I have been a bit AWOL – life has been busy and I have not had that much time to read this month to be honest!
Let’s talk about what I am reading at the moment, since I haven’t done a reading update in a while.
I am ‘only’ reading two books at the moment. My audio book at the moment is The Warden by Anthony Trollope, which is the last book I am reading for my ‘three…’ project. For this one I am reading three Victorian novels by male authors. It’s been a mixed bag. As far as this one goes, I really like the dry humour, but the story itself is a bit boring. Then again, it is talking about wrong and right and classism, especially in the church I guess. I am not loving the listen, but it has made me smile in amusement at points, so there’s that.
My physical read is a nostalgic read from the past. I recently picked up a used copy of Beyond the Sea of Ice by William Sarabande. William Sarabande is actually a woman who writes under a pseudonym. Now, I read this series in my own language when I was in my mid to late teens. I borrowed them all from the library at the time. Coming across it again made me curious to read it again, this time in English. A couple of years ago I re-read The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel, which was also a book I read around that time. I will read the second book in that series soon, I think. What both these series have in common is that they are set in prehistory, in the time of mammoths and stone tools. The tone of these novels is quite different. I remember this series (The First Americans by William Sarabande) to have quite dark plot points that I did not always care for as a youngster, especially in later books. I remember them quite vividly with a bit of cringe. I am curious how I will feel reading them as an adult. Although bad things happen in Jean Auel’s series, overall it has a lighter feel. I own the first five books in that series. I do not own the next book in Sarabande’s series yet, but if I end up really enjoying it I will try and find them, preferably in the mass market paperbacks. I kind of enjoy the time period, the lack of technology and the emphasis on surviving the elements and the skills needed to do so.
I am over halfway through this novel and I had forgotten how dark it gets at points already. It does sometimes leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. The author clearly has certain hang-ups and I don’t always enjoy reading about them. Overall, I am enjoying the read, but I do wonder how much of that is nostalgia. I will see where we go from here once I have finished it. At the moment the chance of me continuing this series is pretty high, but I do think much of that is the nostalgia factor.
The other books with a similar setting that I have sitting on my shelf is People of the Wolf by W Michael and Kathleen O’Neal Gear, which I hope to read a bit later in the year.
All of these books were written between 1980 and 1990 and I do think there are things in them that would not be ‘done’ nowadays. Still, I can look past that for the most part. For example, in both The Clan of the Cave Bear and this book there is quite a bit of sexual assault and rape. In Beyond The Sea of Ice the main couple’s power dynamic is completely one sided and it is uncomfortable sometimes. In fact, it is uncomfortable a lot of the time.
I definitely understand why these kind of books would not be for everyone. Trigger warnings galore. You know, pulpy death, deaths of children and women and animals. Animal slaughter, rape, sexual assault, cruelty to animals. cruelty to people, lots of disgust inducing scenes… And yet, overall I think I am quite enjoying this one.
We will see how the second half goes. Obviously when I read them the first time I wanted to continue, but it has been so long I don’t quite remember what happens.
Anyway, that is my rambly Sunday update.
Have a good one!
Lola Et La Vie 