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

[shipperslist]

Now reading 2ha book 2 and it's Ridiculous.

[geraineon]

Haha, is it Ridiculous /affectionate or just Ridiculous? (Is this a positive or negative thing, or neither?)

[geraineon]

I've been obsessed with ORV so not much actual cnovel reading!

I did read a few short stories from The Way Spring Arrives, and from a rec by halfcactus in the most recent discussion Friday post. I really enjoyed Olivia's Table!

It's like hungry ghost festival but in the U.S. with U.S. ghosts, PLUS queer.

[halfcactus]

Ohhh this is making me want to reread it. Should have saved it as a ghost month read, but Halloween month is close enough, maybe??

I'm so glad to see you just stuck on the ORV train XD

[dayadhvam_triad]

ORV is such a great story! I love how very meta it is, about the roles of the reader and writer and character... compelling enough that I could gloss over the quality of the prose in translation >_<;

[headstone]

In the last few weeks, I finished volume 2 of Erha and 4 of Yuwu. Loving the way the plot of Yuwu is unfolding (for the most part), and finding Erha largely infuriating. Reading them alongside each other has been interesting, as they're clearly the products of the same id, yet the stories are hitting really differently for me.

[geraineon]

That's interesting. I think I usually hear the opposite (I have not read Yuwu, and I've only read Erha volume 1, the rest is by osmosis). What would you say is different in terms of ... The execution of the Id?

[larryhammer]

This week I finally started Taisui by Priest, and enjoying the heck out of it so far -- which admittedly is only 20 chapters, but so far xianxia with a knowing wink for the win.

[geraineon]

Taisui! I love it too. And I really should get back to it (probably after I'm done with ORV which is eating all of my brains)

[halfcactus]

TIL it's only 20 chapters, wow

[ehyde]

I'm nearing the end of Mist and having the somewhat frustrating experience of enjoying the plot while disliking the romance. I was feeling a bit meh about them already and then there was recently a scene where cw controlling behavior, ableism *the ML decides he's going to control the MC's access to his medication (not specified exactly what the meds are for, but from context, some sort of anxiety medication) and the narrative...seems to support him in this? Seems to think it's a romantic "he's taking care of him" moment? wtf.* I would probably have stopped right there except I'm too invested in finishing the time travel plotline, sigh.

[geraineon]

Yeah. =(

I was definitely reading it for the timey wimey plot rather than actually rooting for the pair. Reading for the Plot!

[douqi]

After letting the chapters build up for a while, I've gone back to Ning Yuan's currently-updating historical cyberpunk baihe novel To Embers We Return, which is shaping up to be the most ambitious piece of genre fiction I've read in a long, long time. The central romance continues to be compelling (I love the way Ning Yuan combines fandom sensibility with character and relationship development), and the author is somehow managing to juggle about four other secondary f/f relationships PLUS at least three ongoing love triangles.

[halfcactus]

most ambitious piece of genre fiction I've read in a long, long time
Nice!

Honestly I'd never even have heard of her if not for you... So glad that her work continues to satisfy you and that I kind of get to read vicariously. XD

PS. THREE love triangles???

[geraineon]

Ohh. Are they true triangles or are they love corners?

I do love secondary relationship!

[forestofglory]

I'm actually reading something applicable to this comm for once! To Live as Long as Heaven and Earth: A Translation and Study of Ge Hong's Traditions of Divine Transcendents by Robert F. Campany.

I had so much trouble getting a hold of this book! It's an expensive academic book, so I wasn't going to buy it. So I tried to get it ILL but the system ate it or something. But then I asked my friends with academic access if they could help me get it, and someone had a PDF! Success!

I think this will be helpful for the story I'm translating at the moment -- it's got a translation of the same story (maybe a different version? I'm not sure yet) But right now I'm still reading all the intro stuff of which there is a lot.

[geraineon]

Yay for friends with access! Glad you got it. Feel free to share stories you find interesting as you read!

[aurumcalendula]

I've made more progress on Record of the Missing Sect Master and am continuing to reread volume 2 of QJJ (which has been distracting me from the former tbh)!

[geraineon]

haha, this reminds me of how I just mainlined QJJ all the way to the end when I first read it. So unputdownable

橋頭樓上 Bridge Tower 27-28

[halfcactus]

Bridge Tower 27-28

The counselor saying that Mihuhu's plan only makes sense if she's buying time for MURDER... I mean, we know that Chen Xi is in the suitcase, but still... Oh no...

