Florence reads on in 2024

Hi All,

My name is Florence, I am 60 and I live in Paris, France. I try to keep track of my reading here on CR but I very rarely do any in-depth reviews of books. I’m also pretty bad at participating in other threads, because I’m lazy (lazy should be my middle name, if we had such a thing in France) and because I rarely have anything meaningful to contribute.

I’ve been reading a lot of fantasy romance this last year and will probably continue doing so in the foreseeable future. I seem to read mostly in English, partly because of CR’s influence. Books that are not originally in English or French I try to read in a French translation.

At the end of my 2023 thread I took stock of what’s in sight for me at the moment, and I will copy my list here.

Books I’m reading now and likely to finish soon:
The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport by Samit Basu
Shadow Unit 2
Stormsong by C. L. Polk
99 Erics by Julia Serano

Books I’m reading and may finish within next year (2024):
Essais, livre I by Montaigne
Lais by Marie de France (which I just took up again after reading a review)
les Métamorphoses by Ovid
La Fabrique du sexe by Thomas Laqueur (which I’m reading in French because I was misled by the author’s name, when in fact the original language is English)

Books that are on the back burner but that I’d like to finish some day:
Afrique subsaharienne, un continent d’histoires
Petite histoire de l’Afrique by Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch
A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There by Aldo Leopold
The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks
Witch King by Martha Wells
The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri
Hammered by Elizabeth Bear

Books that I’m not sure I will finish
Lord Foul’s bane by Stephen R. Donaldson
Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
Histoire de l’Afrique noire by Joseph Ki-zerbo
The Social Construction of What? by Ian Hacking

Not included above are the dozens of short story collections I am reading on and off.

Welcome back to Club Read, Florence! One good thing about CR is that it's a come-as-you-are group. No pressure to conform to expectations, because there are none! I love your input on various topics and themes and have learned a lot from you, sporadic participation or no. So carry on! and I'll be following along.

Hi Florence, Happy New Year from one of your followers. I have. Enjoyed your posts.

A little known (USA) author here is Marie NDiaye but her La vengeance m'appartient was translated in 2023 into English and is getting a lot of buzz. She seems like an interesting writer. Have you read anything by her?

>2 labfs39: Thanks Lisa, and thank you for setting up CR, it’s a great place to discuss books and other things.

>3 kjuliff: I only read part of one of her books, which was also getting a lot of buzz at the time in France, Trois femmes puissantes. I couldn’t tell you why I didn’t like it, it could be just me, although I think my mother was unimpressed too. As the title implies, there are three stories in the book and I finished the first one, so I don’t know if it can be considered a DNF, but I never felt motivated to read the rest.

>4 FlorenceArt: Thanks Florence. The New Yorker named La vengeance m'appartient as one of the top books of 2023. I was hoping I’d found another Slimani whose early work I found interesting.

Good to see you here again, Florence. I hope you have a good reading year.

Wish you a happy new year, Florence.

Happy new year, Florence! I've read some of Julia Serano's nonfiction so am curious to hear what you thought of her novel. And seeing Montaigne mentioned always tempts me to drop everything and pick him up...

>6 rachbxl: >7 dchaikin: >8 LolaWalser: Thanks, and happy new year to all!

>8 LolaWalser: I was rather reluctant to try her novel, but since it’s free with my kobo subscription I decided to give it a go, an I’m enjoying it very much. It doesn’t really feel like a novel, but it’s very funny and easy to read.

Happy New Year. I'm looking forward to following along with your reading.

Good to see you here for another year! Your comment ...by Thomas Laqueur (which I’m reading in French because I was misled by the author’s name, when in fact the original language is English)... did make me smile -- my husband and I were trying to figure out what language to watch a Netflix series in (with subtitles) as the titular character had a German name and it was clearly set in Paris. I looked it up and it was, of course, a Spanish production.

>10 rocketjk: Happy new year to you! I’ll be following your reading too.

>11 RidgewayGirl: That’s funny! Happy new year.

Starting the year with a weird short story. I found this because several people here mentioned The Time Traveller’s Almanac, I went to look for it but didn't find a digital edition, but I found this instead. I think I missed a lot of references in this one, but I liked it.

Errata by Jeff VanderMeer

>13 FlorenceArt: I got that book from santathing!

>14 dianeham: It sounds like a great book, I hope you enjoy it!

I hope you have a great year. Don't let a lack of anything "meaningful" to say keep you from participating on threads, at least mine! I am always just happy to know that people have visited.

Good luck with your 2024 reading!

>16 ursula: I know, but this is where the “lazy” part comes in! I’ll try to do better after things calm down a little, right now I’m not even keeping up with the reading.

>17 mabith: Thank you!

Happy 2024 reading!
I relate to what you call your "laziness". I think I have been mainly lurking on your thread last year. I might try to participate this year, we'll see!

>19 raton-liseur: I guess we’re even since I have been lurking on your thread!

Snowspelled
Stephanie Burgis
Hardwood Spellbook 1

This is an involuntary re-read. It was a FaRoFeb freebie, but it became clear to me almost immediately that I had already read it. In 2021 apparently. I’m not sure why I didn’t follow up on it. Probably because I was already busy pursuing a couple of excellent series, and this one didn’t grab me enough at the time to leave a lasting impression. Also I’m not crazy about worlds based on Victorian England. I have to admit though that the world building is pretty good, and the story was enjoyable. I think I will pick up the next one this time. I like how in this world, gender roles are, not fully reversed but leaving more power to women, and yet they are just as rigid and stifling as those of Victorian England.

May I ask what version of Les essais you are reading? My uncle and my aunt who are literature professors edited a version. I think it is the one of La Pléïade. This book seems interesting but I think it would be too difficult for me.

>22 chlorine: It’s always difficult to choose with these old classics, and also to pick up good quality versions among the gazillion of cheap public domain editions (which are not necessarily bad quality, but it’s hard to know in advance and the translation will always be an old one). I hesitated between the one translated by Guy de Pernon and the one from Bouquins. The first one is self published and the typography and layout are ugly, but I have some doubts about the translation in the Bouquins version, so in the end I’m reading the Pernon. I think you can find the pdf for free on his website. The pdf is better looking than the ePub version, IIRC.

It’s not a difficult read, though I’m sure I’m missing a lot. I need to read a little about Montaigne. He seems to have lived in “interesting times”, as the saying goes.

>23 FlorenceArt: Missing a log is what I'm afraid of with this kind of book. Maybe I'll get to it one day...

>21 FlorenceArt:

Victorian porn changes the view somewhat on those stodgy Victorians. :)

>22 chlorine:

Cool aunt and uncle! Btw, I can't seem to find your thread, chlorine.

Happy new year to you! As Ursula said, there are many of us (including me) who are delighted by visitors, with no pressure to provide sophisticated commentary.

Two more FaRoFeb freebies:

Chevalier, First Class
Alison Carr Waechter
This is really a short story, and a prequel to a duology called The Aetherreals. Which I should maybe check out. In any case this was a quick and reasonably enjoyable read.

Through The Paintings, Dimly
J. M. Butler
The best I can say about this book is that I finished it, unlike several other FaRoFeb offers. So I didn’t hate it, I guess. Bad writing is what makes me stop reading, and this one was OK in that regard, but I didn’t like the story or felt any empathy toward the characters.

I just bought a new phone, and so I got several (temporarily) free subscriptions from Apple, including Apple TV. So I had a look and picked up a series called Strange Planet because it looked intriguing. I don’t know if I’ll be following up but this first episode was funny. I liked it.

>28 FlorenceArt: You might check out Pachinko while you have access to Apple TV. It's not all released yet, but the first "season" was excellent, I thought.

>29 labfs39: Thanks, I’ll have a look.

We watched Silo on Apple TV (adaptation of the book Wool by Hugh Howey). I hadn't read the book beforehand so I don't know how it compares, but the 1st season was pretty good.

>31 ursula: Yeah, I saw it on the home page and had a look, but it sounded pretty dark. I think I have enough dark and stressful with ST Discovery for now (still progressing, very slowly, through the first season).

>31 ursula: I liked the adaptation too. I think at some point there will be a second season. I've read the books too, and they're pretty good (and fast reads).

The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport
Samit Basu

I think I found this book via a Kobo recommendation. Because of course, since I read Murderbot, I must be interested in anything featuring bots. Sigh.

And, well. I loved it! But it has nothing to do with Murderbot except, well, bots.

I have to say that some serious suspension of disbelief is required as regards the world building and plot, but that’s not what I’m interested in. The characters are wonderful. I love how they all grow and evolve, especially the narrator, Moku, a “storybot” who starts as a slightly befuddled but more or less objective observer but grows more and more emotionally involved with the family he met and became a part of.

One thing that I kept reflecting on throughout the book. While everyone in our world seems to be freaking out about AI taking over, I notice that a lot of fiction featuring bots, cyborgs and androids features the one issue that Silicon Valley moguls, commentators and basically everyone who is voicing an opinion in public about this subject is studiously avoiding: slavery.

Blood Legacy
Vela Roth

Another not so great FaRoFeb advent freebie. I finished it because it’s short, though I hesitated.

