if the right one don't get you, then the left one will
Wednesday! Books and comics day!
What I just read
I finished Liar's Moon by Elizabeth C. Bunce, which I thought was tighter than the first book, and I'll admit to preferring the city setting to the country setting. Apparently the author is having trouble getting the third book published, and this one ends on kind of a cliffhanger? But since I don't really care that much about Digger's romances, I wasn't all OMG! when Tegen was revealed to be alive. I should probably say that I was shipping her with Wierolf, though the signs of budding romance with Durrel had been there since the beginning. I just didn't feel it as much as I liked her connection with Wierolf. The worldbuilding still felt flimsy to me, like Bunce had sketched things out, but beyond the things she was really interested in, everything else was sort of a flat painted backdrop. I mean, I didn't even really get a sense of the city as a place, though I thought it was better done than the castle had been in the first book.
I also read The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart, which I really enjoyed - it was especially amusing after my recent Gilmore Girls rewatch, because Rory and Paris would have totally fit in at Alabaster. I guess my main issue with the book - why I gave it four stars instead of five - is that I kind of hoped Frankie would direct the geeky non-Basset Hound kids in their own pranks, rather than working within the Basset Hounds and then discovering that they were not ever going to let her in/admit to her they existed/admire or respect her the way she deserved for what she had them pull off. But I guess that might have been too much to ask for from a 15yo girl. I hope she turns those skills to something awesome in college.
I also finished Brief Lives and Worlds' End on my Sandman reread. Man, there is so much stuff I'd forgotten with how Gaiman sets up the pieces and then knocks them down in a way that is totally and believably inevitable, while still keeping you on the edge of your seat hoping it's not actually going to happen the way you know it totally has to.
What I'm reading now
Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer, which is simultaneously breaking my heart, making me sick to my stomach, and ENRAGING me, because how did we have 8 years of a Bush presidency? HOW DID THAT ACTUALLY HAPPEN? Talk about our long national nightmare and the complete moral bankruptcy of that administration and the long shadow it's cast. Ugh ugh ugh.
I also started rereading The Kindly Ones last night, and I'd forgotten how much I liked the art in this volume. Most of the art in the first few volumes was serviceable where it wasn't unfortunate (I'm sure the recolored versions are much easier to look at, but I still don't like it very much), and I do like Jill Thompson's art, but the art in this volume really kicks it up a notch.
What I'm reading next
I actually know this one for once! Since I have Swamplandia! from the library, that has to be next because it's due back in a couple weeks. And then probably - FINALLY - Quintana of Charyn.
Plus today's comics - I know there is new Hawkeye and new Saga (and Apple apparently refusing to sell Saga because of some tiny gay m/m panels? Given the things that have already been depicted in Saga, I find that ridiculous and homophobic. Giant misshapen alien scrotum is fine, but tiny depiction of gay sex gets nixed? REALLY?) and whatever else that comes out today that I am reading.
***
Today's poem:
Ithaca
When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the angry Poseidon -- do not fear them:
You will never find such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not set them up before you.
Pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many, when,
with such pleasure, with such joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time;
stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensual perfumes of all kinds,
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
visit many Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from scholars.
Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for many years;
and to anchor at the island when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.
Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would have never set out on the road.
She has nothing more to give you.
And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.
Wise as you have become, with so much experience,
you must already have understood what Ithacas mean.
~Constantine P. Cavafy
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/559099.html.
people have commented there.
What I just read
I finished Liar's Moon by Elizabeth C. Bunce, which I thought was tighter than the first book, and I'll admit to preferring the city setting to the country setting. Apparently the author is having trouble getting the third book published, and this one ends on kind of a cliffhanger? But since I don't really care that much about Digger's romances, I wasn't all OMG! when Tegen was revealed to be alive. I should probably say that I was shipping her with Wierolf, though the signs of budding romance with Durrel had been there since the beginning. I just didn't feel it as much as I liked her connection with Wierolf. The worldbuilding still felt flimsy to me, like Bunce had sketched things out, but beyond the things she was really interested in, everything else was sort of a flat painted backdrop. I mean, I didn't even really get a sense of the city as a place, though I thought it was better done than the castle had been in the first book.
I also read The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart, which I really enjoyed - it was especially amusing after my recent Gilmore Girls rewatch, because Rory and Paris would have totally fit in at Alabaster. I guess my main issue with the book - why I gave it four stars instead of five - is that I kind of hoped Frankie would direct the geeky non-Basset Hound kids in their own pranks, rather than working within the Basset Hounds and then discovering that they were not ever going to let her in/admit to her they existed/admire or respect her the way she deserved for what she had them pull off. But I guess that might have been too much to ask for from a 15yo girl. I hope she turns those skills to something awesome in college.
I also finished Brief Lives and Worlds' End on my Sandman reread. Man, there is so much stuff I'd forgotten with how Gaiman sets up the pieces and then knocks them down in a way that is totally and believably inevitable, while still keeping you on the edge of your seat hoping it's not actually going to happen the way you know it totally has to.
What I'm reading now
Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer, which is simultaneously breaking my heart, making me sick to my stomach, and ENRAGING me, because how did we have 8 years of a Bush presidency? HOW DID THAT ACTUALLY HAPPEN? Talk about our long national nightmare and the complete moral bankruptcy of that administration and the long shadow it's cast. Ugh ugh ugh.
I also started rereading The Kindly Ones last night, and I'd forgotten how much I liked the art in this volume. Most of the art in the first few volumes was serviceable where it wasn't unfortunate (I'm sure the recolored versions are much easier to look at, but I still don't like it very much), and I do like Jill Thompson's art, but the art in this volume really kicks it up a notch.
What I'm reading next
I actually know this one for once! Since I have Swamplandia! from the library, that has to be next because it's due back in a couple weeks. And then probably - FINALLY - Quintana of Charyn.
Plus today's comics - I know there is new Hawkeye and new Saga (and Apple apparently refusing to sell Saga because of some tiny gay m/m panels? Given the things that have already been depicted in Saga, I find that ridiculous and homophobic. Giant misshapen alien scrotum is fine, but tiny depiction of gay sex gets nixed? REALLY?) and whatever else that comes out today that I am reading.
***
Today's poem:
Ithaca
When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the angry Poseidon -- do not fear them:
You will never find such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not set them up before you.
Pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many, when,
with such pleasure, with such joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time;
stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensual perfumes of all kinds,
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
visit many Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from scholars.
Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for many years;
and to anchor at the island when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.
Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would have never set out on the road.
She has nothing more to give you.
And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.
Wise as you have become, with so much experience,
you must already have understood what Ithacas mean.
~Constantine P. Cavafy
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/559099.html.
people have commented there.