rudeladyreaders

The Gap of Time: The Winter�s Tale Retold (Hogarth Shakespeare) | Jeanette Winterson

pan

Winterson's retelling of Shakespeare's The Winter Tale. Sadly, this just didn't do it for me. I was annoyed from start to finish with how the characters+events were shoehorned into the Shakespearean narrative. One could suspend disbelief in the play; here, it was almost painfully embarrassing. The characters all struck me as token types: gay, feminist, trans, Jewish, Black. The book made me uncomfortable in how it used race & gender & violence.

batsy The book beginning with a passage where the moon is described as "Earth's autistic twin" was a warning sign. It's rare that I pan a book but I had to force myself to finish this. For all of the accolades Winterson gets, it was poorly imagined & suffered from a brusque, choppy prose style in what seems like a heavy-handed attempt to make Shakespeare cool. I expect better from her!! Lol OK I'll stop now ❎? @zsuzsanna_reads @merelybookish
6y

saresmoore Rant, sister! #rudeladyreaders This sounds real cringeworthy. 6y

batsy @saresmoore A lot of people do like it! But it's one of those things—the book and I weren't meant to be friends 😂 6y

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TrishB Love your review 💕 so not tempted by the book! 6y

Lindy I‘m surprised by your reaction because we often have similar tastes. I hated the play but loved this book. After reading the novel, I read an interview in which Winterson explained why she loved the play so much, and that softened my attitude towards the original play. 6y

batsy @TrishB Thank you Trish, but I feel bad now putting people off it 😂 Though I think she's written far better novels by her own standard! 6y

batsy I know @Lindy I expected to love it and was quite taken aback by my own aversion to it! I largely felt that all of the problems in the play remained as problems in the novel, in a way that bothered me. I could tell from the ending that this is a play that means a lot to Winterson—would prefer to read an essay by her on it. 6y

Lindy @batsy Well, it‘s good when we are surprised; it means we still have things to discover. I‘m sorry, however that this book was an unpleasant experience for you. 6y

erzascarletbookgasm I have this book! Okay, it can disappear to the bottom of my TBR for now. 😅 You truly must detest the book, for I seldom see you giving a book a pan. 👎 6y

batsy @erzascarletbookgasm Ahaha! I think once a book rubs me the wrong way for a significant reason, it's downhill all the way 😆 6y

GingerAntics Ew, glad I couldn‘t get my hands on a copy, then. I‘m not a big fan of retellings for adults to begin with. I can‘t stand a token character to begin with. A book full of them sounds like torture. 6y

readordierachel How disappointing! Will have to skip this one. 6y

fleeting Oh no! But I also remember that after having read 3 Wintersons, I grew tired of her. I feel like she's reached the end of her wordplay and is just pushing the limits - and failing at it. 😕 6y

batsy @GingerAntics @ReadOrDieRachel I'm generally wary of retellings for the same reason :) But this got a lot of positive reviews so it could be just me; I always have high expectations with Winterson's books, but the last time I read anything by her was in college and as @fleeting reminds me, I didn't really enjoy a few of her other works as I expected to, either. I think maybe she's just not an author for me 🤷🏽‍♀️ 6y

zsuzsanna_reads @batsy it felt as if she signed up to write this book for the Shakespeare series and then wrote the thing in a last minute panic 😨 I'm still going to give some of her better known work a go. 6y

80 likes15 comments

saresmoore

Brideshead Revisited | Evelyn Waugh

I‘m just getting started, but had to share this #misogynymoment. Apparently, the arrival of women is discordant to the “soft vapors of a thousand years of learning” and the “cloistral hush”... 🙄

#BridesheadNostalgia

Kalalalatja, erzascarletbookgasm, CarolynM, TrishB, Cathythoughts

Kalalalatja Yeah, I did some pretty heavy eye rolling at that statement 🙄 6y

TrishB They are probably still like that at Oxford! You have to take the white man privileged statements with big pinch of salt and eye rolling. Bit like English Gatsby. @Kalalalatja 6y

CarolynM @saresmoore @Kalalalatja @TrishB I think we need to take into account the inclinations of the characters - women were not of interest but the author couldn't say it plainly, it's all in hints. I think it's even worse that the direct references to homosexuality are all derogatory. 6y

