Chapter Two Hundred Twenty-One: Jane on the Brain

As a non-fiction companion to my reading of Jane Austen's novels, I listened to a new non-fiction audiobook called Jane on the Brain: Exploring the Science of Social  Intelligence with Jane Austen by Wendy Jones.  I hadn't read all of the novels by the time I listened to this book, so I can safely say that you don't have to have read Austen to enjoy and learn something from this book, which is as much psychology as literary analysis, although you'll probably get more out of it if you have read at least some of Austen's novels.  Jones uses Austen's characters to provide examples of various psychological concepts, simultaneously shedding light on the books and on psychology on an accessible, introductory level.  I really enjoyed this listen, so if you're interested in either Austen or psychology, I'd definitely suggest checking out Jane on the Brain.

Chapter Two Hundred Twenty: Jane Austen's novels

So, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I've spent much of my leisure reading time this winter delving into Jane Austen's six (completed) novels.  I had only ever read Pride and Prejudice before, and I really enjoy it, so I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to get around to reading the rest of her works, but now I'm very glad that I've taken the time to read them all.  While Emma and Sense and Sensibility were my least favorite of the bunch--Emma because the titular character is so obnoxious during most of the novel and Sense and Sensibility because it exposes so much of the casual quotidian cruelty of people--I'm glad to have read them, and will probably read them again in the course of my lifetime.  Mansfield Park, though long and with the icky (to this modern reader, though probably not to Austen's contemporaries) main romance between first cousins, I actually found to be more enjoyable than I'd anticipated, probably because I found the timid and downtrodden but sensible and kind Fanny Price to be such a sympathetic main character, if somewhat frustrating for her passivity.  Northanger Abbey, for its satire and the personal growth of its young heroine, has won a warm spot in my heart, and I liked Persuasion almost as much as Pride and Prejudice--high praise, indeed!  Although I have to admit that, re-reading Pride and Prejudice after I'd read the others for the first time, it's still my favorite, and if you've never read any Austen, I would still suggest starting with Pride and Prejudice.  I so appreciate that Austen's novels combine satire with good endings, cleverness with deep feeling, interiority with plot, and I'd strongly suggest that everyone go and read at least one of them. 

Chapter Two Hundred Nineteen: Half a King

While I wouldn't have chosen Joe Abercrombie's Half a King for myself, I read it for a book group, and at the least I can say it surpassed my admittedly low expectations.  As the blurbs on its cover suggest, it is a story of violence and revenge--not my taste at all, but given that, I found the plot to be compelling enough that I wanted to pick the book up again once I'd put it down.

However, I'm not sure exactly what to make of the main character's disability (his left hand has only a thumb and index finger).  I felt that his constant self-doubt and self-deprecation as a result of his different hand was a bit wearing and unoriginal; his focus is constantly on what he cannot do or be as a result of his physical difference, rather than on the things he can do and be.  While he exhibits some growth in this regard, partly as a result of being enslaved (see next paragraph), I would have really been far more into a book that shows a person with a disability who isn't mainly defined by that disability, as Yarvi seems to be.  I will say that Half a King does, at least, largely evade the horrible trope of characters with disabilities who are medically or magically cured by the end of the book.  (Though apparently there are sequels to Half a King which I haven't read, so I can't vouch for the fate of Yarvi's hand in them...)  While Yarvi feels more confident about himself by the end of the novel, it is not because his left hand has not been medically or magically enhanced in any way. 

Yet a big problem is that Yarvi's increased confidence comes mostly as a result of his enslavement.  He's never been much of a fighter and has been more of a weakling, and he's forced into better shape by his time as a slave--an absurd and tired trope of so much literature, especially of speculative fiction, that if one is forced into horrible feats of physical endurance, usually as a result of enslavement or kidnapping, one will emerge physically fit.  What baloney.  The upside to being enslaved is not that you become physically stronger and more confident.  The upside to being enslaved is--oh, wait, there is no upside to being enslaved.  It's amazing how many books seem to forget that, even as they describe filthy conditions, near starvation, and whippings.  How much more interesting would it be to have had Yarvi decide, for his own reasons of vengeance or whatever, that he was going to make the effort himself to become stronger and more confident, and then follow it through? 

Despite these (rather large) reservations, I'll remind my gentle readers once more that my complaints about Half a King are by no means unique to this book, and, in fact, are found in some form or another in many fantasy novels (and in other genres, too).  Still, if the best I can say about a book is that it does no worse than other novels on a couple of tropes, that's not exactly a ringing praise...  I can't really write my encouragement here to go and read this book for its own sake, but I will say it offers a lot of points for thought and critique.

Chapter Two Hundred Eighteen: Miracle and Other Christmas Stories

Okay, I know I really missed the boat for posting about this one, but it's a collection of Christmas stories by my favorite favorite, Connie Willis!  I hadn't read it before, and it was just what I wanted around Christmas--short stories (because I was busy, obviously too busy to blog) that have just the right mix of otherworldliness and Christmas sentimentality.  Anyway, enjoy this post in way early preparation for next Christmas, and in not-very-early preparation for my annual midwinter/gray months re-read of Connie Willis, which is coming just as soon as I finish my current trek through Austen's works...  (Look for a near-future post on that adventure!) 

Chapter Two Hundred Seventeen: The Lost Plot

So I haven't had time to post in a while, but I have had time to read!  (Though there's never as much time to read as I'd like...)  In January, I was excited to read the newly released fourth Invisible Library book by Genevieve Cogman (see here for my thoughts on the first three in the series), and I am happy to say I enjoyed it at least as much as the first three.  I particularly appreciated Irene's and Kai's development as characters in this novel and the continued world building, particularly as regards the internal politics of the Library, though I still want to learn more about that in future books.  If you liked the first three, I don't think The Lost Plot will disappoint, and if you haven't read any of this series but are looking for solid fantasy novels written for adults (about secret agent librarians, no less!), give this series a try.