December Talky Meme
8 December: for littlerhymes: Dick Francis thoughts pls. :)
I HAVE MANY DICK FRANCIS THOUGHTS, LET ME TELL YOU THEM!
1. The Men. The stoic, frequently beaten up, stubborn men. *happy sigh* BUT! They aren't all the same either! Like, some of them are rolling stones, some of them have a pile of kids, some of them cheat on their wives and best friends, some of them manipulative bastards and some are too honest for their own good.
2. The Women. Like, on occasion I STRONGLY sideeye some of them and some of the narrative choices, but it's a rare Dick Francis that doesn't have at least three prominent female characters who are all different from one another. They're not all good, they're not all bad, they're not all super interested in the main character, they're not all young, they're not all old.
3. The Horses. Okay, sometimes the horses are only VAGUELY related to anything else going on in the book, but you can bet there will be a horse somewhere in the narrative. I find it kind of impressive.
4. Kinkshaming. This might be because I ended up reading a three-four books in a row where the antagonists were into BDSM, but, uh. It was very noticable.
5. Slashiness. SO MANY main characters get hit on by dudes and/or asked if they're gay. None of them are, but reading some of them as bi takes absolutely no effort. I mean, if characters in the actual book does it, I cannot be blamed for doing the same.
6. Professions. Or very skillful infodumping. I enjoy it.
7. Not Favorites.
The Sid Halley books. Never been able to get into them.
10 lb penalty. I find it skeevy and unsatisfying.
Smokescreen. Possibly somebody not me will like it, because it's not actively offensive or anything, I just found it a bit. Eh.
8. Favorites.
For Kicks (1965), Daniel Roke. <3
Bonecrack (1971), Neil Griffon.
Knockdown (1974), Jonah Dereham.
Twice Shy (1981), Jonathan Derry, William Derry.
Proof (1984), Tony Beach.
Wild Horses (1994), Thomas Lyon.
To the Hilt (1996), Alexander Kinloch. <3
Field of 13 (1998). A short story collection.
Daniel Roke is a joy and a wonder forever. Probably has the weakest female characters on this list, but I like them fine. Daniel has to go undercover as a Terrible Person and he's so bad at it! He's just so pretty and naturally good at horses and virtuous that being a terrible person is really difficult for him! He's also Australian, so in retrospect I totally blame him for my fondness for Australia. *nod* Great potential for a future series, but instead Sid fricking Halley gets four books. I remain bitter.
Neil and Jonah actually have a lot in common, except Neil is a manipulative bastard, and Jonah is a Good Person tm. Knockdown has a super abrupt ending that I'm not entirely on board with, but the rest of the book is v. good. Jonah is one of those "I will let you push me this far, but any farther and I'll ruin your life" while Neil thinks it through and then goes straight for the jugular. Also both of them get rich brats who are talented jockeys to deal with.
Twice Shy I like because of the brothers Derry and the ways in which they are definitely related, but deal with things their own way. Also the hint of threesomes through the ages, and the Old School computers, and lady computer genius, and the ways, as littlerhymes pointed out, families are imperfect copies of each other. I think I'd classify Jonathan as a "ruin your life" character and William as a "jugular" character.
Proof is about booze and grief. I mean, there are other things as well! Like one of the most brutal openings of any Dick Francis books I've ever read. How family will let you down, how sometimes being a friend just means being there, and how to keep going when you really don't want to. It's not a book about depression (unlike Blood Sport, which is) but it's definitely there.
I find Thomas Lyon's view on women somewhat frustrating -- "feminism? what feminism? What do you mean you want to be complimented on your skills, not your looks?" "18 year old? Perfect future wife material!" -- but the women themselves are quite diverse and interesting, and the very meta view on RPF is fascinating. Lyon is the young director of a Hollywood movie based on a book based on a real event (in this fictional world), and he's very firm on the fact that this is only vaguely related to real life. I'd actually really like to see the movie we get described.
Al and Chris are my daaaaarlings! They just find each other so delighfully amusing. Al, weirdly, is neither "ruin your life" nor "jugular" but somewhere inbetween that leans very heavily on stubbornness and honour. Al's relationship with his wife is interesting, as is the way he has so much loyalty and love for his entire family, but he's also a weirdo loner who spends 90% of his time in a cabin in the Scottish highlands. Painting golf scenes. Because of course he does. Al probably would stay for his wife or his mother and he'd probably be good at running the brewery, but he'd also be very, very miserable. I mean, that's pretty much what his wife says as well.