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saresmoore @Kalalalatja @TrishB Ugh, I‘m sure you‘re right. It‘s pretty typical of most of academia, in my experience. Frustratingly, these views are not as antiquated as they should be! 6y

saresmoore @CarolynM Very good point. I think that sense of frustration often comes out as contempt. 6y

TrishB @CarolynM he is known for several homosexual affairs whilst at uni 🤷‍♀️ according to Wikipedia!! 6y

TrishB @saresmoore now been working in uni‘s for 31 years....old, traditional, elitist unis I would definitely agree.... 6y

saresmoore @TrishB I commend you for that! I don‘t know if I could take it. 6y

TrishB @saresmoore I‘ve always believed you can only change the establishment from within! 6y

Moray_Reads I wouldn't be at all surprised if many still thought this way in Oxford. It still has this air about it... 6y

cathysaid And now my singular goal for tomorrow is to work the phrase “cloistral hush” into at least one conversation 😁 6y

batsy #rabbleofwomankind #rudeladyreaders 6y

erzascarletbookgasm @cathysaid 😆 I have taken a fancy to that phrase too 😁 6y

erzascarletbookgasm Same here, I‘m not surprised some of those elitist unis still have the same thoughts today. 6y

Centique @batsy these are groups I want to join! #therabbleclub 6y

saresmoore @Centique @batsy I‘ll bring the claret if you‘ll provide the cucumber sandwiches. 😄 6y

batsy @saresmoore @Centique I'll bring something sweet and saucy—brownies and an attitude. 😂 6y

70 likes17 comments

saresmoore

No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days | Chris Baty

I think this pretty much sums up my feelings on day one of #NaNoWriMo.

LeahBergen Yes! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 6y

valeriegeary I thought of you this morning as I went into my office to work!! I hope you are having a good start to NaNo and that the Muse visits you more days than not!! 6y

RealLifeReading Good luck! 6y

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JennyM You can do it. Good luck and enjoy! Xx 6y

Cinfhen Yes you can 💕🙌🏻 6y

Sarah83 You will rock it 🤗 6y

AlaMich 👍👍👍 6y

TrishB You go 👍🏻😘 6y

saresmoore @LeahBergen Ugh, it‘s utterly terrible so far, but they tell me to practice “exuberant imperfection” so that‘s what I‘m doing! 🍷 6y

saresmoore @RealLifeReading @JennyM @Cinfhen @Sarah83 @AlaMich @TrishB Thanks for all the encouragement, friends! ♥️ 6y

saresmoore @valeriegeary You have no idea how much that means to me! I was thinking of your crooked river today as I was writing a scene by an old oak tree from my childhood. You write such memorable and evocative settings and I was hoping to channel some of that. I‘m sure I‘ve failed miserably, but you really did inspire me. 😊 6y

Suet624 I thought of you writing today. You must know that you have a beautiful writing style. Right? I‘m so glad you‘re doing this. 💕 6y

batsy Beautiful sentiment. I only trust and love the writers who find the process itself mostly terrible 😉😘💪🏽 6y

JazzFeathers True, eh? I've done NaNo for many years, but this time will be hard. November will be a busy month. I have to find a way to fit everything in. 6y

saresmoore @Suet624 You just know how to say exactly what I need to hear. ♥️ 6y

saresmoore @batsy #rudeladyreaders #grumpyladywriters #stayawayfromgasovens 6y

saresmoore @JazzFeathers I hope you experience the time creation phenomenon that I‘ve heard about. Or at least channel Bilbo at Bag End. That‘s always been my favorite image of the writing life. 6y

RohitSawant Here's a great video of Neil Gaiman talking about the craft, which never fails to inspire and reassure me, and I hope it does the same for you. You truly have a wonderful, engaging way with words, and I'm so delighted as a reader that you're doing this!
https://youtu.be/drMuQqLLEe0 6y

saresmoore @rohit-sawant My goodness, that‘s a balm for the writing soul! Thank you so much for sharing that, Rohit, and for your too-kind words. ♥️ 6y

Moray_Reads Lovely sentiment ❤️ 6y

62 likes20 comments

Moray_Reads

The Book of Joan: A Novel | Lidia Yuknavitch

pan

Nope. This book is really just a sprawling morass of confusion and contradiction. The story of the dying Earth is a weird, irritating mashup of "science" (i.e. occasionally mentioning quarks and string theory while totally ignoring what these are), weak Gaia-like anthropomorphism and silly supernatural elements. The writing is repetitive, hoping to strengthen the very shaky internal logic of the worldbuilding by repeating certain elements ?

