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juushikaTitle: Henry IV Part 2
Author: William Shakespeare
Published: 1600
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 260,085
Text Number: 842
Read Because: co-read with my mother
Review: This is a different play than Part 1—larger, perhaps. I don't tolerate the ramped-up comedy as well as I do Falstaff in Part 1, but the heightened tone pays off in the interactions between King Henry and Prince Hal. Their confrontation, the emotions, the conversations about kingship and identity (more poignant now that I've read Richard II), the prolonged, stylized death, is one of my favorite scenes in Shakespeare's work. The diverging plotlines here mirror the converging plots of Part 1 in interesting ways, and Prince Hal is surprisingly decentralized, something less of a protagonist, with internal conflict and character growth more intriguing for its selectivity—particularly that final, heartbreaking rejection of Falstaff. Heavy lies the head, indeed; I don't adore this in the way I do Part 1, but I'd call it a solid success.
Title: Roadside Picnic
Authors: Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
Translator: Olena Bormashenko
Narrator: Robert Forster
Published: Random House Audio, 2012 (1972)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 175
Total Page Count: 260,260
Text Number: 843
Read Because: personal enjoyment, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Pockets of strange and dangerous alien space tempt scavengers called "stalkers" to bring relics back into the wider world. This is very like Jeff Vandermeer's Annihilation—it feels like that book couldn't exist without this one—and, while I acknowledge this came earlier, it left me wanting Annihilation—for the presence of female characters; for the more austere, thoughtful tone. This is a significantly grimmer, grimier story; the characters are unlikable and the narrative is misogynistic. Sometimes the tone contrasts successfully with the nature of the zone, with its danger and awe; there are some intelligent, introspective moments, and the title drop is especially good. It's an intriguing concept, likewise are the stalkers—I can see why this stuck in the public consciousness, and am grateful for its legacy. But as a reading experience, it's vaguely unpleasant.
Title: Chanur's Homecoming (Chanur Book 4)
Author: C.J. Cherryh
Published: DAW, 1991 (1986)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 355
Total Page Count: 260,615
Text Number: 844
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: This series does a remarkable job of using its longer form to foster investment. Action comes to a head here—and it's not too hard to track, as Cherryh plots go, thanks in large part to how clearly the previous book established the forces at play. And it's an eminently satisfying climax. The way things come together—how profoundly the speculative concepts inform the consequences of the plot; the nature and limitations of interspecies communication and comprehension, working alongside the reader's investment in the crew, in their wellbeing and relationships; the danger and exhaustion of space travel and combat, and the many ways in which the Pride feels like a real place—is intelligent, id-indulgent writing and strong conclusion to this three-book arc.
that Pyanfar has, in Chanur's Homecoming, an extended internal monologue concerning the sexual politics of her crew, including the interspecies affair between Hilfy and Tully, is legitimately all that I have ever wanted from this world
#I am profoundly uninvested in the relationship between ships and canon #but perhaps that's because I've never had one of MY ships become canon before!! it feels good man #(& works in uneasy combination with the stubborn non-canon-ness of similar bonding-through-shared-trauma in Downbelow Station #or the INTENSE subtext in Wave Without a Shore; the uniting factor seems to be: if hetero yes/if homo no ... never a good trend right) #(but given publishing dates on all these texts perhaps somewhat forgivable; I don't know yet if it's better in her more recent work) #but all that is secondary because it is an exceedingly good monologue #gendered discrimination in worldbuilding as it interacts with relationships between characters! #navigating social interactions between alien species extrapolated to imply ALL social interactions! #it feels profoundly alien and realistically awkward/complex and works in perfect tandem with the ragtag found family of the Pride crew
Author: William Shakespeare
Published: 1600
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 260,085
Text Number: 842
Read Because: co-read with my mother
Review: This is a different play than Part 1—larger, perhaps. I don't tolerate the ramped-up comedy as well as I do Falstaff in Part 1, but the heightened tone pays off in the interactions between King Henry and Prince Hal. Their confrontation, the emotions, the conversations about kingship and identity (more poignant now that I've read Richard II), the prolonged, stylized death, is one of my favorite scenes in Shakespeare's work. The diverging plotlines here mirror the converging plots of Part 1 in interesting ways, and Prince Hal is surprisingly decentralized, something less of a protagonist, with internal conflict and character growth more intriguing for its selectivity—particularly that final, heartbreaking rejection of Falstaff. Heavy lies the head, indeed; I don't adore this in the way I do Part 1, but I'd call it a solid success.
Title: Roadside Picnic
Authors: Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
Translator: Olena Bormashenko
Narrator: Robert Forster
Published: Random House Audio, 2012 (1972)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 175
Total Page Count: 260,260
Text Number: 843
Read Because: personal enjoyment, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Pockets of strange and dangerous alien space tempt scavengers called "stalkers" to bring relics back into the wider world. This is very like Jeff Vandermeer's Annihilation—it feels like that book couldn't exist without this one—and, while I acknowledge this came earlier, it left me wanting Annihilation—for the presence of female characters; for the more austere, thoughtful tone. This is a significantly grimmer, grimier story; the characters are unlikable and the narrative is misogynistic. Sometimes the tone contrasts successfully with the nature of the zone, with its danger and awe; there are some intelligent, introspective moments, and the title drop is especially good. It's an intriguing concept, likewise are the stalkers—I can see why this stuck in the public consciousness, and am grateful for its legacy. But as a reading experience, it's vaguely unpleasant.
Title: Chanur's Homecoming (Chanur Book 4)
Author: C.J. Cherryh
Published: DAW, 1991 (1986)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 355
Total Page Count: 260,615
Text Number: 844
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: This series does a remarkable job of using its longer form to foster investment. Action comes to a head here—and it's not too hard to track, as Cherryh plots go, thanks in large part to how clearly the previous book established the forces at play. And it's an eminently satisfying climax. The way things come together—how profoundly the speculative concepts inform the consequences of the plot; the nature and limitations of interspecies communication and comprehension, working alongside the reader's investment in the crew, in their wellbeing and relationships; the danger and exhaustion of space travel and combat, and the many ways in which the Pride feels like a real place—is intelligent, id-indulgent writing and strong conclusion to this three-book arc.
that Pyanfar has, in Chanur's Homecoming, an extended internal monologue concerning the sexual politics of her crew, including the interspecies affair between Hilfy and Tully, is legitimately all that I have ever wanted from this world
#I am profoundly uninvested in the relationship between ships and canon #but perhaps that's because I've never had one of MY ships become canon before!! it feels good man #(& works in uneasy combination with the stubborn non-canon-ness of similar bonding-through-shared-trauma in Downbelow Station #or the INTENSE subtext in Wave Without a Shore; the uniting factor seems to be: if hetero yes/if homo no ... never a good trend right) #(but given publishing dates on all these texts perhaps somewhat forgivable; I don't know yet if it's better in her more recent work) #but all that is secondary because it is an exceedingly good monologue #gendered discrimination in worldbuilding as it interacts with relationships between characters! #navigating social interactions between alien species extrapolated to imply ALL social interactions! #it feels profoundly alien and realistically awkward/complex and works in perfect tandem with the ragtag found family of the Pride crew
