archerygirl hides from Mount TBR in 2021 (1)

Discussions75 Books Challenge for 2021

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archerygirl hides from Mount TBR in 2021 (1)

1archerygirl
Jan 1, 2021, 7:11 am

Hello! I'm Kathy and I'm returning for my 11th year in the 75 books group. Mount TBR is my physical book stash and this year I'm planning to ignore its height and read whatever the heck I want.

Last year, I mainly reread a lot of old favourites in the first half of the year, and then fell headfirst into a new fandom and read mostly fanfic from September onwards. This resulted in a tally of 36 books read, but in this time of times, I'm not sure focusing on the number is important. I read some stuff that was comforting and some of that stuff was published fiction.

Hmmph.

I usually tend to read a lot of SFF, trending more towards the fantasy end of the spectrum, with a bit of historical romance and mystery thrown in for fun. Last year I was almost exclusively reading historical romance but I'm currently rereading The Dark Is Rising so who knows what will happen this year!

When I'm not reading, I watch TV (currently absorbed in Chinese dramas), bake, play board games, and work as a data engineer. I have one cat, Annie, who is quite happy for me to read as long as she gets plenty of lap time.

If you're a tweeter, I'm quite active on @/selenay and much less active on @/stompydragons.

Here is Annie, fast asleep on the back of the sofa and looking adorable.

2archerygirl
Modifié : Avr 14, 2021, 10:26 am

Books read in 2021:

January

1. The Dark Is Rising - Susan Cooper
2. The Relentless Moon - Mary Robinette Kowal

March
3. The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows - Olivia Waite
4. Boyfriend Material - Alexis Hall

3archerygirl
Modifié : Fév 26, 2021, 9:59 am

Books acquired in 2021:

February

1. Winter's Orbit - Everina Maxwell
2. The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows - Olivia Waite

4archerygirl
Jan 1, 2021, 7:12 am

And I think that's all the reserved posts needed. Welcome to 2021!

5SandDune
Jan 1, 2021, 7:26 am

Happy New Year Kathy! I’m currently reading The Dark is Rising series as well. I’ve got through Over Sea, Under Stone, The Dark is Rising and Greenwitch so far and expect to finish the rest over the next couple of months.

6Crazymamie
Jan 1, 2021, 8:27 am

Hello, Kathy! Your Annie is beautiful. Dropping a star and looking forward to following you this year.

7PaulCranswick
Jan 1, 2021, 9:16 am



And keep up with my friends here, Kathy. Have a great 2021.

8drneutron
Jan 1, 2021, 9:32 am

Welcome back, Kathy!

9MickyFine
Modifié : Jan 1, 2021, 5:38 pm

Happy New Year, Kathy! I hope you and the very adorable Annie get plenty of reading/snuggle time this year.

10FAMeulstee
Jan 1, 2021, 4:24 pm

Happy reading in 2021, Kathy!

11thornton37814
Jan 1, 2021, 7:09 pm

I think the cat has the right idea! Happy reading!

12souloftherose
Jan 2, 2021, 10:52 am

Happy New Year Kathy!

>1 archerygirl: 'Mount TBR is my physical book stash and this year I'm planning to ignore its height and read whatever the heck I want.'

Pretty much sums up my reading plans this year too :-D

13ronincats
Jan 2, 2021, 12:21 pm

Dropping off my and wishing you the best of new years in 2021!

14norabelle414
Jan 2, 2021, 1:21 pm

Happy New Year Kathy and Annie!

15HanGerg
Jan 2, 2021, 6:15 pm

Hi Kathy! Good to see you here again!

16archerygirl
Jan 3, 2021, 1:25 pm

Hello everyone! Lovely to have you all back!

>12 souloftherose: Pretty much sums up my reading plans this year too :-D - Yup, I feel like this is not the year to care about anything beyond whether I enjoyed what I read.

17justchris
Jan 4, 2021, 12:17 am

Kathy! Good to see you again! Annie is clearly an excellent reading companion.

Enjoy rereading The Dark Is Rising series.

18archerygirl
Jan 5, 2021, 6:06 am

>17 justchris: Annie is definitely a snuggly reading companion!

I'm probably only going to read The Dark Is Rising book this time - I've decided that I also need to finish The Relentless Moon, which I started and didn't finish a few months ago. And I'm also reading Heaven's Official Blessing as a group read, which is a ridiculously long book (but a lot of fun). That feels like enough ambition for now.

