{"id":614,"date":"2010-07-17T18:30:17","date_gmt":"2010-07-17T06:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=614"},"modified":"2012-10-13T17:45:54","modified_gmt":"2012-10-13T04:45:54","slug":"what-im-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2010\/07\/17\/what-im-reading\/","title":{"rendered":"What I’m Reading: A Positive Bouquet of Books!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Palimpsest: Catherynne M Valente<\/p><\/div>\n

In terms of “what I’m reading” right now, I’m on a big push to read all the fiction finalists for the Hugo Awards<\/a>, and this week I finished Catherynne M Valente’s<\/a> <\/strong>Palimpsest<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, which I found an intriguing read, but not a particularly easy one—although the story did come together at the end. I don’t want to say too much about any one book in the Hugos finalists’ lineup until I’ve read them all, but I know a couple of other readers who gave up on Palimpsest<\/strong><\/em> before reaching the end, and in one case, after only a few chapters. So this is definitely not a book for everyone . . . but for myself, I’m glad I read it. I don’t know whether or not it will turn out to be my favourite of the six finalists (I have read three so far, with three to go including Robert Charles Wilson’s<\/a> Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America<\/em><\/a><\/strong>, which I have just started reading)—but yes, definitely glad I’ve read Palimpsest<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Taking a little time out from the Hugo reading, I also finished the second book in Tamora Pierce’s<\/strong><\/a> Beka Cooper<\/strong><\/em><\/a> series, the novel called Bloodhound<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Bloodhound: Tamora Pierce<\/p><\/div>\n

I have been a fan of Tamora Pierce’s writing since reading Alanna: The First Adventure<\/strong><\/em>, way back when, and was pleased when Beka Cooper: Terrier<\/a> <\/strong><\/em>returned to the Tortall world of that first Song of the Lioness<\/strong><\/em><\/a> series, although at an earlier time period. I really like the character of Beka Cooper—she’s a smart, resourceful, tough, but also compassionate heroine. My kind of gal, definitely, and I enjoyed reading the Bloodhound <\/strong><\/em>story.<\/p>\n

But as regular readers may have guessed, since I interview poets for the Women on Air programme, Plains 96.9 FM<\/a>, I also read a lot of poetry books. At the moment I am re-reading Voyagers: Science Fiction Poetry from New Zealand <\/strong><\/em><\/a>(Interactive Press),<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Voyagers<\/p><\/div>\n

edited by Tim Jones<\/a> and Mark Pirie<\/a>, as well as reading Pascale Petit’s<\/a> The Treekeeper’s Tale<\/strong><\/em><\/a> (Seren) for the first time.<\/p>\n

I suspect many people may have thought there would not be sufficient science fiction poetry written in New Zealand to make up an anthology, but Voyagers <\/strong><\/em>proved any doubters wrong with a wonderful compilation of poems on topics as diverse as space travel, apocalypse, extra-terrestrials and altered states. It’s up for a Sir Julius Vogel Award<\/strong><\/a> this year, too, in the category of “Best Collected Work”<\/a>—a well-deserved nomination, in my opinion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Treekeeper's Tale: Pascale Petit<\/p><\/div>\n

The Treekeeper’s Tale<\/strong><\/em> is the third collection from celebrated UK poet, Pascale Petit, that I have read (or will have read, once I finish). Petit’s poetry is emotionally powerful, savage even, in books such as The Zoo Father<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and The Huntress<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, but she also has a powerful command of language. So despite finding these first two books challenging reads, I also found the poetry extremely inspirational. I am finding The Treekeeper’s Tale<\/strong><\/em> a gentler read, but no less inspirational poetically. The subject matter (so far) is of nature and archaeology but with the same mythological overtones I remember from the earlier collections. I am really enjoying it and although I won’t know if I have a favourite poem until I finish, so far Siberian Ice Maiden<\/em> is a strong contender.<\/p>\n

Just to give you a feeling for Petit’s use of language, here are the opening lines to the poem Hieroglyph Moth<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the white ermine wings
\nopened at night<\/p>\n

like a book of frost
\nsmoking in the dark,<\/p>\n

I understood the colour of vowels
\npainted on moth fur \u2013<\/p>\n

the black, red, saffron signs
\nof a new language.\u201d<\/p>\n

(c) Pascal Petit<\/p>\n

from <\/em>Hieroglyph Moth, <\/em><\/em>in The Treekeeper’s Tale<\/span><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

So now, time to share—what are you reading currently?<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In terms of “what I’m reading” right now, I’m on a big push to read all the fiction finalists for the Hugo Awards, and this week I finished Catherynne M Valente’s Palimpsest, which I found an intriguing read, but not a particularly easy one—although the story did come together at the end. I don’t want […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other-writers","category-what-im-reading"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16610,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614\/revisions\/16610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}