wednesday books not in translation

[landofnowhere]

Consuelo, George Sand. I finished this! The ending didn't resolve the protagonist's character arc but also it comes with an author's note saying "If you've had enough of Consuelo's adventures, you can stop here. The small minority that want to know more should read the sequel." So I will be reading the sequel! But not right away.

Consuelo got to spend some time performing in the Vienna Opera before leaving -- there's a really evocative depiction of the backstage, along with various melodramatic plot happenings. Sadly we have to leave Teenage Joseph Haydn behind in Vienna -- but on Consuelo's travels she encounters both what can best be described as the 18th century version of a theme park and an incognito Frederick the Great before the book's denouement, which did not go quite as I expected but makes a lot of sense as it did. I'm really not sure what to expect in the sequel, other than more music. Maybe I'll write a more coherent and possibly spoilery review later.

Translation State, Ann Leckie. Yay it's another book in the Imperial Radch universe with more Presger Translators! ursula's review is an excellent description of what this is. I got to the bit with monodromy and was like "yay monodromy!" Despite being set on the edges of various major political conflicts, the stakes of this book are mainly cozy and personal. I hope we get more in this universe!

Small Admissions, Amy Poeppel. I think this was an Ask A Manager recommendation. Our nerdy protagonist, whose plans for grad school were derailed by a bad breakup, tries to put her life back together by taking a job as a private middle school admissions officer. Some charming/amusing social commentary here. The family situation reminds me a bit of the play Proof: the protagonist is the kid of academics, and in her parents' absence her more worldly older sister tries to fix her problems.

Comments

[ursula]

Yay monodromy!

[abangaku]

Hi Alison, it's Lawrence. I recently stumbled on this book blog of yours while looking at my own DW, which I transferred over from LJ, and I've been finding it interesting reading! I've been really into reading books in general in the past several years (probably even more than I was before), and so this is the kind of content I'm happy to see online! I'll comment on a few entries of yours from the past too, about specific books. Hope you're well!

[cahn]

I've read Small Admissions now -- the same AAM rec :) I really liked it! I do have a weakness for prep school books, especially admissions focused :)