19dk_phoenix
Jan 6, 2021, 1:56 pm

Helloooo! Dropping a star, admiring the kitty, followed you on the Tweetybird site. :D

20archerygirl
Jan 7, 2021, 4:27 am

>20 archerygirl: Aha! I wondered why that name looked familiar :D

21PersephonesLibrary
Jan 7, 2021, 5:24 am

What a fluffy kitty! Anni is adorable!

22archerygirl
Jan 7, 2021, 11:17 am

>21 PersephonesLibrary: She is so fluffy. In both physical form and nature :D

23goosecap
Jan 7, 2021, 8:59 pm

So you’ve been an archery girl since before the Katniss era, right? That means you get a point for being original. /gives point/ ⭐️

24archerygirl
Jan 8, 2021, 11:56 am

>23 goosecap: I have been an archerygirl since around 2002 :D Way before Katniss! Although it was nice to see archery get a bit of a popularity boost through the various films...

25archerygirl
Jan 8, 2021, 11:58 am

I finished a book! The first book this year and, frankly, the first book in quite a long time.

1. The Dark Is Rising - Susan Cooper

My third(?) time rereading, and it's still fantastic.

Next, I need to finish The Relentless Moon. My group read of Heaven's Official Blessing continues and now that I'm getting into it, it's very funny.

Which is good, because it's over 2000 pages long and it needs to be entertaining for that length 😂

26PersephonesLibrary
Jan 8, 2021, 12:54 pm

>25 archerygirl: Congrats! 🥳

27MickyFine
Jan 8, 2021, 3:40 pm

Congrats on finishing a book. Glad to see it's a favourite, always a great way to start the year.

28archerygirl
Jan 9, 2021, 1:16 pm

>26 PersephonesLibrary: Thank you!

>27 MickyFine: At least I know that even if every other book this year doesn't go well, I started with something I liked :D

29false-knight
Jan 9, 2021, 5:20 pm

Aaaahh, MXTX! I have a friend who's really into Módào Zǔshī, but I never figured out where to start (like, do I look for the novel, do I watch The Untamed, there's apparently a web-manhua fan adaptation or something???). Where are you reading Heaven's Official Blessing?

Also, have you seen Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty? I can't vouch for the original webnovel as I haven't seen a good translation of it and the show apparently gets pretty different (not only by getting the central relationship knocked down to bromance), but I really liked the show. There's a lot of fun mystery-solving and a morally grey eunuch with a 16th-century pistol.

30archerygirl
Jan 11, 2021, 4:07 am

>29 false-knight: I started with The Untamed, which was a great place to start (for me), although it helped that I was watching it with someone who had already watched and could explain bits that got confusing. Going back to read the novel after helped to fill in a lot of places and I think that's the way most of my friends have done it :D

For Heaven's Official Blessing, I'm using the translation linked here.

I watched Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty at the end of last year and loved it! Such a fun show :D

31justchris
Jan 15, 2021, 12:11 am

>24 archerygirl: I'm a long-time archery buff since childhood too. We definitely noticed the Hunger Games spike in new youth archers at our weekly practices. Sadly, I stepped away from archery in 2010 for medical reasons. My medical situation hasn't really improved, but I miss archery so much that I started easing my way back into it with a lightweight bow and limited practice but then pandemic.

>25 archerygirl: Congratulations on your first book! And enjoying a fun reread. I first encountered The Dark Is Rising on NPR's Chapter a Day. I heard only an episode or two, but it was enough for me to be on the lookout, and picked up the whole set in 2015. I'm kinda surprised I didn't find this as a kid since The Black Cauldron books were some of my favorites.

32archerygirl
Jan 15, 2021, 3:50 am

>31 justchris: I was shooting regularly until 2008, but then I moved to Canada and there wasn't a club where I could shoot (unless I wanted to take up hunting, blergh). I meant to get back to it when I moved back to England, but things got very busy with new jobs and house purchases...and then we got a global pandemic. I miss it, so hopefully I'll be able to get back to it some day.

My dad had the entire Dark Is Rising set from the seventies, but somehow I didn't read it until a few years ago. No idea why! But they're such great books. I need to finish buying my own set. I still haven't read any of The Black Couldron books but they're on my big list of books to read.

