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– The Complete Maus, by Art Spiegelman
– The World According to Garp, by John Irving
* Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer
The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown
Finished
**Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen**
**Jumpnauts, by Hao Jingfang (trans. Ken Liu)**
Started
**Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen (re-read)**
Jumpnauts was very disappointing. Science fiction can be dry, it can be thoughtful, it can be philosophical, but it still has to have semblance of an engaging story or character; Jumpnauts had neither. It was extremely stiffly written. Obviously, I’m reading in translation, but it’s hard to blame Ken Liu, who is arguably the most prominent English language translator of Chinese at the moment thanks to being Cixin Liu’s translator, and who has also published his own English language works (which I didn’t care for, but were written in a more engaging style than Jumpnauts). If the fault is with me for not being conversant in Chinese classics (mid action scenes, characters stop to debate Confucian ethics) then this is an untranslatable work. Hao Jingfang has some interesting ideas but she needs to communicate them through better characters; the exposition dumps get so ridiculous that towards the end, when Huhu says he “doesn’t have time to explain”, I cheered. The stilted dialogue, immature super-perfect characters, and plot contrivances ultimately make this one a miss for me, wouldn’t recommend.
On a summer project with a friend to read/re-read all the Austens. Sense was OK, but Elinor is pretty insufferable: if you see her as a proto-Elizabeth Bennet, then the later character is definitely an improvement. I liked Mrs Jennings, though, she’s funny, and redeems herself as the girls start to be more generous to her.
So far I’m now re-reading Pride; Mr Wickham has just turned up, and seems like a lovely chap, I’m sure everything will turn out fine with him.