I am subscribed to the University of Chicago Press newsletter because of their monthly free ebooks. Today they sent me a message about their sale, and one book caught my eye: Ahab's Rolling Sea, because Moby Dick has been coming up in conversations here. I wasn't planning to buy the book although it sounds very interesting, but I headed to the Kobo bookstore to wishlist it in case I changed my mind later. And was happily surprised to find out that it's included in my Kobo Plus subscription ! So it's on my reader now. And of course, one thing led to another and I now have (one more copy of) Moby Dick. Which I abandoned and gave a 2 star rating to, back in 2010. Thinking back, I think I was more or less determined to hate it, or at least I wasn't trying very hard to enjoy it. I may be better disposed now? Especially after reading the introduction in my Signet Book edition. So, I may or may not read both books concurrently. I tend to start a lot of books and not finish them lately, so we'll see.

>36 FlorenceArt: I purchased that one some months ago on Audible, but I haven't listened to it yet. I thought it sounded interesting, and then of course there is my "Moby Dick" theme which was my first "theme" 13 years ago, and I'm still adding titles to that list!

>36 FlorenceArt: interesting about the University of Chicago Press. I hope you like MD next time you try it.

>38 dchaikin: It does sound interesting! The idea of Moby Dick as a book about nature is new to me. But then I never had many ideas about MD.

>39 FlorenceArt: I hope so too Dan! About the free ebooks, most of them I just download and forget, but I’ve read some interesting things that way. I think. TBH the only one I remember is An Orchard Invisible: A Natural History of Seeds.

>34 FlorenceArt: Interesting thoughts about book recommendations about bots and slavery.
I find that I do like a lot of bots or AI stories because they address similar questions about civil rights and/or integration in society. About (modern) slavery, have you read the short story A guide for working breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad? It is one my favorite stories.

Regarding my thread, the reason you can't find it is because I _still_ haven't started it! The beginning of the year hasn't been very satisfying for me hence the lack of motivation. Hopefully I will start it this weekend.

>32 FlorenceArt: Makes sense! I didn't feel like it was particularly dark, but I am not a good barometer, we pretty much exclusively watch dark things, haha.

>33 arubabookwoman: Yes, there's supposed to be a second season. I imagine it was probably affected by the strikes. I'm currently reading the first book, it was interesting to discover that the first season really only covered the first half of it. I feel like often, adaptations chew up written source material at a much faster pace!

>40 chlorine: No, I haven’t read that short story, thanks for the reference! I see it’s available at tor.com, and also included in the anthology Made To Order: Robots and Revolution, which sounds interesting too.

(No pressure about your thread!)

>41 ursula: I think my dark tolerance is probably much lower than yours 😊

Speaking of Star Trek Discovery, I finished season 1 last night. I enjoyed it very much and look forward to meeting captain Pike in season 2.

Lais bretons: aux origines de la poésie chantée médiévale
Gérard Domenec’h, Agnès Brosset
Accompagné d’un CD
Chants interprétés par l’ensemble COLORTALEA dirigé par Agnès Brosset

I’ve been struggling with the translations I found for the Lais de Marie de France, so I turned to my local library and found this little gem.

This small unassuming book and accompanying CD made a lot of things much clearer to me. I must admit I was rather confused as to the context of these lays.

Marie identifies herself as “de France” because, of course, she is not writing for the French but for the Plantagenêt court in England (is England an anachronism?). She is transcribing or translating songs that come from a much older tradition, one that originated in Brittany and was spread throughout Western Europe by jugglers. She is also adapting Arthurian tales and “chansons de geste” to her public. But in doing so, she (and others) transfer to the written word an oral tradition, with the result that the music was separated from the words.

This was probably the main revelation for me: the lais were not just poems, they were songs. The CD is an attempt to reconstruct what these sounded like, based on the research of musicologists, and of course some editorial decisions. I enjoyed the music very much, which was another surprise. The book has the original text (not always easy to follow along because of the unusual pronunciations and the polyphonic nature of some of the renditions) and a translation.

Finally, the book is beautifully illustrated with images and text from medieval manuscripts. Highly recommended to all my French speaking CR friends!

>44 FlorenceArt: Oh, so interesting! I have the Lais de Marie de France on my shelves since Dan (dchaikin) reviewed them a couple of years ago (more or less), by have not read them yet.
Does this book include a translation of Marie de France's Lais, or is it more a companion book to the Lais?
Unfortunately this book is out of stock and it might be difficult to find it second hand...

>36 FlorenceArt: And on a different subject, do you plan to read Moby Dick in English or in French? I have Moby Dick on my shelves but I am contemplating buying another translation, a newer one that got praise when it was released (and I think the one that was used for La Pléiade), by Philippe Jaworski. So I am just curious to know what you bought and/or downloaded...
(Fun to ask you this question after reading and participating in the discussion around translation in Lisa's thread, especially when I was saying I would not like too much difference to be made between works translated by different translators!).

>45 raton-liseur: No, nothing from Marie de France, I think those are her source or inspiration. Most of them are in the Roman tongue (langue d’oil) but two are in Breton. They are from the 13th century except the last two by Guillaume de Machault from the 14th century, when this form was already starting to go out of fashion. I doubt you will find it outside of a library unfortunately, but if mine has it, maybe one near you also has it?

I will read Moby Dick in English. I often dislike the sound of translated books, so since English is the only language I can read in the original text (well, with French of course), I avoid translations.

Thanks for the clarification. I found it on an online second hand bookshop actually, but I am reluctant to buy it as I wonder what the quality of the CD will be. The nearest big library does not seem to lend it though, so I'll see what I do.

Fair enough on the Moby Dick front. My English is not good enough to allow me to read such a book in the original language though... Curious about what you'll think about it if you finally decide to read it.

Which translation do you have for the lais? The one I bought is translated by Alexandre Micha. It sounds clumsy and it’s in prose. It’s a bilingual edition but in ebook form that’s really not practical. At the library I found a translation by Paul Tuffrau, which is at least in free verse and feels a bit more literary and lively. Both versions are so different that I’m wondering which one is closer to the original. I see that there is a bilingual edition translated by Philippe Walter, paper only I think (Folio Classique) so I’m thinking of buying that one so that I can at least keep an eye on the original while I read.

I have the Folio+collège version, which is a pity because it is not bilingual (and only very marginally less expensive). I realise that I'll have to find the lais on internet and print them.
The translation is by Philippe Walter, so probably the same as the folio classique. The translation seems to flow, but is not in verse.

>49 raton-liseur: OK, thanks. Maybe the folio is the one for me then. Though in the meantime I discovered another one, which is much more scholarly: Lais bretons (XIIe-XIIIe siècles): Marie de France et ses contemporains. What to do… maybe I’ll buy both!

>43 FlorenceArt:

hey now! Glad to see Disco won you over in the end. :)

>51 LolaWalser: It did! Season 2 looks to be very different. I just watched episode 1. Interesting.

>44 FlorenceArt: what a cool experience. I’m fascinated. Wish I knew enough French to get something out of this.

>45 raton-liseur: I loved those Lais. Such an enjoyable read.

>53 dchaikin: I did buy Lais bretons XIIe-XIIIe siècles without seeing the translation, because the scholarly articles at the beginning took up the whole excerpts I could find. It looks like something I can live with: free verses following the original structure, and the language sometimes feels a bit awkward but less than the first translation I tried. Since it’s an ebook, I still have the problem that it’s difficult to go back and forth between the original and the translation. I will have to look for a way to view them side by side on my iPad.

>53 dchaikin: and >54 FlorenceArt: You're making my "want-to-read-right-now" list increasing to unmanageable proportions!

>54 FlorenceArt: I've seen that book while looking for the book you reviewed in >44 FlorenceArt:. I'll be curious to read your feedback when you read it.

>44 FlorenceArt: I will be looking out for this one !

Deux femmes
Song Aram

I picked this up from the “librarian’s choice” table at the library.
A Korean graphic novel, or maybe two connected novellas, about two young women struggling to make a life in a very misogynistic society. It’s rather bleak, but I think I liked it. I need to let it percolate a little.

The Fire in the Glass
Jacquelyn Benson
The London Charismatics 1

I got this for free somehow, probably through FaRoFeb. I liked it but I won’t continue this series. Lily is a great character and the writing is decent for a change, but I don’t like her brand of paranormal power (although it makes for interesting plot twists), and I like the rather heavy handed references to a higher purpose even less.

As usual, I am reading too many books at the same time, and interrupting serious reads for more frivolous ones. Here is a partial update on what I've been reading and doing.

Finished: The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. I don't know why I don't read more by her. Maybe because her writing is not very inspiring. But her wonderful characters more than make up for it. I just bought the next Chalion book, Paladin of Souls, and the first Penric, Penric's Demon.

Kreuz und Quer durch Freiburg: I don't usually list tourist guidebooks here, but then I don't usually read them in German, so that's a small achievement. The last time I tried to read a book in German was some 35 or to years ago. I think it was Der Steppenwolf, and it left me utterly discouraged. Anyway, I did manage to follow a couple of the walks described, not of course without some involuntary detours, because I can't tell my Rechts from my Links any more than I can my droite from my gauche. I enjoyed my visit in Freiburg. I visited two museums and the "quartier Vauban" which is famous for its environment friendly architecture.

In progress : Essais by Montaigne. I am approximately 30% into book I, so a long way to go but progressing (slowly but) steadily.

Finished: Aigremorts, poems by André Frédérique. I left this book for ages at 95% or so, which tells you how much I enjoyed it at the end. However the beginning was better. Looking back, I bookmarked 5 poems (out of 37, so that's not a big success for me).