33scaifea
Jan 15, 2021, 7:52 am

Charlie has recently expressed a possible interest in archery, and it just so happens that we have a club in our small town that offers lessons for kids. So post-vaccines, we may sign him up.

34archerygirl
Jan 16, 2021, 9:11 am

>33 scaifea: Do it! I’m sure he’ll enjoy it.

35scaifea
Jan 16, 2021, 9:41 am

>34 archerygirl: We probably will. He decided to stop with his ballet lessons when it was time to move into the getting-serious-about-it level classes (he knew at that point he didn't want to do it professionally, so it didn't make sense to keep going, plus, well, Covid), and now we need to find a new, active-type interest for him. He's also thinking about fencing, but we haven't researched where in the area he could take classes for that.

36drneutron
Jan 16, 2021, 6:17 pm

>35 scaifea: I took a four class fencing sampler a few years ago. It was a blast! I hope you find somewhere he can go give it a try.

37PaulCranswick
Jan 16, 2021, 8:35 pm

>33 scaifea: I can just picture Charlie as Robin Hood.

Have a great weekend, Kathy.

38ronincats
Jan 16, 2021, 9:50 pm

>30 archerygirl: Thanks for posting the link--I'd been searching for the book based on your comments here and drawing a blank. Sounds like a more violent version of The Bridge of Birds or Snake Agent.

39justchris
Jan 17, 2021, 1:43 am

>38 ronincats: I loved Bridge of Birds! And its 2 sequels!

40souloftherose
Jan 17, 2021, 8:45 am

Happy Sunday Kathy! All the discussion on here about The Untamed reminded me I'd been meaning to try watching it and I've started and am really enjoying it so far - it's a lot more lighthearted than I expected.

41scaifea
Jan 17, 2021, 9:34 am

>36 drneutron: >37 PaulCranswick: If we can swing it and he likes them both, we may go for broke! He'll have band, too, though, and I'm a firm believer in not over-scheduling kiddos. We'll see. I can definitely see him loving either one of them, though, and I may need to make him an Errol Flynn costume...

*waves* Morning, Kathy!

42archerygirl
Modifié : Jan 18, 2021, 5:08 am

>38 ronincats: I haven't read either of those, but they sound like they'd be relevant to my interests :D

>40 souloftherose: It definitely starts out quite lighthearted! And then the pain starts... :D

>41 scaifea: Morning! I hope you can find him something he'll enjoy. I've got friends who fence and they love it, so either option is great if he has fun.

43archerygirl
Jan 18, 2021, 5:15 am

I had a quiet weekend, catching up on chores and getting some writing done. Yesterday was a bit slow due to a headache, but I still got a few words down and I got to see my beautiful tiny nephew on Skype. I haven't been able to see him in person since October and he's growing so much!

My group read of Heaven's Official Blessing continues. I'm now up to chapter thirty and it's so entertaining. The central pairing are darling (she says, about a god and a ghost king) and MXTX is very funny. It's quite strong on the horror aspects, possibly a little darker than Módào Zǔshī in places, but that's countered by a slightly softer pair of protagonists and more humour.

And I'm only a few chapters from the end of The Relentless Moon, which is absolutely excellent and the stall I hit had more to do with my mental state than the book.

I'm finding that reading a print book last thing at night is better for my sleep than my kindle, so I'll need to work out what my next read is after I finish this. Possibly finally reading the last His Dark Materials book so I can return it to my dad?

44MickyFine
Jan 18, 2021, 12:49 pm

I find in general my attention span is better when I read print books. I do most ereading on my phone and it's far too easy to get distracted by other apps when I do. Hope you find a great bedtime book. :)

45archerygirl
Jan 19, 2021, 7:51 am

>44 MickyFine: I don't read on my phone generally, for that very reason. My ereading is pretty much entirely kindle-based, so I don't have an attention span issue, but I suspect that its nature as an e-device is why my brain doesn't calm down as effectively. as it does when I'm reading a print book before bed :)

46archerygirl
Jan 29, 2021, 12:37 pm

I have read an actual whole entire book!

