Wednesday, January 21, 2015

this week's reading list

(To make up for last week's absence, I'm posting twice this week, with a short story coming up for Fiction Friday.)


Currently reading:


1. On the Jellicoe Road, by Melina Marchetta


I read her other books, Saving Francesca and Looking for Alibrandi when I was 14, and I fell completely in love. Marchetta's writing was the contact I had with first Australian YA fiction, and it opened up the way I saw how contemporary fiction could be written. Full of heart and characters so real you wish they were your friends because you feel like you understand them and that they would understand you too.

I tried reading Jellicoe Road a few years back, but got thrown off by the complicated territory wars that didn't seem to relate to the main plot. Plus, the story was, like The Midnight Dress by Karen Foxlee (another terrific Australian YA author), told in a non-linear narrative. So it was kind of confusing, especially with the host of characters.

But I'm appreciating it more now during my second attempt. The poignant moments are never overdone, and I'm beginning to think it's an Australian thing. The story SEEMS light-hearted and funny, but the words worm their way right into your heart.




2. Ruin and Rising, by Leigh Bardugo


I don't want this story to end! The final installment in the Grisha trilogy is just as dramatic and all-encompassing and swoon-worthy and all around awesome I can't even! From the changing dynamics between Alina and Mal, Alina's gradual self-actualisation, the return of the fantabulous Nikolai Lantsov (someday, I aspire to have his level of confidence, wit, resourcefulness, and charm), the seductive power of the Darkling, and Bardugo's skill in world-building, book #3 is the most complex and enthralling in the trilogy, as it should be.


3. Encyclopedia of the Exquisite: An Anecdotal History of Elegant Delights, by Jessica Kerwin Jenkins


This compendium is so delectable I could eat it up. It's like a little cabinet of wonders, a treasure trove of bite-sized info on, well, exquisite things like the evolution of the Japanese kimono, unicorns, alchemy, tea, alfresco dining, fireworks, and masquerades. And okay, some of the entries weren't as scintillating (I don't think we need so much info on strings or tassels), but most of the entries, which are subjects in varied fields, set my mind alight with ideas and sometimes that's all you ask for in a book.


While searching for quotes from Jellicoe Road, I found this passage that made me spazz out from the GORGEOUS, lyrical imagery:


Google tells me it's from The Last Unicorn, a 1968 fantasy novel by Peter S. Beagle. Wikipedia tells me it's a story centered on a unicorn who, believing she's the last of her kind in the world, embarks on a journey to find out what happened to the others. She meets a host of diverse characters along the way, each of them bringing her closer to her goal. 

If that passage isn't reason enough to read it, the slew of five-star reviews on Goodreads definitely is. Now, off to get my hands on the book. 

Happy mid-week! :0)

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