Read-in-Progress Wednesday

[geraineon]

This is your weekly read-in-progress post for you to talk about what you're currently reading and reactions and feelings (if any)!

For spoilers:

<details><summary>insert summary</summary>Your spoilers goes here</details>

<b>Highlight for spoilers!*</b><span style="background-color: #FFFFFF; color: #FFFFFF">Your spoilers goes here.</span>*

Comments

[geraineon]

I haven't been reading cnovels... ahaha. Instead I was reading ORV and does Catching Chen Qing Ling count? (ref: https://www.peterlang.com/document/1289407)

[halfcactus]

ORV \o/ How far into it are you and how do you feel about it!!!

(IMO that definitely counts)

[geraineon]

30 chapters in! Highlight for spoilers!*The part where Kim Dokja met up with Yoo Joonghyuk again, and then Yoo Joonghyuk was still being a bit of an ass towards him XD I love the insect whisperer kid a lot!*

Starting was a little slow but now I'm *invested*! I had to force myself to stop last night just so I can sleep and wake up in time for an early morning meeting XD

[halfcactus]

The insect whisperer is great but I have cockroach trauma jaksdj;ajfa;jfd;a

I am SO into Yoo Joonghyuk and Kim Dokja's dynamic, like it awakened some dormant feral thing in me HAHAHA.

The first few volumes really fly by, they made me remember how easy reading can be when you're fully invested. At least it's almost the weekend and you can dive back in. XD

[geraineon]

Haha that bit, I also shuddered.

But all the other insects were cool! I like insects! Just not... that particular insect.

I am very into this dynamic too. I wanna read faster gdi

[douqi]

I finished reading The Little Alpaca, which was delightful and extremely wholesome for a novel that included murder and child neglect. Proper review coming at some point.

Currently reading Rivers Solomon's Sorrowland, which is not c-novel-related at all haha. I'm also wondering how to classify the Chinese translation of a Korean sci-fi novel I've got on my TBR pile.

[geraineon]

Excited for your review~

Oh, Chinese translation of Korean SF sounds interesting. Does it have an English translation? What's the title? Now I'm wondering how they compare.

Haha, initially I was thinking novels translated into CN doesn't count but with all the discussions on translations lately, and reading meta about novels and novel-adjacent things, I'm inclined to just go broader with the community coverage XD

[douqi]

It's The Greenhouse at the End of the Earth by Kim Cho-yeop. I couldn't find an English translation, though this article suggests there are translations into French, Japanese, Russian and Indonesian. The article also says it's been licensed for a drama adaptation, so maybe an English translation will follow.

[geraineon]

Hm, Indonesian. Maybe can find and read that instead. I've not actually read any Indonesian or BM translation of novels before. Have you started reading it?

[douqi]

Not yet! Still trying to figure out where it fits in my overly-engineered reading cycle.

[ehyde]

I'm finishing up A Power Unbound (book 3 of the Freya Marske series) about which I have some thoughts but I'll post them elsewhere.

I also started reading Cultivating in Online Games--I was like oh, there are two entire Cyan Wings novels I haven't heard of before! This other one only has a few chapters posted, that must mean this one is complete! Readers, it is not complete. So I'm taking it slow and planning to read as it updates because I do love the concept.

Something's Not Right, also by Cyan Wings, did some interesting thing re. the intersection of irl characters and virtual characters, but it didn't quite stick the landing for me. Cultivating in Online Games isn't doing the same thing but I'm definitely interested in how Dugu Zhuo, actual cultivator from an actual xianxia world (afaik), came to find himself inside this VR game and like. What is actually going on here.

Someday though I really would like to see a transmigration (or similar) story that really digs into what it would mean for someone to learn that they were a fictional character, without taking the "well, in this world it's actually real" approach.

[geraineon]

Hm, Something's Not Right has been on my tbr but ah sucks to hear that it didn't stick the landing for you.

Yeah, it'll be nice if the fictional aspect of the world is dealt with in a different way. Usually it almost seems like it's no biggie, but in truth would we feel that know if we find out we are fictional (but then again maybe it depends on if one believes in A God [writer]? idk, hm)

[ehyde]

I'd still recommend Something's Not Right! Overall I really enjoyed it, and my issue with the ending is more that it didn't go where I thought it was going, than that it actually did anything wrong.

[geraineon]

Mm, I still mean to read it someday! Will just lower expectations a little and try not to guess too much about the plot I guess.

[aurumcalendula]

I'm about halfway through volume 2 of Ballad of Sword and Wine! (I'm still reading Record of the Missing Sect Master, but got distracted by QJJ)

[geraineon]

Omg it completely slipped my notice that vol. 2 is out!

thank you!

[aurumcalendula]

The ebook just got released on Tuesday! (apparently the print release date got pushed back until the 24th)

No problem! :D

[shipperslist]

Still working on Guardian. It's a slow going mostly because work has picked up and the story itself needs a brain that stays awake. But I'm reading it. Yes.

[geraineon]

Understandable! I've been finding it hard to read lately too with work and other stuff going on /sigh/

橋頭樓上 Bridge Tower 23-24 (+ a little bit of 25)

[halfcactus]

I didn't finish chapter 25 because I have, once again, started reading other things, but I have some notes!!! PS. I genuinely can't keep track of who's who and where they are now and I still can't wrap my head around the timeline because I'm allergic to dates, ages, numbers...

Btw I really felt I was onto something when I was reading the diary entries, but boy the late-novel twists/revelations were beyond what I could have imagined lol but it's a good kind of unpredictable

The kids trying to ask for help in their own ways made me teary. They still have faith in the world! Though I don't know if Miao Xiaowa unsent the novel link out of hesitation or because she knew Miao Miao already saw it?

