Twelve books last week - 25 November to 2 December. That might be a personal record! I'd have to check my spreadsheet (that's not a joke). I did say in an earlier post that I was reading a lot of books at once and they'd all be finished at the same time, didn't I?
I quite enjoyed Nightmares in the Sky. It's a book of photos of gargoyles and it inspired me to go looking for a few in Birmingham. I need to write a longer post about that as it's part of my Stephen King project.
The Point of Rescue/The Wrong Mother is the third in Sophie Hannah's Spilling CID series. I've been listening to them on Audible, but I've stopped for a bit because I ran out of credits.
Because the Spilling CID books are mysteries, my enjoyment on re-reading (actually, listening) tends to depend on how well I remember the exact plot and whether the narrator - each book includes a personal document from one of the non-recurring characters - is unreliable. This one is not and I remembered it pretty well so it took me a little while to get into it on this read through. It's a great book, and there's definitely value in a reread - I listened to the last four hours in a big 3x speed rush - but this was probably a bit soon. I am looking forward to rereading The Other Half Lives which was the first Sophie Hannah book I ever picked up.
I spent my last three audio credits on the first three books in Jacqueline Wilson's Girls series. I first read these at thirteen or fourteen, so around Ellie's age. In the first book Ellie comments that she and her friends are the same as age as Juliet of Romeo and Juliet. I remember realising that Juliet's birthday was somewhere in the fortnight before mine, setting up a pleasing parallel when I realised that I was almost exactly the right age, so I must have been twelve going on thirteen at the time.
I listened to all three this week; they're only about three hours long and I typically listen on 3x speed because I'm impatient. They were very comforting. I'm now listening to the last one in the series, so I'll talk about that next week.
Biology Essentials for Dummies is a book I picked up before I started college. I like the For Dummies books. I am happier reading them on Kindle than holding them up for everyone to see, but that's very much more on me than them. They're good for a thorough overview. Before I started college I was studying it properly; reading each chapter and making notes. Kind of as practice for studying, so I could test out a couple of new things. I think I've found a system that works; I scribble down everything in class then write it up neatly, while rephrasing and looking up anything I'm not totally sure of.
Zombie Felties is a little craft book. I wrote a longer post on it here.
Sweeney Todd is a collection of short pieces and a vanity project from Gaiman's other daughter. Part of that Humble Bundle I picked up aaaaaaages ago. I've nearly read every book in it!
Speaking of the humble bundle, I picked up Bratpack based on Gaiman's introduction, which I read in Adventures in the Dream Trade which was included. I've not finished that one yet, because I keep wanting to read the things he's introducing!
Bratpack is about sacrificing sidekicks. It's a palette-swap parody, and I'm concerned that it's a little homophobic - there is exactly one openly gay character and he's a psychotic rapist and paedophile. There's one female character, but she gets away with being exactly the same sort of violent and unreasonable as the men, only in straw-feminist style. It didn't bug me as much as the gay man for some reason. Possibly because I spoke incorrectly, and there are actually two other women, in the form of her sidekicks. They provide a little context, to show that not all women are like that, and this isn't simply what the author thinks of women. There's no such context for the openly gay character.
I enjoyed Bratpack; I read it over the course of a day, between classes and on the bus. It's fairly short - a single 150 page volume. I felt like it ended without really resolving the issues it brought up. I felt the same way about Viral, but that's also waiting for a longer post.
Modern Short Stories is a book of short stories by writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dylan Thomas and William Faulkner. It also includes notes about each story. I borrowed it from the college library, so it's aimed at someone who's studying literature. I quite enjoyed it.
Finally, The Last Unicorn. I first watched the movie as a child and read the book for the first time about ten years ago. I can't think of any other book that's managed to do the same thing; an anachronistic fairytale, populated by archetypes that still manage to be unique. As I grow older I am more and more interested in Molly Grue. I understand more of what she meant when she told the unicorn off, asking where the unicorn was when Molly was young, and new, and "one of those young girls you always come to".
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