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>

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Comments

[forestofglory]

I finished reading To Live as Long and Heaven and Earth! That was interesting and I learned a lot about early Daoist movements

Now I won't have anything to talk about here :(

[geraineon]

You can still talk here even if you're not currently reading a Chinese novel or anything related to Chinese novels~! Reading plans, things you wish to read, etc., they are all okay. And free-for-all fridays are for absolutely anything at all.

[dayadhvam_triad]

Poked through some Qing dynasty transmigration cnovels, and while it's not my favorite historical dynasty for this genre it's easy to see why imperial family succession struggle/harem drama takes up so much space within it. So much to work with! so many variations on MC transmigrating into wife of prince/concubine of prince/forgotten prince/established prince/ad infinitum (my own early first exposure was via the cdrama Bu Bu Jing Xin, which I quit partway through b/c I couldn't stand either of the main ships 😂)

Reading Haoli's 穿越成宋徽宗公主 (same author who wrote 3K Workers) and somehow it’s both funnier and darker than I expected. Examples of absurdity:
- Character nicknames such as Butterfly and Bee Puppy
- 100% serious battle cry “BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!” (from Warhammer 40k)
- appearance of the infamous 3K meme Sad Zhuge 诸葛凄然 x infinity, like it is basically THE descriptor for this one character
- at least two references to the Cao Cao rice bowl meme 曹操盖饭 from 2010 Three Kingdoms drama with a bonus “IMPOSSIBLE! ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE!” 😂

Otoh, it's set in the late Northern Song during the Jin-Song wars, and the emperors are so unbelievably rotten and selfish in their self-sabotage that I decided to pause at a good stopping point and went back to 3K Workers for a light reading break because at least there the MC doesn't have to worry so much about being stabbed in the back 9 out of 10 times. Plus Sima Yi just showed up in the audiobook, so I had to look up the many times he's described as an owl to killer humorous effect hahaha

[geraineon]

soooo many palace intrigue c-dramas XD I don't even know how many I watched as a kid.

Haoli sounds like a solid writer overall! This book also sounds super fun to read.

[dayadhvam_triad]

Any that you particularly liked? I started a lot of palace intrigue cdramas... but failed to finish most of them. XD;

Haoli is really solid, really good! and I'm so so so glad I came across her work. Love the humor (which shades black, dry, sardonic with memes galore), standout scene transitions, prose style... also my expectations are sadly very low for how cnovels portray Han vs. Hu (non-Han) interaction/conflict whenever it comes up, so I've been pleasantly surprised by Haoli's handling of the topic.

[geraineon]

They all kinda blurred together (betrayal, backstabbing, deaths, pain, etc.) so I can't tell you what I particularly liked.

Ahaha, I generally have low expectations for that, and a bunch of other things. Nice to hear that Haoli passes that bar!

[halfcactus]

my own early first exposure was via the cdrama Bu Bu Jing Xin, which I quit partway through b/c I couldn't stand either of the main ships 😂
Funny that you mention that, because I literally was just thinking about how I never finished BBJX. XD (Not because of the ships, but because I just so easily get stressed and drop things ahaha)

[dayadhvam_triad]

haha tbf I really liked the friendships in BBJX! just not the romantic ships, and that's more a me thing at the end of the day. awww begone, stress /patpat/ but I support dropping things if you just don't want to continue XD

[aurumcalendula]

I just finished reading volume 3 of The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish and chapters 3 and 4 of To Embers We Return!

I'm still really enjoying The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish and am looking forward to the last installment! Highlight for spoilers! *I enjoy seeing Prince Jing doting on Li Yu (and their kids) and seeing how that's impacting his actions (i.e. rescuing the old woman and her grandchild, not because he personally felt moved by their plight, but because he knew Li Yu didn't want the villagers to come to harm). I wasn't sure what I'd think of the mpreg elements, but it didn't squick me out and their kids are adorable.*

I'm enjoying To Embers We Return and am looking forward to seeing what happens next (Highlight for spoilers! *Especially since Shen Ni and Bian Ji's wedding sounds like it's going to be very soon*).