Finished: Shadow Unit 2. OK but felt almost identical to the previous one.

In progress: Voix de femmes au Moyen-Age.

I picked up this book at the library while looking for Marie de France or related material. She is not included in this collection but I thought it might be worth a look. I enjoyed the introduction, which gives a bit of context and a presentation of the works selected for the collection. Then the first section contains works by trobairitz (female troubadours), and this one is both intriguing and frustrating.

The introduction obviously supposes I know much more than I do about troubadours, which is next to nothing. But it was enough to make me curious and I have started looking for information online. There's a lot we don't know about the troubadours, and attribution can be uncertain, so out of the 20 or so artists identified as women (out of about 460 known troubadours), a few might well be men writing from the point of view of a woman. Their production doesn't differ much from that of their male colleagues, except that the typical situation described (a man pining for an unattainable and silent woman) is sometimes mirrored. One of the songs complains that a woman is not supposed to actively seek her lover's attentions, but she is frustrated by said lover's insufficient solicitations.

The texts are presented in translation only, and anyway I don't suppose I would understand the original. But it's frustrating because the translation doesn't attempt to emulate the rythm of the original. I suppose the translator prioritize fidelity to the meaning rather than the rythm, but it sounds really awkward at times. Especially since those were initially songs, I think the rhythm should reflect that at least.

I'm still working on the trobairitz part. After that come three mystics, then Christine de Pizan, followed by two texts on the "secret knowledge of women", and a chapter on men's voices. I never intended to actually finish the book, but I'd like to read a little from each part at least, ideally. But I already extended the loan once and I have to give it back in two weeks.

>59 FlorenceArt: Congrats on reading a book in German. I was quite proud of myself for reading one in French last year. Yours may have been a guide book and mine a juvenile novella, but we did it! I enjoyed Freiburg quite a bit when I was there 34 years ago. (Is that really possible, 34 years? Yikes)

Wow, Montaigne.

I’m fascinated by your comments on Voix de femmes au Moyen-Age.

>60 labfs39: :high-five: 😉
I’ve been looking for some not too hard novels or short stories in German but I’m not sure how to look. I downloaded several conversation guides before my trip but wasn’t very motivated to read them!

>61 dchaikin: I’m finding Montaigne a relatively smooth ride (in translation!). I recognize some of the stoic sources of his thinking, which I studied a little, in my dilettante way, a few years ago, and which I find very relatable. I like reading his rambling thoughts, it’s a bit like a conversation with a friend. A very well educated friend.

>62 FlorenceArt: I'm afraid I'm no help with the German. All I know how to say is Guten tag and Wo ist der Zug, bitte?

>62 FlorenceArt: you’re making Montaigne sound fun. I’m surprised you are reading him in translation as I thought he wrote in French. I guess it was a while ago. What language did he write your book in?

>62 FlorenceArt: For a fairly simple (or at least not overly difficult) novel in German, Glenkill by Leonie Swann is fun and straightforward.

>64 dchaikin: True, Montaigne wrote in French, but from what I understand his French was not mainstream already at the time (lots of regionalisms, plus a sentence structure heavily influenced by Latin), and the language has changed since then, especially the meaning of certain words. I want to read Montaigne, not decrypt him 😉

>65 RidgewayGirl: Thank you! It does sound like fun.

Glad I dropped by! Trobairitz are a fascinating subject. And I am planning on reading Montaigne's Essais this year (because I am reading authors from Dordogne - département 24 - in 2024). I am looking forward to your comments and/or reviews :-)

Congrats on reading a book in German and on your Montaigne progress!

I read The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls and really liked them. As you said, the characters are great. These books really gave meaning for me to the expression "character-driven".

>67 Dilara86: Yes, troubadours and trobairitz are very interesting. I was under the impression (like most people I think) that troubadour were men who made a living going from castle to castle or town to town to perform their songs. In fact it seems troubadour was not a trade, but closer to an art movement, despite the obvious anachronism. Most of them were in fact noblemen (and a few women). If I understand correctly, they were the ones who invented l’amour courtois, or fin’amor. I just bought a history book about them (Les Troubadours by Henri-Irénée Marrou), but it will have to wait in line since I still need to finish Making Sex.

>68 chlorine: My first contact with Lois McMaster Bujold was Mountains of Mourning, following a recommendation on another forum. It’s a wonderful novella, but when I tried to continue with the Vorkorsigan saga, I found that Miles was simply too hyper for me, and I didn’t read anything else from her for years. Recently I discovered the Sharing Knife series and loved it too.

>69 FlorenceArt: how many movies does that factoid undermine? 🙂🙁

>70 FlorenceArt: Making Sex sounds interesting.

>71 dchaikin: I doubt that’s the only thing the movies get wrong about the Middle Ages 😉

>72 dianeham: It is! The main points (*) are completely new to me and very intriguing. However the book is not meant for dilettantes like me, and it keeps piling on evidence far past the point I can remain interested.

(*) That sex is just as socially constructed as gender (that part is not a complete shock to me). And that the view of sex underwent a major reversal, from the idea that sexual differences were fluid and females were basically an inferior version of males (not hot enough, basically), to the conviction that the sexes are essentially different. In the first view, sex differences are on a continuum, and it’s not particularly shocking to see a girl turning into a boy. In the second view, sex is binary and the differences between sexes (and gender, which were the same thing until recently) are grounded in the male and female essence. The first view was prevalent in antiquity and the middle ages, and the second view is the one that still shapes our prejudices. I’m still in the middle ages as far as the book is concerned.

Continuing with Voix de femmes au moyen-âge, I skimmed through the section about Hildegard of Bingen. She seems to have been a fascinating woman. A mystic, she had visions all her life. She wrote a lot, about her visions, about scientific and medical subjects, hymns (music and texts), and letters. She seems to have been famous and respected throughout Christendom, and many wrote to her to ask her for advice on theological issues.

The poems were more enjoyable than the trobairitz songs (possibly because of the translation?) but her letters went miles over my head: the message seemed to me to be buried under a ton of biblical allusions and effusive protestations. I skipped the liber divinorum operum entirely.

Next up is Mechtild of Magdeburg, another mystic. That's about 20% of the book done (if you can call it that) and I'm supposed to return it on Friday. I wonder if I can extend the loan a second time? Despite skipping a lot of the content, I am enjoying this.

>74 FlorenceArt: I never heard of Mechtild of Magdeburg - sounds interesting.

>74 FlorenceArt: I used to have a CD of her music, Feather on the Breath of God, but I've never read any of her written works. Have you listened to her music?

>76 labfs39: No, I didn’t think to look for her music. Great idea, I will go search!

ETA: I just extended the loan, I have three more weeks in the company of medieval women 😁

Yeah, some thirty years ago or so, the world rocked to plainchant for a season or two. Gregorian chant, Hildegard, the Anonymous 4, Sequentia--'twas all the rage.

>78 LolaWalser: Indeed, on the first try I found 3 albums by Sequentia with music by Hildegard! These seem to be recent, but maybe they are reissues.

>76 labfs39: I have that album. I have also sung some of her music.

>80 WelshBookworm: That must have been interesting. I only sing to my nieces, and they are forgiving. :-)

Bride of the Shadow King
Vow of the Shadow King
Heart of the Shadow King

This was not quite the light recreational read I was expecting. The beginning read like a standard fantasy romance, but it turned out to be much darker, especially in the last volume, and with surprisingly complex and rich characters. Still not high literature, but something a little different.

>82 FlorenceArt: Interesting. Were they enjoyable?

>83 dchaikin: Well, since I read the three books back to back it would be a bit dishonest to deny that I enjoyed them. The last one was a bit difficult because there was a lot of suspense (I hate suspense almost as much as I hate knowing without a doubt that the story will end badly) and bloody battles. As I said, the last part was rather dark. But yes, I enjoyed them.

>84 FlorenceArt: i’m mixed on suspense, so I somewhat understand. But glad you enjoyed them

>74 FlorenceArt: got turned on to hildagard by listening to"a feather on the breath of god' on NPR in my driveway Have since read some HF about her. She definetly was well respected, and its amazing how much of her work survives

>80 WelshBookworm: I have the CD, along with lots of Anonymous 4. Isnt it funny how people suddenly latch on to something like gregorian chant, get engrossed in it and then drop it just as quickly I havent

>86 cindydavid4: I wasn’t really swept off my feet by Hildegard’s music. Maybe I should give it another try. In any case it was very interesting reading about her. More than reading or listening to her work, I have to admit.

Paladin of Souls
Lois McMaster Bujold
Chalion Series 2

Loved it. Ista is an even better main character than Cazaril. All the characters are great actually. Altogether better than the first one, I think.

>88 FlorenceArt: thats fine, shes not for everyone. There are only a few operas I can listen to without screaming and running to the exit. I think for me its the astonishing way we can look and listen at the songs written hundreds of years ago. You can feel the age, and for me thats a good thing

The Hallowed Hunt
Chalion series 3

Took me a bit to get into that one. The main character is in a difficult position that leads him to distrust everyone around him, and it took me a while to understand why. But on the whole, another satisfying read.

Better Living Through Algorithms by Naomi Kritzer
I had this on my reader following a mention by Clémence/Chlorine I think, and was reminded of it when Rasdhar/rv1988 posted the longlist for the Nebula awards. I was a little disappointed. It's cute and very naive.

