Rainy Saturday

[rolanni]

I've been under the weather for the last while, and am slowly creeping toward feeling betterness. I'll be trying to post more regularly here. Management thanks everyone for their patience and understanding.

Since our last exciting installment, I've been reading. I finally finished Will in the World (Stephen Greenblatt), the most well-traveled book I've ever owned, then moved on in quick succession to Pretender (CJ Cherryh), Uglies (Scott Westerfield), Dead to the World (Charlaine Harris) and am about half done Dead as a Doornail.

I very much liked Uglies -- good worldbuilding, a believable protagonist, just the right amount of teen angst -- and I'm thinking I'm going to have to pick up Pretties. The third one, Specials is only out in hardcover at the moment, so I guess I'll have to wait.

The Sookie Stackhouse books are always great fun, though not so much that I'll buy them in hardcover, either. Ms. Harris is obviously riffing off the Anita Blake books, even unto the multiple supernatural love interests (collect them all!), but I find Sookie believable and the books thus far a hoot, while the Anita books just annoyed me.

I was trying to decide which of the non-fiction books I have in my TBR pile I'll tackle after I'm finished with ...Doornail (tough choice: The Man Behind the Iron Mask, Skeletons on the Zahara or It Happened in Maine), but -- joy! -- saruby's lender copies of Fruits Basket 8-13 arrived in yesterday's mail, so you know the non-fiction books are just going to have to wait a little longer...

Speaking of which, kinzel and I have been watching, courtesy of the Netflix recommendation system ("Liked Fruits Basket? Then you'll like..."), an anime series called Princess Tutu. The heroine is a duck, who is a girl, who is a sort of super-ballerina named Princess Tutu; she is trying to heal the Prince of her dreams, who suffers from a broken heart.

This is, to say the least, a Very Strange story, and oddly compelling in a completely different way than Fruits Basket. It also has a lot to say about storytelling and the process of creativity, as one of the characters is the writer who is writing the story of the Princess and the Prince with a broken heart. A great many of his machinations and motivations are familiar -- even the way he demands that his characters tell him what they're going to do. It's vaguely unsettling to experience this character from the point of view of the characters in his story. While I totally understand his need to up the ante, I want to ask him to cut Duck a little slack, here; she's only a kid...

The other thing I've been doing off and on is writing; had to tear out three chapters and rebuild them. That's done now, and tomorrow with luck I'll move on to new territory.

Progress on Carousel Tides

74,940 / 98,000 (76.5%)

Comments

[kimuro.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear that you've been unwell and glad that you are improving. The changeable weather in this area is probably wreaking havoc with the immune systems of a lot of people.

I agree with you totally in all respects with regard to Sookie Stackhouse (how obvious a name is THAT!{giggle}) and Anita Blake - a bit TOO much purple prose there and they all take themselves far too seriously for my tastes. I prefer my dark fantasy with a leavening of humour.

[magda-vogelsang.livejournal.com]

I've only read a couple of the Sookie Stackhouse books. Might have to read more. I agree that the Anita Blake books are way too purple these days, having descened from decent books at the beginning of the series into boring plotless erotica for the last few, and I've pretty much given up on them, despite having once liked the series.

Speaking of modern books which include the supernatural and a lot of humor...

For anyone who hasn't yet found them, I *very* highly recommend the Dresden Files books by Jim Butcher. Harry Dresden is a wizard who practices out of an office in midtown Chicago; in fact he's the only wizard in the phone book. Harry is a great character with a fabulous sense of humor (tending toward the sarcastic). He also has a tendency to get into a great deal of trouble even when he knows better (especially when his sense of chivalry kicks in). If you prefer audiobooks you can even go to the author's website and get the first three books read by James Marsters.

[kimuro.livejournal.com]

Yes. I very much enjoy the Dresden files. I like the clear sense of 'something building' that is carried over from book to book but am impressed and pleased that this looming destiny does NOT get in the way of the story.

I like Sookie for light reading, Tanya Huff for something with more meat and Harry for something substantial.

BUT ... the most satisfying vampire book I think I've ever read has to be Barbara Hambly's Those Who Hunt the Night, turn of the last century rational scientific methodology combined with the vampire. It pleases me that the brooding romantic vampire-lover type makes no bones that it's just another weapon in the repetoire of the hunter.

[saruby.livejournal.com]

So glad you got the books. I'd been wondering when they'd get there. Enjoy!

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Under the weather? I hope you get well soon, Rolanni.