forestsofpine

I didn't do a ton of reading of any sort in February, and the only published book I finished was nonfiction: Here Comes the Sun, by Bill McKibben, about the solar tech revolution. I try to stay away from politics in this journal, but suffice to say that it's very dark times right now as an American, and I wanted something to feel a little optimistic about. I also read a bunch of articles from this website and McKibben's blog - both cover a lot of the same ground as the book.

And here is one of the fics I enjoyed this month:

Heated Rivalry Fic Recs

Just a cute, short epistolary fic. This fandom seems good at them.

text me when you see this, Ilya Rozanov/Shane Hollander, 1k, general audiences

Happy reading!

Here's some of what I read in October and November.( Read more... )

I'm still on my Agatha Christie kick. This month it was Murder in Mesopotamia, which is set on an archaeological dig in Iraq. I'm pretty sure it's one I never read before, nor have I seen the David Suchet episode. Christie was interested in archaeology and participated in digs, so it had some interesting details about the work and day-to-day life of archaeologists in that era. It featured a different narrator than most Poirot books: a woman hired as nurse to the eventual victim about a week before her death. The nurse was both opinionated and unreliable, which was a fun combo in some regards since you could see how her prejudices for or against certain characters were affecting her judgement and blinding her to some of the realities of the case, but unpleasant when her opinions involved racism against the local Arab workers at the dig, which they frequently did.

As for the mystery itself, perhaps the easiest explanation of my feelings is that I enjoyed the setup, but not the solution. One hopes for a satisfying answer to all three of the questions of Who, Why, and How, and the ending was so improbable on one of those counts that it destroyed my suspension of disbelief. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the classic Christie twists and turns and it's a light, fast read, so I wouldn't describe it as wasted time.

And here are some of the fics I enjoyed in July!( MDZS, Beyond Evil, K-pop RPF )

Original fiction reading of the month included Christie's Evil Under the Sun, which is one I thought I'd read when I was young, but had no record of. Reading it now didn't especially answer the question, since I've definitely seen the David Suchet episode (also a long time ago). As I was reading, I vaguely remembered whodunnit, but not how. Regardless, it wasn't one of my all-time favorites of hers, but I enjoyed it and am glad I can now officially check it off my list.

And here are some of the fics I enjoyed in April:( MDZS and Word of Honor )

So, the good news is that, with me still being in between major fandoms, I've retreated to published fiction and am reading more of that again, which pleases me after several years of reading very little. I finished Rose Lerner's Lively St. Lemeston series and Christie's Peril at End House in February.

The bad news is that my fanfic reading was sparse, despite picking up a bit in the second half of the month, so there's only one rec:

Word of Honor Fics Recs

Like Stumbling Through an Open Door, Ye Baiyi/Xie Wang, 6k, not rated

Happy reading!