On The Fox Roads by Nghi Vo
I don't remember why this one was on my reader. I liked it. It's weird and poetic and rather moving. And weird.

Happy spring, Florennnnnnce!

>93 LolaWalser: You too, Lola!!!

Heh, I was searching for images with "tout fleurit" and this came up:

Heh.







Those are from a couple of weeks ago in my mother's garden. I don't have a garden but here all the city trees are blooming, and all the city birds are singing their little hearts out. City birds have to sing louder because of the background noise.

How beautiful! We got a light dusting of snow last night, but my crocus, daffodil, and tulip bulbs are poking above ground. It's been an exceptionally mild winter here in Maine, but even so we are not that far along!

>96 FlorenceArt:

GASP! If I had a garden like that I wouldn't leave it ever. So much girlish pink, it's lovely.

>98 LolaWalser: Yes, there’s a lot of pink right now! And I didn’t photograph the camellia trees. Those looked a bit strange because there is a clear demarcation line at doe level. Apparently the camellia flowers taste delicious. There are no flowers below doe level.

>92 FlorenceArt: Yes! I loved On the fox roads also. Weird in a weird and good way.

(But I am very disappointed in the look and feel of Reactor - I rarely go there any longer.)

Thanks for sharing the garden photos.

>100 markon: I was very surprised when I clicked on my link to check it, and was redirected to a site I didn’t know. I didn’t spend much time, just had a quick look at the FAQ to confirm that this is indeed the old tor.com site. I hadn’t visited in a while, and come to think of it I haven’t received the newsletter in a while either, probably because of the move. If it was announced by mail I totally missed it. I’ll have to go back and explore.

A few weeks ago I visited an exhibition of Gilles Aillaud's paintings. I didn't know this painter and liked his large paintings of animals, often painted in the drab concrete settings of zoos. The link on the Pompidou Center site seems dead, but here is an article in French with some reproductions:
Exposition au Centre Pompidou : les fables du monde sauvage de Gilles Aillaud

And today I went to the MEP (Maison Européenne de la Photographie) to see Exteriors — Annie Ernaux & Photography. I learned about this exhibition through this article:
Annie Ernaux: The Lives of Others

The photographs are not by Ernaux but they were selected for their relationship with her book Journal du dehors, which is a kind of chronicle of her observations of people in her neighborhood. The photos were more interesting intellectually than esthetically pleasing. To be honest, the best things in the exhibition were the book's excerpts that were hung on the wall. I didn't read them all but I have purchased the book so that I can enjoy it in the comfort of my own home. Or on the subway.

>102 FlorenceArt: Enjoyed those links

The Invisible Orientation: An Introduction to Asexuality
Julie Sondra Decker

I had come across the word asexual in my readings about trans identities, as asexuality is considered a queer sexual orientation. I don’t think it occurred to me that the word could apply to me. I might even have been a bit skeptical about the existence of asexuality as an orientation. And then last year, I read Every Heart a Doorway. In the book, the main character explains that she is asexual and what it is, and all of a sudden it was blindingly obvious: wait a minute, that’s me! At the time that was pretty much it, I thought about it a little and it explained a lot of things about me, but I didn’t go very far in my reflections. Then the subject came up on Meredith’s thread and I realized this was really a thing, there were books about it! So of course I had to read them 😁.

I found this book an excellent introduction to the subject. She manages to be thorough and balanced in her explanations without sounding boring or pontificating. It also forced me to rethink a lot of things about myself and others. I started a new notebook on my ipad just to write about my findings and thoughts. (I love writing in notebooks using my Apple pencil, but I don’t always know what to write, so this is a nice opportunity! 😊)

I’m not done with this subject. Next up: Ace by Angela Chen.

>104 FlorenceArt:

Utterly fascinating. As something I can't wrap my head around, I feel I must read up on this.

>105 LolaWalser: I feel the same. Turns out I had no idea what sexual attraction feels like. Still don’t of course, but now I know that I don’t know.

>106 FlorenceArt:

No matter how much or little you feel comfortable sharing, it does good to everyone to become aware of these things.

My library has Decker's book. This sounded interesting too: Asexual erotics : intimate readings of compulsory sexuality.

>104 FlorenceArt: What kind of notebook do you write in with an apple pencil?

>107 LolaWalser: Actually I feel like a bit of a fraud, because it seems I missed out on all the social pressure to be sexually active. Well, most of it anyway. I would say it's maybe an American thing, except that I just read a story on Aven's French forum that was really heartbreaking, so it does happen at home too. I personally don't feel like a minority for various reasons, one of them being my social deafness which makes me immune to a lot of things. But for others it can be really hard trying to conform to the sexual norm and not having the words, or not being believed when you find them.

>108 dianeham: The app I use is called Noteshelf. There are many others, GoodNotes is one of the most popular ones, but I love how Noteshelf handles handwriting.

Thanks. My only problem is I have atrocious hand writing ✍️

I was away from LT for a while and am slowly catching up with people's threads.
Sorry you didn't like Better living through algorithms. I can see why the naive aspect can be offputting.
Thanks for sharing about the asexuality, this is really interesting and this topic needs to be discussed more!

It's been a long while since I've been able to catch up on people's threads, so I'm way behind. I'll just say:

Congrats on reading a guide book in German!
Freiburg has been mentioned to us as a nice place but it's just slightly too far for a day trip unfortunately.

I feel like a lot of people are surprised to see themselves in some of these identities. I'm glad you didn't have any pressure to be different than you were, I think that is what everyone would hope for!

I'll have to look into Noteshelf. I've used Notability and GoodNotes, although neither for a while. But I have a class coming up soon so will definitely be needing something again. I take messy notes in class on paper and rewrite/organize them later digitally. It helps a lot for me to consolidate the information.

>113 ursula: Noteshelf is great for handwriting, not so great at everything else, so maybe not the best notebook to organize things, but I guess it will depend what you are looking for. I’m still looking for the perfect app to organize notes. What kind of course are you taking?

>114 FlorenceArt: German 🙄

>115 ursula: Ah of course!

I have a few samples of German books on my Kobo. I’m thinking of buying Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee by Thomas Brussig. It was reviewed here but I dont remember by who. I think I might be able to enjoy it even though I won’t understand it all.

>116 FlorenceArt: Yeah. The eye roll was not at your question, just to be clear! A general eye roll about the class.

I might be the person who mentioned the Brussig book, unless someone else did also. Judging from the English, I imagine it's written pretty simply so is probably a decent choice for reading in German.

>117 ursula: Don’t worry, I read it that way! Thanks for the info about the Brussig.

I had to return Voix de femmes au moyen âge to the library, as I had already extended the loan twice and apparently that’s the limit. I was about halfway through, although I skipped almost the entirety of the section on Mechtild of Magdeburg, even the introduction which was too academic for me. I had just started reading Christine de Pizan’s La vision de Christine. I was hoping to find another book by her at the library but apparently they don’t have any. I’ll have to get back to this book.

Before I left, I had a look at the librarians’ selection and came away with two:

Les défricheurs du monde, an illustrated book about the history of geography and maps.

Attachements, a graphic book by Alice Bienassis about… bondage! The art is appealing and the subject intriguing. Of course, now that I’m asexual, I need to read about sex… There’s no touchstone yet for this one, I have just added it to LT and will be back later to edit (done!).

Penric’s Demon
Lois McMaster Bujold
Penric and Desdemona 1

Loved this! Penric is a young, smart and naive provincial boy who acquires a demon more or less by accident, and must then navigate the politics of being catapulted in a world he doesn’t know with a demon he must come to terms with. As usual with Bujold, the characters are the main attraction. Here there are only two that are fully fleshed out, Penric and Desdemona the demon, although the rest are interesting too.

I understand this is the first of a long series of novellas I’m very much looking forward to reading.

Thanks to Jan (janoorani24) I came across this 1891 gem: The Strand Magazine, No. 8, with a fascinating (at least to this avid reader of Georgette Heyer) article about Newmarket. There are also many short stories, including a Sherlock Holmes one, and several translated from the French. I might go back and read a few. Strangely enough, the archive.org copy does not include a table of contents. I wonder if this is a scanning issue or if that was customary at the time?

And while on archive.org, I also downloaded this book: The Man of Pleasure’s Illustrated Pocketbook for 1850. (Link is to archive.org, I doubt very much that there would be a touchstone for this one.) I don't know if I will read it but it sounded so fascinating!

I'm adding Penric's Demon to my wishlist. I didn't read the third book in the Five Gods trilogy as it seems inferior to the first two, but this one semms good.

>122 chlorine: Yes, the third book is not as good as the first two, and they are completely independent so you can safely skip it.

Penric and the Shaman
Lois McMaster Bujold
Penric and Desdemona 2

Loved this one too, though I wish those were longer. A few years have passed and Penric is now a bit wiser but still very much learning.

I'm still reading Montaigne but having some doubts as to which version is better. I compared several versions before starting and settled on the modern French translation by Guy de Pernon, but I'm not crazy about the ePub version, and I have some doubts about his translation choices, I think in some cases he modernized words that would have been perfectly understandable, at least to me.

