Wednesday Reading Meme

Stinking hot today and supposed to remain that way all week. Lovely! At least Miss Shadow is grasping the idea of the paddle pool now - digging it actually. The water splashes everywhere!

What I've just finished reading

Fiction
Wolfsbane (Sianim, #4 / Aralorn, #2) by Patricia Briggs

An early Briggs book, sequel to her first novel Masques (which I read a couple of years ago.) Light, easy read, almost a 'cozy mystery' in a high fatasy setting.

Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, #1) by Ilona Andrews

I tried reading this ages ago, got stuck and left it on the shelves with a bookmark still in it. Had no recollection of any of it when I tried to read it again.

I really enjoyed the Edge series but even though I made it through Magic Bites this time (with great determination), I'm not inclined to seek out more of the series. A few interesting bits but mostly grim and gruesome and I didn't enjoy the characters.

Raised By Wolves (Raised By Wolves #1) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Very disappointing. The first chapter was a conversation between the human teenager and her Alpha. Correction - 10% of the chapter was conversation, the rest was her inner monologue about the conversation and her backstory. Most of the book was like this! Add some creepy power dynamics and a seriously infuriating epilogue and the only decent bits were fearsome human Ali and the 'world's first metrosexual werewolf' Devon.

Patricia Briggs does way better in exploring rigid pack hierarchies and werewolf conspiracies and if I want to read about teenage humans and werewolves in over their heads and trying to form their own packs (which I do), I can find far better in Teen Wolf fandom, thanks.

Non-fiction
The Warrior Queens: Boadicea's Chariot by Antonia Fraser

I have great regard for Antonia Fraser but this is not her best. The first part goes on and on and on about how little we actually know about Boadicea (including her name) - yes, we get it already! With the second part, thing speed up a bit, but sometimes too much, whirling from woman to woman, dates, names and places flying at you at speed. I am not an expert on world history, give me a chance to catch up! That said, I still learned a lot and it was interesting how carefully many of these women had to manipulate their images for people to accept them as Warrior Queens. It was also deeply depressing to realise that insults hurled at Margaret Thatcher twenty years ago were being hurled at Julia Gillard just two years ago in a different country and for completely different reasons - except it was the same reason really. She dared to be a woman in command.

Bad Girls & Wicked Women: The Most Powerful, Shocking, Amazing, Thrilling and Dangerous Women of All Time by Jan Stradling

Refreshingly straightforward organisation, one chapter per woman! Wicked or powerful or clever or unfortunate or some combination - Shi Xianggu, Pirate Queen of the South China Sea and the most successful pirate ever; Malinali, slave turned interpreter; Phoolan Devi, Bandit Queen and survivor; Messalina, who seemed to think she was living in a cracked-out BDSM AU.

Wild Women: History's Female Rebels, Radicals & Revolutionaries by Pamela Robson

Same format, more fascinating women. Some brilliant and remarkable, others who just seemed to be on a tragic course. (I thought Bonnie and Clyde were a pair of smart bank robbers. Huh.) Louise Michel, the teacher, Communard, anarchist; Theroigne de Merincourt, courtesan turned French revolutionary; Princess Eugenie Shakhovskaya, one of the first Russian pilots, who later joined the Cheka.

(I was amused to note, since the books were both published by Pier 9, that each one features one of the mad, bad and dangerous women who headed the Sydney Razor Gangs - but Stradling got Tilly Devine and Robson got Kate Leigh. No overlap.)

Couples Who Kill by Carol Anne Davis

This seemed a fairly straightforward approach to the various cases and Davis didn't shy away from the gruesome details but didn't dwell on them either ... however I was uncomfortable with some of the very broad and definite statements she made, particularly about psychology, without any citations or references (I'm not going to search all through the book again but I remember these two because they were on the same page: 'Children from large families tend to have lowers IQs than children from small families ...' and 'men who've survived life with an abusive mother often feel the need to crossdress.') She also referred to an Asian man as 'Oriental' This was published in 2005.

Ultimately, I found the book to be a catalogue of some of the most neglectful, selfish, irresponsible and outright abusive parenting I have ever read about. It was appalling. And a wonderful argument for comprehensive sex education, widely available birth control and abortion.

Myra Hindley: Inside The Mind Of A Murderess by Jean Ritchie

I enjoyed this. Rather than just looking at the murders, it carried on to cover Myra's life in prison, trying to understand what kind of person she is (this was published in 1988.) I certainly didn't like her but conditions at Durham prison at least were appalling. I'd like to read One of Your Own: The Life and Death of Myra Hindley by Carol Ann Lee to read more about the confessions and the consequences and Myra's death. It's odd to think that Myra might have been a selfish, manipulative, 'hard case' but she probably wouldn't have killed anyone if she hadn't met Ian Brady and stuck to him. I felt so terribly, pitifully sorry for her relatives, especially her sister Maureen. She was the one who encouraged David to go to the police and yet she was attacked while pregnant, hounded out of her home and job, received death threats against her children ...

Erased: Missing Women, Murdered Wives by Marilee Strong

Started off by the Laci Peterson case (the name sounded familiar but hey, not American here), this was a very disturbing look at how the general 'wisdom' about domestic homicides doesn't account for men who want to dispose of 'inconveniences' - as they see them.

Blind Justice: the true story of the death of Jennifer Tanner by Robin Bowles

Big noise Australian inquest over a decade ago, about a supposed suicide from 1984, majorly stuffed up by the 'investigation'. Part personal investigation, part inquest coverage, this was ultimately very frustrating because there are still no answers.

What I'm reading now

Fool's War by Sarah Zettel - I will get through this!

What I'm reading next

An lighter fiction read!