2. The Relentless Moon - Mary Robinette Kowal
I swear, my reading block was not due to the book, it was due to *gestures at everything*. The book was brilliant, tense and exciting, and Kowal's prose is wonderful. The central character is flawed in believable ways that really made me root for her, even when she was making objectively bad choices, and there were a couple of times where I had to put the book down because I was so sad for her. But at the same time, there was a real sense of triumph in the ending. I love this alternate history universe Kowal has created and it was great to see some of what was happening back on Earth and the Moon colony while Elma and co. were on their way to Mars - it adds extra depth to the world Kowal has created. Definitely recommended, although you really need to have read the other books in the series first.




I have spent so much time swearing at my finance department this week due to workload and unreasonable requests, so I'm relieved it's the weekend. Phew!

My group chat reading of Heaven Official's Blessing continues - we're up to chapter 47 now and I'm completely invested in the main pairing characters. It's such a different world from MDZS, but I'm loving each little glimpse at what MXTX is building.

My friend and I are watching Love and Redemption on Viki right now and it's fantastic. Most of our conversations can be summed up as "Oh Sifeng!" and "Oh Xuanji!", with occasional diversions into "ugh, that evil guy is so EVIL". The show leans heavily into tropes in the best way possible (at least for people who love tropey fanfic and romance, anyway) and we're loving it. This is our first C-drama that wasn't based on a danmei novel, but there's something about the central pairing that has many of the same tropes and dynamics we've enjoyed in our other C-dramas. We're 19 episodes in which leaves us with...40 more episodes. C-dramas are long!

I need to figure out what my next print novel to read will be. Hmm.

47curioussquared
Jan 29, 2021, 12:49 pm

>46 archerygirl: This one has been sitting on my nightstand for some time and I don't know why since I loved the first two books! I really need to get to it.

48justchris
Jan 30, 2021, 12:54 pm

>46 archerygirl: Great review! And your tv viewing sounds like a lot of fun too! I have not delved into C-drama at all. Do you have a particular starting point you'd recommend?

49archerygirl
Jan 31, 2021, 7:13 am

>47 curioussquared: I can definitely recommend it!

>48 justchris: The first one I watched was The Untamed, which is where I think a lot of people have been starting. It's available on Netflix and Viki (I prefer the subtitle translations on Viki, but Netflix's are pretty good and definitely better than Amazon's!) and is one of the xianxia dramas - historical with lots of fantasy elements. A lot of people recommend Nirvana in Fire as another good one to start with (that's next on my list), which is also available on Viki. It's more of a straight historical without any fantasy elements.

You just have to accept that with any C-drama you'll be very confused about everything for the first two or three episodes, but then names will start to stick and backstory will start to come out that makes sense of what's happening and you'll find yourself hooked :D

50justchris
Jan 31, 2021, 10:50 pm

>49 archerygirl: Thanks for the recs! Will definitely look them up. I have a couple of friends completely hooked on K-dramas. I am fine with straight historical or more fantasy elements.

51ronincats
Fév 1, 2021, 12:00 am

>46 archerygirl: You remind me that I still need to read this one! I really enjoyed the others. And my library extension tells me that the Salina library has it as well, so if I don't get to it before my move, it will still be on my wishlist and available.

52archerygirl
Fév 1, 2021, 9:23 am

>51 ronincats: That's good news! It's definitely worth settling in for a read, I really enjoyed it.

>50 justchris: I've got a couple of K-dramas on my to-watch list that friends have been reccing to me. I'm going to be intrigued to see how they differ from the C-drama aesthetic.

53souloftherose
Fév 10, 2021, 1:45 pm

>46 archerygirl: Ooh, I have The Relentless Moon waiting for me on my kindle. I pre-ordered it but then have been strangely reluctant to read it - I think because I remember the first two books conveying the main character's anxiety so well and my anxiety levels make me not want to read about that right now!

Love and Redemption has been added to the list for whenever I finish The Untamed. :-) Sounds like I may need to look into Viki as well - it hadn't occurred to me there would be different subtitle translations of the same programme.

54archerygirl
Modifié : Fév 15, 2021, 5:36 am

>53 souloftherose: The Untamed has three different subtitle translations! I don't think other dramas have that many. Amazon and Youtube use the same ones and are definitely my least favourite, Netflix are okay but still have some oddities, Viki has the most accurate to what is actually being said, including keeping the honourifics in where Netflix drops a lot of them. It's a matter of preference, though, and I watched it initially on Viki so watching a few episodes on Netflix with a friend was an odd experience.