I let the Kobo suggestion engine lure me into buying the Dictionnaire amoureux de Montaigne. Dictionnaire amoureux in a title is popular with publishers it seems, and IMO rather gimmicky, but on the other hand I liked Comte-Sponville's La philosophie, so I decided to give it a try, and of course went first to the entry "Editions (laquelle choisir)" where he gives his opinion on the different versions. He recommends reading the text in the original Middle French, with only modernized spelling and punctuation. Of course none of the versions he recommends are available electronically, and my library doesn't have them either, so for the first time in ages I bought a paper book:



I'm not so sure it will be better than the ebook version I've been reading. The typography is weird, with sections of text appearing in a condensed font for no apparent reason, which is distracting and annoying. And I was not happy with how notes are handled in the ebook version, but on paper it's even worse, the end notes are numbered according to the page number in the main text. At least this is indeed the original text with modern spelling, and when required the meaning is clarified in footnotes. There are a lot of footnotes so the reading is not as fluid as with the translation, but maybe I will get used to it? Or maybe I will get back to de Pernon's version.

And I'm also slowly making my way through Moby Dick, and finding it a surprise on many levels. I know I tried to read it years ago and gave up, but it turns out my recollection of it was completely wrong, and why am I surprised, I can't remember the books I read last month…

The first surprise was the language, which felt really difficult at first, and for probably the first time since I've started reading in English, I wondered if I should have picked up a translation instead. One with notes, to help clarify the gazillion biblical references. I even downloaded the King James Bible, thinking it might be fun to refer to the original stories occasionally. But I soon reverted to my usual reading style, which is to just keep reading as long as I'm enjoying it, and trust that I'm getting the general sense.

And enjoying it I am, which is another surprise. I didn't expect this to be fun! And funny too! I do wish my version had a few notes, but on the other hand notes might just slow me down and take away some of the fun. I suppose this kind of book could be read twice, one for the fun and once more with notes. I'm not sure I'll go that far, but I do have Ahab's Rolling Sea: A Natural History of Moby Dick lined up on my reader for after.

>126 FlorenceArt: Moby-Dick is difficult enough for a native English speaker. When I am reading French and find my vocabulary is not up to the task I now just keep on going. I think it is the best as there is no point in looking up a lot of obscure words that you are never going to need to know again.

>127 baswood: I agree. When I was reading Zola that’s what I did. Unfortunately with lack of practice I can no longer read French. I tried learning Spanish as there’s ample opportunity to converse in it in New York. But unfortunately what has happened to my aging brain, so that I start speaking in a Spanish-French-Italian mix, with sometimes a little Bahasa Indonesian thrown in. People will look at me in askance. So I am now stuck in English.

>128 kjuliff: That's interesting about the languages we use. When I lived in Europe, I knew a little of several languages. I once confused a Belgian policeman when I asked directions in a little bit of Italian, French, German, and Japanese. I just chose whatever word I knew that wasn't English. I was holding up traffic and didn't take the time to prepare what I needed to say.

>129 janoorani24: That made me laugh. I bet the Japanese words threw him. I’m given really blank looks with the Indonesian words I sometimes use. I actually think in those words and I realise that’s why I use them.

In Indonesian a word can be doubled instead of using the equivalent of “very”. So pagi pagi can mean “very early in the morning”. Sometimes I will use that technique in Spanish, and it’s often understood, such as mañana mañana

Mixing Spanish and English to be understood, so that for example Dame le book can sometimes work.

Now I’m finding that I’m getting ads in Spanish on my iPad though I never read in Spanish - I just do occasional Spanish lessons. So now my screen is a mix.

>129 janoorani24: Hahaha I think ive done the same; a little Spanish a little Italian a little Hebrew. What could go wrong!

Fun with foreign languages! It’s been a while since I’ve had any practice with anything other than English, but I want to read some German books soon.

I finally figured out that it was stupid to keep paying 12€ a month for a Disney+ subscription and not watching The Orville, which is the only reason I’m subscribing. So I finally watched the last two episodes and terminated the subscription.

I enjoyed this series. I was often annoyed at the high level of unbelievably, but on the other hand I liked the humor, and the fact that the ship was full of imperfect and often blundering people. The last episode was very funny.

And now I can concentrate on Star Trek Discovery and Babylon 5. Given that I watch about one episode of either one every couple of weeks, that’s going to take some time.

Attachements
Alice Bienassis

I found this graphic book on the table at the library where they showcase recommended works. I was first drawn to the artwork, which is beautiful, and then intrigued by the subject: shibari. This is a form of rope bondage that initially came from Japan.

The book is structured in four chapters, the first three containing a story told in the first person by a different practitioner (the first being the author herself). All of them deal with the questions raised by a practice that by definition entails one person being tied by another, questions of power, dominance, trust, consent, and the possibility (reality in some cases) of rape. The fourth chapter is based on an article by Midori, a shibari artist, that outlines the history of shibari in Japan, which turns out to be quite different to the foundational myth in vogue in the western world. The article is here and I haven’t finished reading it yet:
Japanese Bondage - The History & Myths

Looking for more info on the web, I found this interesting article:
Shibari, or rope bondage, can bring pleasure, pain, connection, and sometimes major surprises

Regarding foreign languages, I think that when my brain is in foreign language mode, it will default to a different foreign language when it gets stuck, rather than defaulting to English, which in some cases would work better than whatever other language I throw in.

Hi! I am enjoying the discussion on foreign languages :-) My grandchild is being brought up in English and French. She's still at the stage where she mixes both languages when she needs to. It's interesting to see which language she chooses for which thing/concept: for example, she uses English words for rice, raisins, paper, phone, boob, and French words for bread ("pain", usually pronounced with a South-Western accent because that's where she's been living for the last few months), rabbit, car, hide...

>125 FlorenceArt: Interested in your experience because I am planning on reading Montaigne's Essais later this year.

>135 Dilara86: its suprising how early kids get good at figuring out what language to use when and whom to use it with. fun to watch and listen

>136 cindydavid4: Definitely!

>135 Dilara86: I’m stumbling a little with Montaigne right now, but I will probably continue with Pernon’s translation, as imperfect as it may be. At least it’s an ebook.

Arte (the public French-German Tv channel) has a retrospective of Yasujiro Ozu's films, and I watched two of them last weekend. Late Spring (Printemps tardif) tells the story of a young woman trying to resist the pressure to marry. Tokyo Story (Le Voyage à Tokyo) is about an elderly couple visiting their children in the capital, and finding there is not much room for them in the children's lives. Both films have almost exactly the same set of actors, whom Ozu apparently kept reusing. Both are rather melancholy but beautiful. The fist one is a reminder of what it must have been like to be a woman in a world where the only possible life was to be unpaid labor for a man. The retrospective is on replay until the end of this month, so I might watch another one or two.

I read a strange short story by Balzac because it was mentioned in the catalog of the Gilles Aillaud exhibition I mentioned in >102 FlorenceArt:. Une passion dans le désert is the weird story of a passion between a soldier of Napoleon lost in the desert and... a leopard.

Finished the third Penric novella, Penric's Fox, just as delicious as the first two. I must pace myself if I don't want to get to the last published one too soon.

I really enjoyed reading Balzac last year. Is that one available in english?

>140 cindydavid4: Yes, A Passion in the Desert. It’s on Gutenberg do it must be easy to find in electronic form.

I liked Balzac’s “romantic” novels. I hated his realistic ones. This reminds me that I should try to read him again.

rhanks for that Not sure which I read, just remember laughing through most of the books!

>142 cindydavid4: Really? I didn’t read many but I don’t remember laughing. I’m intrigued!

Delurking to say hi Florence,

>144 markon: Hi Ardene, thanks for saying hi 😉

>134 labfs39: I grew up taking French (including my elementary years in a French immersion program) and so when we moved to Germany and I started learning German, I spoke with a French accent, which my husband found hilarious. Later, I found I had lost my ability to speak French without a lot of mental preparation as German would emerge when I tried.

>136 cindydavid4: When my daughter was maybe five, I took her to the pediatrician and it was fun to hear her speak to me in English and the doctor in German without even thinking about it.

>143 FlorenceArt: oh man, I didn't write them in my journal! one was a collection of short stories that I remember. Lemme see if I can find last years thread

Catching up, and enjoying the diverse experiences of dealing with foreign languages. Lots of things I can identify with! I went through all the bilingual childhood stuff myself, and I have watched friends’ children coping happily with parents who speak two different languages neither of which is the one that the kids speak at school and with their friends. Somehow it always sorts itself out. I was amused that my niece as a small child, raised in an almost entirely English speaking environment, still picked up and started using some of the German words her grandmother would absent mindedly come out with. Said niece is now living in Germany with a German partner…

>148 thorold: The only bits of foreign language I picked up were from my grandmother on one side (Italian) and a great-aunt on the other (Spanish). In Italian, I mostly just learned a silly song, how to call someone stubborn/ridiculous, and how to say "eat! eat everything!". In Spanish I learned the word for fleas (she was a crazy cat lady) and how to cuss about them, and how to tell people to open/close the windows, turn on/off the lights, etc. I took Spanish in high school and was amused to learn that I'd only ever heard the imperative of any verb before. ;)

>149 ursula: I'd only ever heard the imperative of any verb before
That's funny!

Learned Hebrew first in sunday and Hebrew school (afterschool classes) pretty basic stuff but most of it was preparing for my bat mizvah so not actually useful for daily conversaton. Surprised tho how many words I know that I will somehow substitute when I am trying to speak spanish. Wish I knew more; I was on a Kibbutz for 6 months and was getting better but it didnt stick. Did learn lots of Yiddish from my parents trying not to let us hear them.

