Wip Wednesday | A.R.C.A.N.E.3

(snippet from upcoming chapter 4)

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

Eddie woke up to water being thrown on his face. He gasped for air and spat out what had gone inside his mouth, then opened his eyes, moving frantically, but he couldn’t see. Blindfolded.

“Stay put, Voider,” ordered a man in a rough voice.

Eddie’s senses were heightened. He struggled against the restrains on his hands and feet, but the knots were tight. Camp of Voiders, he thought.

The man moved around the room, his steps resonating against the walls. This couldn’t be on the surface. He was underground. Somewhere underground.

Buck.

“Where is he?” Eddie asked, trying to force his wrists apart. “Where is he!”

Read on ao3

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reading + listening 11.16.20

So it’s been a minute since I’ve posted about my reading, and we have the Presidential Election to thank for my absence. I retreated into a cycle of comfort reading that included:

- All of ACOTAR (Maas)

- The Hating Game (Thorne)

- 99 Percent Mine (not because it’s a fav, but because I already had it open for the THG epilogue so why not)

- Crazy Stupid Bromance, the newest installment in Lyssa Kay Adams’ Bromance Book Club series (reliably adorable and funny, though not technically a comfort read?)

...plus a lot of doom-scrolling. Then came post-election bliss, when I had renewed energy for reading but also the attention span of a fruit fly. Though I’m a little slower than I like to be, I’ve gotten through quite a bit since the beginning of the month. I’m still relying on a bit of indulgent comfort-listening (Throne of Glass), I’m excited about a lot of what’s on my TBR.

The Roommate (Rosie Danan), aBook (narr. Brittany Pressley, Teddy Hamilton). If you love a pseudo-quirky slow burn that doesn’t skimp on smut, THE ROOMMATE is for you. Much of this novel’s charm comes down to circumstance; characterizations are thin and conflict is often based on misunderstanding/unwillingness to have honest conversations. While I won’t race to read the next-in-series (The Intimacy Experiment, April ‘21), I’ll probably catch it on library loan. Nothing extraordinary, but nothing offensive either. 

Oona Out of Order (Margarita Montimore), aBook (narr. Brittany Pressley). It seems I can’t get through an entire week without listening to something narrated by Brittany Pressley, so I feel particularly qualified to tell you that this is her best performance to date. OONA was recommended to me by one of our local librarians (who happens to be my reading twin), but I was slightly put off by anything with a Sliding Doors comp after reading THE TWO [very sad, depressing] LIVES OF LYDIA BIRD earlier this year. Good news, friends: OONA is a joyful, moving, poignant, and oftentimes fun exploration of a woman living in and out of time. It’s hard to resist comparisons to THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE, which is also deeply concerned with time... but can I share an unpopular opinion? OONA is hands-down a better book than ADDIE LARUE, and if I had to recommend only one of these books (to occupy some fictional pride-of-place for 2020 novels about time/memory/love), I choose the former. I’ll definitely be gifting and recommending this book frequently in years to come.

Piranesi (Susanna Clarke), hard cover. Let me start by saying that JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR NORRELL is hands-down one of my favorite novels of all time, so I was predisposed to both like and loathe PIRANESI. It’s been 14 years since Clarke’s magical, monolithic debut, so while I purchased PIRANESI without so much as reading the description, I also dragged my heels to dive in. My expectations were so high, and I guess I was a little scared that this author I love so much would reveal herself as something of a one-hit wonder. Spoiler alert: Susanna Clarke once again proves she’s the real deal with what might very well be a perfect epistolary novel. I’ve barely unpacked the metaphorical implications of PIRANESI; the novel is composed of journal entries from the titular character, who believes he and the Other are the only inhabitants of the world--and that the world is a large, labyrinthine house filled with statues. The mystery at the heart of the novel is how Piranesi came to be in the House, and why he can’t see (as readers do) that the Other is not an inhabitant at all -- but merely a visitor. The writing is immersive and lyrical, the character-work is studied and subtle, and the world-building is *chef’s kiss*. Read this book.

Make Up Break Up (Lily Menon), eBook, ARC (pub. February 2021). DNF’d at 60%, though I started skimming at 20%. I loved Menon’s YA Dimple and Rishi series (published under the name Sandhya Menon), but have found her subsequent works dull and predictable. I forced myself to read the first St. Rosetta’s Academy novel despite wanting to throat-punch the protagonist every time she was on the page, but allowed myself to hope that MAKE UP BREAK UP, an adult romcom, might find Menon back on better footing. Not so. The narrative development here and in OF CURSES AND KISSES relies too heavily on formulaic tropes; protagonists in both books seem to share an inability (or unwillingness?) to see the very obvious affection/obsession/admiration their male counterparts have for them, and waiting for a light bulb moment is worse than watching paint dry. I think Menon is a fine writer who simply isn’t being pushed by her editorial team. I hope that changes soon, but if it doesn’t... I’m not going to be able to dole out any further second chances.

I’m currently reading an ARC of The Dictionary of Lost Words (Pip Williams), with The Once and Future Witches (Harrow) and The Lost Love Song (Minnie Darke) on tap. 

Next month I’ll have my Best Of list at some point -- and a full tally on the books I read in 2020.