(Reading Nie Huaisang address Wei Wuxian as "Wei" was just...nope, that's not right on so many levels.)

(I can link you up with the info on which order the final few scenes of the last episode were actually supposed to be in when you finish The Untamed. Censorship!)

Definitely look into Viki - that's where Love and Redemption is available, and a lot of other dramas that I've either got on my list or have watched.

55archerygirl
Fév 15, 2021, 7:12 am

So, I haven't actually finished a book since Relentless Moon.

(Let's not discuss the quantity of fanfic I've read.)

My group read of Heaven Official's Blessing is continuing and I'm loving it more with each chapter. We've just started book two and the more I read about Xie Lian's backstory, the more I love him as a character.

I do have Boyfriend Material and Winter's Orbit in my Kindle, so one of those should get read very soon. I'm also working on The Amber Spyglass as my pre-bed paper book read.

In what am I viewing news, my rewatch of The Untamed is almost over (just got the final four episodes to watch and may need to find time to just marathon them as they're basically around three and a half episodes of final boss confrontation that works best as a big marathon).

My friend and I are at episode 29 of Love and Redemption and it's still so much fun. Really, if you want a thoroughly absorbing and highly tropey xianxia drama, I recommend this one.

My solo watch of The Wolf is six episodes from the end and I'm still enjoying it, although the male lead character can be hit by a bus and I would probably cheer. All the other characters are great, though, and I love the female lead so that's not spoiling anything for me. I'm just going to grumble a bit when she inevitably ends up with the male lead instead of the loyal and caring second lead character who deserves her.

Up next after that, a couple of friends have heavily recommended a Korean BL series called Mr Queen and I think it's all available on Viki (or will be by the time I finish The Wolf) and then I'll probably watch Legend of Fei because so much of my twitter list is loving it and the idea of a show all about a kick-ass woman learning martial arts and saving the world, with her loyal himbo side-kick/love-interest is a dynamic I can get behind.

56archerygirl
Fév 26, 2021, 10:11 am

Have I finished a book yet? No, I have not.

Have I started Persuasion due to a fanfic AU, so I'm now reading three books at once? Yes, yes I have done that.

Hopefully, at some point, I will finish one of the books I'm reading.

I have finished watching The Wolf and I'm still digesting the ending, because it's not what I expected when I started the show but it actually really works. And is slightly painful. But it works and it gives agency to the female characters in a way I hadn't expected but really liked. Ma Zhaixing is the hero of the story, not Prince Bo, and it's something I'd expected them to pull back on at the end but they didn't. Even the resolution of their relationship was actually okay for me, due to the ending of it all. And the lovely caring second lead male got a happy ending that I quite liked, too.

I was going to start Mr Queen but it's not all unlocked yet for Viki basic pass user (or wasn't last weekend) and it's Korean so the episodes are mostly over an hour long, sometimes over 90 minutes long, and I wasn't feeling in the right mood for that last weekend. So I started Legend of Fei instead, which hasn't grabbed me yet but I'm only two episodes in and Chinese dramas often take a four or five episodes to actually grab you and pull you in due to the amount of set-up and establishment needed. I do love that the hero character is a woman and already bad-ass, so her journey won't be "discovering her inner bad-assness". Also, there are multiple excellent bad-ass women in this in episode two, which is nice.

I'm finding it weird to have Wang Yibo's voice dubbing done by someone with a much higher voice than the producers of The Untamed used. IT SOUNDS SO ODD. But I'm getting past it.

My friend and I are now at episode 38 (39?) of Love and Redemption and that's one show it only took us a single episode to get totally invested in. Also, it is still getting better and we were exchange a lot of crying emojis in the last episode, because we had very complicated feelings about it.

57MickyFine
Fév 26, 2021, 12:46 pm

>56 archerygirl: Yay for Persuasion!

58archerygirl
Mar 8, 2021, 5:30 am

I finished a book!

3. The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows - Olivia Waite
I was in the mood for an f/f romance and this one delivered in spades. I adored the central characters - they were charming and perfectly matched. I do have a slight weakness for the sunshine one/grumpy one trope, so it's probably not surprising. But more than that, these are two women who have lived a bit and it's not a first love for either of them, but that means they know how precious it is to find each other. I loved the way they were coming from different lives and working things out together and how their relationship came from place of developing deep friendship as well as desire. The secondary characters and the way the politics of the time impacted on them as well as our lovers added depth to to story without pulling focus away from the central story, and this was just generally a beautifully crafted romance.