>149 ursula: 🤣

>151 cindydavid4: Did learn lots of Yiddish from my parents trying not to let us hear us 🤣

I think I’m through with ST Discovery. I was enjoying it very much, but they had to go and introduce a god-like entity. I’m feeling extremely annoyed at Hollywood in general right now. Well at least I can concentrate on B5 now.

I just skimmed the pages of The Man of Pleasure’s Illustrated Pocketbook for 1850. This is a fascinating book listing London's pleasures of the time, with the name, address and description of shows, casinos, pubs and prostitutes. Also features a flash dictionary, and a chapter on the symptoms and "cures" (this is the 19th century, so, um) of venereal diseases. Contrary to what we would expect today from a guidebook, there are no maps, no table of contents, and no page numbers.

Ace
Angela Chen

A good complement to The Invisible Orientation. It’s much more emotional, with insight into the personal experience of the author and numerous other aces. It’s also more political. She discusses compulsory sexuality at length, a reference to Adrienne Rich’s compulsory heterosexuality. Gave me a lot to think about.

My next step on the asexuality breadcrumb trail should be Frigidity: An Intellectual History. Although it's not about asexuality, I am drawn to the subject, but a bit taken aback by the price: 85.44 euros on Kobo! At least it's available as an ebook, but I'm wondering if it's really worth that price. In any case it will stay on my wishlist at least until I finish Making Sex, which has fallen to the bottom of the pile, again.

>104 FlorenceArt: Good to see your thoughts on this one, I'll probably read it at some point myself. I'd never really thought about it until relatively recently, but I feel I must be somewhere on the spectrum of asexuality.

>126 FlorenceArt: Just recently I came across various people talking about how funny Moby-Dick was. I'd always had it in my head that it was an ultra serious book and had been put off it, but that and your post has finally convinced me to give it a go sometime.

Glad you've found some good things in The Invisible Orientation and Ace! It's one of those subjects where even if asexuality hasn't impacted us too much in our lives it's always nice to fill in a piece of the puzzle of the self.

>157 valkyrdeath: I must have had the same preconceived notions about Moby Dick, because I apparently missed the humor completely the first time round! And yet it’s there, both in some situations described and in the writing itself.

>158 mabith: Exactly!

Finally finished Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud (which I read in French: La fabrique du sexe, translated by Michel Gautier - or is it Pierre-Emmmanuel Dauzat? The book is not clear but whoever he is, he did a pretty good job I think).

As explained in >73 FlorenceArt: above, the book's thesis is that the view of sex in the Western world underwent a major reversal, from the idea that sexual differences were fluid and females were an inferior version of males (not hot enough, basically), to the conviction that the sexes are essentially different. In the first view, sex differences are on a continuum, and it's not particularly shocking to see a girl turning into a boy. In the second view, sex is binary and the differences between sexes are grounded in the male and female essence. The first view was prevalent in antiquity and the middle ages, and the second view is the one that still shapes our prejudices.

The first part, about the era of the one-sex model (roughly from Greek antiquity to the Renaissance), felt interesting albeit a bit too long. On the other hand the part about the two-sex model felt too short and rather confusing. It started well by explaining how the old model became unsustainable due to the new imperative of explaining social facts scientifically. Something similar happened with race.

Aristotle and the others did not need to justify the inferior social status of women. It was self-evident and ordained by God or Nature. It didn't matter much whether the vagina really looked like an inverted penis or the uterus like an internal scrotum. The similarity was necessary to the higher order of things. The inferiority of women was a given, and the explanation was that they were too cold and humid to be proper males. But when a girl suddenly grew testicles as a result of jumping over a fire, it was notable but not that unexpected.

However, things changed when enlightenment came along and it was decided that all men were created equal. And women? If they were just like men with a vagina instead of a penis, how to explain that they did not have the same rights or the same place in society? They had to be essentially different, of course. And so, just like men before them had ignored obvious anatomical differences because they didn't fit into their model, modern men constructed another model of sex and then found "facts" to suit it.

Even feminists did, and some still do, fall into this essentialist trap and explained, for instance, that the qualities peculiar to the "fair sex" made them as well or better fitted for public life than men. And that if women ruled the world, it would be a more peaceful and nurturing place. Yeah, right.

So far, so good, but after this introduction the book lost me. I was confused and didn't really understand what Laqueur was trying to say. And the last chapter about Freud(*), all I can say is: WTF? Although I did learn something interesting: before Freud, nobody ever thought that the female orgasm was caused by anything else than the clitoris. This had been established since centuries, both in medical and erotic literature. Freud simply invented the vaginal orgasm, and as with everything else he invented, he didn't have a shred of proof. But, somehow, that's all right, because what he really meant to say was that women were socially forced to move the organ of their sexual pleasure for the higher purpose of reproduction? I haven't read enough Freud to have any idea how close this is to what he actually wrote, but I can only repeat: WTF? Sounds to me like Laqueur is desperately trying to save Freud's status as "a great mind". Pfah.

All in all, a very interesting read, and I fully agree with the author's conclusion that "the discourse on sex differences ignores the burden of facts and remains as free as a pure mind game" (probably not quite what the author wrote, as this is my own clumsy translation from the French translation).

(*) According to Freud, young clitoral girls mature into vaginal women.

>160 FlorenceArt:

I often cuss about Freud too, but I think he did do some great things, like the theory of the un(sub)conscious, or recognising that sexuality plays a role from the earliest development. Did a bad turn to women, though.

before Freud, nobody ever thought that the female orgasm was caused by anything else than the clitoris. This had been established since centuries, both in medical and erotic literature.

Yes, this is very strange especially regarding porn (old medicine is after all as much or more talk than experience). But porn, historically, from folk stories to Victorian smut, is based on people's actual activities and knowledge. And it's true that the clitoris and the importance of clitoral arousal is all over that lit. (It can get hyperbolic, with some ladies "super-endowed" to the point of almost having penises.) Of course they didn't know what we didn't know until very recently, which is just how large the area of the clitoris is, but the basic idea that stimulating the clitoris is what brings women to orgasm was apparently no news at all. Except to Freud.

young clitoral girls mature into vaginal women.

Reflecting the notion of homosexuality as "arrested development"... all the more disappointing as Freud embraced the idea of a basic "bisexuality" to human beings and could have done a lot to normalize homosexuality.

if women ruled the world, it would be a more peaceful and nurturing place. Yeah, right.

Well, first, we don't know what would happen because women have never ruled the world. However, I'd go further and argue that the world WOULD be a more peaceful and nurturing place if women ruled, because of the pre-conditions that would need to be filled before this happened. Men* would need to cease to exist, and if men ceased to exist, we would instantly see the end to current warfare all over the planet, the end to the vast majority of violence committed, a disruption (probably lasting) of class exploitation, a disruption (possibly lasting) of the destruction of ecology.

Of course, there would be many horrific outcomes for many of the remaining women immediately after--disruption to all the chains of production of necessities and maintenance of infrastructure, but nothing that couldn't be brought under control (the worst off would be women in places like Saudi Arabia, with no presence at all in industry nor the education necessary to step into positions occupied by male workers).

But this material hardship would likely only contribute to make women MORE peaceful and nurturing. For one thing, why would Russian women want to keep up a war on Ukrainian women? Who'd give a fuck about whether Crimea is Russian or Ukrainian? Who'd give a fuck about NATO? Why would Israeli women oppress women in Gaza? And if they're struggling to keep electricity and water running and to secure food production, there's all the more reason to cooperate to solve problems.

*I say men, but it's "men as we know them", men as we raise and allow to be NOW. Essentialism is bollocks, men are garbage because we currently raise them to be garbage, but as the problem is so vast and ubiquitous, there is no point in Not-All-Mening.

>161 LolaWalser: The problem with Freud's lies is that, if they have been thoroughly disavowed in the scientific world (except, unfortunately, in France), they are still very much alive in popular culture. In practically every heterosexual sex scene I have read in romance, the act is not complete, or completely satisfying, until a penis has entered a vagina. Even in F2F sex, something has to enter a vagina. This always puzzles me. As an outside observer 😉

"But this material hardship would likely only contribute to make women MORE peaceful and nurturing."
I don't see how that follows. Cooperation would of course happen, but it does not preclude conflict. And frankly, as a slightly non-conforming and not very social person, the idea of being dependent on a small community for survival is enough to give me nightmares. It would be nurturing, yes, for some or even most, but might be deadly for others.

>162 FlorenceArt:

Freud's lies

I think this is a bit strong, Freud didn't, as far as I know, consciously lie about anything, but it's true that his theories, due to the very nature of their subject --the psyche, the unconscious, memories etc.--incorporated a lot of sheer speculation. I'm by no means expert, so I did find useful in understanding why Freud persists (despite the shortcomings people have been aware of for a very long time), a few books, like Anthony Storr's Freud: A Very Short Introduction and, in a roundabout way, Janet Malcolm's In the Freud archives. The latter especially drives home the everlasting potency of Freud's imagination and literary metaphors, how they can and do energize people's understanding of themselves, why Freudian therapists still exist (even if "modified").

