I finished this book this morning. The novel proper is quite short and readable, although I don't think I'll ever really enjoy a work where a writer uses a foreign narrator or character from a culture they don't actually know to further their plots or theories. However, the extra critical material does an excellent job of contextualising this 18th best-seller written by a blue-stocking with proto-feminist sensibilities.
illustration from the book
I 1st heard of this book when researching #Peru for #FoodAndLit but it wouldn't do b/c it's all about France. It is an 18th-c. epistolary novel written by a French woman. The narrator is an Inca “virgin of the sun“ snatched by Spanish conquistadores, then taken by French soldiers to France. Her letters to her Inca fiancé describe France & its mores from the point of view of an outsider - a “Noble Savage“ - uncorrupted by European civilisation.
pickMan, Le Guin could really pick her images. Some of these are very slight, but some lovely ones. “Come to Dust“ and “On Second Hill“ stuck out for me. Here's the latter:
“Where on this wild hill alone
a child watched the evening star,
let these bits of ash and bone
rejoin the earth they always were,
the earth that let her sing her love,
the gift that made the giver
here on the lonely hill above
the valley of the river.“
Safe bet - I‘m either that or reading…sometimes both!
so-soI read this book about a month ago and am just catching up on reviews now. I had noted it as a three star but… now I can‘t remember a single story in this collection. The stories are horror-tinged and dark is all I recall but nothing else made enough of an impact to linger. I guess that says everything.
bailedThis bail is more a reflection of my reading mood than the book. Dorothy B. Hughes has interesting plots and writes well, but I just couldn't find the headspace to get into this one.
Stanmore couldn‘t have stood less of chance.
However, much as I loved Idle Grounds, Moominland knocked it out of the running on the left side of the board. AND, much as I loved Moominland, I expect my Wild Card to sideswipe it in the end.
The drama!!!
#2025ReadingBracket
#ReadingBracket2025
June ended up being more about quantity than quality. I‘m still surpassing my reading goals but I didn‘t LOVE anything this month (other than Anne, of course, which was a reread). Cunning Folk seemed like it was going to really do it for me, for a while, but it fell short stylistically.
Better luck next month, me!
#AWreads2025
