On Amy Tan and Diana Gabaldon.
Dec. 31st, 2017 09:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quigonejinn1. The Shadow Isle by Katharine Kerr
2. Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan
3. The Furthest Station by Ben Aaronovitch
4. A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny
5. Precious and Grace by Alexander McCall Smith
6. The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon by Alexander McCall Smith.
7. The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
8. The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
9. The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
10. The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan
11. Lord John and the Hand of Devils by Diana Gabaldon
12. Lord John and the Custom of the Army by Diana Gabaldon
Somehow, 10 above is the first Amy Tan I've ever read, and 11/12/13 are my first queer English historical fiction from the Big Blockbuster Periods*. This is all kinda shocking given my general tastes and set-up in life, and uh, yeah, the front 40% of the Valley of Amazement about the actual courtesan-ing and business and economics was pretty good, but the back 60% of exposition and soap opera theatrics was pure trash. I tried with two other Amy Tan books (The Bonesetter's Daughter and the Kitchen God's Wife), but couldn't get through either because holy 80's-style literary writing, batman.
11 and 12 were -- better, I guess? I mean, they must have been, because I got through those three and am in the middle of Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade, though that fucker is, like 512 pages, and if I felt any bads about having three novellas in a row, the length of BotB is making me feel better about it. You can see Gabaldon's writing getting better, and there are some moments of real interest and grace and beauty, but every time she has Gray go on about Fraser's INCREDIBLE BEAUTY and ABSOLUTE MANLINESS and GREAT HEIGHT and SUPER HOT HOTTINESS, I think about the fact that Gabaldon ripped Fraser off from this Doctor Who companion**, and I just start sniggering about Gabaldon's famous quote about how writing fanfiction with her characters is like coming into her house and fucking her husband in her bed.
* To me at least, the two big periods are Tudor and a period of about 50 years on either side of 1800 representing a sort of hydra-headed spanning late Georgian through to early Victorian. The statement is technically true because I'm stalled out at about 50% of audiobook for The Gentleman's Guide to VIce and Virtue despite the fact that CHRISTIAN COULSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! reads it.
** THE ACTOR'S NAME IS FRAZER HINES FOR FUCKING FUCKS SAKE
2. Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan
3. The Furthest Station by Ben Aaronovitch
4. A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny
5. Precious and Grace by Alexander McCall Smith
6. The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon by Alexander McCall Smith.
7. The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
8. The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
9. The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
10. The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan
11. Lord John and the Hand of Devils by Diana Gabaldon
12. Lord John and the Custom of the Army by Diana Gabaldon
Somehow, 10 above is the first Amy Tan I've ever read, and 11/12/13 are my first queer English historical fiction from the Big Blockbuster Periods*. This is all kinda shocking given my general tastes and set-up in life, and uh, yeah, the front 40% of the Valley of Amazement about the actual courtesan-ing and business and economics was pretty good, but the back 60% of exposition and soap opera theatrics was pure trash. I tried with two other Amy Tan books (The Bonesetter's Daughter and the Kitchen God's Wife), but couldn't get through either because holy 80's-style literary writing, batman.
11 and 12 were -- better, I guess? I mean, they must have been, because I got through those three and am in the middle of Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade, though that fucker is, like 512 pages, and if I felt any bads about having three novellas in a row, the length of BotB is making me feel better about it. You can see Gabaldon's writing getting better, and there are some moments of real interest and grace and beauty, but every time she has Gray go on about Fraser's INCREDIBLE BEAUTY and ABSOLUTE MANLINESS and GREAT HEIGHT and SUPER HOT HOTTINESS, I think about the fact that Gabaldon ripped Fraser off from this Doctor Who companion**, and I just start sniggering about Gabaldon's famous quote about how writing fanfiction with her characters is like coming into her house and fucking her husband in her bed.
* To me at least, the two big periods are Tudor and a period of about 50 years on either side of 1800 representing a sort of hydra-headed spanning late Georgian through to early Victorian. The statement is technically true because I'm stalled out at about 50% of audiobook for The Gentleman's Guide to VIce and Virtue despite the fact that CHRISTIAN COULSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! reads it.
** THE ACTOR'S NAME IS FRAZER HINES FOR FUCKING FUCKS SAKE