I say this as someone fascinated by psychoanalysis but who hasn't undergone it personally.

still very much alive in popular culture

Yeah, a similar thing drives me up the wall regarding the bollocks of evo-psych: daily I swim in science refuting it, and daily I hear echoes of nonsense spread online, unabating. However, speaking of hetero romance, as far as I can presume to, I think there is a good reason for the ubiquity of PiV sex as the "crowning" and seal of consummation--that's just what we are used to, and very many heterosexual (as well as a good many homosexual) women genuinely enjoy penetration, even if it doesn't in itself get them off. Actually, so do some men... it helps not to think of penetration as something strictly "penis does to vagina", but something all kinds of people are documented to enjoy, in various orifices of the body.

Then there's the prosaic reason that many people read a genre like romance FOR the formula and want all the ingredients. Are you reading mostly "mainstream" imprints or authors? That may be why the representations of sex seem monotonous.

Cooperation would of course happen, but it does not preclude conflict. And frankly, as a slightly non-conforming and not very social person, the idea of being dependent on a small community for survival is enough to give me nightmares.

But why "small" community? Granted that my thought experiment was barely sketched out to make a quick point... of the almost 8 billion people in the world today, almost half are women--by no means a "small" community globally, nor would it necessarily be small everywhere locally. Yes, even the thought experiment must allow for many women dying in the aftermath of such a (totally impossible) instant "deletion" of men, but by no means would a majority die off. The majority of women globally are poor rural and semi-urban dwellers, who'd barely notice a change in their routines and work. And women in the urban centres in the West would still have the advantage of media to connect and organize. Do you think there aren't enough savvy women in Paris who could take over the daily running of the city? :)

As for cooperation vs. conflict, women are human with all the human failings so yeah, there'd be conflicts and all sorts of misery as usual. But not to the usual scale, nor with the usual consequences. It's not women's aggression, greed, cruelty etc. fueling the current wars, and nothing from what we know about women says they would continue the warfare and politics currently led by men.

Saint Death’s Daughter
C. S. E. Cooney
Saint Death 1

Unfortunately this is a series of one so far. I guess it will have to be enough for now, but I do fervently hope there will be a second book. I enjoyed this one immensely. The characters are wonderful, the world building is amazing, and the story was rich but not too complex for me to follow (I’m no good at complex plots). The writing was sometimes on the brink of being too ornate for my taste, but that’s really a very small flaw, if any. Highly recommended.

>163 LolaWalser: Freud didn’t, as far as I know, consciously lie about anything, but it’s true that his theories, due to the very nature of their subject —the psyche, the unconscious, memories etc.—incorporated a lot of sheer speculation.

True, I'm sure he believed it all, although he did lie about many things. I don't know how much of his ideas remain today in scientific psychology. As I understand it, and I am no expert either, it is indeed an accepted fact that a lot of our mental processes are unconscious, but it's a far cry from his three-tier model of the psyche, which I believe does not match at all our current understanding of how our minds work. Also, I believe that psychoanalysis has helped many people, but it has also done a lot of damage, in France particularly. Unfortunately the state of mental health care in France is catastrophic (nothing to do with Freud of course, and much to do with money or the absence of it), so it doesn't help that it is still under the influence of totally debunked idea, such as the "mères frigidaire" being responsible for autism or schizophrenia, to the point where it can be almost impossible to get effective help in some cases.

>165 FlorenceArt:

Yikes! How odd, I thought French psychoanalysis was way more advanced.

>163 LolaWalser: Are you reading mostly "mainstream" imprints or authors? That may be why the representations of sex seem monotonous.

I find my romance on Kobo, so mainstream I guess, though some are self-published. A friend tried to sell me both Good Omens, the series, and the fanfic, but I’m not crazy about the idea of writing around existing works, I’d rather read original stuff. If you have suggestions, I’m interested!

I watched two more Ozu films last week: Ohayō / Bonjour / Good Morning and Sanma no aji / An Autumn Afternoon / Le goût du saké. The more of his films I see, the more they seem alike, and the more they grow on me. He manages to take the same story, more or less, with the same actors and the same settings, and yet to make it seem infinitely rich instead of repetitive. Possibly you need at least some familiarity with Japanese culture to appreciate them. I certainly don't remember liking Le goût du saké this much when I first saw it, years and years ago. But then I was years and years younger.

>167 FlorenceArt:

For romance or sexy stuff, sorry, not really, I would suggest searching on tagmashes or something, or maybe looking at "best of" lists. In general I'd pick queer authors for authenticity, when it comes to non-heterosexual situations. Speaking of, there is one recommendation I'm always happy to make, if you haven't read it already, and that's Alison Bechdel's Dykes to watch out for series. It's neither romance or smut per se, but as a candid and realistic depiction of queer (mostly lesbian) lives it has no peer in any kind of medium. It's also a fantastic piece of social, political, cultural commentary, a historical testament (Bechdel stopped writing it over a decade ago, alas) and just a fun comic too. Candid and realistic: characters are drawn nude and having sex, and by no means is everyone "perfect" nor is it showcased for male gaze. Fat menopausal women, chubby men, butches with shaved heads, lipstick lesbians, dowdy people and stylish people, shy people and feisty sex-toy loving people... just about anyone is having sex in those pages. That said, it occurs to me that I don't recall asexuality coming up... which, if true (could be just me), might just reflect the ignorance of the times.

Good Omens--if it's about Pratchett's and Gaiman's book, there isn't sex in it? I loved the book and the TV series based on it. The TV series makes the relationship between the angel and the demon very shippy but it's nothing explicitly sexual. I don't read fanfic, well not since over twenty years ago, when I came across the term. Mind was blown... for various reasons. People are sick! Some in a good way, and some are just sick! :)

>169 LolaWalser: I bought Dykes to Watch Out For recently after seeing it mentioned several times here, by you and probably others? Anyway it does sound good, I have started reading a few pages. I don’t think there is sex in Good Omens, but there is in the fanfic. I’m not looking for sex particularly though. I don’t mind it but it’s romance I’m after.

>170 FlorenceArt:

Aw, reading DTWOF for the first time, so cool! Makes me want to take out my volumes too! If you are reading from the very start, note that the art is a bit rough for the first couple installments, but then Bechdel quickly settles into a beautiful ligne claire style (she not only loved Tintin, there are references to Hergé in various things, even Mo's hairstyle (Mo is Bechdel's avatar in the strip). One of the anthologies of the strip did inner covers in Tintin's style, with notable objects from the stories... they are hilarious!

Masquerade in Lodi
Lois McMaster Bujold
Penric and Desdemona 4

A few years have passed and Penric is now in another town, after a traumatic incident that is only hinted at. This book is more melancholy than the previous ones, and just as good.

I watched one more Ozu film on Arte (probably the last one as they won't be available for much longer): Akibiyori (Fin d'automne/Late Autumn). Still more of the same, still as engaging.

I also finished one of the fanfics recommended by my friend: Big Name Feelings. I enjoyed it even if the author doesn't always seem to understand the meaning of the words he uses😊. The characters were maybe a tad too perfect, but utterly lovable. I liked how much of the story is told through online chats.

Get A Life, Chloe Brown
Talia Hibbert
Brown Sisters 1

Typical romance, very funny.

The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Very Short Introduction
Martin Bunton

I’ve been trying to clean up my "supposed to be reading" pile, and so finally finished this one. Turns out I had read everything but the conclusion, which is depressing. The book is about 10 years out of date, but the conclusion is already pessimistic, and things have gotten worse since.

I have decided to restart Metamorphoses from the beginning, because reading it in small and far apart bits did not work. It's not a series of unrelated stories, but rather the end of each story morphs into the beginning of the next one, like a game of cadavres exquis. I will try to concentrate on it more this time. I think I'm getting more out of it the second time for some reason. Maybe because the unusual style of the translation has grown on me. Also I'm enjoying looking up the back stories in the Dictionnaire de la mythologie gréco-romaine (that hasn't changed).

I think I have decided on a way to read Montaigne. I found a decent edition of the original text, though unfortunately when I sampled the translation (it's a bilingual edition), I immediately stumbled on a mistranslation. So I am keeping the translation by Guy de Pernon and referring to it in case of doubt. Turns out the original is easier to read than I feared.

>174 FlorenceArt: I found The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict to be dense but helpful in getting the historical timeline of who did what when. I'm glad you've found ways to move forward with Metamorphose and Montaigne. Sometimes it's nice to feel like we are cleaning up.

>175 labfs39: Yes, the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict was a very clear explanation of the roots of the conflict. I probably should read it again and take notes. I have left it open at the chronology. I’d like to read one of the Verso books on Palestine that I downloaded, but I need to clear more of the "reading" books first.

>174 FlorenceArt: I feel that I did’t do justice to Get A Life, Chloe Brown. It is indeed a typical 21st century romance but very well done, and extremely funny. It’s free of the 20th century gender stereotypes, and the woke stereotypes are kept to a minimum. The protagonists are both believable and utterly likable. I look forward to reading the other two books in the trilogy.

Bears Behaving Badly
MaryJanice Davidson
Bewere My Heart 1

Years ago I read several books in Davidson’s Queen Betsy series. They were very funny but after a while I stopped reading them, I didn’t like the direction the series seemed to be taking.

This one is very different from what I remember of Queen Betsy, but it was also very funny. The dialogues are hilarious and they are the best thing in this book. Not that the story is bad, it’s just not that important to me. The cast of characters is rich and likable. An enjoyable read.

