Wednesday Reading

[redrikki]

Once again, I've mostly been reading fan fiction rather than actual books. I did, however, managed to get my fencing teacher hooked on Naomi Novak's Temeraire series, so I shall count that as a win.

Just Finished

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie which tells the story of the unnamed narrator and his friend Lou as they are re-educated in rural China during the 1970s. It's apparently based off of the author's real life experiences of the same and it's alternately charmingly silly and deeply sad. The narrator and his friends are the sons of doctors and, therefore, class traitors, and have pretty much resigned themselves to a perpetual life of shit, at least until they discover a suitcase full of forbidden Western literature and a hot local girl. They're both a pair of teenage idiots and I found myself alternately charmed and frustrated by them. I kind of wish I'd gotten to see more from the Little Seamstress. Lou basically decides that she's hot, but uncultured and takes it upon himself to fashion her into his ideal woman using Western literature only for it to backfire spectacularly in a My Fair Lady sort of way. I would have loved to see how she felt about it, but since the story is told from her boyfriend's best friend's POV their whole romance feels weirdly distant and detached.

I liked it, but I probably wont be keeping it. I'm trying to get better about not hoarding every book I buy. Only the stuff that really sparks joy, as Marie Kondo would say.

Up Next?

?????? Probably some more unsatisfying Umbrella Academy fanfic before I find another one that really hits the spot. Anyone got any recs?

Comments

[colls]

I read that book years ago and it didn't really leave much of impression (only that the bones of the story are familiar to me).
The cover art was beautiful and I tend to recognize the book immediately at book swaps and used book stores though.
/random

[redrikki]

With the shoes? Yeah.

[beer_good_foamy]

I also read that years ago and I think my notes were almost identical to yours; nice but too detached, too much of a long-ago-when-we-were-young-and-stupid vibe.

I just finished Marlon James' Black Leopard, Red Wolf which is very much recommended if you're interested in very densely written African fantasy. Brilliant myth- and monster-building, the whole thing seems to run on dream logic, but some very harsh storytelling in there as well. Otherwise I'm about to start the new Kameron Hurley book, which should be fun if it's even half as good as her previous The Stars Are Legion.

[redrikki]

I'll have to check those out. Thanks for the recommendations. I've got this huge backlog of books I've picked up at the library book sales over the years, but I've also got some Barnes and Noble coupons burning a hole in my pocket. I'll see if they have those when I go this weekend.