User Profile

David Weir

davidjamesweir@bookwyrm.social

Joined 1 year, 4 months ago

I'm David, a queer Fennoscottish physicist who never has enough time to read.

Find me also at @davidjamesweir@mementomori.social.

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finished reading The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Hainish Cycle)

Ursula K. Le Guin: The Left Hand of Darkness (EBook, 2000, Penguin Publishing Group) 4 stars

**50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION—WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY DAVID MITCHELL AND A NEW AFTERWORD BY CHARLIE …

First novel I have read in a while, mostly because I borrowed this on my e-reader to read next to a sleeping kid.

I wish it was easier to borrow good ebooks or buy DRM-free copies. I’d do this much more often.

Also a bit melancholy that I only discovered Ursula K Le Guin’s works in my thirties; I like to think they’d have meant a lot to me if I had read them as a teenager.

Sara Lindquist, Elfrida Bergman: Queering Sápmi (Paperback, 2014, Qub Förlag) No rating

Finally finished with this book in time to return it to the library before going on summer vacation. I found it moving, and some of the stories were sad or difficult to read - but also, it's a book full of reasons for optimism. It was telling to see common themes emerge in people's stories; I learned a lot about the different intersecting cultures, traditions and power structures one finds amongst Sámi peoples, and also in Sápmi (definitely not always the same thing). Taken as a whole, many of the people interviewed really are queering Sápmi - questioning existing structures and norms. It would be interesting to know how much has changed or improved since this book came out over a decade ago.

reviewed The boat in the evening by Tarjei Vesaas (Peter Owen modern classics)

Tarjei Vesaas: The boat in the evening (2003, Peter Owen) No rating

Many-layered, dense descriptions, deceptively fragmentary

No rating

I discovered my copy of this book again a few months ago and decided to finish reading it after maybe 13 years. It was not particularly easy going for me, even though the descriptions of nature and how humans interact with their surroundings are laden with lovely imagery. I can see why I stopped reading it many years ago, but I am also glad to have finished it.

Somehow the writing reminds me a bit of Nan Shepherd's The Weatherhouse in how it is both meaningful and beautiful, and yet hard to get into.

Now that I can read Norwegian, if I had the time I would like to try reading it in the original language to see how it works. I'd also be interested in reading more works by Tarjei Vesaas.