I immediately pre-ordered the next book in this series, which should be out in a couple of months.




This week has been A Lot. A friend died a week ago, which rather threw me for a few days. I'm feeling less awful now, after a weekend of reading, crafting, and celebrating my mum's birthday. I took Friday off work because I needed the break, which was a good decision and gave me the breathing space I needed.

Things at work are ramping up for a huge new project, which is exciting but also intimidating and I don't know how easy it will be to schedule time off over the next few months.

My reading of Heaven's Official Blessing continues with my group and we've now started the third volume. I'm still enjoying it a lot and feel very indignant every time anyone tries to hurt or disparage Xie Lian, because he's a terrifyingly powerful sweetheart. MXTX definitely has a *type* for her heroes.

I'm still reading Persuasion and, as usual, I want to slap every single member of Ann's family because they're all terrible.

My friend and I are still watching Love and Redemption, which mostly involves a lot of crying emojis right now, mixed with a lot of swearing emojis whenever Hao Chen is on screen. I supplemented this with an extended rant last night about a particularly terrible plan Hao Chen has talked the sect leaders into. It has no goal! No tangible result even if it succeeds! Literally the only thing it accomplishes is Hao Chen's continuing Kill Sifeng agenda, but the thing that really offends me is that the sect leaders are going along with it EVEN THOUGH IT WILL ACCOMPLISH NOTHING FOR THEM. Ugh, they are being so awful right now. At least all my favourites are still great even though they're surrounded by an older generation of utter idiots.

Hmm, I'm starting to see a pattern in these dramas. Our Heroes are constantly having to work against the bad decisions their elders make. It keeps coming up. Our Heroes are generation Fix The Terrible Things Our Parents Did.

This has no relevance to real life, obviously.

59PaulCranswick
Mar 8, 2021, 8:55 am

>58 archerygirl: So sorry to hear about your friend, Kathy. Books and the normal cycle of life are ways of healing in these extraordinary times.

60scaifea
Modifié : Mar 9, 2021, 7:25 am

>58 archerygirl: Adding the Waite book to my list because it sounds fantastic (I, too, love a good sunshine/grump ship), and adding hugs to the pile for your rotten week. I'm so sorry you lost your friend, and I'm glad you took some time for yourself, which is sometimes hard to do.

ETA: I see the book is the second in a series, so of course I've added the first one first...

61archerygirl
Mar 12, 2021, 7:11 am

>59 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul. These times are indeed extraordinary and bookings and other nice things are much needed.

>60 scaifea: I highly recommend the first one in the series, too. It was one of my top reads last year!

62archerygirl
Avr 14, 2021, 10:47 am

I read a book!

4. Boyfriend Material - Alexis Hall
Fake dating is one of those tropes that is instant catnip for me in fic and a lot of people were talking about this book a few months ago, so I decided it was time to try it. I am pleased to report that it's everything I love in a fake dating fic, but in an original novel! Honestly, this made me very happy and I consumed it in less than three days. The reasons why the characters need to fake date worked for me, because of who they are as characters. Their developing relationship worked for me and it was absolutely gorgeous, exactly what I look for in this trope. It was yet another sunshine/grump ship to boot, so it had everything. And the side characters were delightful! I genuinely loved this and can easily see it being one of those books I reread when I need a comfort romance.




Things at work have been ramping up for the huge new project and I feel like I'm constantly in meetings, either training or discussing set-up or discussing integration or migration plans or...there is a lot here. So much. And my role as our data expert has me in the thick of everything that's happening. I think the only other people who are as deeply involved are the programme manager and the head of engineering. It's ridiculous. But also great, because this is going to be fantastic for my CV.

It does mean that I'm pretty drained right now. Although not too drained to write fic, so at least there's that. And I've started having regular zoom sessions with my old stitch group in Canada every other Saturday, which is fun and is giving me focused time to work on embroidery.

I'm more than halfway through Heaven's Official Blessing and gosh, this is good. It's also lovely having a group to chat with weekly about the chapters we've read. Xie Lian is such a wonderful protagonist and I'm really enjoying his gradual realisation of his feelings, but the secondary characters are also getting very interesting and I'm enjoying the twists and turns of the plot so much.

