Reading Wednesday

[sabotabby]

Just finished: Together We Rise by Richie Billing. This is about an uprising in a fantasy city (the fantasy element comes in about 4/5 through the book), with the curious decision to begin the story at the moment that a bunch of people, from different classes and walks of life, all agree that revolution is necessary. I don't like to harsh on indie authors, particularly in public posts, and particularly one whose heart and politics appear to be in the right place. But then the book ended with turns out it was an evil wizard who's secretly a member of an Always Evil Race that infiltrates and controls human politics behind the scenes so I'm going to have to rag on it at least a little. I mean. This is why the editorial process exists, to get someone like me to go, "um...problematic."

Currently reading: Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich. I continue to make slow progress on this but I also continue to enjoy it. I especially loved the story about the guy who keeps breaking out of prison, and the young man who tries to restore the love between his grandparents (for which the book is named).

Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit. Wow, I thought the title was going to be a metaphor but no, this is literally about roses that George Orwell planted at his house in the British countryside that are maybe still there. I mean, it's Rebecca Solnit, so it's also a metaphor and a complicated examination of the "roses" bit of "bread and roses." Orwell's love of nature and the role it played in his anti-authoritarian politics are woven into a narrative about everything from Stalin's disastrous embrace of Lamarckian, the Spanish Civil War, Englishness, colonialism, and the modern-day cruelties of industrial flower production. I actually hadn't heard much hype about this book, despite generally being in circles where the release of a new Solnit book is a big deal—possibly because it's quite a bit weirder than some of her others.

Ultimately, she's in the business of providing hope in the darkness, and this is that too, despite its bittersweet tone. It would make a really good companion read with Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

Comments

[sovay]

I actually hadn't heard much hype about this book, despite generally being in circles where the release of a new Solnit book is a big deal—possibly because it's quite a bit weirder than some of her others.

I hadn't heard about it at all and it sounds great, so thank you for the heads-up!

Condolences on the secret evil wizard cabal.

cabal

[frandroid]

lol