Reading Wednesday

The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I begin this book so enchanted with the Wellwoods--with Humphrey and Olive and their lovely family and her writing and the community of artists with which they've surrounded themselves. But I grow ever more disenchanted with them all as the novel progresses, which I suppose is exactly the point of a fin de siecle novel that culminates in what is arguably the biggest disillusionment of the Western world.

By the end of the novel, I am furious with Olive and Humphrey and Herbert Methley (may he expire of the pox), and Benedict Fludd could have walked into the waves so much sooner for me. I think this book has a lot of interesting things to say about what it means to have ideals that you do or do not attempt to actually live by or that you only give lip service to for your own ends. Methley's preaching free love because he wants to sleep with everyone and not have to pay any consequences. Olive and Humphrey say they care about the poor but do nothing to actually help people in a lasting, meaningful way (except for rescuing Philip; that's their one truly philanthropic act). They are progressive but give no thought to the education of their daughters.

Tom's story arc is so tragic. He's bullied and assaulted, and he has PTSD, and he's living in a world that doesn't recognize what happened to him as a problem.

The women interest me most--Dorothy and Elsie and Griselda and Violet and Imogen and the rest. I think Dorothy is probably my favorite character. Her fierce drive resonates deeply with me. I'm so glad that so many of the women are able to achieve at least part of what they want and experience some happiness and fulfillment.

Excellent, excellent read and a tour de force (ha, ha, ha, I pun) through the literary and intellectual movements of the latter decades of the 19th century and the first two decades of the twentieth.



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The Tyrant's Tomb by Rick Riordan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I thoroughly enjoyed this.

I am convinced that Apollo is going to choose to remain human at the end of his trials. Zeus intended turning him human to knock him down a peg, but he did not, I suspect, intend Apollo to be learning the lessons he's learning. Every lesson he learns about how petty he was as a god is also a lesson he's learning about how petty his father is and all the other gods are. Every lesson he learns about his own cruelty is a lesson he's learning about the cruelty of the other deities. I cannot imagine him wanting to go back to being what he was or wanting to go back to hanging out with gods who are just like he was even if he manages to retain what he's learned in a divine form.





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( spoilers for Tyrant's Tomb )