For anyone interested, the first season of the animation (which covers the first volume) is now on Netflix and it's lovely.

My friend and I finished Love and Redemption on Friday and it was such a wonderful, satisfying ending. We never saw the final twists coming but they were perfect. I highly rec this one if you want to plunge into an overtly romantic xianxia story. It's available on Viki.com.

I'm also watching Word of Honour, which is another Chinese drama based on a danmei novel, so they can't actually state out loud that the two lead characters are in a romance but wow, the censors did not look closely at this one at all. I thought The Untamed was incredibly obviously queer coded, this one is just...they literally cut their sleeves. Twice.

The plot in this one is also excellent, very tightly written, and there are so many secondary characters I care about. Even some of the evil ones are wonderful? Messed up and broken but sympathetic? It's on YouTube and very good.

I should really go and read another actual book rather than All The Fic, but All The Fic is my happy place right now.

Oh! But Hugo finalists have been announced and voting won't close until November this year (due to having to delay Worldcon for pandemic reasons) so there's lots of time to read things: http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2021-hugo-awards/

I was surprised to find that I've read a couple of things on the ballot already and all that extra time means I might read more and be a bit more active about voting this year.

63MickyFine
Modifié : Avr 14, 2021, 11:13 pm

>62 archerygirl: Oooh fake dating is one of my favourite romance tropes too!

I hope work mellows for you soon and life feels a little less hectic.

64archerygirl
Avr 15, 2021, 5:41 am

>63 MickyFine: I don't think work will mellow until the end of the year, but at least this is the good kind of busy rather than the depressing kind of busy I had last year, working in travel during the first big waves of covid. Installing an entirely new reservations and customer management system is far less depressing than tracking and reporting on all the holidays people couldn't take!

65MickyFine
Avr 15, 2021, 12:04 pm

>64 archerygirl: Oooh yes, that sounds like a much better way to be busy for sure.

66justchris
Avr 17, 2021, 7:51 pm

>62 archerygirl: All of that sounds so lovely! I haven't read much in the fake dating trope, but I do enjoy the marriage of appearances trope, which is certainly related.

>64 archerygirl: Yes, the current overwhelming project sounds much more inspiring and energizing than tracking all the pandemic disappointment.

67archerygirl
Avr 21, 2021, 6:40 am

>66 justchris: The marriage for appearance/convenience trope is a related one that I also adore :D It's sort of the more intense version of fake dating, because there's a marriage involved, which has bigger repercussions. That also means that the marriage of appearances story needs a bigger motivation behind setting up the marriage, so it often feels like it's higher stakes. I guess I see fake dating as the lower stakes version of the concept, although that doesn't make it lower stakes in terms of the actual relationship that develops. But it does change the feel slightly and I love both of these tropes if you haven't guessed yet :)

68souloftherose
Mai 7, 2021, 5:34 am

Very belated condolences on the death of your friend, Kathy.

>58 archerygirl: You've reminded me that I've been meaning to try the Olivia Waite series and the third book coming out should be a good excuse to start it, right?

>62 archerygirl: And so glad you enjoyed Boyfriend Material. I thought that was such a joyful, funny book I think I ended up reading it twice last year because it was so comforting. Alexis Hall has a new book coming out later this month which I've pre-ordered on the back of liking Boyfriend Material so much - it's Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake.

And I'm making a note of all your C-drama recs for when I finish The Untamed :-)

I'm actually doing fairly well on reading the novels shortlisted for the Hugo awards so far (but almost nothing from the shorter fiction where my reading seemed to drop off entirely last year). But I feel incapable of making judgements and ranking them at the moment. At least the extended deadline gives me more of a chance of getting my brain in gear to think about that.

Hope the work project stays energisingly busy rather than overwhelmingly busy (I've had a bit too much of the latter at work myself the last year.)

69archerygirl
Mai 14, 2021, 8:03 am

>68 souloftherose: I highly recommend Olivia Waite and I'm looking forward to the third book coming out - it's an excellent excuse to start her books!

The work project continues to be busy and it varies a little between overwhelming and fun, but still more exciting than overwhelming. I'm sure it's going to tilt the other way as we get nearer to the launch.

