Reading Wednesday

[troisoiseaux]

Recently read

Finished my re-read of The Once and Future King, which I wrote about here.

Read Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy, his memoir of founding the Equal Justice Initiative and his work as a lawyer for "the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system," as the blurb puts it. The main narrative thread follows his efforts to save a wrongfully convicted man from the death penalty in Alabama in the early 1990s. This was an absolutely heart-wrenching read, but an incredibly valuable one. (And timely— I start law school on Monday!!)

Currently reading

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams, the fourth book in his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. I read and enjoyed the first three books in high school, but I'd never gotten around to this one until now.

I've also started Agatha Christie's memoir, An Autobiography, which is incredibly charming so far. I'm particularly charmed by her young self's elaborate imaginary narrative "games"; she doesn't characterize this as an early attempt at writing stories, but it obviously was! In terms of insights gleaned into her work, apparently she based the house that Tommy and Tuppence purchase in The Postern of Fate off of her childhood home, down to Mathilde the rocking horse in the garden shed. Her mother's childhood may also be why Christie is so weird about adoption in her novels?

Comments

[kore]

I think the switch from Trillian to Fenny was paralleled in "DNA"'s own life, fucking LOL. (Men. Gotta love 'em.) (You do not want to know what happens to Fenchurch in the next book.) She does seem a little ahhh receptive to Arthur, shall we say, and we don't really get her story despite the intro. I do agree with you it has a different kind of vibe -- I thought it was more celebratory? of Earth, as a home, and more informed by Adams's conservation work obvs (the title alone), not just in "disappearing animals how sad" but how precious this world actually is. It's grounded (LOL sorry) and more gentle, less zany and filled with those wild one-offs like the Dish of the Day and the superintelligent shade of the colour blue (which phrase just reduced me to tears the first time I read it, I laughed so hard). I do like it, even though Fenny is like a nerd's Penthouse letter and he killed off Marvin?? and the Message itself is a flop. It's kind of tender and sweet.

[troisoiseaux]

You do not want to know what happens to Fenchurch in the next book.

Oh nooooo. (Okay, I just checked wikipedia and— oh NO. Why?!)

I thought it was more celebratory? of Earth, as a home, and more informed by Adams's conservation work obvs (the title alone), not just in "disappearing animals how sad" but how precious this world actually is.

That's a good point!

I actually really liked the message, which might be a particularly 2020 mood.

[kore]

I KNOW. BOY I WAS PISSED WHEN I READ THAT. I had bought the book in hardcover! Online spoilers were not a thing!

-- Hah, it is a very 2020 mood, isn't it!