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wednesday books
22 January 2025 22:43Catching up on the last month's reading, so this will be some quick takes.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, art by Tove Jansson. Christmas present. Alice is still in Wonderland, and I'd seen Tove Jansson's illustrations before, but good to reread and re-look at. Maybe NYRB classics can do The Hunting of the Snark with Jansson's illustrations next? (Though it looks like there's already an edition of that in print. And now I'm sad that she never illustrated Through the Looking Glass.)
The Iliad, Homer, Emily Wilson. I'm glad to have actually read this in its entirety, though I read a large portion of it the night before the e-book was due to be returned, so maybe haven't fully processed it. Some sections felt like excessive action scenes, but things really picked up and the language in the translation felt lyrical after Achilles learns of Patroclus's death. Things I was not expecting included the incredibly detailed description of Achilles's new shield (srsly, can I just hang out with Hephaestus and his robots in the workshop?) and the detailed blow-by-blow of what went down in Patroclus's funeral games.
King John, Shakespeare. Readaloud (but I was sick and had a bad sore throat, so I was mostly just listening). Second time I've done this play, on the one hand it has some really good bits, particularly act 4, but also it is just structurally kind of weird. It also seems like the sort of play that would benefit from a director's interpretation rather than just a cold reading. Also, despite having done the play before I was wondering halfway through "wait, who's going to succeed King John?", and kept wondering it until suddenly his son was introduced out of nowhere for the final scenes (admittedly Henry was 9 when his father died, though the play ages him up).
Oathbringer, Brandon Sanderson. I have made it to the exciting climax! I will probably just get back to reading this. :-D
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, art by Tove Jansson. Christmas present. Alice is still in Wonderland, and I'd seen Tove Jansson's illustrations before, but good to reread and re-look at. Maybe NYRB classics can do The Hunting of the Snark with Jansson's illustrations next? (Though it looks like there's already an edition of that in print. And now I'm sad that she never illustrated Through the Looking Glass.)
The Iliad, Homer, Emily Wilson. I'm glad to have actually read this in its entirety, though I read a large portion of it the night before the e-book was due to be returned, so maybe haven't fully processed it. Some sections felt like excessive action scenes, but things really picked up and the language in the translation felt lyrical after Achilles learns of Patroclus's death. Things I was not expecting included the incredibly detailed description of Achilles's new shield (srsly, can I just hang out with Hephaestus and his robots in the workshop?) and the detailed blow-by-blow of what went down in Patroclus's funeral games.
King John, Shakespeare. Readaloud (but I was sick and had a bad sore throat, so I was mostly just listening). Second time I've done this play, on the one hand it has some really good bits, particularly act 4, but also it is just structurally kind of weird. It also seems like the sort of play that would benefit from a director's interpretation rather than just a cold reading. Also, despite having done the play before I was wondering halfway through "wait, who's going to succeed King John?", and kept wondering it until suddenly his son was introduced out of nowhere for the final scenes (admittedly Henry was 9 when his father died, though the play ages him up).
Oathbringer, Brandon Sanderson. I have made it to the exciting climax! I will probably just get back to reading this. :-D