Hullo,
First actual book post of the year! I have been mostly reading a lot of academic stuff for my research, and sheet music, but I thought I’d better update this before many more months pass! In short, I am reading way more than in 2020, this list doesn’t include stacks of cookbooks, and academic books I’ve forgotten to list down. Perhaps eventually I’ll list them all. I *have* added the music and composition stuff I’ve been reading very slowly.
Currently Reading
- The Ten Thousand Doors of January — Alix E. Harrow
- A Court of Thorn and Roses — Sarah J Maas
- Swann’s Way — Marcel Proust (Reread)
- A Duke By Default — Alyssa Cole
- The Fairest of Them All — Maria Tatar
- Lingua Latina per se Illustrata — Hans H Ørberg’
- The Cello Suites — Eric Silbin
- The Fantasias of John Dowland: An Analysis (Thesis) — William J. Walker
- Fundamentals of Music Composition — Arnold Schoenberg (very slow here because my theory knowledge isn’t advanced enough)
- Music in Theory and Practice Part 1 (Eighth Edition)– Benward and Sarker
Recently Finished
- A Princess In Theory— Alyssa Cole
- Everfair — Nisi Shawl
- Firefly Lane — Kristin Hannah
- Fly Away — Kristin Hannah
Reading Notes
I’m really enjoying Harrow’s novel, and quite amused there’s a city called Nin in it. It’s probably going to be a comp title for my Watermyth since it’s also a literary portal fantasy but is still sufficiently different from my Cantata of the Fourfold Realms. It’s also been years since I stopped at Book Three of Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, so I decided to start again at the beginning. I don’t know how many times I’ve done this, honestly.
The Alyssa Cole books are much fun to read, especially if you’ve enjoyed Coming to America 1 and 2. It seems to be in that subgenre. I’m likely teaching these books in my Popular Culture course along with Alisha Rai, Courtney Milan and Beverley Jenkins. That’s right, three weeks of interrogating the Romance Industry and encouraging students to read romances penned by WOC/BIPOC. Which reminds me, I’m also reading two Popular Culture textbooks. Phew! I don’t think I can list all the academic stuff I’m reading or I’ll be here all day and I have to finish Truancy 9. See that Maria Tatar book listed? I’m writing a review for Truancy 9. I also have a Cristina Bacchilega book to review for a fairytale studies academic journal. Living the life, man.
Kristin Hannah’s books are not the only books I’ve bought online (via Google Play) after burning through a Netflix series, but have the honor of being books I actually finished, crying through them, might I add. There’s really lovely writing in here, although no one would accuse it of being highly literary. If you like women’s fiction, particularly with characters in the mid-to-late forties (which is possibly why I was so hooked), these are books I recommend. Hannah writes the kind of fiction I like to read and write, about women in their forties and fifties still trying to figure things out, still screwing up, still on a learning curve.
I have stuff to say about Lingua Latina per se Illustrata, but that will be for the language learning post!
I was going to wait to start the Silbin book after a recommendation from a couple of people inc. my teacher, but given how hooked I am on the Cello Suites (and I’m working through the Duarte transcription of the Prelude to BWV1007 for classical guitar), I couldn’t wait!