Whale Weekly (the Moby Dick version of Dracula Daily) (DNF) was simply not as amenable to this format for me; each day was too much day to fit in an email sized reading experience.
All the Horses of Iceland, by Sarah Tolmie: in the 9th century, an Icelandic man travels to Mongolia, bringing back horses and experiencing the mixing of cultures on the trade route. From
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sophia_sol's
rec! This was a short, fast read, and I enjoyed the varying customs, religions, and languages encountered along the way. IMO the method of storytelling held the world at a distance, making it feel less embedded in its world than I would have preferred. The is-it-or-isn't-it magic ends up feeling more meaty, though Watsonianly, the main character is here to trade and bring his goods safely home. Overall, the theme of the trader, negotiating different cultures and how their own experiences shape their abilities, is very compelling.
CW: slavery, sexual slavery, discussion of killing disabled infants and elderly people
There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job, by Kikuko Tsumura, translated by Polly Barton (DNF): A thirty-something Japanese woman takes a chain of temp jobs. I picked this up because it was
meitachi 's
favorite of 2022, but although I enjoyed the first half, it was a little too 'nothing happens' for my current mood. The jobs and the characters are all pretty interesting though, so I might pick it back up in the future.
The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo: after I
watched the drama adaptation, people recommended the book! The book does definitely avoid the issues I had with the drama, giving the female protagonist much more to do (and it helps that it's from her PoV), and avoided egregious contrivance and mistakes by the protagonists. I definitely enjoyed the second half of the book, when the action gets going -- they cut one of the antagonists in the drama, and I enjoyed her storyline. However, there were two huge issues with the book: first, it falls into that heavily overexplaining style that I absolutely detest, and it wasn't even done with a deft hand, just clunky explanation shoved in, sometimes of a too modern perspective. Second, it needs editorial polish; it kept repeating already established points, sometimes mildly contradicting itself. Both these issues would be resolvable with a good editor, so it's a shame they detract from the otherwise interesting book.
瑯琊榜 by 海宴 (the Nirvana in Fire book): I'm proud of book club for finishing the book! It took just under a year in the end. The book and the drama largely follow the same plot beats, with some secondary character changes / emphasis changed, and I think overall the drama works better; the chance to do revisions polished the storytelling and (mostly) let the secondary characters develop more. The iconic Helena comment from the book club was probably:
"He was riding a gray horse" -> THANKS TO SHIJING TRAINING I KNOW THIS IS ACTUALLY A GRAYISH BAY HORSE WITH BLACK HAIR. thank you, i will now exit with the 5839 horse color words i know, and the most heartbreaking point:
i wonder if mcs, growing up on tales from his mom about her favorite sister, was primed to expect more from liyang than prince jing did. Reading the Chinese text along with the fan translation, though they sometimes differed because of untracked revisions, was a mostly useful experience; it was kind of required in our joint Eng-Chn reading club anyway. Overall, while I had a good time, I'd recommend the drama over the book.
Cherry Magic the Movie: a sequel to the Cherry Magic drama, picking up where it leaves off. They're soooooo awkward, but again the second-hand embarrassment doesn't hit for me because they're so earnest. The conflicts seems human and understandable. Great costuming, the suits really fit the characters! The only exception was the wedding suits -- matching tan suits against a tan building??? Anyway, if you liked the drama, you'll like the movie, but it's definitely a particular low-intensity slice-of-life BL taste.
Hidden Blade (无名) (2023): WWII era spy movie. The leads are, of course, handsome and 30s/40s era Shanghai leads to excellent costumes. The Shanghainese is decent enough, much better than the usual level. However, the story is too predictable, the main fight scene doesn't bring the plot forward (a cardinal sin), and though one may complain that none of the women are well developed, tbh none of the men are either. The propaganda level is lower than it could have been, but that's not saying much; and from that, all characterization and reveals are as expected. (Much confusion is generated by time jump / cut choices, and this attempts to complicate the otherwise straightforward plot.) But it's the sort of movie that you'd know you'd be interested in from just the premise (or the actors involved).
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