If you want me to babble about something, I have many, many dates open here: December Talky Meme
I HAVE MANY DICK FRANCIS THOUGHTS, LET ME TELL YOU THEM!
1. The Men. The stoic, frequently beaten up, stubborn men. *happy sigh* BUT! They aren't all the same either! Like, some of them are rolling stones, some of them have a pile of kids, some of them cheat on their wives and best friends, some of them manipulative bastards and some are too honest for their own good.
2. The Women. Like, on occasion I STRONGLY sideeye some of them and some of the narrative choices, but it's a rare Dick Francis that doesn't have at least three prominent female characters who are all different from one another. They're not all good, they're not all bad, they're not all super interested in the main character, they're not all young, they're not all old.
3. The Horses. Okay, sometimes the horses are only VAGUELY related to anything else going on in the book, but you can bet there will be a horse somewhere in the narrative. I find it kind of impressive.
4. Kinkshaming. This might be because I ended up reading a three-four books in a row where the antagonists were into BDSM, but, uh. It was very noticable.
5. Slashiness. SO MANY main characters get hit on by dudes and/or asked if they're gay. None of them are, but reading some of them as bi takes absolutely no effort. I mean, if characters in the actual book does it, I cannot be blamed for doing the same.
6. Professions. Or very skillful infodumping. I enjoy it.
7. Not Favorites.
The Sid Halley books. Never been able to get into them.
10 lb penalty. I find it skeevy and unsatisfying.
Smokescreen. Possibly somebody not me will like it, because it's not actively offensive or anything, I just found it a bit. Eh.
8. Favorites.
For Kicks (1965), Daniel Roke. <3
Bonecrack (1971), Neil Griffon.
Knockdown (1974), Jonah Dereham.
Twice Shy (1981), Jonathan Derry, William Derry.
Proof (1984), Tony Beach.
Wild Horses (1994), Thomas Lyon.
To the Hilt (1996), Alexander Kinloch. <3
Field of 13 (1998). A short story collection.
Daniel Roke is a joy and a wonder forever. Probably has the weakest female characters on this list, but I like them fine. Daniel has to go undercover as a Terrible Person and he's so bad at it! He's just so pretty and naturally good at horses and virtuous that being a terrible person is really difficult for him! He's also Australian, so in retrospect I totally blame him for my fondness for Australia. *nod* Great potential for a future series, but instead Sid fricking Halley gets four books. I remain bitter.
Neil and Jonah actually have a lot in common, except Neil is a manipulative bastard, and Jonah is a Good Person tm. Knockdown has a super abrupt ending that I'm not entirely on board with, but the rest of the book is v. good. Jonah is one of those "I will let you push me this far, but any farther and I'll ruin your life" while Neil thinks it through and then goes straight for the jugular. Also both of them get rich brats who are talented jockeys to deal with.
Twice Shy I like because of the brothers Derry and the ways in which they are definitely related, but deal with things their own way. Also the hint of threesomes through the ages, and the Old School computers, and lady computer genius, and the ways, as littlerhymes pointed out, families are imperfect copies of each other. I think I'd classify Jonathan as a "ruin your life" character and William as a "jugular" character.
Proof is about booze and grief. I mean, there are other things as well! Like one of the most brutal openings of any Dick Francis books I've ever read. How family will let you down, how sometimes being a friend just means being there, and how to keep going when you really don't want to. It's not a book about depression (unlike Blood Sport, which is) but it's definitely there.
I find Thomas Lyon's view on women somewhat frustrating -- "feminism? what feminism? What do you mean you want to be complimented on your skills, not your looks?" "18 year old? Perfect future wife material!" -- but the women themselves are quite diverse and interesting, and the very meta view on RPF is fascinating. Lyon is the young director of a Hollywood movie based on a book based on a real event (in this fictional world), and he's very firm on the fact that this is only vaguely related to real life. I'd actually really like to see the movie we get described.
Al and Chris are my daaaaarlings! They just find each other so delighfully amusing. Al, weirdly, is neither "ruin your life" nor "jugular" but somewhere inbetween that leans very heavily on stubbornness and honour. Al's relationship with his wife is interesting, as is the way he has so much loyalty and love for his entire family, but he's also a weirdo loner who spends 90% of his time in a cabin in the Scottish highlands. Painting golf scenes. Because of course he does. Al probably would stay for his wife or his mother and he'd probably be good at running the brewery, but he'd also be very, very miserable. I mean, that's pretty much what his wife says as well.
If you want me to babble about something, I have many, many dates open here: December Talky Meme