so schön, so schön vor dem spiegel zu stehn

[timeripple]

I've been blazing through a lot of books lately! In reverse order they are:

Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan (Modern Gothic lady reporter shenanigans with magic. Liked it v. much once the introductory chapters were out of the way! Love the quippiness! Look, I love quippiness; I know some people don't. Deal with it.)
The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis, tr. Miriam Debbage (so gorgeous! but the mixed feelings! I have them all! but so gorgeous!)
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews (fantastic cover, good voice, YA realism still not my thing)
The Humming Room by Ellen Potter (quirky modern retelling of The Secret Garden in a v. Gothic abandoned tuberculosis asylum)
Pish Posh by Ellen Potter (quirky New York restaurant caper mystery friendship story!)
The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen (it's... it's like the Hunger Games meets The Prince and the Pauper, only not quite as intense. I found it predictable, but only because I've read Megan Whalen Turner)

My beloved Above by Leah Bobet is now out in the world, so you should all go buy it (to quote myself, it's so good it makes me want to claw a wall. Monsters and storytelling and love and identity and revenge and feeeeeelings). And Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein will be out pretty soon too (lady best friends! WWII Royal Air Force! POV is extremely important (MY FAVORITE)! ALL THE FEELINGS. ALL THE TEARS. This book left me a sobbing wreck huddled on J's blankets as she attempted to soothe me with food (it did not work). IN A GOOD WAY. NO, REALLY).

...

The Storyteller made me remember that German is the language of märchen and gold and dragons and is worth knowing better than I do. In support of this, I am reading Kristin Cashore's Graceling auf Deustch (Die Beschenkte). It is somewhat slow going because I cannot also carry a dictionary around with me, but I am making some progress. By the end I am going to know a lot of words for hitting people! EXCELLENT.

What are you reading these days?

Comments

[olivia-cochrane.livejournal.com]

I didn't know you spoke German. By the way, subject line, awesome, Tic Tac Toe, Ich find' dich scheisse! Love that song. "jeden Tag auf Sonnenbank, du hast dir schon dein Hirn verbrannt" :)

[timeripple.livejournal.com]

Ich spreche nur ein bischen, und zehr schlecht! Though it amuses German tourists when I try. XD

I love that song too! I think of it as a German "That Don't Impress Me Much". Actually I think it was you who sent it to me, back when I was in my German romantic poetry phase. :D It's on my girlpower playlist that I like to inflict on people in the mornings.

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

Ah, cool!

My knitting/fiber arts group that does Read-a-Longs is doing Secret Garden this spring, and the adult version of it was so very literary I wanted to read it, but didn't get around to it before it was due back. I'll have to check Humming Room out!

I do not need to be getting out more books but I FEEL LIKE IT. So there.

[timeripple.livejournal.com]

...you haven't read The Secret Garden? I'd think it's very much your kind of book, though I don't know about any "adult version". *laughs*

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

No, no! I have read the original. There's a novel "The Forgotten Garden" which is supposed to be a refashioning of it, which was brought up because people like to read related material, too.

Actually, Frances Hodgson Burnett is an author whose books I appreciate much more as an adult. :)

[timeripple.livejournal.com]

Aha, this makes so much more sense.