WIP media update
Well, okay, so that about updating every month was a BAREFACED LIE okay whoops.
This is now all books between February 1 and April 26. I didn't really watch much, so I'll try to note those things below at the end, but movies and shows take far second place to books. Because meeee~
PS: notes are short because me. More will emerge!: one of these days, I'mma write up lil review thoughts on these books.
~:~:~
BOOKS
Feb 1 - Apr 26
Second Foundation, Isaac Asimov
Lu Xun: Selected Works (Vol. 1), Lu Xun
The Three-Body Problem, Liu Cixin
----went to Ken Liu (translator)'s talk on the 11th of Apr.
Neena Gathering, Valerie Nieman Colander
---- one of those books that I read in a day. Absolutely lovely. Haunting. Can't forget.
A Woman of the Iron People: In The Light of Sigma Draconis, Eleanor Arnason
* A Woman of the Iron People: Changing Women, Eleanor Arnason
---- Slow reads. Good cultural details. Didn't finish second book - humans started arguing.
Speaker for the Dead, Orson Scott Card
---- rereread
---- I was pleasantly surprised at how much compassion Card shows for outcasts. Ender's a bit of a Stu, because he always knows jsut how to handle a situation, but that said, he does work well in this context.
---- I was pleased also with the amount of research that was clearly done. Good job, Card. You may not be great in your LGBT beliefs (cough cough), but I like this book and Ender's Game. (The rest - hmm.)
Chrestomanci 4: Witch Week
Chrestomanci 3: The Magicians of Caprona
Chrestomanci 2: Charmed Life
Chrestomanci 1: The Lives of Christopher Chant, Diana Wynne Jones
---- re(rere+)reads
---- <3 the Chrestomanci books. They're where, I think Jones really comes into her writing. She also really gets children's emotions and motivations right. Also, I love her ability to tie her widely-spun threads together by book's end.
---- yes, I did read them in reverse order. sew wat
Dalemark 1: Cart and Cwidder
Dalemark 2: Drowned Ammet, Diana Wynne Jones
Bone Gap, Laura Ruby
---- read for Book Club.
---- started slow, but grew on me. I was all ready for a dull lil small-town book, but then it turned into magical realism With Classical Allusions. Really quite cleverly put together. (more later.)
Dalemark 3: The Spellcoats
Dalemark 4: The Crown of Dalemark, Diana Wynne Jones
---- notes below!
----MOVIES
Feb 1 - Apr 26
Star Wars Ep IV
---- re(rere+)watch
---- ♥
Deadpool
---- Feb 12/Dan
Big Hero 6
---- Feb 14/Dan
Guardians of the Galaxy
---- Feb 14/Dan
Paprika
---- re(rere)watch
---- <3
SHOWS
Jan - Apr 26
Man In The High Castle
---- all eps S1
---- watching with my dad
The Flash
---- s1 eps 3-5
---- watching also with my dad
Mushishi
---- s1 ep1 rewatch
Star Trek: TNG
---- s2, ep 18
---- because I was curious
~:~:~:~:~
DWJ DALEMARK BOOK NOTES:
okay, so can I say that these books were massively impressive? They were! For these reasons:
+ at first, I didn't really like 'em. After Chrestomanci, these books were quiet, a little slow, a little uninspired-feeling, and as though they lacked energy.
+ but they crawled into my head. They did a fabulous job at making their plots real, with real people with real issues, and these people were frustrating, realistically I-don't-know-if-I-like-you-because-you're-not-actually-larger-than-life.
+ DWJ was heavy on not making these woo-woo fantasy books, and I supermuch appreciate that: I like that she doesn't do tropes, and so the places are realistic - not in a "gritty", "edgy" was that so much modern SF/F can be (which grates on me), but in a mundane way.
+ I love love love love LOVE how she writes the first three books, all years apart, and then TIES EVERYTHING ALL TOGETHER IN THE FOURTH BOOK. It's like all of them are chapters of one giant book that took her ages. And you can see in her fourth book how things hang together so well that it's clear she KNEW what was going on, it just took discovering and writing it all.
+ these are probably the clearest characters I've ever read of hers, too. solidly understandable, emotionally consistent, clear in their personalities and wants and ways of dealing with the world. Excellent.
