Three things on a Sunday afternoon

[dolorosa_12]

This is one of those posts about unrelated things, none of which I feel really warrants a post of its own.

I stumbled across this excellent post by Ada Palmer on her blog. On the surface of things, it's about the two recent TV series about the Borgias, but what it's really about is being a professional historian (or someone who has deep historical knowledge about specific time periods), and learning to switch off that part of the brain when engaging with historical fiction. I really love the way Palmer writes — I haven't seen either series, but this doesn't matter, as her writing draws you in, no matter what the subject.

I've hit a bit of a reading slump, and it hasn't helped that the book I was reading, The Library of the Unwritten by AJ Hackwith, sounded cool in terms of concept (a librarian who spends the afterlife preserving and collecting all unwritten books, for the library of Hell), but really didn't work for me in terms of execution. It's the sort of book about books, stories, authors and bookishness that I think I would have adored fifteen years ago, but with which I am swiftly losing patience — the literary equivalent of Oscar-baity films about Hollywood. (Other recent examples of this subgenre of fantasy novel which I also found tooth-gratingly irritating include The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E Harrow, and The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (both of which were, indeed, pushed at me by Goodreads when I marked The Library of the Unwritten as 'read'.) I think it doesn't help that these types of stories have a tendency to be extremely twee — this wasn't as bad in that regard as Harrow's writing, but it was still too treacly for my tastes. I wanted more celestial and infernal politics, and less pontificating about the power of stories.

Talk to me about Yuletide! Who is planning to participate this year? What fandoms are you thinking of nominating? Nominations coordination in the comments is most welcome!

Comments

[morbane]

I wanted more celestial and infernal politics, and less pontificating about the power of stories.

This was an interesting thought to me, because I related to it and yet relating to it surprised me, as someone who (I will make this relevant!) often puts 'the power of stories' into a list of likes for fanfic gift exchanges. Thinking further, I think I like that message to be buried very deep down and for me to catch glimpses of it; if it's in a story as an Important Message, I want that message to tell me something new about the power of stories. But a piece of fiction telling me "Stories are powerful" and not going further with that concept is very offputting. It's not an insight. I want an insight.

I have no idea what I want for this year's Yuletide, and am making my own sign-up conditional on making progress on an auction fic.

[dolorosa_12]

See, I think I like stories about stories ... and yet the three most recent books that I've read with this particular trope have all irritated me profoundly. I'm not sure if it's just the fact that this type of book also tends to have magical libraries, and often really stereotypical librarian characters (the idea in The Library of the Unwritten that all librarians in Hell were failed authors was particularly irritating).

Thinking further, I think I like that message to be buried very deep down and for me to catch glimpses of it; if it's in a story as an Important Message, I want that message to tell me something new about the power of stories. But a piece of fiction telling me "Stories are powerful" and not going further with that concept is very offputting. It's not an insight. I want an insight.

I think you've hit the nail on the head, here. I want subtlety!

I wish you speedy progress on the auction fic!