(no subject)
Sorry, I'm feeling chatty today.
I think I need a new story. Something to get sucked into. I have this theory that I read like a drug addict--I love the feeling of being swept up into a story, and I continue to seek out that feeling in the books I read. It's pretty rare. Occasionally, I happen upon a Poisonwood Bible or a Practical Magic, or even a Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban--something I really fall in love with--but most of the books I read fall somewhere in the "fine" to "very good" range. Some TV shows can have the same effect, which is hard to explain to the educated masses, but makes quite a lot of sense in the LJ/fandom world, so I won't worry about it here. (Note: That is not an insult to the LJ/fandom world, as we tend to be ridiculously well-educated. I mean those who consider themselves educated to a level where fandom doesn't exist.)
Anyway, I'm having a momentary story drought. It's getting into the home stretch of the summer TV hiatus season and I'm doing a little bit of semi-required reading before the reading bounty can begin. Translation: I'm a little over halfway through a self-prescribed re-read of HP & the Order of the Phoenix, and dying to get to the HBP. I like OOTP well enough, and my second pass is turning out to be a good idea, but it doesn't count as a new story.
I'm also working on Nick Hornby's new novel, A Long Way Down, which is...good. Not fantastically, hilariously, and yet gently insightful (which, unfortunately for him, is what I've come to expect), but...good. Oddly enough, part of what takes me out of it is his characterization of an American character. Something about the language isn't quite right, and instead of sounding American, he sounds like a good British facsimile of an American. I think that with this book, I may officially like Hornby better as an essayist than a novelist, though it's a close call. It's just that I like Songbook so much, so maybe that's giving the "essay" side an unfair advantage. I guess this one counts as a new story, but the drug-addict high is not present, so I'm going to ignore that.
I think I need a new story. Something to get sucked into. I have this theory that I read like a drug addict--I love the feeling of being swept up into a story, and I continue to seek out that feeling in the books I read. It's pretty rare. Occasionally, I happen upon a Poisonwood Bible or a Practical Magic, or even a Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban--something I really fall in love with--but most of the books I read fall somewhere in the "fine" to "very good" range. Some TV shows can have the same effect, which is hard to explain to the educated masses, but makes quite a lot of sense in the LJ/fandom world, so I won't worry about it here. (Note: That is not an insult to the LJ/fandom world, as we tend to be ridiculously well-educated. I mean those who consider themselves educated to a level where fandom doesn't exist.)
Anyway, I'm having a momentary story drought. It's getting into the home stretch of the summer TV hiatus season and I'm doing a little bit of semi-required reading before the reading bounty can begin. Translation: I'm a little over halfway through a self-prescribed re-read of HP & the Order of the Phoenix, and dying to get to the HBP. I like OOTP well enough, and my second pass is turning out to be a good idea, but it doesn't count as a new story.
I'm also working on Nick Hornby's new novel, A Long Way Down, which is...good. Not fantastically, hilariously, and yet gently insightful (which, unfortunately for him, is what I've come to expect), but...good. Oddly enough, part of what takes me out of it is his characterization of an American character. Something about the language isn't quite right, and instead of sounding American, he sounds like a good British facsimile of an American. I think that with this book, I may officially like Hornby better as an essayist than a novelist, though it's a close call. It's just that I like Songbook so much, so maybe that's giving the "essay" side an unfair advantage. I guess this one counts as a new story, but the drug-addict high is not present, so I'm going to ignore that.