Le Dernier vœu (The Last Wish)
Andrzej Sapkowski
Sorceleur (Witcher) 1

Original title: Ostatnie Zyczenie
Translated from Polish to French by Laurence Dyèvre

I had never heard of the Witcher video game (I’m not much of a gamer), but I did watch the first season of the Netflix series and a few episodes of the second, before I grew tired of it. Then I stumbled upon the book (probably via the Kobo recommendation engine) and decided to give it a try.

I liked it. The written format is much more comfortable for me than the hectic pace and special effect orgy of the series (I had no idea what was going on 80% of the time), despite the fact that it feels weird to read fantasy in French, something I haven’t done in decades. The translation is a bit awkward but readable. My reading was of course influenced by the Netflix interpretation, but I didn’t find it a problem as they didn’t really clash.

I think i will read the next book at some point, but maybe I should try the English translation? Maybe it’s better than the French?

This week was special, as we had two consecutive holidays in France: Wednesday was the anniversary of the WWII armistice, and Thursday was Ascension day. Unlike many people, I worked on Friday. But on Wednesday I visited the Fondation Vuitton and the two exhibitions there. The single room featuring Matisse’s Atelier rouge painting was OK but overcrowded. I love Matisse but the paintings shown, which are the paintings represented in the painting of his workshop, didn’t feel interesting enough to stay more than a few minutes.

I knew nothing about Ellsworth Kelly before visiting the other exhibition, except for vaguely recognizing the name. I was expecting bright colors, and they were definitely there. In fact his paintings consist only of flat colored surfaces organize in very simple geometric patterns. I liked them but they felt a bit too intellectual to me. I much preferred his drawings and photos, and was disappointed there were so few.

The most interesting part of this visit was the auditorium, which is not usually accessible, at least I had never seen it. Kelly made several huge paintings that integrate within the architecture of the room, and the two work perfectly together.

I’ve been binge reading Penric and Desdemona during this holiday week. Love this series.

Penric’s Mission
Mira’s Last Dance
The Prisoner of Limnos

These three make up a single story arc and they are very short, so it made sense to read them back to back. I didn’t have to immediately start on the next one, The Orphans of Raspay, but I did anyway 😊

Oh, and the swifts have arrived. And there were several duck families on the canal, which I visited on Thursday.

It sounds like a lovely week, Florence.

Chiming in to say I also loved the Good Omens series. I loved the romance, especially in the second season. I think it was the same friend as you who enticed me into watching it. :)
I also read a bit of fanfic that she sent me, which was nice but I was frustrated by the very short length.

>182 labfs39: It is, and I forgot to mention that we are having wonderful weather at last!

>183 chlorine: I finally managed to watch the first episode. It was nice, I guess. I’m trying to fight the strong urge to not like it because it was so forcefully recommended ☺️

>184 FlorenceArt: The first season is IMO inferior to the second so maybe you finding it only OK comes from the fact that it's really not that terrific. :)

>185 chlorine: OK, I’ll keep that in mind!

Yesterday I tried watching episode 2 of Good Omens, and about one third in, I realized I was sitting there on my sofa on a Sunday night, watching something I didn't want to watch. So I stopped. Also I think I understood why I dislike it: I can't stand humor that relies on putting people in embarrassing situations. And I'm not that interested in Armageddon, botched or not. I have enough of our small world ending right here and now.

In the meantime I finished The Orphans of Raspay (a slight disappointment after the wonderful romance arc of the three previous Penric books), and started The Hands of the Emperor.

My reader is acting up and I'm getting nervous. It won't charge!

>179 FlorenceArt: There was a recent exhibition of Kelly's work at SLAM (St. Louis Art Museum), that I really liked. Those blocks of pure color are hard to look away from.

>188 RidgewayGirl: My reaction was more mixed, but come to think of it, I didn’t zip through the exhibit either, as I might have thought given that they are simple geometric flat color shapes.

>189 FlorenceArt: My shallow take on Kelly—his paintings made awesome postage stamps. I still have a few left and they always make me happy to use—I rarely buy two panes of any stamp releases, but I kind of wish I had more of those.

>190 lisapeet: Very nice stamps! The second one (from the top left) is my favorite, and also represents the paintings (or groups of paintings) that I liked best in the exhibition.

ETA: this is the installation I’m talking about:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw0rMNTMdVY/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=Mz...

The Hands of the Emperor
Victoria Goddard

I’m feeling a little sad to have to leave Kip and the emperor already. This is supposed to be a doorstopper (hard to judge with ebooks, and anyway I would NEVER stop a door with my Kobo!) but I didn’t really notice, I read it in a few days.

It’s not perfect but it really worked for me. The not perfect aspects are the slightly too perfect(!) characters (especially the villains), and the political reforms sound maybe a bit to easy, but then this is an unrealistic setting (talk about an enlightened despot!). I love the world building and how the larger history is hinted at with many blanks to fill (room for more books!) while giving a very lifelike picture.

I intend to read her other books, including a re-read of Greenwing and Dart which I loved too (and I just found out that I didn’t read the last book, and there are also a couple of short stories I think). I think the next one will be The Return of Fitzroy Angursell.

Isn’t it annoying when the touchstone keeps coming up with a title that is completely different from the one you typed?

Thornbound
Stephanie Burgis
The Harwood Spellbook 2

OK I guess. To tell the truth I hesitated to finish it, maybe because it was such a letdown after Victoria Goddard. And probably there is nothing really wrong with it, it’s just not the kind of light/comfort read I like. Too much drama and tension, not enough romance.

>187 FlorenceArt: the good omens is not for everyone. for me, loving fantasy brit humor and satire of human society,it was right up my alley I loved the first book. The second of the series had some difficult parts but thought the ending was a wonderful if frustrating cliff hanger; Ill be waiting another year for the next one! I do think Sheen and Tenant are brilliant. In fact im now watching "80 days around the world" with the latter as phineas fogg. Oh this is good!

>194 cindydavid4: Yes, the actors are great.

>194 cindydavid4: I stumbled upon and read the book (Good Omens) last year. At the very beginning I wasn't sure about it, almost gave up, but then decided to go along with it. I presume I was searching about the book and then found that the second season of the tv show was about to premiere. After I finished the book... I devoured the first season and loved it. To the point that I was falling asleep with the theme song stuck in my head. The second season, since it was a new story... I still enjoyed but not quite like the first one. Yes, the ending and cliff hanger were something!

I had no idea about the show "80 days around the world"! Just checked the trailer and seems like something I'd want to watch now, thank you! :)

>196 dicentra8: I liked the book Good Omens, but not as much as either Pratchett’s or Gaiman’s best.

they wrote that early in their writing careers and I agree their separate work surpasses it. but I love the fact that neil and sir terry had a plan to continue it and that Neil is now wriing the next show with sir terrys posthumous help.

>198 cindydavid4: Oh, I didn’t know that!

The Physicians of Vilnoc
Lois McMaster Bujold
Penric and Desdemona 9

Still love this series. Getting dangerously close to the last published book in it, I think there are only two remaining.

Yesterday I read a quick, quirky and fun short story from Reactor Mag (formerly tor.com):
The Three O'Clock Dragon by John Wiswell.

Also yesterday I bought another paper copy of Montaigne's Essays. I do hope this will be the right one, given the price: it's the Pléïades edition (82 euros!). It has the original text with no modernization whatsoever, but I think I can get used to that. And it has a LOT of notes and a complex system to identify them: capital letters are footnotes for translating difficult words or expressions, small letters are for variants (not interested) and numbers are for other end notes. Whew. I hope this will help me get past my current block, I've been stuck reading and rereading the same chapter in different versions. I think this is the fifth version I have actually bought, not counting all the free ones I tried.




And since I was in an actual bookshop, I also bought Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book (Notes de chevet). It's a bit strange for such a classic but there is only one French translation currently available, and it's not available as an ebook, except for a smaller book that is a shortened version.

I feel you re Montaigne: I am in a similar situation right now. I spent some time in Gibert looking at what was on offer, thinking I might find the Quadrige academic version (I couldn't find it) or maybe a second-hand Pléiade (I like its "seriousness" but I hate its tiny fonts and transparent paper), which they didn't have either. They had the biblio versions with and without the Michel Onfray preface - risky because they were wrapped in plastic so I couldn't check the text inside and I was never going to buy a book that had Onfray on the cover anyway... In the end, I got the Pocket modernised spelling version. It said "Texte intégral" on the front and back cover. And what do you know, it *doesn't* contain all the essays! I've decided to stick with it but I am stalling right now...

I’m not crazy about the old fashioned font of the Pléïades, but in this case it goes well with the text, and it’s less distracting than I thought. I don’t mind the thin paper, I quite like it actually. What I don’t like is the new car smell!

I bought the biblio version despite the Onfray preface, but I didn’t trust its translation for no good reason, I think it was the absence of notes, and also… Onfray!

The Folio classique is OK if you can stand the font changes, but it really annoyed me.

>200 FlorenceArt:

Two faves in one post!

So are you reading the essays from the beginning?

>203 LolaWalser: Yes, I am. At first I bought two essays in a volume for high school students, with lots of comments: Essais: Des cannibales, Des coches. I don't remember why I bought this, but I was surprised to find Montaigne so modern and so easy to read, so I decided to read them all from the beginning.