murmuring, "Eggs and butter."
I read Outlander yesterday.
It was a singularly unproductive day. (*_*)
I liked the story and characters very much. The way everything in Claire and Jamie's relationship happened in bed, though...I'll admit it was too much. I was getting sick of it, despite the fact she did well writing them to be different moments. I didn't realize it was probably going to be a historical epic on the scale of Gone with the Wind, rather than the Lymond Chronicles.
Speaking of which, the elements of the story that resonated with me most all seemed things I'd read before, and they were all in my favorite books, not just random books. I thought it might be interesting to post those, to just kind of look at the way literature circles itself.
The Ramsey Scallop:
This is a YA historical fiction set in England during the time of the earlier Crusades, I think.
An arranged marriage between nobility, where the man has been scarred by the brutalities he was part of, and the girl is afraid of him (as he was a bully when they were little). Their relationship is in such a precarious place, the priest sends them as Pilgrims.
Elements the same also include, a recovery in an abbey.
{Spoiler--don't read this if you're interested in reading the book yourself, which I highly recommend-- they come to the point while there, finally desiring each other and the life they'll have together, and get married. It's a very sweet moment, and less questionable in terms of approach than Claire's psychology experiment.}
The Lymond Chronicles:
I've only read the first and a third of the second but the intensity of the times and the setting are very similar. I think the respite from much in the way of explicit sex is actually nice. It's a part of the lives of the people, but as of yet the hero's not in love and while I really hope he does have his moment, he's fun without being naked. You know?
Hawt of the mind and the body follows, sort of thing.
Okay, so not really--his "piercing blue eyes" and gilded hair are more explicit than any other thing going on in the books
The Perilous Gard:
The displacement of worlds is the same, though not quite as much of a divide as two hundred years--more in chronology, but only culturally. The total foreignness of the fairy people in this story is wonderfully pictured, and more about the divide between times (it's very well meshed in the actions, but I like ethnologies, okay?) could have taken place instead of more brutal sex, or more luxurious sex, or whatever.
I know there were others. The Bronze Bow, Mara Daughter of the Nile, The Calico Captive all have elements of that romantic conflict (not the same in set-up and perhaps with less dimensions) and the foreign world so the reader is a time-traveller.
ETA: I remember one of the main ones. Daughter of the Forest. This one portrayed hard situations in life and love without being explicit and the hero was a tough hero called Red who I loved much more for the fact that he wasn't always sympathetic, but proved himself. [thanks DAWtheMinstrel for reminding me...]
Claire was bloody funny, though, the way she swears at Jamie. 0_<
It was an excellently written piece of work. I'm pretty divided about reading more of them, though.
The most beautiful moment in the book to me was when Jamie walks away from Claire, the most truly romantic. I must be a sot.
It was a singularly unproductive day. (*_*)
I liked the story and characters very much. The way everything in Claire and Jamie's relationship happened in bed, though...I'll admit it was too much. I was getting sick of it, despite the fact she did well writing them to be different moments. I didn't realize it was probably going to be a historical epic on the scale of Gone with the Wind, rather than the Lymond Chronicles.
Speaking of which, the elements of the story that resonated with me most all seemed things I'd read before, and they were all in my favorite books, not just random books. I thought it might be interesting to post those, to just kind of look at the way literature circles itself.
The Ramsey Scallop:
This is a YA historical fiction set in England during the time of the earlier Crusades, I think.
An arranged marriage between nobility, where the man has been scarred by the brutalities he was part of, and the girl is afraid of him (as he was a bully when they were little). Their relationship is in such a precarious place, the priest sends them as Pilgrims.
Elements the same also include, a recovery in an abbey.
{Spoiler--don't read this if you're interested in reading the book yourself, which I highly recommend-- they come to the point while there, finally desiring each other and the life they'll have together, and get married. It's a very sweet moment, and less questionable in terms of approach than Claire's psychology experiment.}
The Lymond Chronicles:
I've only read the first and a third of the second but the intensity of the times and the setting are very similar. I think the respite from much in the way of explicit sex is actually nice. It's a part of the lives of the people, but as of yet the hero's not in love and while I really hope he does have his moment, he's fun without being naked. You know?
Hawt of the mind and the body follows, sort of thing.
Okay, so not really--his "piercing blue eyes" and gilded hair are more explicit than any other thing going on in the books
The Perilous Gard:
The displacement of worlds is the same, though not quite as much of a divide as two hundred years--more in chronology, but only culturally. The total foreignness of the fairy people in this story is wonderfully pictured, and more about the divide between times (it's very well meshed in the actions, but I like ethnologies, okay?) could have taken place instead of more brutal sex, or more luxurious sex, or whatever.
I know there were others. The Bronze Bow, Mara Daughter of the Nile, The Calico Captive all have elements of that romantic conflict (not the same in set-up and perhaps with less dimensions) and the foreign world so the reader is a time-traveller.
ETA: I remember one of the main ones. Daughter of the Forest. This one portrayed hard situations in life and love without being explicit and the hero was a tough hero called Red who I loved much more for the fact that he wasn't always sympathetic, but proved himself. [thanks DAWtheMinstrel for reminding me...]
Claire was bloody funny, though, the way she swears at Jamie. 0_<
It was an excellently written piece of work. I'm pretty divided about reading more of them, though.
The most beautiful moment in the book to me was when Jamie walks away from Claire, the most truly romantic. I must be a sot.