#but I think after absorbing lotr content for 5 years

[femslashspuffy]

Something I really believe is that every time you join a fandom it has to be the right time. That's why back in 2018 I couldn't get through supernatural and why I'm still waiting to get back into doctor who season 6

But today, I think I finally found the right exact time in my life to watch lord of the rings at the point where I will both understand and enjoy it and I am very excited

#rehks rants #that's why I don't really like 'you have to watch this you have to watch this now' #and if you try to force it it can set you back so far (like what happened with supernatural and lotr the first time) #I tried to watch lotr when I was 13 and trying to get through all the classic fandoms #and I just could not do it #but I think after absorbing lotr content for 5 years #I can finally do it #it's on prime and I'm gonna watch it the second this mummy movie is over

[verecunda]

2021 book meme

Tagged by @xserpx. Thank you! :) The first half of this year has been mostly dominated by research-reading and rereading LOTR and The Hobbit, so I’m not sure my answers will be very varied, but here goes!

1. Best book you have read in 2021 so far?

LOTR aside, the best novel would definitely have to be Song for a Dark Queen, Rosemary Sutcliff’s novel about Boudicca. Utterly absorbing and harrowing, it doesn’t shrink from including the atrocities committed by both sides, though without ever being graphic. (That one line - “I will not tell, I will not remember, how they died, those women.” - is absolutely devastating in its very obscurity.) The real history is terrible by itself, and Sutcliff, as per usual, is able to imbue her fictional take with mythological motifs that turn it into a dark, awful (in all senses) tale of sacrilege and sovereignty. I’ve only ever read snippets of Manda Scott’s Boudica series, but from what I’ve seen, this children’s novel makes her New Agey woo-woo take on Boudicca look like a joke.

Also, despite the darkness of the overall story, it’s not grimdark drudgery. There are many moments of warmth and compassion and gentleness (admittedly rendered bittersweet), and she gives the Roman perspective on events through the device of letters written by the young Agricola to his mother, and his voice is very charming.

2. Best sequel you have read in 2021 so far?

Does LOTR count? 😂 

3. A new release you want to check out?

I’ve seen quite a few things that seem relevant to my interests. I really like the look of Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. And from various Waterstones emails I’ve seen The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper, and Rumaysa by Radiya Hafiza.

4. Most anticipated book release of the second half of the year?

Not actually for myself, but Silverlight, the posthumous Le Carré which is being published in October, couldn’t come along at a better time, since my dad recently became a Le Carré nut. So guess what he’s getting for Christmas! ;)

5. Biggest disappointment?

Probably Persona Non Grata (aka Ruso and the Root of All Evil) by Ruth Downie. This one’s been sitting on my shelf for years, so I decided to reread the first two in the series to refresh myself (which I enjoyed again), and then that. Downie has a really nice touch with humour, but the mystery plot was so obvious it hardly seemed worth the bother, but most of all I came to the realisation that I really Do Not Ship the central couple. Now, if you come here often, you’ll surely be aware that Nice Dude Roman Soldier/Strong-Willed Brigantian Slave is a dynamic that is dear to my heart, but tensions aside, their relationship is very short on any kind of tenderness, emotional intimacy, or even the sense of the two of them united in their efforts to solve the mystery. (Funnily enough, it was a similar issue that made me decide to bail on the Falco series just three or four books in.)

6. Biggest surprise?

I don’t think there have been any particularly?

7. Favourite new author (either new to you or debut)?

Hm. The only new-to-me authors I think I’ve read so far have been Amyas Northcote (In Ghostly Company) and Keith Roberts (The Boat of Fate), but since I wasn’t exactly wowed by either of those... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

8. Favourite new fictional crush?

Don’t think I have any new ones, but certainly reading LOTR just reinforced my undying love for Faramir. *sigh*

9. Newest favourite character?

Probably Facilis from Island of Ghosts, by Gillian Bradshaw. He starts off as (apparently) your typical horrible, bigoted centurion character, but as the story goes on, he reveals hidden depths. His hatred of the Sarmatians turns out to stem from the fact that his son was killed by a Sarmatian warrior - while he was unarmed, no less (like Sutcliff, Bradshaw is very good at exploring the outrages of Roman imperialism, while pointing out that all sides in war are capable of atrocities) - and he and the Sarmatian protagonist Ariantes end up becoming friends as they work together to prevent a war. He also helps a slave girl escape from her abusive mistress and later adopts her as his daughter. And he has even greater depths, but they’re rather more spoilery...)

I just love characters like this: ones that demonstrate the common humanity, even between enemies; and outwardly horrible characters who turn out to have unexpectedly compassionate sides.

10. A book that made you cry?

LOTR again, gosh, so many times. Can’t remember exactly, but I’m pretty sure I cried at Song For a Dark Queen as well.

11. A book that made you happy?

LOTR and The Hobbit are unending sources of joy. Island of Ghosts was also a very positive read, a story essentially about finding healing and peace after loss and trauma.

12. Most beautiful book you have bought or received this year?

Is that beautiful as in content, or beautiful as in the object itself? Going by the latter, I’ve actually been trying to avoid buying too many new books, but I’ve just got myself new copies of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, after failing to find my old copies, and they look rather swanky.

13. What book do you need to read by the end of the year?

Don’t think there are any I need to read, but there’s plenty I want to read. I’m still very much on a Middle-earth kick, so I’d like to read The Silmarillion in full at last. I started Rosemary Sutcliff’s autobiography Blue Remembered Hills back in *gulp* December, so I should probably finish that! I’ve also got quite a lot of books I want to go through for novel research.

Apart from that, I’m trying to clear space on my bookshelves (because I actually have none left), so there’s quite a lot of books, mostly cosy mysteries and random history books, things I know I’ll probably only read once. I want to get a fair few of them read, so I can just cart them straight down to the shop when I go back.

I tag: @pythionice, @bryndeavour, @themalhambird, @tatzelwyrm, @theresonlyzuul, and anyone else who feels like it!

#meme #books!