Then and Now #62 (18/2/24 - 25/2/24)

Happy Sunday!  The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted @ Caffeinated Reviewer. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.  It is hosted weekly over at Mailbox Monday and every Friday they do a round-up of some of their favourite, shared reads! 

Last Week

I missed out on writing this post for most of February, but it's been a good month so far! The semester is finally over and now I can focus on my research, which I'm looking forward to. Of course I also need to prep my seminars for the next semester, but some of the tension is gone now. I have all kinds of ideas for my PhD so I'm looking forward to getting those from my brain onto a page. I had a bit of a not necessarily writer's block, but more like a writer's hesitation? (I'm coining that.) I was worried that the ideas would turn out to be dumb once I wrote them down, but now that I've had some time to take a breather, I'm past that I think. I also took some days off to go visit family in the UK, which was necessary and fun. I got to drop by the British Museum for the first time in years, which was fun. Spending time with my family was also really nice and I got to attend a friend's baby shower and catch up a little with her. 

I don't really have a whole load of other updates or anything like that. The sun has been shining here for the past few days, peaking through the clouds quite consistently, which has done wonders for my mood. The break also meant that I finally dove back into reading and I have been devouring books left, right, and centre! So now I need to really catch up on my review writing! The good thing is that I have actually enjoyed all the books I have been reading, so hopefully I'll be able to keep the reading fever going without burning myself out or hitting a slump. I also dove into some books I've been wanting to read for a while like Three Dark Crowns (good fun, but not super deep) and Fourth Wing (enjoyed it, but didn't shake my world). 

Posted since last time:

• BC - Let's Get Medieval #6 - 'Wulf and Eadwacer'
• Friday Friyay: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
• Review: The Mad Women's Ball by Victoria Mas, trans. by Frank Wynne
• Review: Three Eight One by Aliya Whiteley
• Book Central #20 - My Favourite Love Letter (Persuasion by Jane Austen) Valentine's Day Episode
• Friday Friyay: Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
• Book Central #21 - 7 Fantasy & Sc-Fi Books To Get You Through Dreary Spring
• Friday Friyay: Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake
• Review: The Fish by Joanne Stubbs

Recommendation

I'm not the biggest Country music fan, but Beyoncé absolutely got me bopping with 'Texas Hold Em'!

Mailbox Monday

Only two books from NetGalley this week!

Mimesis, Expression, Construction: Fredric Jameson's Seminar on Aesthetic Theory by Fredric Jameson, Octavian Esanu (Repeater Books; 3/18/2024)

Transcribed and edited from audio recordings taken by Octavian Esanu of the original seminar at Duke University in 2003, Mimesis, Expression, Construction reproduces Jameson and his students' engagement with Aesthetic Theory, one of the most influential theories of modernist aesthetics.

The first and only published record of Jameson's teaching and pedagogic style, the seminar delves into modern and modernist aesthetics through the perspectives of Kant, Hegel, Freud, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche; Benjamin and other members of the Frankfurt School; the literary works of Thomas Mann and Samuel Beckett; the music of Schoenberg, Webern and Berg; the films of Chaplin, Vertov and Eisenstein; the aesthetic implications of psychoanalysis and biblical exegesis; classical music; and more.

Presented in the format of a play, with stage setting, student interruptions and exchanges, interjections, auditory noises, and ambient sounds, and complemented with scans of students' notes, Mimesis, Expression, Construction is a groundbreaking addition to the work of one of the greatest modern cultural critics.

I'll admit this isn't the most captivating of titles, but I think this will be really interesting for my research. Also, I love the idea of these transcribed seminars, of knowledge being passed on this way, the move from orality to literacy, etc. So yes, this one is half work, half fun!

The Wings Upon Her Back by Samantha Mills (Tachyon Publications; 4/23/2024)

A loyal warrior in a crisis of faith must fight to regain her place and begin her life again while questioning the events of her past. This gripping science-fantasy novel from a Nebula, Sturgeon, and Locus Award-winning debut author is a complex, action-packed exploration of the costs of zealous faith, ceaseless conflict, and shocking revelations.

Zenya was a teenager when she ran away from home to join the mechanically-modified warrior sect. She was determined to earn mechanized wings and protect the people and city she loved. Under the strict tutelage of a mercurial, charismatic leader, Zenya became Winged Zemolai.

But after twenty-six years of service, Zemolai is disillusioned with her role as an enforcer in an increasingly fascist state. After one tragic act of mercy, she is cast out and loses everything she worked for. As Zemolai fights for her life, she begins to understand the true nature of her sect, her leader, and the gods themselves.

This one is absolutely all fun, no work. Or at least I hope it will be. I love stories about loyal warriors losing faith, of people beginning to question the systems they grew up in, etc. Add to that mechanical wings and I am on board!

And that's it for me this week! What are you reading? And how you doin'?