The past week and book talk
[Edit: Alles gutes, ina! Hope you had a fantastic day. ♥]
Life continues apace - usually a really fast pace. :-P Will had last week off from work, which was nice but went too quickly and I still feel like I hardly saw him. He was exercising or I was taking kids places or ... whatever. Sigh. We celebrated July 4th on our own - after picking up MiniPlu's new reading/computer glasses (she looks SUPER cute in them) I took the girls to the pool in the afternoon, then we cooked on the grill for dinner, but ate indoors because it was really hot out. It had cooled by dusk, though, when we pulled out the stash of leftover fireworks from the past 2 years and set them off. A pleasant time.
On Friday I had PT early, and then we drove to NJ to spend the rest of the weekend with R&K. A mostly lazy time, nothing in particular on the books, although I did prune most of their extensive rose garden. That was something I volunteered, for, though - they're always so busy, especially my SIL, I like to help out if I can. (Keep in mind I haven't pruned my OWN roses. It's always more fun to do somebody else's chores. :P) Their neighbor across the street has a nice in-ground pool that they let us use, as they were away on vacation, so the girls and I made use of that Fri and Sat afternoon. Sunday we spent the afternoon and early evening at Will's aunt's house for a bbq party, also very nice.
I had trouble sleeping Saturday night for some reason, and ended up finishing City of Lost Souls by 1:20am. For some reason, this book, more than others, really struck me with the "teenagers save the world when adults can't seem to manage to get their heads out of their asses" improbability, even though I know that runs throughout the entire series (including the Clockwork books). It was just as engrossing as ever, though, especially as interpersonal relationships seem to be getting even more complicated. My heart BROKE for where Alex and Magnus were by the end of the book. I didn't like at ALL what Alex was considering, even if he didn't go through with it, because it wasn't his to take away. Why didn't he even ASK Magnus if he'd ever consider it? Why not talk about what was upsetting him? Stupid teenage boy. :P Anyway, I don't know where this will go in Heavenly Fire, if anywhere, but ... sigh.
For Simon and Iz - I like that Isabelle really likes Simon, despite herself, and even though Raphael doesn't like that Simon isn't banding together with the other Night Children, *I* like that Simon has remained true to the person he was before he was bitten. I did have to laugh at the "I thought you were DEAD!" "I AM dead!" remarks, though. The only thing I didn't like was when Izzy offered herself up to feed Simon. Does this mean she'll turn into his human subjugate, with no will of her own, if it continues on in this manner? Also, talk about being thinly-veiled sex. Seriously. "I want you to," "Are you sure?" plus penetration, satiation, worries about regrets the next morning, yadda yadda yadda. That entire parallel seemed entirely too ... obvious ... somehow. But I like their relationship EXCEPT for the biting thing.
(And speaking of near-sex - it seems like Cassie is deliberately only having those 18 and older have actual sex in her books, not counting the end of Clockwork Princess, but in that era, they were practically adults anyway. But clearly Jace and Clary want it a WHOLE lot. :P)
How is it that Clary essentially killed Jace but DIDN'T kill Sebastian? One thing I *was* really glad to see during Jace's recovery was how much Alex and Isabelle were there for him. So little emphasis is placed on Jace/Alex's parabatai bond - and while I know that Jem/Will's bond was exceptional, it still seems like Jace and Alex hardly ever fight together as parabatai, hardly ever make note of their connection, etc.
I know it seems like I've nitpicked a lot, but I did actually enjoy the book. It's nice, angsty brain candy. Wishing I didn't have to wait so long for Heavenly Fire! Nine months, argh.
While I have an embarrassment of riches in reading material, thanks to my birthday, I confess I was looking for new items over the weekend. I was describing (in general terms) the romance novel genre (especially historical romances) and it dawned on me - I had never read a gay historical romance. Surely, however, they must be out there. And, yep, a search on Amazon turned up some offerings, but, oddly, almost all of them are mere novellas. I did download a free one, as well as a (not-free) full-length story, but the vast majority were 50-ish pages or fewer. Why is that? Why are most het historical romances 200-300 pages, but most authors haven't managed to publish a more complex story for two men (or two women)? Do readers only WANT shorter stories? And it seemed, from the descriptions, that they were far more sex-dense than comparable het novels. I like a hot sex scene as much as the next person, but for a BOOK, I'd like some plot. And no sex scene where a man's penis is referred to as his organ because ... just ... ick. I already saw that more than once, in the "Look inside!" option Amazon offers on many stories. :-P Anyway, I might take a peek at what I've downloaded, see how it is.
I've also started reading Also Known As (AKA) by Robin Benway, a sort of alternative to the Gallagher Girl books. Different take on the teenage spy girl concept, but still seems to be a lot of fun. I'm still pretty early in the book, though. (Oh, but I did get my mom hooked on The False Prince. :D )
I haven't been sleeping enough lately - for some reason, even though my shoulder is MUCH better, I've been having more trouble getting comfortable in bed. My neck gets in a kink, my arm aches as if my shoulder isn't supported right even when it is, gah. So, anyway, guess I'd better see if I can do better. MiniPlu has placement exams at the middle school tomorrow morning so I need to get through my workout early enough to review a little more math before she goes.
But first, could someone explain to me why "Ex-gay" people NEED protection? They're in het relationships (or think they should be in one)! They already HAVE every legal right and freedom they could need. Ergh.
