to fall in love with for the first time. It is not a tour de force, but it showcases everything I love about Le Guin's writing in this universe in this period in her career. It's the story of a man who has lost his memory and must travel through a far future but very primitive Earth to find out what happened to him. Likeable central character, interesting plot, stellar world building as always.
The Saint Who Would Be Santa Claus by Adam C. English
This is a biography of the historical St. Nicholas of Myra. It's very interesting and well researched and reveals more about the eastern Roman Empire c. 300 AD than it does about Nicholas himself. My only complaint is that English tends to describe as fact things that are stories or conjectural. Ex. (not real quotes): "Nicholas came and performed a miracle" vs. "Michael writes that Nicholas…" or "Nicholas missed his parents" vs. "Nicholas mostly likely missed his parents." This makes the scholarship feel a bit squishy. But, in fairness, it's very hard to reconstruct the life of someone about whom there are no extant contemporary writings.
Some Books I Read in 2017
(Brain too dead to keep exhaustive list.)
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
A strange, reflective, fantasy-but-not-really look at life in Britain in the generation or so after King Arthur with an emphasis on the scars of war. The tone has stuck with me more than the plot specifics. It's atmospheric and worth a read and proves that it is still possible to do something original with Arthuriana.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
(I've reviewed it here.) This is one of the best books I've ever read, also one of the most disturbing: three friends' lives in a science fiction alternate history contemporary Britain. But as I praise it to the high heavens, let me be clear: it's excellent but not in a fannish love way.
The Persian Boy by Mary Renault
Now, this is excellent in a slashy, fannish way: basically it's a love story about Alexander the Great and his eunuch, Bagoas. For me, Renault's great weakness as a writer is a tendency toward misogyny, and this book, thankfully, doesn't have any major female characters. What's left over is very well researched and written, good characters and "world building," and her background as an army nurse comes through.
The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold
1973 sci fi novel about a time traveler who meets various iterations of himself. I did not expect to like as I did. It's psychologically perceptive and conceptually interesting, and Gerrold has described it as basically his coming out novel. The mainly—and understatedly—gay main character is a nice contrast to some typical sci fi tropes.
Hope and a Future by Betty Arrigotti
This is a self-published "Christian fiction" book by my neighbor's mother, which I would never otherwise have picked up, but it's not bad. She has an MA in counseling, and the book is basically about working through marital/romantic relationship problems. It's part novel, part self-help book, and while it comes from a traditional Christian perspective, that's surprisingly uncentral to the story, which focuses on grad students learning about marriage counseling and applying it in their own lives. It's not high literature, but it gets at a lot of common interpersonal stresses with sympathy and decent advice for navigating them and preserving relationships.
Acid Town by Kyuugo (manga volumes 1-5)
I've reviewed it here. This is hands down my favorite squeeish find of the year. It's a yakuza BL manga, which is not usually my thing, but it is truly one of the best BL works I've ever read in its excellent characterizations and gripping entanglements as people's goals and relationships butt up against each other with, I suspect, ultimately tragic consequences.
The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon
This is a near future science fiction novel about an autistic man faced with whether or not to try an experimental procedure to "cure" his autism. Moon has an autistic son, and her sensitivity to autistic experience and society's responses is very well on display. The protagonist is interesting, but the other characters were flat. In fact, I felt that the "normal" people were not very realistic, and not because the protagonist didn't perceive them they way most of us would but because their actual words and actions felt fake/forced. On the whole, though, this is well worth reading.
Mirage of Blaze by Mizuna Kuwabara, summaries up to the end!
This ended up dominating my 2017 fan year, but I'm burying it here because it's not really reading a full text, and it's hard to rec just this bit if you're not already a fan. I wish I could read it in Japanese. I wish it were all translated, but damn, Rina put a lot of work into those summaries, and the depth and power of this preeminent BL epic of 400 years of struggle and coming to terms with oneself mostly really pays off.
A Fisherman of the Inland Sea by Ursula Le Guin
It is with regret that I realize I have now read the vast majority of Le Guin's Hainish works. I want more Ekumen! That body of work is perhaps the most memorable and relevant of my whole science fiction experience, profoundly inspirational for my own science fiction and the Workable Utopias program I'm developing. This short story anthology includes a variety of stories: slight and significant, comic and serious, Hainish and not, but I love it for some of the best Hainish novellas ever. A definite rec for Le Guin fans.
City of Illusions by Ursula Le Guin (1967)
One less Hainish book for me to fall in love with for the first time. It is not a tour de force, but it showcases everything I love about Le Guin's writing in this universe in this period in her career. It's the story of a man who has lost his memory and must travel through a far future but very primitive Earth to find out what happened to him. Likeable central character, interesting plot, stellar world building as always.
The Saint Who Would Be Santa Claus by Adam C. English
This is a biography of the historical St. Nicholas of Myra. It's very interesting and well researched and reveals more about the eastern Roman Empire c. 300 AD than it does about Nicholas himself. My only complaint is that English tends to describe as fact things that are stories or conjectural. Ex. (not real quotes): "Nicholas came and performed a miracle" vs. "Michael writes that Nicholas…" or "Nicholas missed his parents" vs. "Nicholas mostly likely missed his parents." This makes the scholarship feel a bit squishy. But, in fairness, it's very hard to reconstruct the life of someone about whom there are no extant contemporary writings.
