Day 1056: Book completed
Feb. 9th, 2023 11:54 pmBabel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution, by R.F. Kuang. This alternate history novel by a Chinese-born grad student author is very much a scathing indictment of colonialism, with a very unusual magic system - it's powered by the differences in meaning by words that are used for each other in translation. For example, the English and French words for something, especially something abstract, have overlapping meanings, obviously, but often the two words have slightly different nuances that don't fully get conveyed, and in this world that difference has physical power in the world. Imagine, then, how much greater the words might be in English and Chinese. And then imagine that Britain uses this magic to power its Industrial Revolution.
She's also written a military-fantasy trilogy based on the Opium War, which is surely one of the worst things Britain has ever deliberately done. I'll probably read the first of those soon too. I've been reading a lot of long books!
She's also written a military-fantasy trilogy based on the Opium War, which is surely one of the worst things Britain has ever deliberately done. I'll probably read the first of those soon too. I've been reading a lot of long books!
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Date: 2023-02-12 01:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-02-12 09:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-02-13 01:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-02-13 07:31 am (UTC)The first season had an aggravating ending - it was written as a cliffhanger, but then it took several years to get the next season approved, so they had to make some changes. Then they got seasons two and three approved, which will tell a complete story. We saw season two last year, and season three starts next month! I definitely enjoy it, except for the frustration of the season one ending for the main character. (The season one ending for another character was fantastic.)
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Date: 2023-02-14 02:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-02-14 09:54 am (UTC)If I don't get PBS Passport soon, I'll probably buy the DVD for the whole Sanditon series, if such a thing exists.
Oh! I can't remember if you watched Poldark, but there was a minor character who was a thug who worked for Ross Poldark's main antagonist. And the same actor also appears in Sanditon as the sweetest young man, who is probably gay. I adore him. Hm, if I knew how to put pictures into a comment here, I would show you. Oh well.
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Date: 2023-02-16 06:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-02-16 09:05 pm (UTC)