calissa

The Stages of Roses by Elizabeth Fitzgerald on 500px.com

Currently reading
I managed to get my weeks completely mixed up, thinking that my book club was meeting next Tuesday, rather than the one after. So, I blasted through our next book, which is Indexing by Seanan McGuire. Reality is plagued by fairytale incursions who take over people fitting different archtypal profiles and forcing them to behave in waves that fit the narrative. Henrietta Marchen is a Snow White in waiting, heading up a rag-tag team whose job is to prevent such fairytale incursions.

It was originally a Kindle serial (who even knew that was a thing?), so it's structured much like a TV crime procedural. It starts off with a monster-of-the-week plus a bit of an overarching plot that gradually takes over as the Big Bad is revealed. I love crime procedurals and the only reason I haven't started reading crime is because my Mt TBR is already tall enough. Needless to say, I enjoyed it, finding the vibe at the midpoint between Seanan's two major series, October Daye and InCryptid.

Having had some issues with fatigue, I blasted through it in a day or two. So with that out of the way, I've started on Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray. This is the oldest book on my TBR pile, having been acquired on 15 January 2006. One of my goals for this year was to read (or get rid of) the 10 oldest books on my Mt TBR. This is the last one to go and I'm determined to finish it before the end of December. I guess we'll see how I go!

Currently watching
Sahaquiel and I are about halfway through the second season of Legend of Korra and I'm thinking about calling it quits. The first season wasn't too bad, though I really wasn't a fan of having Asami and Korra being jealous over Mako. The ending was also extremely unearned and points to a penchant for magical cures (which I thought I remembered as being a bit of a thing at the beginning of season 3, but apparently crops up even earlier than that).

The second season is proving interminable. Korra's headstrong temper is just annoying and I can't say I'm finding the civil war among the Water Tribes very nuanced or compelling. None of the romantic relationships are at all healthy. Sahaquiel tried to assert that Varrik is the show's equivalent of Uncle Iroh... and just no. Not even remotely.

Redeeming points have been the gorgeous painted landscapes and the sibling relationships.