Media Round Up: Look, some books!
Apr. 7th, 2023 10:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
forestofgloryI’ve been mostly reading fanfic and barely watching anything recently so it’s been a while since I posted a media round up. However I recently sat down and wrote myself a list of books that I want to read before WisCon and then actually read a couple of them. So now I have some media thoughts to share.
Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai—This is a romance novel where the main characters are a Chinese transcendent (仙) and a French half elf. Though knowing only that about the book I was surprised at how much action there was. I guess this could be classified as paranormal, it's set in our world but with secret magical beings. This was fun! I liked both the main characters, and how they had complex connections with the people around them. I did wish that the bigger picture worldbuilding was more filled out. What does the organization they both work for actually do? Why is magic a secret? What is the emotional impact of being long lived enough to have lived through the 20th century with all its violence? But these things weren't the focus of the story, and I did enjoy the story very much.
Uncommon Charm by Emily Bergslien and Kat Weaver— This story is set in London in the 1920s and about Julia who was recently expelled from boarding school, and Simon her mother's new Jewish student. This novella was unsettling to read. It's very much the kind of book that throws the reader into the middle of things without explaining anything, and normally I like that, but here I never quite got my bearings. Additionally it's a story full of dark secrets, and I was never sure what the protagonist knew and what was a surprise to her. So it made me feel off balance and like I was missing key information. (Content note: child death and child sexual abuse that take place well before when this story is set)
Divine, Demonic, and Disordered: Women Without Men in Song Dynasty China by Hsiao-Wen Cheng—I loved this! It was so interesting and full of historical stories about possession and daoist transcendents. It really added to my understanding of spirits and cultivation. Plus there was a lot of interesting stuff about gender and sexuality in here. (Content note: pregnancy, body horror)
New Life Begins (2022), ep 28-30 — It might be time to admit that this is working for me anymore. I keep thinking I want to watch more but not actually watching any. I really like the women and their relationships in this show, but I feel neutral about or dislike all the male characters. Which would be fine if they men where a little bit easier to ignore, but they are often the focus of the show.
Green Year Dragonfly by Kaye Bellot—I enjoyed this epistory fantasy story about a runaway house. It was cute and fun. There where a lot of different letter writers and they all had distinct voices
Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai—This is a romance novel where the main characters are a Chinese transcendent (仙) and a French half elf. Though knowing only that about the book I was surprised at how much action there was. I guess this could be classified as paranormal, it's set in our world but with secret magical beings. This was fun! I liked both the main characters, and how they had complex connections with the people around them. I did wish that the bigger picture worldbuilding was more filled out. What does the organization they both work for actually do? Why is magic a secret? What is the emotional impact of being long lived enough to have lived through the 20th century with all its violence? But these things weren't the focus of the story, and I did enjoy the story very much.
Uncommon Charm by Emily Bergslien and Kat Weaver— This story is set in London in the 1920s and about Julia who was recently expelled from boarding school, and Simon her mother's new Jewish student. This novella was unsettling to read. It's very much the kind of book that throws the reader into the middle of things without explaining anything, and normally I like that, but here I never quite got my bearings. Additionally it's a story full of dark secrets, and I was never sure what the protagonist knew and what was a surprise to her. So it made me feel off balance and like I was missing key information. (Content note: child death and child sexual abuse that take place well before when this story is set)
Divine, Demonic, and Disordered: Women Without Men in Song Dynasty China by Hsiao-Wen Cheng—I loved this! It was so interesting and full of historical stories about possession and daoist transcendents. It really added to my understanding of spirits and cultivation. Plus there was a lot of interesting stuff about gender and sexuality in here. (Content note: pregnancy, body horror)
New Life Begins (2022), ep 28-30 — It might be time to admit that this is working for me anymore. I keep thinking I want to watch more but not actually watching any. I really like the women and their relationships in this show, but I feel neutral about or dislike all the male characters. Which would be fine if they men where a little bit easier to ignore, but they are often the focus of the show.
spoilers
It really didn’t help that the ML has been torturing people for information and the show has shown this in positive lightGreen Year Dragonfly by Kaye Bellot—I enjoyed this epistory fantasy story about a runaway house. It was cute and fun. There where a lot of different letter writers and they all had distinct voices
no subject
Date: 2023-04-08 06:51 pm (UTC)Re: New Life Begins, I did think it picked up again towards the end, and the last episode really brings it back to all the female relationships, but it's not one of those shows that is So Amazing I feel the need to heavily encourage people to push through. (Iirc, there was something about how he was really only using the rumor of torture, but I wasn't paying super close attention to that arc and it was a while ago.)