Lay down for a while, recollect

[dolorosa_12]

Reading is off to a good start this year. I've finished three books, and should be done with a fourth by the end of today.

I wanted to start my 2024 reading with The Temple of Fortuna, the third book in Elodie Harper's historical fiction trilogy about enslaved women who worked in a brothel in Pompeii (their names are taken from real graffiti, but everything else about their lives is fictionalised). The first two books were excellent, so the idea was to save up the third, and start the year's reading on a high note. Unfortunately, The Temple of Fortuna is the weakest of the bunch. It reads like two books awkwardly merged together (its first half follows our protagonist, Amara — formerly enslaved in the brothel, then freed by a besotted patron who loses interest in her once his paternalistic rescue fantasy has played out — during her time in Rome with another patron, with an empahsis on the precarious position of women at the margins of political power, the second half is all about the volcanic eruption and Amara's attempts to save herself, her young daughter, and the father of her daughter from the destruction), and it has a happy ending which feels entirely unearned. It's a trilogy in which two-and-a-half books are about dispossessed people, and their bitter struggle for survival, and the fact that they can progress socially, acquire wealth, material comforts, and a measure of respectability, but they will never be truly safe or secure from some kind of exploitation and must be constantly vigilant for it — and then the final half book just handwaves that all away as if it were nothing. This is one series that definitely did not stick the landing.

Back when I had just graduated from university, I spent about six months living with my dad, during a rather stressful, emotionally difficult period of both our lives. It's not a time that I look back on with much fondness, but one good memory from that time was reading my way through every George Orwell book that my dad had in his house, and having endless discussions with him about them. Dad clearly remembered last year that one of the few things we can agree on is Orwell, and sent me DJ Taylor's biography (Orwell: the Life). This is not the most recent biography, the one that focuses on how terrible Orwell was to women — this book was published in 2003, and is a much more conventional chronological survey of his life and work. It's fine, as far as biographies go, although it has an annoying tendency to speculate wildly about its subject's motivations and experiences in periods (such as Orwell's childhood or time in Burma and Paris) in which the written record is limited.

The third book I read, however, was excellent. The Pomegranate Gate (Ariel Kaplan) is the first in a fantasy series set during the dying days of Islamic Spain, and the advent of Christian rule, with a twin focus on the experiences of Jewish people on the Iberian peninsula during this time, and on Jewish folklore, mythology and mysticism of the era, from which it draws its supernatural elements. Kaplan has compressed the timeline somewhat (forced conversions, expulsions, and Inquisitorial persecution of forced Jewish converts to Christianity seem to be happening almost simultaneously and immediately after the switch from Muslim to Christian rule in the final holdout areas), which is possibly my only quibble, since from my perspective this decision seems taken solely to amplify the sense of threat and urgency and make it easier for the narrative to unfold. Half of the story follows characters who are struggling to survive and make decisions about their lives in the wake of the violent destruction of their world, the other half takes place in a magical, supernatural world whose beings are undergoing similarly violent upheavals, and eventually the stories converge. (My tag for this particular kind of story doesn't quite fit, since we've got not only thinking women, but thinking people of other genders sleeping with monsters here...) The characters are wonderful, the setting is rich and vivid, and I'm only sorry that it's the first in a series and I'll have to wait for a while to get the next installment. Do bear in mind that due to the setting and subject matter, this is not a lighthearted read — the book is about violent antisemitism and all the horrible forms this can take, and the pain and terror that it causes its targets. But it's also about survival, and community, and the bravery it takes to continue to survive as a distinct community and people in the wake of such horrors.

Today's prompt is IceBreaker Challenge! Tell us about yourself.

Since I seem to have started a sort of 'three things' theme to this post, I will list this in sets of threes.

Although I've had nearly thirty different jobs, I would describe myself as having (so far) changing career twice, or in other words having had three careers (newspaper journalism, academia, librarianship). The weirdest job I've ever had — when listed without much detail — was working for a circus.

I watched Mad Max: Fury Road three times in the cinema (and countless other times since). I am not looking forward to the prequel.

My three favourite icebreaker questions are: what is your favourite body of water (and why)?; which book would you ask people to read if you wanted them to understand something essential about you without you having to explain it? and; what is your favourite comfort food?

Finally, three fandom-related things.

bestof_icons is hosting an event to vote for the best icon makers of 2023. Currently, nominations are open.


ICON NOMINATIONS - JOIN IN!

fandomtrees is still looking for pinch-hitters to fill prompts for needy trees. There are more details on the comm, and a spreadsheet listing participants' requests.

Someone made podfic of one of my fics! This is the first time this has ever happened, and I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet (it seems to be part of some kind of Obernewtyn challenge — I should contact the podficcer and see if there's an active fandom somewhere I don't know about), but I'm very pleased it exists!

[Podfic] Mirrored Flame (29 words) by robinfaipods
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Obernewtyn Chronicles - Isobelle Carmody
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Elspeth Gordie, Dragon (Obernewtyn Chronicles)
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Podfic, Podfic Length: 10-20 Minutes, Audio Format: MP3, Audio Format: Streaming, Audio Format: Download
Summary:

Three years after the events of The Red Queen, Elspeth Gordie returns to Redport.

Podfic of Mirrored Flame by Dolorosa.

This post is getting incredibly long, so I think I'll stop here. I hope everyone's been having lovely weekends!