The intermittent book post

[lizbee]

Recently finished

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. I binged the first season of the TV adaptation and found it deeply flawed, but enjoyable, especially with its dedication to removing Jason Isaacs' shirt. It strived for something it couldn't quite reach, and I would not be shocked to learn that Chris Chibnall looked at it and went, "Yeah, I want Broadchurch to be like this only less ... shite."

The book, on the other hand, is quite impressively bad. It's billed as "literary crime fiction", but executes both genres poorly, being literary in the sense of giving us continual stream-of-consciousness narratives from the perspective of deeply boring people, all with the exact same mood (melancholy) and level of insight. 

Also, some crime occurs. 

There was a frustrating recurring point where the narrative would tell us how amazing and respectful of women the main character is, while his actual actions and attitudes are ... not. This, coupled with a thick streak of misogyny, meant the book made my skin crawl in a way the TV series actively avoided. 

Currently reading

October by China Mieville, a deep dive into the Russian Revolution(s). I've been working away at this for a couple of months: it's interesting, but hard work. Not least because I haven't had to think about the difference between Bolsheviks and Mensheviks for years, but also I have little patience for Mieville's slightly self-conscious prose. His non-fiction is, at least, more readable than his novels.

No Stone Unturned: The True Story of Necrosearch International by Steve Jackson. True crime dealing specifically with the science of finding corpses and hidden graves. This one is another slog: the subject matter is fascinating; the writing is terribly dry. 

Jingo by Terry Pratchett. Continuing my Discworld reread, and I'm into the sweet run of books that were quite recently released when I first discovered the series. (Feet of Clay was my second Discworld and my first Watch book.) I don't think I've appreciated before how angry this book is. I like it. 

Reading next

Who knows? More Pratchett, obviously -- I'm almost certainly going to skip The Last Continent, though -- but beyond that, it's up to the whims of fate and also which of my library holds come in next. 

Comments

[sabotabby]

I loved October; I thought it was hands-down the best history of the Russian Revolution I've read, and I've read a lot. But I am a big fan of Miéville's prose.

[lizbee]

I keep going back and forth between "What a beautiful sentence! You don't see enough writing like that in non-fiction!" and mentally shouting, "JUST TELL THE DAMN STORY, MIEVILLE."

(I suspect the issue is me, and my mood, rather than any fault of his.)

[kelly_chambliss]

The book, on the other hand, is quite impressively bad.

Totally agree. I enjoyed her first weird book (Behind the Scenes at the Museum) despite its less-than-plausible gimmick of an ending. But Case Histories was deeply disappointing, and sexist, to boot. I seem to recall that it was also rather anti-lesbian (or at least, the queer characters were unstable and erratic and hostile). But it's been a while since I read it; it might be mixing it up with something else).

[lizbee]

...and sexist, to boot.

I know! I kept wanting to shout, "STOP SLUT SHAMING THE EIGHT YEAR OLD!" Among other things.

The whole thing about one of the sisters being sad and unfulfilled because she's unpartnered and doesn't enjoy sex, and then sort of falling into a relationship with a woman in just a couple of paragraphs at the end felt very ... unpleasant.

[secondsilk]

I haven't heard of Case Histories and was worried that it was by the Australian actor Kate Atkinson.