Moray_Reads As nauseum the hope that this disguises the fact that they don't make sense. Billed as a great feminist story I can't help but acknowledge that, for me, feminist writing is more than just describing frequent and graphic acts of violence against women. Particularly when the writer keeps banging on about how distinctions between the sexes have disappeared during a period of (ridiculous) hyper-evolution caused when the sun "stopped working". 7y

Moray_Reads The parallels between "Joan of Dirt" and Jeanne d'Arc were fatuous and the focus on sex and sexuality as the defining characteristic of humanity made me frankly furious. I could go on, honestly, but I'd rather delete the arc and forget it ever happened. 7y

Leniverse Hyper-evolution when the sun stopped working... yeah, ok. Thank you for the warning. 😂 If I had a #NTBR-list (NeverToBeRead) this would go on it. 7y

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batsy Fantastic review. Don't know if I'll read it but your pan is so good I want to hate-read in solidarity. She's been praised so often for the feminism of her books; I haven't read any. But it's becoming a thing now that something is deemed feminist merely for reenacting violence against women... 7y

TrishB I was interested in this, but.....I may not give it my time now! 7y

Moray_Reads @batsy that's definitely how I felt about it. And to be frank I've always hated all of that women are more connected to the earth, earth mother nonsense. As far as I'm concerned that kind of faux-naturalism-spiritualism is hackneyed and dangerous. The violence in the book is pretty unreal and the constant sexual imagery wearying and crass. To be honest I had no idea what the point of any of it was, it was so confused and self-important 7y

Moray_Reads @Leniverse to say that this is supposed to be a novel railing against the destruction of the planet (a noble goal!) you'd have thought she'd have come up with a vaguely plausible scientific reason, this was as bad as the hokum science in The Day After Tomorrow and 2012! She clearly thinks mentioning the magic words "string theory" is enough because there's NO WAY her readers will know what it is ??? 7y

Moray_Reads @TrishB usually this would be my cue to say lots of other people seem to like and I wouldn't want to put you off... But not this time. There are thousands, millions of books more worthy of your time! 7y

saresmoore Moray, I hereby bestow upon you the #rudeladyreaders award for most insightfully scathing review. I‘m with @batsy in that I ALMOST want to hate-read in solidarity, but the ideas of violence as pseudo-feminism plus sexuality as defining humanness make me want to throw things. So, I‘m going to take your word for it and NOT read it. 7y

cathysaid It is now my goal to work "sprawling morass of confusion and contradiction" into all my conversations next week ?? (edited) 7y

Moray_Reads @saresmoore I very proudly accept. Some books don't just deserve circumspection! 7y

vivastory I'm sorry you had a negative reading experience, but if I'm to be honest, I'm not too sorry as you write the best hate reviews. 7y

53 likes12 comments

saresmoore

Moby-Dick | Herman Melville

Here are a couple of my #ClassicsTBR, featuring 19th century novels (one by a woman), #rudeladyreaders edition. I'm in my kitchen, making dinner before settling in for #LitsyPartyofOne and the #EclecticReadathon. 😏

#junebookbugs
#readingwomenmonth

RealLifeReading, Alisnazzy, thereadingwomen, batsy, EclecticReaders

saresmoore @batsy We'll get around to reading them eventually, right? August for Anne? 7y

LeahBergen Pretty pic!! When will you be reading Moby Dick? I need to tackle that one myself. 🐳 7y

saresmoore @LeahBergen I am happy to pick a time that works for you and @batsy! 7y

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RealLifeReading For me Moby Dick is on my classics never-to-be-read pile 😂 7y

EclecticReaders Can't wait to see you at the Readathon! Moby Dick is a great choice! 7y

batsy @saresmoore Yes, August for Anne 👍 And Moby Dick would be great do in a group with @LeahBergen and anyone who wants to join! 7y

102 likes6 comments

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