---- also can I just say that I am very much Team Navis? Because yes. Bookworm? Cares for people? Efficient? Capable? Elegant? Selfsure? Kind-but-Ruthless? Loyal? SNARKY (often to the point of irritation - ow, some of those remarks :D). Everything about his arc makes me so happy :D
in conclusion: ♥
This is now all books between February 1 and April 26. I didn't really watch much, so I'll try to note those things below at the end, but movies and shows take far second place to books. Because meeee~
PS: notes are short because me. More will emerge!: one of these days, I'mma write up lil review thoughts on these books.
~:~:~
BOOKS
Feb 1 - Apr 26
Second Foundation, Isaac Asimov
Lu Xun: Selected Works (Vol. 1), Lu Xun
The Three-Body Problem, Liu Cixin
----went to Ken Liu (translator)'s talk on the 11th of Apr.
Neena Gathering, Valerie Nieman Colander
---- one of those books that I read in a day. Absolutely lovely. Haunting. Can't forget.
A Woman of the Iron People: In The Light of Sigma Draconis, Eleanor Arnason
* A Woman of the Iron People: Changing Women, Eleanor Arnason
---- Slow reads. Good cultural details. Didn't finish second book - humans started arguing.
Speaker for the Dead, Orson Scott Card
---- rereread
---- I was pleasantly surprised at how much compassion Card shows for outcasts. Ender's a bit of a Stu, because he always knows jsut how to handle a situation, but that said, he does work well in this context.
---- I was pleased also with the amount of research that was clearly done. Good job, Card. You may not be great in your LGBT beliefs (cough cough), but I like this book and Ender's Game. (The rest - hmm.)
Chrestomanci 4: Witch Week
Chrestomanci 3: The Magicians of Caprona
Chrestomanci 2: Charmed Life
Chrestomanci 1: The Lives of Christopher Chant, Diana Wynne Jones
---- re(rere+)reads
---- <3 the Chrestomanci books. They're where, I think Jones really comes into her writing. She also really gets children's emotions and motivations right. Also, I love her ability to tie her widely-spun threads together by book's end.
---- yes, I did read them in reverse order. sew wat
Dalemark 1: Cart and Cwidder
Dalemark 2: Drowned Ammet, Diana Wynne Jones
Bone Gap, Laura Ruby
---- read for Book Club.
---- started slow, but grew on me. I was all ready for a dull lil small-town book, but then it turned into magical realism With Classical Allusions. Really quite cleverly put together. (more later.)
Dalemark 3: The Spellcoats
Dalemark 4: The Crown of Dalemark, Diana Wynne Jones
---- notes below!
----MOVIES
Feb 1 - Apr 26
Star Wars Ep IV
---- re(rere+)watch
---- ♥
Deadpool
---- Feb 12/Dan
Big Hero 6
---- Feb 14/Dan
Guardians of the Galaxy
---- Feb 14/Dan
Paprika
---- re(rere)watch
---- <3
SHOWS
Jan - Apr 26
Man In The High Castle
---- all eps S1
---- watching with my dad
The Flash
---- s1 eps 3-5
---- watching also with my dad
Mushishi
---- s1 ep1 rewatch
Star Trek: TNG
---- s2, ep 18
---- because I was curious
~:~:~:~:~
DWJ DALEMARK BOOK NOTES:
okay, so can I say that these books were massively impressive? They were! For these reasons:
+ at first, I didn't really like 'em. After Chrestomanci, these books were quiet, a little slow, a little uninspired-feeling, and as though they lacked energy.
+ but they crawled into my head. They did a fabulous job at making their plots real, with real people with real issues, and these people were frustrating, realistically I-don't-know-if-I-like-you-because-you're-not-actually-larger-than-life.
+ DWJ was heavy on not making these woo-woo fantasy books, and I supermuch appreciate that: I like that she doesn't do tropes, and so the places are realistic - not in a "gritty", "edgy" was that so much modern SF/F can be (which grates on me), but in a mundane way.
+ I love love love love LOVE how she writes the first three books, all years apart, and then TIES EVERYTHING ALL TOGETHER IN THE FOURTH BOOK. It's like all of them are chapters of one giant book that took her ages. And you can see in her fourth book how things hang together so well that it's clear she KNEW what was going on, it just took discovering and writing it all.
+ these are probably the clearest characters I've ever read of hers, too. solidly understandable, emotionally consistent, clear in their personalities and wants and ways of dealing with the world. Excellent.
---- also can I just say that I am very much Team Navis? Because yes. Bookworm? Cares for people? Efficient? Capable? Elegant? Selfsure? Kind-but-Ruthless? Loyal? SNARKY (often to the point of irritation - ow, some of those remarks :D). Everything about his arc makes me so happy :D
in conclusion: ♥