[geraineon]

aaaa I can't click on spoilers yet but when I get to it, I will!

Hm, wonder if people will be interested in book club for To Embers We Return (unless this might pressure douqi XD)

[douqi]

Since my current fandom mission is to make everyone read To Embers We Return (to quote/lightly paraphrase because I cannot remember the precise quote Jin Yong: going crazy over the same thing with hundreds of other people is a lot more fun than going crazy over the thing by yourself), the idea of a book club sounds delightful, though depends on how you want to manage it! A possibility is to wait till I've got enough chapters translated to cover the first big arc (covering the spine-fixing scene in Chapters 17 and 18 and the first massive set-piece battle up in Chapter 25-ish).

[geraineon]

I was thinking one chapter a week (pacing can be tweaked, idk what is the sweet spot), posting the chapter to discuss on Sunday or Monday with some discussion prompts (... I've never led a book club before so gonna have to get some ideas for prompts) and people can chime in whenever. Or if just a few people, we can do it within Read-in-Progress Wednesday posts, also a chapter a week.

Waiting till chapter 25 sounds like a plan!

[douqi]

That sounds cool (and potentially workable). I should get there by... *counts on fingers* next (Northern Hemisphere) summer?

[geraineon]

Sounds good! It can be c-novel comm summer reading thing~! I'll solicit interest when you hit ch. 21 or so.

[douqi]

Sounds like a plan!

[ehyde]

I'm glad you're enjoying The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish! I read it partially in the fan translation, and I've been considering picking it back up again.

[douqi]

Thanks for reading To Embers We Return! For the last month I've not been sure anyone was reading it except my one IRL friend. Chapter 5 should be out tomorrow!

[neuxue]

I know one of my friends is reading your TL so you got another one!

[douqi]

Oh yay! That's nice to know.

[larryhammer]

I'm still reading Assassin Farmer, currently 2/3 through, but going much more slowly. When the male MC's past caught up with him, it was actually interesting despite his now OP-level martial arts. When the transmigrated female MC's past, or rather her host body's past, caught up with her, it was ... much less interesting -- and each revelation has been ... successively less interesting. Compounded with her turning into an annoyingly passive protagonist starting in the late stages of her pregnancy, well -- I'm not gobbling it up now.

But still picking at it.

[geraineon]

oh no! always sucks when the story loses steam/goes the way you don't like in the later half after investing time, energy and emotions into it =(

Hopefully it picks up again and goes back to being interesting.

[halfcactus]

Read 20+ chapters of the manhua U Kill, I Cook (aka Kitchen Goddess and the Assassin)... He's an assassin, she's a chef... and we just found out that the assassin sect is a sect of assassin-chefs lol

Also saw the teasers for Southern Archives from the Lost Tomb/DMBJ universe, has anyone read it? I saw there's a manhua adaptation but I'm not literate enough for it. I'm curious if part of the story is set in Southeast Asia or features Southeast Asian characters.

[larryhammer]

assassin-chefs lol indeed

[geraineon]

I haven't read it but hm, SEA you say? I'm intrigued now and will ask my DMBJ fan friends.

[halfcactus]

It might not be significant, it's just that I remember seeing SEA mentioned in the summary when I was trying to look for the novel! It also made me nervous about the drama adaptation because I have PTSD from the SEA rep in cdrama/movies. XD

[ehyde]

Still reading The Smiling Proud Wanderer and I'm just gonna copy over the post I made on fedi earlier today Spoilers for chapter 24 and beyondLinghu Chong's lingering love and respect for his master despite the growing evidence that he's Not Great (okay, and I have also seen spoilers) are like -- wow this is going to be absolutely heartbreaking when it hits isn't it. He feels his feelings so much! He might outwardly seem like someone who's good at letting things go and moving on but -- (flashbacks to that time he was trapped in a dungeon but after remembering that his shimei was probably getting married to someone else, decided that staying locked away forever was probably for the best) -- Reader, he is Not. And he loves his master and his master's family so much. This is going to be a disaster.