I'm glad we have an explicit answer to water ghost lore things (ie. which part was added for the sake of the novel) but there's no way I would have known! But man, total goosebumps between the current plot and the very first chapter of this entire book. 鬼杀掉人→ 人变成鬼 → 鬼变成人 ;_____;

紙片人 shamelessly _ing Miao Miao's account and demanding answers... and clocking Miao Xiaowa as not being the real deal... lol

Miao Xiaowa coming to her own deductions based on her own PoV and more personal relationship with the text + author. :')

I love the way we get the omniscient PoV of WHY this very serious cop is disclosing case-related info and personal conjecture to internet randos 😂 Crime dramas SHOULD have an anxious little sister character who takes over the officer’s phone as an explanation for unprofessional conduct. 😂

"對一切都無能爲力的厲鬼走投無路，只剩下吹滅燭火的力氣。" DDDD:

Okay, was LXS waiting for the dad to show up? Not sure what the plan is here (we’d only just uncovered motive in ch27, which was crushing), but interesting if so!

Hiring the moving company so the dad would know where they are! Smart!

The part where LXS is compared to a piece of gum. :(

Wait Dragon Girl knew LXS??? Ohh?

Is the last user (Daguanren) gonna be the only truly random passerby or is that character also plot relevant ???

One thing that has been confusing me because of the swapped storylines is Zhang Ting... When they "revealed" Uncle Z to be a Zhang, I was convinced all of this was related to her suicide... But we've established that Uncle Z is actually Chen Xi's stepdad who doesn't seem involved in any of Chen dad's crimes...

V. curious to see how LXS's plan will play out, especially since it doesn't feel like Chen dad actually cares about his bio-daughter in an emotional way. Is he coming because he also knows that her death will bring attention to him? I guess we'll find out!

Re: 橋頭樓上 Bridge Tower 27-28

[geraineon]

Highlight for spoilers!*Murder? Suitcase? ghosts? 👀*
I love reading your reactions to this story. I love no clue what's it like. It's like piecing a puzzle too xD

Re: 橋頭樓上 Bridge Tower 27-28

[dayadhvam_triad]

The suitcase ;________;

"只剩下吹滅燭火的力氣" ;________;

I really liked the moment when Miao Miao realized how Miao Xiaowa instinctively shrunk back from her unhappiness/anger :(, and chose to rub her little sister's head instead :')

大官人 and 小龙女... XD XD;

I wanna say more but gahhh it's all spoilers, so I'll just wait for you to get to 29 8)

Re: 橋頭樓上 Bridge Tower 27-28

[douqi]

Crime dramas SHOULD have an anxious little sister character who takes over the officer’s phone as an explanation for unprofessional conduct.

This would improve the logic of the average crime drama considerably!

[llonkrebboj]

On Saturday, I peeked into my favourite sickly bottom loving community on Weibo and got a delightful reminder of 重生夜话 via someone someone group sourcing for the title through some scenes they vaguely remembered. That started an impromptu reread that I just finished on Tuesday xD

重生夜话 by 老草吃嫩牛
Link to original: https://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=1168359
Sickliness rating: 1.1*
This novel was completed in 2011 and does not have any translation. I think I read it in my days as an sto.cc (now sto.cx) and my285 gremlin? It certainly wasn't the txt files era anyway... And I left a pawprint and a little bomb for the author after finishing on jj for the first time ^^.
This is a do-over fixit of the MC's life type of story, and still, to me, the best imagined and portrayed example of what that would feel and what an ordinary person can do (i.e. no gold fingers here xD). This novel is set between the years of 1970s i.e. the MC's childhood through to the 2000s, with all the drama, joys and pain that entails.

Highlight for spoilers!*
*MC gets into a serious car accident in his teens and nearly dies four times on the operating table and during recovery at the hospital due to infection. He's kept at home to recover for half a year after. The sickliness moves into the background after this period though.

I like this story more for the take on do-overs than the sickliness (although it was delicious too xD).

As a Singaporean, I was particularly fascinated with depictions of all aspects of life in China from the 70s to 00s. But as a history-adjacent enthusiast, I also super appreciated the MC's attraction to and eventual specialization in historical artifacts and their place and context in time. Also, immensely amused at how it started with his childhood dream of making money that way LMAO. Who didn't use to have a little ancient coin collection when they were a kid? *

[Content warnings for period accurate (?) homophobia, mentions of date/gang rape, teenage pregnancy, one count of suicide and one mention of suicide.]

On the non-fiction side of things, in rabbit holing for the Shangguan Wan'er project, I came across this essay, The Formation of The Tang Estate Poem by Stephen Owen, which is an interesting read for anyone interested in this genre of Tang poetry.

Link here: https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/2609647/owen_1995.pdf;jsessionid=85332CC22A969038CACF436969A5E71E?sequence=2

(Personally, I like Stephen Owen's translations xD he has a more down to earth style that leans more conservative than creative, so they don't lead you astray xD)

[halfcactus]

favourite sickly bottom loving community on Weibo
Lol I'm so glad you have your people.

Oh man, those content warnings...

I wonder how this PDF will display on my ereader... It seems formatted well for it...??