saw, read, reviewed

- brief reviews of books, disparate - probably by women, but I won't swear to it - a veces en español - she/her -

[classical-linguist]

pegasus books, wellington nz

(picture my own)

[samanthamulder]

oh when I tell you I need all of these [x]

[dreamertrilogys]

literally die

[certifiedlibraryposts]

Certified Library Post

[sawreadreviewed]

Mate (of course) and a chance discovery at the library: The Man Who Shot Out My Eye Is Dead by Chanelle Benz. So far, every single story in this collection has been a perfectly cut gem. Apparently she’s written a novel. Guess what’s getting checked out next…

[sawreadreviewed]

Pilar Quintana’s Los abismos and echinacea tea because I am sick. Los abismos is a fast reas because the language is simple and there’s not a lot of it per page, but it’s a slow read because I’m halfway through and still not that interested in what’s happening - or not happening, as the case may be. I have hope though!

[sawreadreviewed]

Update: nothing happened. I love a meditation on family and misogyny as much as the next girl, but this one didn’t move me.

[sawreadreviewed]

Very belated addition! Nettle tea (blocking out the library sticker) and The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo. Read it over the weekend without stopping. Not mind-blowing writing, but engaging characters and beautifully evoked setting (1930s Malasia). Bonus points for peppering in not one but several languages in a way that didn’t make suspension of disbelief difficult. I’ll read whatever Choo cares to write!! Also, this book deserves a better cover. They did her wrong.

[galina]

A thousand pages of notes, thoughts, phone numbers, ideas, shopping lists, dates, dreams

[sawreadreviewed]

Tatyana Tolstaya is up there with Agnes Varda, Katherine Mansfield, and Kanai Mieko for me (which tells you all you need to know about my taste). I really liked The Slynx - most especially because it brought me to White Walls, which I am in love with. That perfect balance of the mundane and the glorious. Watch out, though, because Tolstaya doesn’t mind breaking your heart. Pictured: White Walls with a yet more mate.

[mysharona1987]

[wetdirtguy]

A display from a smalltown second hand bookstore. What has been found in books.

[sawreadreviewed]

Pilar Quintana’s Los abismos and echinacea tea because I am sick. Los abismos is a fast reas because the language is simple and there’s not a lot of it per page, but it’s a slow read because I’m halfway through and still not that interested in what’s happening - or not happening, as the case may be. I have hope though!

[sawreadreviewed]

I’ve had The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada sitting around for possibly a year before I finished in two sittings this weekend. The back describes it as “reminiscent of Lewis Carroll, David Lynch, and Miyazaki”, and that is correct. I think its length (or lack-there-of at 91 pages) keeps the oddity fresh instead of letting it become a slog.

[sawreadreviewed]

Me and my mate are on a roll! Membranes is a bizarre 90s post-apocalyptic queer Tawainese sci-fi romp. It’s taken two false starts to really get into, but now I’m in. The translator end notes are also a delight!

[sawreadreviewed]

Mild Vertigo and (another) mate. I love Kanai Mieko beyond words. Like Agnes Varda, she makes the mundane seem full of possibility without being either sentimental or overly literary (I wish I could say the same of Zambreno’s endnotes).

I think my favourite of hers is still Indian Summer (pardon my language), translated by hard-working academic Aoyama Tomoko, but I can only hope that this highbrow translation means more translations are to come!!

[shatterstar]

man where’s that ursula k le guin quote when you need it. “Commodified fantasy takes no risks: it invents nothing, but imitates and trivializes. It proceeds by depriving the old stories of their intellectual and ethical complexity, turning their truth-telling to sentimental platitude. heroes brandish their swords, lasers, wands, as mechanically as combine harvesters, reaping profits. Profoundly disturbing moral choices are sanitized, made cute, made safe.”

[sawreadreviewed]

I have up trying to find Alemán’s Poso Wells in Spanish and read this instead. It’s a strange little collection - lots of interesting bits and pieces, but I didn’t find that anything really landed.

[oldshrewsburyian]

Charmed with these end-of-chapter decorations from the 1922 edition of Faunt-le-roy i jego eskadra w Polsce.