The doppelganger / water ghost / mirror-image themes give me goosebumps every time. Plus the whole thing where Lin Shuixian(?)'s mother is part of the cycle...


Chapter 25 live reactions:

I sure hope Lin Shuixian is carrying the body of the abuser whose identity I'm now unsure of (so it's not real-life Uncle Z? I'm still confused about this).

Also I hope Tang Guo and "Tang Guo" teamed up to commit crimes. A water ghost/doppelganger's justice!

Lin Shuixian singing the nursery rhyme about catching a crab: *Edvard Munch Scream.jpg*

The reveal about grisly old regional practices where Lin Shuixian's name comes from: Oh no :(

Not them revealing and clarifying the part of Lin Shuixian/"Tang Guo"'s diary entries that I completely forgot about. On one hand, yay some answers and a more linear look at the past! On the other, these are not the important questions anymore. (Not complaining - I think the pattern of giving us a hint in the guise of a "revelation", for ex. the grammar, only to reveal something else is interesting.)

She's carrying her mother's ashes(??) in her backpack though so I still have hope that she's here to get justice from the right person. ;__;

Other stuff I was reading:A Sign of Affection, a romance manga about the FL's experience navigating the world as a deaf college student, and this... free(??) book(???) on Google Books called Is There Bubble Tea in the Underworld?. As the title suggests this is from Taiwan and is centered around boba, so I'm mentally calling it the boba boyfriends book. It's BL + YA, but the ML dies in a car accident when he gets boba for his presumed girlfriend at the beginning (I'm so sorry for laughing at this), so I don't know if this is HE or not... The goal is for him to fulfill his wish (to have one last cup of boba... as a ghost) so he can reincarnate. I'm not far into it and not sure I'll continue, but I'd recommend it as an easy read! It makes me feel almost literate!

Re: 橋頭樓上 Bridge Tower 23-24 (+ a little bit of 25)

[geraineon]

Oh, I've heard about A Sign of Affection (mostly all the discussions about disability rep, which is an interesting discussion on itself).

The Bubble Tea story sounds cute XD

Re: 橋頭樓上 Bridge Tower 23-24 (+ a little bit of 25)

[halfcactus]

Yeah I saw in the mangakas' notes that they run their drafts through a consultant, which I thought was really neat. Was there any consensus about the rep?

Re: 橋頭樓上 Bridge Tower 23-24 (+ a little bit of 25)

[geraineon]

It's been a while but I remember the discussion being a bit more meta than specifically about this title. Basically, a lot of these stories are written by people who do not experience these disabilities, and it can feel a little iffy even with the best of intentions... and there were some discussions about the framing of it (as in, written by hearing person for hearing people). I don't remember if the discussion about the prominence of sign language and the difficulty of lip reading was brought up specifically about this, but I did learn a bit more about the various d/Deaf communities and cultural differences within it.

Re: 橋頭樓上 Bridge Tower 23-24 (+ a little bit of 25)

[dayadhvam_triad]

hmm I lean toward her unsending the novel link because she hesitated and second-guessed herself ("does this change anything, will my sister even look? nvm").

I got goosebumps at the end of Ch. 23 just like Miao Miao x_x SO many Edvard Munch Scream moments...

Highlight for spoilers!*Yep it's not real life Uncle Z, but Chen Xi's dad.*

[duckprintspress]

I'm (re)reading The Husky and His White Cat Shizun vol. 6 now that the official is out. It's much hornier than I remembered it being.

I also read vol. 7 of the MDZS manhua last night, since the official English came out yesterday. Ah, Nie Mingjue empathy flashback...

[geraineon]

Is it a translation choice thing or is it because you forgot details, re: level of horniness in 2ha? XD

[duckprintspress]

well the first time I read this entire section it was mtl, so that was possibly a factor, but it's probably mostly my memory being fried, lol.

[dancing_serpent]

I've started reading MereBear's translation of the DMBJ novels. I started out with The Mystic Nine, and am now on chapter 4 of the second volume.

I'm having a lot of fun so far, and reading has cleared up some questions I stumbled upon while reading fanfic, in regards to what's drama canon, what's novel canon, and what's fanon.

[geraineon]

Ahaha, someday I will finish watching Mystic Nine. It has such promise but the pacing was not very good.

Glad you're enjoying the novel! Have you found any of the differences to be surprising so far?

[dancing_serpent]

I didn't mind the pacing all that much until later, when they started cutting out important stuff. But that's why I collected the deleted scenes and have them ready with time stamps etc.

But until then, I was enjoying all the various whump and h/c tropes. And all the pretty faces. *g*

No surprising difference, but poor Rishan only gets named in chapter 21. Before that, he's always just called Lieutenant or Lieutenant Zhang.

Also, I was happy to get novel canon confirmation on Zhang Rishan having the special blood. The fanfics I read have him using it as bug repellant or antidote, but apart from his relative immortality, there was no proof of that in any of the dramas, so I wasn't sure if it wasn't a fanon thing. But even the first chapter of the novel has him showing up with a bandage around his hand, and in the following tomb adventure he definitely does use his blood that way.

[geraineon]

Haha, I've heard that Zhang Rishan is a lot more prominent in the tv compared to the novels.

the whump and h/c tropes were very nice, and they are all very pretty indeed!

now if only they are real and sell their blood as bug repellent XD

[dancing_serpent]

Yeah, I have no idea about Sha Hai, but in the M9 novel he's basically in every chapter, and the guy everybody can rely on. It's just the name thing that makes him feel less prominent. I mean, we get to know his Chinese Zodiac sign before learning his name! (He's a snake.)