Welcome to Litsy!

I puppysat goofy Cooper and his brothers last night. In between epic backyard play sessions and couch snuggles, they saw me into the homestretch with A SONG FOR ARBONNE. While I still like it, this reread has really hammered home Kay‘s failure to achieve his trademark balance between the personal and the political with this one. The plot feels a lot more important than the characters. Not a BAD thing, but also not really MY thing.

It‘s been a very schnauzery week. Duffy just moved into an apartment after 11 years of house life and I babysat him on his first evening there sans mom.

He helped me with a huge chunk of A SONG FOR ARBONNE, a book I last read 16 years ago. I liked it a fair bit then but found it lacking next to Kay‘s other books, and it‘s much the same now. It reminds me of his Renaissance trio in structure, but he imbues those books with far more character.

#firstlinefridays

#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks
Square 4

I think i have to finally accept that just because i absolutely love The Fionavar Tapestry, it doesn't mean I'll like the rest of GGK's books. His historical fiction books simply don't interest me and i have a whole bunch of them on my shelves it seems....

I love Lions of Al-Rassan most of all. Tigana I loved even though it was darker. This definitely has shared qualities - poetic language, clever flashbacks, high drama between warring nations - that make it a telltale Kay epic. However, it was missing something for me! It was missing the profound love, friendship, and loyalty that defined his other two. It had a bit, but felt overshadowed by so much hatred and deception between the characters.

It‘s been years since I last read GGK and this book had me questioning everything. It‘s not that it‘s bad, it‘s just that it‘s... pretty basic? I didn‘t love it. I like to call Kay‘s work “emo fantasy” because 90% of the characters have more SORROW than anything else, and that‘s the case here for sure. It was just pretty slow and unremarkable. Got me curious about the troubadours at least.

Another one down for #BFCr2.

#TBRbingo update for July a couple days early. I read two books (from my bingo card, that is) and am one book away from getting a bingo! I‘m also not reading any of these books right now. Next up will be the Book Club #5 selection, and maybe Bastard Out of Carolina.

I think it‘s gonna be more like #12in48 than #24in48, but that‘s ok!

Less than 70 pages to go in this one and I‘m feeling pretty optimistic that I‘ll be able to finish it by tonight.

#24in48

Read a chapter or several in each of my three current reads and now it‘s time to take a break and go swimming. I doubt I‘ll make 24 hours but you never know!

As an aside, I‘d forgotten how slow paced GGK‘s books are. A Song for Arbonne isn‘t his best either. But I‘m looking forward to finishing it.

#bedsidetablebooks for the first morning of #24in48. I‘ve been needing to catch up on a lot of sleep lately and having a hard time keeping my eyes open when I read before bed. Hoping to finish the tagged book sometime this weekend.

#bfcr2 week 3 check in time! @wanderinglynn
I‘m doing this early today because the rest of the day will be devoted to my sister‘s wedding. As I suspected, this entire week has been a wash when it comes to reading and swimming. Much more visiting, eating, drinking, and preparing. Tonight I plan to cap it all off with a few hours of dancing. Three weeks left to get caught up. :)

Sigh. Left - buddy read I should stay on top of. Right - dense fiction I've been reading for 2 months. Decisions for this bed time read. #BookwormProblems

#andsoitbegins #firstlines A Song for Arbonne. Guy Gavriel Kay writes historical fiction but with a fantasy twist (so essentially alternative historical fiction.) This one is inspired by France and the troubadours.

So many books, so little time. #WorldBookDay #tbr

I love it when I get a used book from the clearance shelf and it still has the price tag on it... next to the price I actually paid. What I love even more is that the original price on this one book is what I paid for my stack of ten books...

Decent, with large cast & complex political intrigue, but not his best. Rich setting - Arbonne is alternate 13th century Provence - is the best part. Culture of the warring northern realm Gorhaut reminded me unpleasantly of John Norman's Gor novels. Also, witty repartee during battle is one of my pet peeves.
Enjoyed audio narration by Euan Morton, complete with troubadour songs.

I'm at about the midpoint in this historical fantasy set in an alternate 13th-century Provence. Took this long, but FINALLY I am hooked!