Book round-up: October and November 2021
Dec. 12th, 2021 01:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sixthlightRead some cool new fiction, some OK new fiction, and some fairly eclectic non-fiction; somehow just did not find the willpower to write it up until now. The last quarter of this year has been....A Lot.
Non-fiction
Polynesia 900-1600 (Madi Williams)
When I reserved this book from the library I thought it would be a textbook; it's actually a bite-sized overview of the period (literally - 90 pages and A5-sized) but I found it really interesting to have Pacific history contextualised in the same way the "Middle Ages" are for Europe. Most of it is focused on archaeology rather than a deep-delve into the oral histories of the period; I think that would be a different and much longer book.
Engineering A Safer World (Nancy G Leveson)
This is a textbook, a big heavy one on systems safety engineering. I didn't make it all the way through the case study chapters but the first half - which focuses on systems safety concepts - I found extremely useful and even revelatory. In some cases the revelation was "systems engineers haven't really been encouraged to think about human psychology as a component of systems safety until the last decade", which is...uh...terrifying...but at least they're onto it now? Absolutely cannot recommend unless you read the words 'systems safety engineering' and think 'oooh, tell me more'. For better or worse I am that person.
Uprising (Nic Low)>
Sort of a very specific autobiography of the author reconnecting with the Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand (Kā Tiritiri o te Moana) through walking in the footsteps and stories of his Kai Tahu ancestors, after learning them as a child through tramping with his Pākehā father. This is probably the first history book I've read that really brings alive what most Kiwis think of as 'wilderness' as a place where people lived pre-colonisation. It made a great counterpoint to the biography I read earlier in the year of the scientist who discovered the Alpine Fault, which covered the same territory through an entirely Pākehā lens. Thoroughly recommended.
The Streets of My City: Wellington New Zealand (F L Irvine-Smith)
A 1948 book which explains the street names of Wellington as it was then. In contrast to Uprising, this is from an entirely Pākehā if not just British viewpoint (Edward Wakefield is referred to approvingly as the 'Great Coloniser', that's the tone we're dealing with), but having recently found out some of my family were in Wellington from the 1840s on (prior to that as far as I knew there had only been some living here briefly in the 1920s, before my parents moved here in the 80s), it was very interesting to get a sense of the town they would have inhabited. The biggest surprise was probably how often the author acknowledged that everybody knew what the Māori name for a location was, and then blithely went 'but then we renamed it!', rather than the Māori names having been forgotten - which is the impression I got growing up in the 1990s.
Early Wellington (Louis E Ward)
Similar in tone to the prior book but written in 1929 (I am amazed the library let me get out an original copy!!!). This is more of a history, spending a lot of time on the 1840-1870 period and giving lists of all the colonists on various ships in excruciating detail. Having grown up in Wellington in the 1990s there really wasn't any push to teach us about the history of our own city; it makes just walking around much more interesting to have read this. I had to pause and stare at the wall for a bit when I got to the section praising Wellington for its world-leading electric tram system, though. We could have had it aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallll, etc.
Fiction
One Night in Boukos (A J Demas)
Gave this a crack after I had a middling reaction to Sword Dance, since I know so many of my friends like the author's work. It's a combined m/f m/m romance set in Fantasy Ancient Greece (the trappings are not subtle). It was...fine? It was fine. The author is really interested in eunuchs and I am...less interested than they are. Might read more of their work if I was stuck somewhere and found them on the shelf, will not be purchasing more of it.
Oaths of Legacy (Emily Skrutskie)
Big dumb trope-y space opera, second in a trilogy, which I am eating up with a spoon. Friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers, a queerplatonic sort of love triangle, evil empires, an unreliable narrator in the most hilarious way. You will see the trilogy described some places as serial-numbers-filed-off FinnPoe fanfic but, while the nods to Star Wars are many and unsubtle, to confine it to that box does it a disservice. Cannot wait for the final book next year.
Remote Control (Nnedi Okorafor)
Near-future SF; a young girl in Ghana is granted a terrible power by an alien force, but really it's about coming to terms with death and grief. Heavy going but very good.
The Jasmine Throne (Tasha Suri)
An imprisoned princess and the priestess of an ancient religion, hidden as a maidservant in the conquered temple she grew up in, find allies in each other - and that they share a common enemy. Like Suri's first two books this is set in Fantasy India, and it features women dealing with the constraints of their society, but this is a different world and the action is kicked up a lot of notches. I would let both Malini and Priya step on me (but also I want to read about them stepping on their enemies). The sequel, The Oleander Sword, is out next year. Light warning for body horror.
Star Eater (Kerstin Hall)
A junior priestess in a matriarchal religion that rigidly controls the city she has grown up in starts to uncover cracks in the facade, at the same time as she struggles with her forbidden attraction to a male friend (and the possibility of a more socially safe one to his sister). There are some strong resonances with the Aes Sedai and the Wheel of Time in the worldbuilding, but this is very much its own thing in the end, and probably a stand-alone piece. I really enjoyed the way the story and the worldbuilding spiralled outwards together, as well as the casual queerness of the society. The ending felt a little abrupt but it wasn't a deal-breaker. Warning: this is a cannibalism-based magic system and it is...pretty vivid on the page.
Black Water Sister Zen Cho
Lesbian Jess has come to Penang to live with her parents after growing up in the US. She's in a closeted long-distance relationship, at a complete loose end as to where her life is going...and now she's been possessed by the ghost of her grandmother, who has an unfinished grudge to deal with. Urban fantasy/horror; I found the horror elements manageable but there's a scene with the threat of sexual violence late in the piece I wasn't expecting, which was pretty tough (Sorcerer to the Crown, this book is not). However, like Cho's other work it's incredibly vivid in terms of place and time and character. It's also close enough to home for me to feel weirdly local, which I think is why some of the violence hit so hard.
