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[puddleshark]

Thanks to rachelmanija on Dreamwidth, I have been on something of a Dick Francis mystery kick. Not the earlier books - I read those to death, and remember them too well to read again. But the later books, which I only read once, or never got round to at all, and which turn out to be compulsively readable: Reflex, Decider, To the Hilt, The Edge, Break in, Long Shot, Hot Money.

Also read, The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison, which is the new book in The Goblin Emperor world, and the follow-up to The Witness for the Dead. I adored the writing in the The Witness for the Dead: first person, not an unreliable narrator, but such a repressed narrator that you could only read his emotions in the tiny minutiae of his life, such as his choice of tea. The Grief of Stones is another enjoyable mystery, but the writing feels a bit flatter, fewer resonances.

And then I went back and re-read The Goblin Emperor again.

Also read The Year of My Life by Issa, the 1960s translation by Nobuyuki Yuasa. (There's a more recent translation I would have preferred, but it's hideously expensive).

Softly-
That it may not startle
A butterfly-
The gentle wind passes
Over the young wheat.

***

Television. Only watching two series at the moment:

Alchemy of Souls Korean fantasy on Netflix, which is great fun. Though possibly I'm only watching it to watch Jang Uk get beaten up in all his fights.

Love like the Galaxy Chinese costume romance on Viki.com. I don't know why this is so addictive. It must be doing something right - maybe the family dynamics? But the writing is so horribly clunky in places - big chunks of expository dialogue instead of actual, you know, plotting. The heroine giving everyone she meets Important Life Lessons *cringe*. And the sheer stupidity of some of the dialogue. (Ling Buyi saying that to master horses you must make them fear you. Make a prey animal fear you, and expect it to co-operate? Good luck with that one, General.)

Went back and re-watched Word of Honour Chinese BL fantasy on Viki.com. Oh, so cheaply made, and so hilariously cheesy. But the relationship between Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu is just a delight. All that (perfectly innocent!) falling unconscious into the other's arms.

Comments

[larryhammer]

I'm still waiting on my library for The Grief of Stones. I did reread The Goblin Emperor as prep, which was nothing like a hardship.

[puddleshark]

Yes, I've re-read The Goblin Emperor more than once. Never a hardship.