little miss bluestocking
Oct. 3rd, 2020 07:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ironymaideni have struggled with reading since mid-march. basically i can't successfully read anything that has real conflict or consequences or dark themes unless i am rereading (with the exception of 'latest installment of long-running series') or it's fanfic.
when we went camping i decided to try a combo of fantasy romance novels and comics, and it worked pretty well. around labor day i started a massive massive jag of regular historical romance, thanks to a good recommendation from r/RomanceBooks.
conveniently the libraries have a lot of them.* it's nice to be back onto my normal pace of several books a week, but they're a bit of a smear in my memory - there's a white woman in a dress on the cover, one or both of them is some form of English nobility, they always seem to have sex standing up at least once**, and they get married and live happily ever after. also they all have a wad of promo material and an excerpt of the next/another book at the end so i always quit before the "end" and it never triggers the add to goodreads window on my kindle, so i don't. (my goodreads is basically a list of the ebooks that kindle asked me to rate, usually it's just missing paper books and comics, but between the end matter and some romances only coming from the library in epub none of these are getting documented.)
is this the new normal? not sure. i do know that not all regency/historical is working for me; i've ditched a book that was just plain boring (and full of awkward attempts at writing Scots) and one that started with a torture scene (?!?). they're definitely better written and less creepy than the harlequins of my youth, and so far i've managed to avoid ones with plots that could be resolved with a single honest conversation. i'm having fun and it's so nice to read.
*for max ebooks, i have two library cards and pool those with a friend in another county for a total of three cards. we don't comment on each other's book choices but i'm sure they're amused by now.
**the most improbable thing for me about this is the frequency and ease of face-to-face sex against the wall, i don't know if this is about romance novels being full of wish-fulfillment fantasy or just the limits of my experience. i am statistically tall and commensurately long-limbed and heavy; the wrestler who could easily lift and hold me up for long periods was also a head shorter than i am so it was still an awkward enterprise.
when we went camping i decided to try a combo of fantasy romance novels and comics, and it worked pretty well. around labor day i started a massive massive jag of regular historical romance, thanks to a good recommendation from r/RomanceBooks.
conveniently the libraries have a lot of them.* it's nice to be back onto my normal pace of several books a week, but they're a bit of a smear in my memory - there's a white woman in a dress on the cover, one or both of them is some form of English nobility, they always seem to have sex standing up at least once**, and they get married and live happily ever after. also they all have a wad of promo material and an excerpt of the next/another book at the end so i always quit before the "end" and it never triggers the add to goodreads window on my kindle, so i don't. (my goodreads is basically a list of the ebooks that kindle asked me to rate, usually it's just missing paper books and comics, but between the end matter and some romances only coming from the library in epub none of these are getting documented.)
is this the new normal? not sure. i do know that not all regency/historical is working for me; i've ditched a book that was just plain boring (and full of awkward attempts at writing Scots) and one that started with a torture scene (?!?). they're definitely better written and less creepy than the harlequins of my youth, and so far i've managed to avoid ones with plots that could be resolved with a single honest conversation. i'm having fun and it's so nice to read.
*for max ebooks, i have two library cards and pool those with a friend in another county for a total of three cards. we don't comment on each other's book choices but i'm sure they're amused by now.
**the most improbable thing for me about this is the frequency and ease of face-to-face sex against the wall, i don't know if this is about romance novels being full of wish-fulfillment fantasy or just the limits of my experience. i am statistically tall and commensurately long-limbed and heavy; the wrestler who could easily lift and hold me up for long periods was also a head shorter than i am so it was still an awkward enterprise.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-04 03:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-04 03:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-04 03:47 am (UTC)well then, I must recommend The Traitor Baru Cormorant and sequels. I loved the first book in the before times and can't read the rest now.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-04 04:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-04 06:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-04 05:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-04 05:21 pm (UTC)I was just thinking of rereading a favorite, since some tidying means that my keep-forever books are on a bookshelf instead of in a box. I'm thinking, Blindness.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-04 05:40 pm (UTC)Only audio books are making it through the fog.
In addition to some crunchy history (it already happened so I know how it turns out! The world has always been on fire!),![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p2.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
podfixx is cranking out great podfic.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-04 08:06 pm (UTC)Snarfed! I'll get to it after Shuggie Bain.