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Recent reading
Feb. 21st, 2022 04:54 pmRead Peter Stenson's Fiend, in an attempt to jolt myself out of my recent reading slump via reverse psychology— I kept starting books only to give up after a chapter or two, and since picking books that I thought I would like clearly wasn't working, I decided to try one that didn't appeal to me; "a group of meth addicts tries to survive a zombie apocalypse" is definitely a premise that fit the bill. To my surprise, I actually liked it! (At least until the ending, which was just so bleak.) A punchy little novel, less than 200 pages; I finished it in under 24 hours. It's definitely more graphic than is normally my cup of tea, but it had an unexpected undercurrent of - heart, I guess? - that won me over— so much so, I felt like the last act pulled the rug out from under my feet even though it was the most predictable outcome in the world. ( Spoilers )
Thus successfully un-slumped, read T. Kingfisher's Swordheart, which like many of her novels is about a capable but underestimated woman and a sad warrior mutually pining while on some sort of quest. The sad warrior in this case is not, as they usually are, a disgraced paladin, but he is immortal and cursed (he's tied to/"is" a magical sword inherited by the aforementioned capable woman) and haunted by his past, so good enough. Set in the same world as Kingfisher's Clocktaur War duology andSad Paladins Find Love Saint of Steel books - the Temple of the White Rat is featured prominently in this one, which I enjoyed - but stands on its own. A charming, low-stakes read.
Started reading The Fellowship: The Untold Story of Frank Lloyd Wright & the Taliesin Fellowship by Roger Friedland and Harold Zellman, and it is already just, so much. It's statistically unlikely that Frank Lloyd Wright actually holds the dubious honor of being the single most annoying person who ever lived - the number of people who have ever lived is, after all, very large - but he's probably in the running. The number of Victor Hugo references that I was expecting in a biography of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright is zero; the number that I've encountered is significantly higher than that, since Wright was apparently a big fan, and met his first wife at a Les Miserables-themed costume party. (He went as Enjolras.)
Thus successfully un-slumped, read T. Kingfisher's Swordheart, which like many of her novels is about a capable but underestimated woman and a sad warrior mutually pining while on some sort of quest. The sad warrior in this case is not, as they usually are, a disgraced paladin, but he is immortal and cursed (he's tied to/"is" a magical sword inherited by the aforementioned capable woman) and haunted by his past, so good enough. Set in the same world as Kingfisher's Clocktaur War duology and
Started reading The Fellowship: The Untold Story of Frank Lloyd Wright & the Taliesin Fellowship by Roger Friedland and Harold Zellman, and it is already just, so much. It's statistically unlikely that Frank Lloyd Wright actually holds the dubious honor of being the single most annoying person who ever lived - the number of people who have ever lived is, after all, very large - but he's probably in the running. The number of Victor Hugo references that I was expecting in a biography of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright is zero; the number that I've encountered is significantly higher than that, since Wright was apparently a big fan, and met his first wife at a Les Miserables-themed costume party. (He went as Enjolras.)
