It is a valid, though academic, question whether I'm (re)reading so voraciously as escapism. I'm enjoying the heck out of it, is all I know.
What are you reading?
Still partly through Years of Rice and Salt. I'll give it one more go. I'm not sure if it's Not My Thing, or just Not My Thing Right Now.
I've a bookmark halfway though Hannu Rajaniemi's Collected Stories. So far, mostly highly-speculative SF (one fantasy); some mood pieces, some fast-paced actiony tales. They're good, but not as intricate as the Jean le Flambeur books. Which is to be expected from shorter works. I suspect I've gone off short fiction collections and would rather sink into something more substantive. I feel /done/ when I finish a short story. Not really exhausted but just ... done. Jumping straight into another one takes some effort.
And I'm most of the way through (and actively reading) Ann Leckie's latest, Provenance. It's not as brilliant as the Ancillary books (praising with faint damns) but it's fun, and it moves well. And I really really like all the characters: Ingray the foster child who keeps designing harebrained schemes to one-up her foster brother in their foster mother's eyes, Tic the starship captain who stole a fleet of ships from an alien race "because fuck them, that's why," "Garal" who might be a foster child unjustly imprisoned and might be someone entirely different. The minor characters delight me as well, especially the Radch ambassador who really does not want to be here today. Or any day.
What did you just finish reading?
Tiassa and Hawk (see medialog: Tiassa remains deeply enjoyable, and I like Hawk better than last time but it's still not a favourite).
I considered rereading them both immediately, to keep up the momentum for Vallista which shipped while I was away, but instead I read half of Hannu Rajaniemi's Collected Stories.
While up north I also read Monstress vol. 1, a comic by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda. The art's "art-deco steampunk," which I love half of unreservedly and which makes the other half palatable. The story's quite excellent: lots of tasty worldbuilding, lots of complex conspiracies and plots, lots of extremely well-done characterisation. Unfortunately it's the first six issues of a still-ongoing series. (Cue Inigo Montoya: "I hate waiting.") I'm excited to see the rest of it but I suspect I'm better off waiting 'til it's done.
What do you think you'll read next?
Vallista! And then I don't know, maybe Kat Howard's books which have been waiting patiently for me for awhile.