Reading Wednesday Thursday

[laceblade]

What are you currently reading?
Joanna Russ's The Female Man, which we're reading right now for beer_marmalade. I'm having a really hard time getting into it?! Which is disappointing b/c I loved How to Suppress Women's Writing, although that wasn't fiction. So if anyone wants to leave comments about why you do/don't love Female Man, lmk. It might help me continue reading!

Kokoro by Natsume Soseki. This translation was done by Edwin McClellan. This book is the first in this box, which I won from Con or Bust this year. The protag is a university student in Tokyo, who makes friends with an older, pretty depressed man. The story takes place at the end of the Meiji era; I think it was published about 1912. 50 pages in, I became pretty certain how the story's going to end, & purposely spoiled myself for it because I haven't been in the greatest head space lately. Overall, I like it. And of course, I ship protag/Sensei.

What did you recently finish reading?
I Just Need Your Company by smc_27 - Pezberry friendship fic. Santana's holding the flame to the end of her cigar when Rachel throws her leg over the window sill, then pushes herself out.

between us we'll get you there by astano - Tina/Brittany/Santana. The first time Tina kisses Santana, she almost gets slapped.

A Very Pezberry Purim by brittanyisinlovewithsantana - Santana and Brittany crash Rachel’s dads’ Purim party.

Pezberry Drabble: Rachel's Damn Pyjamas by astano - Based on the pictures Lea tweeted one Friday from set.

Heinous fic by miggy about Rachel & Santana & Kurt living together Honorable mention for the size of Kurt's dick.

What will you read next?
WELP I'm focusing on those two books.
I'm also planning to check out this ATLA fic by traxits

I'd like to make my way through the rest of that box of Japanese books, & also the box of books I got from Small Beer Press (also via Con or Bust).

Comments

The Female Man

[coffeeandink]

I know a lot of people find The Female Man difficult or off-putting, but it always surprises me, because I first read it when I was sixteen and loved it. It made me feel so vindicated in rage. I went around being cheerfully angry for a week afterward. Unsurprisingly, Jael was my favorite -- though you probably haven't encountered her yet. It starts off with Jeanine, right? I did not get her at all when I was sixteen, though I feel rather more rueful and depressed kinship now.

I also liked how witty it is, I always love that with Russ. But mostly I find her writing compelling and hard to put down, whether or not it has anything like a propulsive plot -- I just get pulled into reading it. I am not sure if that is at all helpful, since it is hardly something you can make yourself feel if you don't feel that way already.

In my most recent reread, I was surprised at how much my perspectives on the characters had changed, and just how unreliable the narration was. I also really liked the Marxist feminist analyses of things. There's a lot of emphasis on money and the interactions of economic and social constraints.

sanguinity liveblogged her reading a couple of years ago.

Re: The Female Man

[laceblade]

It starts with Jeanine, yeah. I don't think I've met Jael yet. I left the book at home so I would actually review my Japanese textbook today before class, but I think I'm still before page 20.

I definitely felt that pull with How to Suppress Women's Writing! Maybe I just need to get into this one more.

Thanks for that link, I'm now going to go read the notes for the pages I've read so far.