A week of unexpected book joy
I've been having some trouble settling down to read lately, (both due to lack of blocks of time and lack of attention span) so finding several wonderful things in the course of a week was delightfully unexpected. Okay, mostly unexpected. Enjoying the hell out of the stories in the Scalzi super bundle I bought during the hurricane was not much of a surprise.
I was recc'd several of the works by LJ author 
haikujaguar a few months ago (in response to my bitching and moaning that paranormal romance had taken over my beloved genres of SF/F.) I'd read a couple of her things before and enjoyed them greatly. After all, what's not to love about the Jokka, sex changing aliens who go through puberty twice, and at each time may or may not change gender. Neat stories, really neat world/culture building. (Though I enjoyed the short stories more than the novel - a switch on my part. Usually I like novels much better, but the one I read got a little more angsty than my usual cup of tea. Loved the short stories though, and I keep forgetting to see if she's done any more that I haven't read yet.)
haikujaguar a few months ago (in response to my bitching and moaning that paranormal romance had taken over my beloved genres of SF/F.) I'd read a couple of her things before and enjoyed them greatly. After all, what's not to love about the Jokka, sex changing aliens who go through puberty twice, and at each time may or may not change gender. Neat stories, really neat world/culture building. (Though I enjoyed the short stories more than the novel - a switch on my part. Usually I like novels much better, but the one I read got a little more angsty than my usual cup of tea. Loved the short stories though, and I keep forgetting to see if she's done any more that I haven't read yet.)So when I sat down to check out the newer series, starting with Aphorisms of Kherishdar, I was expecting to enjoy it, but not be blown away. Wrong! It was like Pringles and I couldn't stop. Not with this book, nor the next, (which has some darker themes, but not as dark as it sounds from the description) nor the third (which was a novel rather than a series of shorts like the first two.) Really wonderful aliens world/culture building along with being an extended meditation on the value of society vs individual and the place and role and VALUE of beauty and art.(*) Totally recommended. Go follow her on LJ. She's always got (it seems) at least one serial story in the works. I've heard great things about the current space opera series. I look forward to reading it once its done. (I can't stand reading WIPs. Drives me insane. Hell, I rarely even watch TV week to week anymore - I'd rather watch the full season at once on netflix.)
And then I was twiddling with my audible account and remembered that I picked up the Jim Dale reading of the original Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie back when it was free. And I went, hmmm, okay, let's try. I am generally skeptical of the classics because they tend to be horribly stodgy and their pacing doesn't stand the test of time well. But no, this was delightful! To be fair, I doubt Jim Dale could give a bad reading. But the story itself is quirky and sarcastic and biting and completely charming. It is clearly the work of a man keeping himself entertained as he tells a story to children.
(It reminds me of how I keep myself from being bored by entertaining small children at the repetitive age. One of my favorites involves a little towheaded 2 year old and a pile of bug toys. "what's this, what's this?" says the small child. Again. The first time it was "spider" or "grasshopper". The fifth it was "fake centipede" or "fake ant". By the seventh, my answer became "cheap plastic." This is particularly entertaining because said small child repeated each answer back to me in a little lisp... Small child's mom across the room laughed hysterically at her offspring's repetition of "teap pla-tic.")
But I digress. JM engages in some pretty heavy handed gender role assassination but it is dealt with an even hand and all are tarnished equally by it and if you choose to listen as a satire of 19th C British Culture, all gender PCness can be swept aside for the duration. At least, I sure could. And it was wonderfully fun.
(It reminds me of how I keep myself from being bored by entertaining small children at the repetitive age. One of my favorites involves a little towheaded 2 year old and a pile of bug toys. "what's this, what's this?" says the small child. Again. The first time it was "spider" or "grasshopper". The fifth it was "fake centipede" or "fake ant". By the seventh, my answer became "cheap plastic." This is particularly entertaining because said small child repeated each answer back to me in a little lisp... Small child's mom across the room laughed hysterically at her offspring's repetition of "teap pla-tic.")
But I digress. JM engages in some pretty heavy handed gender role assassination but it is dealt with an even hand and all are tarnished equally by it and if you choose to listen as a satire of 19th C British Culture, all gender PCness can be swept aside for the duration. At least, I sure could. And it was wonderfully fun.
So my week has been full of delightful stories. Speaking of which, my copy of the Scalzi book, Clays Beneath the Skies (the book of Jokka short stories) and The Worth of a Shell (Jokka novel) are loanable if anyone has a kindle account and wants to borrow. I'm not done with the Scalzi bundle yet, so if you want dibbs on it, you can have it, but will have to wait a bit. (days? weeks? not sure.)
(*) Seriously, I had an entire epiphany about the role of beauty and art in my life in response to reading this. It's good.
(*) Seriously, I had an entire epiphany about the role of beauty and art in my life in response to reading this. It's good.