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Recent reading
Oct. 21st, 2024 09:55 pmRead Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'Connor, a spare, atmospheric coming-of-age novel set on an island off of Wales in the late 1930s. When a pair of English ethnographers arrive on the island to write a book about the island's small, isolated community and hire 18-year-old Manod as their translator, Manod sees a future for herself that she hadn't dared to dream about, but the experience curdles alongside the very literal metaphor of a rotting whale that washed up on the island's beach. Reminded me vaguely of Sarah Moss' Ghost Wall, in that both are coming-of-age stories ( spoilers )
Close to halfway through Queens' Play by Dorothy Dunnett, which continues to be a rollicking read, although my experience of reading this has been influenced by the fact my prior knowledge of the court of King Henri II comes entirely from the TV show Reign (2013-17), which was ostensibly about Mary, Queen of Scots as a young woman at the French court, but was actually a YA soap opera with an incredibly loose grasp on the concept of the 16th century, France, Scotland, and Mary the historical figure.
Close to halfway through Queens' Play by Dorothy Dunnett, which continues to be a rollicking read, although my experience of reading this has been influenced by the fact my prior knowledge of the court of King Henri II comes entirely from the TV show Reign (2013-17), which was ostensibly about Mary, Queen of Scots as a young woman at the French court, but was actually a YA soap opera with an incredibly loose grasp on the concept of the 16th century, France, Scotland, and Mary the historical figure.