Also, I need Yingying to come back.

[geraineon]

yeah, yeaaah he really feels his feelings a lot. And you're not wrong about where you think this is headed XD

[duckprintspress]

I'm plodding through a non-C-novel even though I've got c-novels I want to read, but. soon!

I did read Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation manhua vol. 8, which came out last week. I've never encountered a version of the Xuanwu caves that I don't love; I'm not a flashback fan in general and I think MXTX over-uses them, but I do love that one.

As soon as I finish my current read, next up are The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish vol. 3 and 2ha vol. 7 (reread) so. I'm debating order. 2ha's next volume is all knives, all the time, and it'll hurt to read, meanwhile DTBPF is top-to-bottom fluff, so do I read the fluff to gird myself for the pain, or do I read the pain knowing that I've got the gentle waiting for me? Decisions, decisions.

[geraineon]

pain first then gentle comfort later sounds good! but of course, if life and everything is a lot right now, maybe comfort first will be nice.

[duckprintspress]

yeah that's part of the challenge. Today marks the "official" start of what's usually two of my busiest weeks of the year - today's my wedding anniversary, then it's my birthday, then Christmas, and usually Hanukkah in there too but it's late this year.

but Meatbun DOES stab in the knives very very well. I was originally thinking fluff than knives but now I'm leaning the other way.

[geraineon]

Ohh, happy anniversary, happy birthday in advance, merry Christmas and happy Hannukah! very busy indeed!

[duckprintspress]

thank you!

and yeah, Dec is always madness. If I could go back in time, I'd convince my wife to wait until January lmao. (no I wouldn't, we rushed to get it in before the end of the year so I'd be covered by her health insurance, because MURICA, sigh.)

[geraineon]

ahh... yeah, sigh. So many broken things.

[douqi]

I'm on the non-cnovels stretch of my overengineered reading cycle at present, but have Yu Shuang's contemporary romance A Difficult Woman coming up!

[geraineon]

I respect how you can stick to your carefully considered reading cycles!

I've been in a reading slump for a while, would love to get back to reading non-popcorn things... (though reading long form articles is also reading I guess!)

[neuxue]

Didn't get a lot of reading time the last week or so but for a book group I started reading 太白金星有点烦/The Annoyance of the Gods by Ma Boyong, which is basically Journey to the West but from the POV of the very tired god(s) who have to organise and supervise the whole thing. It's good fun so far and I'm looking forward to reading more.

Also still reading 焚情/To Embers We Return and I swear every new secondary character who is introduced is even cooler than the last. I also had a good laugh at Highlight for spoilers!Shen Ni and Bian Jin dropping a monster through Prince Wei's house.

[douqi]

That Ma Boyong (he's a Serious Author, isn't he) book sounds FUN. Love a good grumpy bureaucrat god story.

Re Embers: Highlight for spoilers!I just love how an exponential amount of shit keeps happening to Prince Wei. I'm also excited for you to meet the most grippingly unhinged secondary character in the whole book (which is saying something).

[neuxue]

he's a Serious Author, isn't he
I find him rather funny, actually (sorry, I had to)

As for the most grippingly unhinged secondary character... is it Highlight for spoilers!Han Fu by any chance? Because I have met her and there are not sufficient emoji to reflect the expression on my face when she brought poison to a cyber fight.

[douqi]

Highlight for spoilers!She's a great candidate, but would you believe there's someone even more unhinged. I think she shows up a little way past chapter 50.

[geraineon]

+1 that Ma Boyong book sounds really fun! The poor gods XD

[neuxue]

Truly they suffer XD

[dayadhvam_triad]

Ohh I'd love to see your thoughts on 太白金星有点烦 as you continue. I haven't read any Ma Boyong but that's the one I'm most interested in, especially what it does with Sun Wukong.

[neuxue]

I'll keep you posted!