One of the many perks to working in a bookstore: On my luxurious, one-hour lunch break, I was working on the LOTR fic that Li and I are writing together. I needed to research one of Tolkien's sources (for a tongue-in-cheek reference in said fanfic) and my so-named netbook is broken and can no longer access the internet. But - oh happy day! - I was ( Read more... )

I've been listening to George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series on CD and I've been *really* enjoying it. Now I'm in the midst of A Storm of Swords (the third one) and while it's quite good, it's a bit disconcerting that the reader has changed up a couple of his voices. To tell the truth, I'm not at all sure how readers manage to keep ( Read more... )

I've been reading Stephen Hawking's newest book, The Grand Design. It's really interesting (and his asides are pretty darn funny), but I'm finding it a bit harder to digest than some of his earlier books. I don't know if it's because he's dealing with alternate realities and quantum mechanics a lot more, or what, but I'm finding that my brain isn ( Read more... )

Between getting new manga (We Were There), a new video game (Dragon Age: Awakenings), and good books (The Percy Jackson series), I've sort of fallen off the world for a week or more. Well, I'm back. The manga was awesome, and I can't wait for more. The game was okay, though I was disappointed with certain aspects (I was still married to Alastair ( Read more... )

I'm reading a book that q-sama in particular will like, but some of the rest of you might be interested in it as well. It's American Bloomsbury by Susan Cheever. Basically, she was asked to write a preface for a new edition of Little Women a few years back, and while she vaguely recalled that she had enjoyed the book when she was young, she had no real ( Read more... )

After a frustrating and exhausting day at work, my creative juices are flowing like mad and I've started writing with gusto. It's about damn time, too, if you ask me.

I'm listening to Julie Andrews's Home on CD in my car and I'm terribly pleased. She reads the audio book herself, which is lovely and it almost feels like she's right there, ( Read more... )

I'm in the midst of watching the 1920 silent film version of The Last of the Mohicans. It's ridiculously bad. Partly, the era and technology are to blame - their only special effects seem to be smoke and dust, which they use in just about every scene. But the writing is abysmal - right now the Hurons are attacking the party leaving the fort not ( Read more... )

I watched The Last of the Mohicans this afternoon. I don't really have the words to express how much I love that movie. It's as though I'm emotionally affected by every scene, so that by the time the film is done, I'm overwhelmed with my feelings about it. Somehow I'm filled with horror and anguish and such extreme love that none of it quite ( Read more... )

Bought a new bookcase today. My apartment is starting to look as booky as it did before we had the extra bedroom (and before we sold off every book we could possibly spare). I'm happy with it - it's good to have comforting things about. Also, the bookcase is a short one, so it does triple duty: it fills an empty space, it gives us a place near ( Read more... )

I had a great dream last night. I don't remember most of it, but it boils down to a modern-day Mansfield Park without the morality issues. Lisa was in it (and so were Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, weirdly) but I barely recall that part. What I remember best is the end, where the Edmund (whose name was Edward, which first made me consider the ( Read more... )