Reading Wednesday

Didn't post last week since I didn't actually finish anything....

What I've read: Finished Adulthood Rites! And Imago! More noodling for Wiscon: all three of the books are captivity narratives in ways, though Jodahs' captivity is the least restrictive... it's only outlawed from Lo, and then briefly imprisoned while looking for its human mates. I keep being struck by the biological determinism of the books, particularly the emphasis on Human males and their propensity for wandering in Adulthood Rites, and how the Oankali think it's more important to listen to the messages that Humans' bodies give as opposed to their mouths/thoughts. There are some scenes in which the person is saying they don't want to be physically intimate with an ooloi, but the ooloi reads past the words to their body and goes on anyway. And... it doesn't always work out well--the Humans are frequently conflicted--but I am reminded of rape cases in which the survivor is physically aroused during the attack and how that in itself can be incredibly traumatic (as well as the super awful arguments about how then it isn't really rape).

Must remember to go over oracne's entry (spoilers) before the con as well. Can't believe Wiscon is in less than two weeks!

I also read rachelmanija's A Cup of Smoke, which is a collection of her short stories and poems. I've read a lot of them before, but I really needed something comforting after Haru, and having a familiar voice (along with a rodent zodiac) was immensely helpful. Unsurprisingly, I liked the stories more than the poems (I am not a huge poetry person), and there are a lot of f/f, POC, and retold tales, which is right up my alley. I can't really be objective about this, since Rachel is a really good friend of mine, and I can see so many of her fingerprints over all the stories, but that is also why it was the perfect thing to read right when I needed it.

What I'm reading now: Er, I'm not. I started Tansy Rayner Roberts' Creature Court trilogy, but I still need familiarity and comfort right now. Possibly instead I will continue rewatching Fruits Basket and Utena (CB is watching them for the first time. I think he's more taken with Utena so far, especially now that we've seen a few more Nanami episodes).

What I'm reading next: Maybe stuff for Wiscon? I don't know. Oh wait, I mean to get to the new Skip Beat chapter!

(no subject)

Haru's death is hitting particularly hard, probably due to my having expected him to outlive Momo, my worries about Momo being by himself, and the fact that I'm not getting rats after these guys. (At least for now. If CB and I ever have a space big enough for a rat room + cats...) I'm especially worried about Momo, who's never been this alone before. Hang in there, Momo! Please don't give up?

I got a big bucket and a smaller basket yesterday so I can bring him around with me in the apartment, but I'm not sure how much he likes it so far. He's pretty irritated with me already because I keep trying to clean him (hind leg paralysis means he can't groom as well as usual), but on the other hand, maybe having a warm hand in there is good for him? (CB wants to label the basket "Momo's RV.")

It's been especially helpful having CB at hand; I always feel really lonely mourning the rats because usually I'm the only one who has interacted with them significantly. CB hasn't really been able to play with them due to allergies, but he's put them in drawings and random notes to me and has seen or heard about various rat adventures, and he misses Haru a lot too.

Too bad there aren't people bent on breeding super-long-lived rats.