Reading Wrap-Up: May & June 2022
Jul. 3rd, 2022 07:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
justanorthernlightI didn't quite have the energy to do this at the end of last month, so here's two months in one:
May:
Star Wars: The High Republic Volume 1: There Is No Fear (Star Wars: The High Republic #1-5 written by Cavan Scott, art by Ario Anindito, Mark Morales, and Annalisa Leoni) - This is my second foray into the High Republic publishing slate. It picks up shortly after the end of Light of the Jedi and focuses on the adventures of recently-knighted Jedi Keeve Trennis, as the Starlight Beacon accidentally wakes an ancient horror.
I really enjoyed it, I found Keeve to be a really endearing protagonist and I really enjoyed her relationship with her Master, the trandoshan Sskeer who had a bit part back in Light of the Jedi. (The High Republic has generally had some great Master/Padawan bond content). There's also some interesting exploration of Force connectivity, which I'm always down for. Someone involved, either the artist or the author, clearly has a tentacle fetish, but that is neither here nor there. The volume ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, but that's pretty par for the course with these comics.
How To Be A Victorian: A Dawn to Dusk Guide to Victorian Life by Ruth Goodman - Nonfiction, as the title suggest this is a detailed exploration of everyday life in Victorian England, from morning to night. Goodman does a good job talking about differences between socioeconomic classes, urban vs rural differences, and how customs and technologies changed over the ~60 years of Victoria's reign.
Goodman includes a lot of detail from primary sources like books, newspapers, and magazine clippings, exploration of surviving clothing and other artifacts, as well as a her own background in living history type stuff. Her writing style was really engaging, and I really liked reading about her own experiments with following historical methods.
June:
What Angels Fear by C. S. Harris (Sebastian St. Cyr Mysteries #1) - This is a historical fiction whodunnit murder mystery set during the Napoleonic/Regency era, about a troubled young nobleman who gets framed for murder and sets out to prove his innocence. There's romance, political intrigue, and family drama galore, which hits a lot of my id tropes.
I was going to comment that it very much felt like a first novel, but then I did some digging and found out the author has published like 6 previous novels under a different pen name.The political/social commentary was kind of hamhanded and some of the historical vibes didn't really pass the sniff test for me. I mostly enjoyed it but am debating whether giving the next in the series a try is worth it.
Star Wars: The High Republic Volume 2: The Heart of Drengir (Star Wars: The High Republic #6-10 written by Cavan Scott, art by Georges Jeanty, Ario Anindito, and like 9 other people lol) - Keeve Trennis's adventures continue. Issues 6-8 wrap up the plot arc from the previous volume, while 9-10 launch the next arc which ties back into the Nihil plotline from Light of the Jedi. Comic TPBs tend to run 5-6 issues, but the way these two arcs are stitched together in this volume is kind of awkward.
I still enjoyed this volume (Keeve & Sskeer remain great, and I like Jedi Vision GhostLady), but it's pretty obvious I need to catch up on the YA & Middle Grade books to fully appreciate all the plot points. The first volume was very readable as a standalone, but with this one I could tell I was missing things. I wish there was a better reading order guide than any of the ones I've found online.
2022 reading goal progress: Total books: 13 of 50; nonfiction: 3 of 7.
This goal is not going great. I'm going to put 25% of the blame on having to read a lot for school and 75% on being sad and lacking self-discipline.
I'm currently about 3/4 of the way through Excession by Iain M. Banks, which I missed during my first read-through of the Culture novels a couple of years ago. It's the kind of edgy dude scifi I need to be in a very particular mood to enjoy, but the centuries & millennia long view of civilization the series takes is currently oddly comforting.
May:
Star Wars: The High Republic Volume 1: There Is No Fear (Star Wars: The High Republic #1-5 written by Cavan Scott, art by Ario Anindito, Mark Morales, and Annalisa Leoni) - This is my second foray into the High Republic publishing slate. It picks up shortly after the end of Light of the Jedi and focuses on the adventures of recently-knighted Jedi Keeve Trennis, as the Starlight Beacon accidentally wakes an ancient horror.
I really enjoyed it, I found Keeve to be a really endearing protagonist and I really enjoyed her relationship with her Master, the trandoshan Sskeer who had a bit part back in Light of the Jedi. (The High Republic has generally had some great Master/Padawan bond content). There's also some interesting exploration of Force connectivity, which I'm always down for. Someone involved, either the artist or the author, clearly has a tentacle fetish, but that is neither here nor there. The volume ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, but that's pretty par for the course with these comics.
How To Be A Victorian: A Dawn to Dusk Guide to Victorian Life by Ruth Goodman - Nonfiction, as the title suggest this is a detailed exploration of everyday life in Victorian England, from morning to night. Goodman does a good job talking about differences between socioeconomic classes, urban vs rural differences, and how customs and technologies changed over the ~60 years of Victoria's reign.
Goodman includes a lot of detail from primary sources like books, newspapers, and magazine clippings, exploration of surviving clothing and other artifacts, as well as a her own background in living history type stuff. Her writing style was really engaging, and I really liked reading about her own experiments with following historical methods.
June:
What Angels Fear by C. S. Harris (Sebastian St. Cyr Mysteries #1) - This is a historical fiction whodunnit murder mystery set during the Napoleonic/Regency era, about a troubled young nobleman who gets framed for murder and sets out to prove his innocence. There's romance, political intrigue, and family drama galore, which hits a lot of my id tropes.
I was going to comment that it very much felt like a first novel, but then I did some digging and found out the author has published like 6 previous novels under a different pen name.The political/social commentary was kind of hamhanded and some of the historical vibes didn't really pass the sniff test for me. I mostly enjoyed it but am debating whether giving the next in the series a try is worth it.
Star Wars: The High Republic Volume 2: The Heart of Drengir (Star Wars: The High Republic #6-10 written by Cavan Scott, art by Georges Jeanty, Ario Anindito, and like 9 other people lol) - Keeve Trennis's adventures continue. Issues 6-8 wrap up the plot arc from the previous volume, while 9-10 launch the next arc which ties back into the Nihil plotline from Light of the Jedi. Comic TPBs tend to run 5-6 issues, but the way these two arcs are stitched together in this volume is kind of awkward.
I still enjoyed this volume (Keeve & Sskeer remain great, and I like Jedi Vision GhostLady), but it's pretty obvious I need to catch up on the YA & Middle Grade books to fully appreciate all the plot points. The first volume was very readable as a standalone, but with this one I could tell I was missing things. I wish there was a better reading order guide than any of the ones I've found online.
2022 reading goal progress: Total books: 13 of 50; nonfiction: 3 of 7.
This goal is not going great. I'm going to put 25% of the blame on having to read a lot for school and 75% on being sad and lacking self-discipline.
I'm currently about 3/4 of the way through Excession by Iain M. Banks, which I missed during my first read-through of the Culture novels a couple of years ago. It's the kind of edgy dude scifi I need to be in a very particular mood to enjoy, but the centuries & millennia long view of civilization the series takes is currently oddly comforting.