Life continues apace - usually a really fast pace. :-P Will had last week off from work, which was nice but went too quickly and I still feel like I hardly saw him. He was exercising or I was taking kids places or ... whatever. Sigh. We celebrated July 4th on our own - after picking up MiniPlu's new reading/computer glasses (she looks SUPER cute in them) I took the girls to the pool in the afternoon, then we cooked on the grill for dinner, but ate indoors because it was really hot out. It had cooled by dusk, though, when we pulled out the stash of leftover fireworks from the past 2 years and set them off. A pleasant time.
On Friday I had PT early, and then we drove to NJ to spend the rest of the weekend with R&K. A mostly lazy time, nothing in particular on the books, although I did prune most of their extensive rose garden. That was something I volunteered, for, though - they're always so busy, especially my SIL, I like to help out if I can. (Keep in mind I haven't pruned my OWN roses. It's always more fun to do somebody else's chores. :P) Their neighbor across the street has a nice in-ground pool that they let us use, as they were away on vacation, so the girls and I made use of that Fri and Sat afternoon. Sunday we spent the afternoon and early evening at Will's aunt's house for a bbq party, also very nice.
I had trouble sleeping Saturday night for some reason, and ended up finishing City of Lost Souls by 1:20am. For some reason, this book, more than others, really struck me with the "teenagers save the world when adults can't seem to manage to get their heads out of their asses" improbability, even though I know that runs throughout the entire series (including the Clockwork books). It was just as engrossing as ever, though, especially as interpersonal relationships seem to be getting even more complicated. My heart BROKE for where Alex and Magnus were by the end of the book. I didn't like at ALL what Alex was considering, even if he didn't go through with it, because it wasn't his to take away. Why didn't he even ASK Magnus if he'd ever consider it? Why not talk about what was upsetting him? Stupid teenage boy. :P Anyway, I don't know where this will go in Heavenly Fire, if anywhere, but ... sigh.
For Simon and Iz - I like that Isabelle really likes Simon, despite herself, and even though Raphael doesn't like that Simon isn't banding together with the other Night Children, *I* like that Simon has remained true to the person he was before he was bitten. I did have to laugh at the "I thought you were DEAD!" "I AM dead!" remarks, though. The only thing I didn't like was when Izzy offered herself up to feed Simon. Does this mean she'll turn into his human subjugate, with no will of her own, if it continues on in this manner? Also, talk about being thinly-veiled sex. Seriously. "I want you to," "Are you sure?" plus penetration, satiation, worries about regrets the next morning, yadda yadda yadda. That entire parallel seemed entirely too ... obvious ... somehow. But I like their relationship EXCEPT for the biting thing.
(And speaking of near-sex - it seems like Cassie is deliberately only having those 18 and older have actual sex in her books, not counting the end of Clockwork Princess, but in that era, they were practically adults anyway. But clearly Jace and Clary want it a WHOLE lot. :P)
How is it that Clary essentially killed Jace but DIDN'T kill Sebastian? One thing I *was* really glad to see during Jace's recovery was how much Alex and Isabelle were there for him. So little emphasis is placed on Jace/Alex's parabatai bond - and while I know that Jem/Will's bond was exceptional, it still seems like Jace and Alex hardly ever fight together as parabatai, hardly ever make note of their connection, etc.
I know it seems like I've nitpicked a lot, but I did actually enjoy the book. It's nice, angsty brain candy. Wishing I didn't have to wait so long for Heavenly Fire! Nine months, argh.
While I have an embarrassment of riches in reading material, thanks to my birthday, I confess I was looking for new items over the weekend. I was describing (in general terms) the romance novel genre (especially historical romances) and it dawned on me - I had never read a gay historical romance. Surely, however, they must be out there. And, yep, a search on Amazon turned up some offerings, but, oddly, almost all of them are mere novellas. I did download a free one, as well as a (not-free) full-length story, but the vast majority were 50-ish pages or fewer. Why is that? Why are most het historical romances 200-300 pages, but most authors haven't managed to publish a more complex story for two men (or two women)? Do readers only WANT shorter stories? And it seemed, from the descriptions, that they were far more sex-dense than comparable het novels. I like a hot sex scene as much as the next person, but for a BOOK, I'd like some plot. And no sex scene where a man's penis is referred to as his organ because ... just ... ick. I already saw that more than once, in the "Look inside!" option Amazon offers on many stories. :-P Anyway, I might take a peek at what I've downloaded, see how it is.
I've also started reading Also Known As (AKA) by Robin Benway, a sort of alternative to the Gallagher Girl books. Different take on the teenage spy girl concept, but still seems to be a lot of fun. I'm still pretty early in the book, though. (Oh, but I did get my mom hooked on The False Prince. :D )
I haven't been sleeping enough lately - for some reason, even though my shoulder is MUCH better, I've been having more trouble getting comfortable in bed. My neck gets in a kink, my arm aches as if my shoulder isn't supported right even when it is, gah. So, anyway, guess I'd better see if I can do better. MiniPlu has placement exams at the middle school tomorrow morning so I need to get through my workout early enough to review a little more math before she goes.
But first, could someone explain to me why "Ex-gay" people NEED protection? They're in het relationships (or think they should be in one)! They already HAVE every legal right and freedom they could need. Ergh.