Non-fiction
Polynesia 900-1600 (Madi Williams)
When I reserved this book from the library I thought it would be a textbook; it's actually a bite-sized overview of the period (literally - 90 pages and A5-sized) but I found it really interesting to have Pacific history contextualised in the same way the "Middle Ages" are for Europe. Most of it is focused on archaeology rather than a deep-delve into the oral histories of the period; I think that would be a different and much longer book.
Engineering A Safer World (Nancy G Leveson)
This is a textbook, a big heavy one on systems safety engineering. I didn't make it all the way through the case study chapters but the first half - which focuses on systems safety concepts - I found extremely useful and even revelatory. In some cases the revelation was "systems engineers haven't really been encouraged to think about human psychology as a component of systems safety until the last decade", which is...uh...terrifying...but at least they're onto it now? Absolutely cannot recommend unless you read the words 'systems safety engineering' and think 'oooh, tell me more'. For better or worse I am that person.
Uprising (Nic Low)>
Sort of a very specific autobiography of the author reconnecting with the Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand (Kā Tiritiri o te Moana) through walking in the footsteps and stories of his Kai Tahu ancestors, after learning them as a child through tramping with his Pākehā father. This is probably the first history book I've read that really brings alive what most Kiwis think of as 'wilderness' as a place where people lived pre-colonisation. It made a great counterpoint to the biography I read earlier in the year of the scientist who discovered the Alpine Fault, which covered the same territory through an entirely Pākehā lens. Thoroughly recommended.
The Streets of My City: Wellington New Zealand (F L Irvine-Smith)
A 1948 book which explains the street names of Wellington as it was then. In contrast to Uprising, this is from an entirely Pākehā if not just British viewpoint (Edward Wakefield is referred to approvingly as the 'Great Coloniser', that's the tone we're dealing with), but having recently found out some of my family were in Wellington from the 1840s on (prior to that as far as I knew there had only been some living here briefly in the 1920s, before my parents moved here in the 80s), it was very interesting to get a sense of the town they would have inhabited. The biggest surprise was probably how often the author acknowledged that everybody knew what the Māori name for a location was, and then blithely went 'but then we renamed it!', rather than the Māori names having been forgotten - which is the impression I got growing up in the 1990s.
Early Wellington (Louis E Ward)
Similar in tone to the prior book but written in 1929 (I am amazed the library let me get out an original copy!!!). This is more of a history, spending a lot of time on the 1840-1870 period and giving lists of all the colonists on various ships in excruciating detail. Having grown up in Wellington in the 1990s there really wasn't any push to teach us about the history of our own city; it makes just walking around much more interesting to have read this. I had to pause and stare at the wall for a bit when I got to the section praising Wellington for its world-leading electric tram system, though. We could have had it aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallll, etc.
Fiction
One Night in Boukos (A J Demas)
Gave this a crack after I had a middling reaction to Sword Dance, since I know so many of my friends like the author's work. It's a combined m/f m/m romance set in Fantasy Ancient Greece (the trappings are not subtle). It was...fine? It was fine. The author is really interested in eunuchs and I am...less interested than they are. Might read more of their work if I was stuck somewhere and found them on the shelf, will not be purchasing more of it.
Oaths of Legacy (Emily Skrutskie)
Big dumb trope-y space opera, second in a trilogy, which I am eating up with a spoon. Friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers, a queerplatonic sort of love triangle, evil empires, an unreliable narrator in the most hilarious way. You will see the trilogy described some places as serial-numbers-filed-off FinnPoe fanfic but, while the nods to Star Wars are many and unsubtle, to confine it to that box does it a disservice. Cannot wait for the final book next year.
Remote Control (Nnedi Okorafor)
Near-future SF; a young girl in Ghana is granted a terrible power by an alien force, but really it's about coming to terms with death and grief. Heavy going but very good.
The Jasmine Throne (Tasha Suri)
An imprisoned princess and the priestess of an ancient religion, hidden as a maidservant in the conquered temple she grew up in, find allies in each other - and that they share a common enemy. Like Suri's first two books this is set in Fantasy India, and it features women dealing with the constraints of their society, but this is a different world and the action is kicked up a lot of notches. I would let both Malini and Priya step on me (but also I want to read about them stepping on their enemies). The sequel, The Oleander Sword, is out next year. Light warning for body horror.
Star Eater (Kerstin Hall)
A junior priestess in a matriarchal religion that rigidly controls the city she has grown up in starts to uncover cracks in the facade, at the same time as she struggles with her forbidden attraction to a male friend (and the possibility of a more socially safe one to his sister). There are some strong resonances with the Aes Sedai and the Wheel of Time in the worldbuilding, but this is very much its own thing in the end, and probably a stand-alone piece. I really enjoyed the way the story and the worldbuilding spiralled outwards together, as well as the casual queerness of the society. The ending felt a little abrupt but it wasn't a deal-breaker. Warning: this is a cannibalism-based magic system and it is...pretty vivid on the page.
Black Water Sister Zen Cho
Lesbian Jess has come to Penang to live with her parents after growing up in the US. She's in a closeted long-distance relationship, at a complete loose end as to where her life is going...and now she's been possessed by the ghost of her grandmother, who has an unfinished grudge to deal with. Urban fantasy/horror; I found the horror elements manageable but there's a scene with the threat of sexual violence late in the piece I wasn't expecting, which was pretty tough (Sorcerer to the Crown, this book is not). However, like Cho's other work it's incredibly vivid in terms of place and time and character. It's also close enough to home for me to feel weirdly local, which I think is why some of the violence hit so hard.
