ALA award day

Jan 14, 2008 20:44

I'm officially giving up on Dragonhaven.  The narrative voice--Rosie described as stream-of-consciousness and that's pretty accurate--is just not for me.

I'm delighted that The White Darkness and The Invention of Hugo Cabret were given awards by the ALA today.  I had figured Hugo Cabret for a Newbery but the Caldecott makes more sense, I suppose.  A colleague sent me the link to this cool interview with author Brian Selznick.

Now I'm reading Un Lun Dun by China  Mieville.  There's a glossary in the book to help translate British to American and I'm puzzled by the usage of the word "quite."  The book says:

Quite:  When Americans say something is "quite good / bad / etc.," you mean it is "very" good / bad / etc.  When Brits say it, we sometimes mean it in just the same way -- but then sometimes we mean something is only "fairly," or "moderately," or "kind-of-but-not-extremely" good / bad / etc.  It can be confusing."

My question:  Who can explain this to me?  Is it in the tone of voice, like sarcasm?

Oh, and I was "quite" tickled to find that China Mieville is a burly-looking guy.

books, authors

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