I'm glad there's extra Hugo reading time this year, even though it's not for the best reasons, because I'm still hoping my reading brain will return from the war soon.

For C-drama recs, I've recently started one called Maiden Holmes (available on Viki.com) that I'm absolutely loving. It's a historical/wuxia drama, with the basic premise that the central character (Su Ci) is a woman who has disguised herself as a man For Reasons and is working as a detective in an imperial office. And then ends up in the middle of mysteries with a group of unexpected friends and it's fantastic so far. Su Ci is quite Holmes-esque in her deductive reasoning, and her love interest is an interesting complement/foil to her techniques.

(Ignore Viki's summary, it's actually worse than the one for The Untamed because it doesn't mention Su Ci, which is annoying.)

All of the characters have their own stories and internal lives (even the sweet himbo character has depths), and I'm finding it a hard one not to binge. Just got to hope it maintains the quality for the rest of the series.

Word of Honour is great and I loved it, but the ending in episode 36 had to be very severely chopped about to make the censors happy. There is an extra tiny episode in a paid-for section in Viki that fixes it and gives you the ending the writer/director intended, which was the only way they could get around the censorship problem. Definitely recommend hunting that down if you do watch WoH.

70souloftherose
Juin 27, 2021, 12:11 pm

Just stopping in to say hi Kathy and I hope everything is ok with you.

I have just gone through your thread and made a proper list of all the C-drama recommendations because I am nearly finished with The Untamed! I've enjoyed it a lot so thanks for the push to watch this. You mentioned up thread some links to explain the order the scenes in the final episode should be watched in so if you have those to hand and have time to post that would be great (otherwise I can google).

71archerygirl
Août 7, 2021, 1:08 pm

The last couple of months have been busy, as usual, but I'm in the middle of two weeks of leave and it turns out that I needed it very badly.

>70 souloftherose: Ah, yes, the ordering of the final scenes of The Untamed! If you haven't already found them, I think this is probably the best link: https://untamedconnotations.tumblr.com/post/620761871095627777/aerlalaith-untame...

It's actually got a video of the version that aired in Japan (so, no English subs, but you can probably remember what happened in those scenes) where the scenes aren't in the order they needed to be to get past the censors *eyeroll*

If you wondered whether Maiden Holmes stuck the landing, hell yes it did and I adore it. Highly recommended and the final episodes made me happy in ways that are too spoilery to discuss :D

A friend has just started me on a C-drama called My Roommate is a Detective and I'm enjoying it a lot already. Set in 1920s Shanghai, so quite different from other things I've seen, and the lead actor is someone I recognise from another drama. I will report back on whether it continues to be great :D

I'm currently watching a drama on Netflix called Handsome Siblings which isn't bad, but it's not great. It's one I'm watching with a friend and I think we've both reached the stage where we need to find out how it ends, because we're very fond of the main characters, but probably not one we'd recommend.

This week, I have read a couple of books! My reading brain might be returning from the war? Shall update with the book reading shortly.

And excitingly, all three of MXTX's books (including MDZS!) are getting official English translations! http://sevenseasdanmei.com

The first volume of each is available for preorder. The translator is the person who did the translation I read of Heaven's Official Blessings, which I really enjoyed, so I'm confident these translations will read well. It does mean all the unofficial translations are now disappearing, so if you haven't read (or acquired) the books yet, you're probably going to need to wait for the official ones. I have already got the first volume of MDZS and TGCF preordered in physical form, because it means MXTX will be getting paid for her stories and also they're getting beautiful cover and interior artwork :D

72PaulCranswick
Août 21, 2021, 8:26 am

Enjoy your time off, Kathy. Great to see you posting.

73PaulCranswick
Sep 22, 2021, 11:16 pm

Hope all is well, Kathy.

74ronincats
Déc 24, 2021, 2:57 pm

75PaulCranswick
Déc 24, 2021, 7:29 pm



Have a lovely holiday, Kathy.

76quondame
Déc 24, 2021, 10:22 pm

Happy Holidays Kathy!


77HanGerg
Déc 26, 2021, 8:16 am

Happy Christmas Kathy!

78PaulCranswick
Déc 31, 2021, 7:41 pm



Forget your stresses and strains
As the old year wanes;
All that now remains
Is to bring you good cheer
With wine, liquor or beer
And wish you a special new year.

Happy New Year, Kathy.