(no subject)
Con was wonderful - great fun, great people, great conversations . . . yeah. The one panel I sat in on would have been better had it not devolved to bickering about source material (really? For goodness' sake) and home schooling (again, really? Come on, people) that took up roughly half of the time; I greatly enjoyed the Singing Tesla Coils and the wandering around and talking to people and the volunteering and everything. I was way less awkward and uncomfortable this time around after having done two cons before and going in knowing I'd be volunteering and that I knew quite a few people who'd be there and so forth, so yay! Apparently, we'll be going to many more of these, and I'm actually not complaining. It's a good experience, and I'm kind of already looking forward to the next one though . . . well. Convocation still kind of makes me nervous - I'm not used to being surrounded by people who can read others so easily and having to actually exert effort to prevent them from being able to read me and even then, not always being successful. I'm not used to people being able to figure me out with any degree of accuracy, let alone so quickly. I'm still going to go, of course, but . . . yeah.
So, I finally finished reading The Orphan Tales: Into the Night Garden. I cannot, no matter how effusive I get, recommend this book enough; the prose is the sort that sucks you in, that puts in the the places it describes, that makes you a part of the story. There are quite a few particularly evocative lines, for me at least - "We are mistakes, and there is no grace for us." is one of my favorites. The reason this book took me so long to read is clearly (or so I like to think, anyway) not because of any lack of enjoyment but rather the opposite; I sank my teeth into it, chewed it, and it chewed back. It wiggled into my thoughts even when I couldn't be reading. Oh, yes, this is that sort of book. I fully, completely and highly recommend it for anyone who . . . well, no, pretty much just anyone. I could make a comparison to Arabian Nights - and have, as have others - but really, that just doesn't do Catherynne Valente's work justice. I can't wait to crack The Labyrinth and the second volume of The Orphan Tales. Miss Valente (hee! Having met her, she so doesn't strike me as a 'Miss Valente' sort at all) can tell me a story any time, certainly.
This bit, behind the cut, is - of course - cross posted to
50bookchallenge.
Liana is being bratty today - Morgen is too, but lesser, and I've seen the way a lot of her classmates behave - for her, it's totally an influence issue. For Liana . . . well, she kind of just tends to be that way, and I don't know why or where she got the idea that such things were okay. Hopefully the nap she's taking right now will help, though I don't know that it will since I have to wake her up to go back to the school. Alas! Alas and alack, even. Ah, well - we'll all survive. I wonder if I'll be doing reading groups again today; it's really difficult for me to be an objective judge given Morgen's talent with such things - and even Liana's.
But! I must head off to the school, so I'll be done now rather than letting this sit here for still longer. I can always post again if I decide I need to.
So, I finally finished reading The Orphan Tales: Into the Night Garden. I cannot, no matter how effusive I get, recommend this book enough; the prose is the sort that sucks you in, that puts in the the places it describes, that makes you a part of the story. There are quite a few particularly evocative lines, for me at least - "We are mistakes, and there is no grace for us." is one of my favorites. The reason this book took me so long to read is clearly (or so I like to think, anyway) not because of any lack of enjoyment but rather the opposite; I sank my teeth into it, chewed it, and it chewed back. It wiggled into my thoughts even when I couldn't be reading. Oh, yes, this is that sort of book. I fully, completely and highly recommend it for anyone who . . . well, no, pretty much just anyone. I could make a comparison to Arabian Nights - and have, as have others - but really, that just doesn't do Catherynne Valente's work justice. I can't wait to crack The Labyrinth and the second volume of The Orphan Tales. Miss Valente (hee! Having met her, she so doesn't strike me as a 'Miss Valente' sort at all) can tell me a story any time, certainly.
This bit, behind the cut, is - of course - cross posted to
50bookchallenge.
Liana is being bratty today - Morgen is too, but lesser, and I've seen the way a lot of her classmates behave - for her, it's totally an influence issue. For Liana . . . well, she kind of just tends to be that way, and I don't know why or where she got the idea that such things were okay. Hopefully the nap she's taking right now will help, though I don't know that it will since I have to wake her up to go back to the school. Alas! Alas and alack, even. Ah, well - we'll all survive. I wonder if I'll be doing reading groups again today; it's really difficult for me to be an objective judge given Morgen's talent with such things - and even Liana's.
But! I must head off to the school, so I'll be done now rather than letting this sit here for still longer. I can always post again if I decide I need to.