the lonesome voice that I heard in my head said, "never tire of the road"
Oh sweet, sweet Internet!
I am at last moved into my Very Own Totally Mismatched Basement Cave of Awesome. There will need to be pictures; it is indeed that awesome. I have a kitchen/living room, bathroom, hall room, bedroom, closet/room full of pipes, laundry room, and music room. (The last is a music room simply because it has a hardwood floor and I have no furniture to put in it other than a carved Mexican chair with no armrests. Hence, music room!)
Tuesday, 18 September 2007. In which I begin my new life in Canada.
Good Celtic music is, well, good. But there’s nothing like badly-played Irish airs to make a person homesick.
My feet are sore from the little bit of walking that I do. Luckily I can switch off every other day, as I have not one but two pairs of fantastically uncomfortable shoes.
Ye Olde Movie Reviewe: Rope. Even old!Jimmy Stewart is teh awesome.
Saturday, 22 September 2007 In which I ponder the various uses of a Liber Damnatis
Apartment hunting is utter madness. On plus side, I bought a cell phone today, so maybe things will become easier. It is very shiny, and black and silver. Shinyyy.
Yesterday I corrected the random Latin in a proof, and then had to talk to a professor because of course nobody wants to take the word of somebody who’s been working for them for all of four days. I was right, of course. I also argued passionately over plot glitches for hours until we solved everything more or less.
Re: Liber Damnatis. I suspect “damnatis” is wrong. Shouldn’t it be Liber Damnati or Liber Damnatum (Damned Book)? Am I just writing it wrong in the first place?
Interesting things heard on the street, in the bus...
- “It’s called the Zen of Two-fingered Clapping.”
- An entire conversation about medieval and ancient armour between to high-school kids who clearly had no idea what they were talking about
Today I befriended (or rather, was befriended by) a small boy at the bus stop. He was perhaps eleven years old, and his parents had clearly neglected to tell him not to talk to strangers.
Saturday, 29 September 2007 I’m singin’ in the rain/ What a glorious feeling, I’m happy again
Went into two bookstores today and came out with three books. YES! Victory is MINE. One was Susan Cooper’s The Boggart and the Monster, which I’d had no idea existed. Score! I also found sugar cubes, and sauntered home jauntily through the rain.
ME: You know you have four copies of Titus Alone but none of the other two?
BOOKSTORE PROPRIETRESS: Yeah. And you know what else? We have about five of Claudius the God but not one I, Claudius.
BOTH: That’s just wrong.
In conclusion: a good day.
Monday, 1 October 2007 Books bought (some reviewed)
-Peg Kerr, The Wild Swans (Score! Do you have any idea how hard it is to find this book?)
-Elizabeth E. Wein, The Winter Prince (rec’d by someone, I think, and omg SQUEE. SQUEESQUEESQUEESQUEE. I have totally gone off Arthurian fiction, but OMGSQUEE. It is deliciously Oedipal. That is a combination of words I never thought I’d use, but it is. Oh, the SQUEE.)
-Susan Cooper, The Boggart and the Monster (I was unbelievably excited, because I didn’t even know she’d written it, but it’s kind of eh, really.)
-Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day
-Jane Yolen, The Bagpiper’s Ghost (haven’t read it yet and it looks kind of, how do I say this, wannabe? but it was only $2.11 and it would be pathetic to go to a book fair in the rain and not buy anything. Also, the public library main branch is like a shopping mall. A really awesome shopping mall that’s half library, half coffee shops and cheap postcard racks).
Ye Olde Boke Reviewes (dug out from boxes in the office and read in the name of my education):
Jenny Nimmo, Midnight for Charlie Bone and The Time Twister. Kind of eh, really. And proof yet again that even if sequels “can” be read before the first book, READ THE FIRST ONE FIRST ANYWAY. The most interesting character is Olivia Vertigo, who gets absolutely no screen time at all. People who waste good characters shouldn’t be allowed to write without a stern talking-to from yours truly (yes, JKR, I mean you as well. Hem, hem).
Karen Cushman, Catherine, Called Birdy. I think this was a Newbery Honor book? Anyway it is pretty hilarious. Newbery Honor books are usually better than Newbery Medal books. The Grey King was a Newbery Honor, wasn’t it? I always get confused because that whole series is just MADE OF AWESOME, but especially The Grey King.
Some GuyAlan Garner, The Owl Service. At first I thought this was some kind of weird takeoff on the whole concept of owl post, but in fact it was written in 1970 or thereabouts, so apparently not. It reminds me a bit of Susan Cooper's books, in that weird mythology-based stuff happens in Wales, and there is an awesome sarcastic Welsh boy (Gwyn) with a chip on his shoulder about the English. Unfortunately the plot and exposition sort of go all over the place and end up with a huge wtf abrupt ending with no more awesomeness from Gwyn. (Bran is muchly superior, even if he was written five years later.) Kind of cool despite all the wtf. Although there is something sad about liking something inferior just because it reminds you of something else you love completely and utterly.
eta: this is apparently maybe the first in a trilogy, which would explain the wtf?
Susan Cooper, The Boggart. Okay, so I’ve read it a million times before and it’s still fantastic. Kind of seriously mid-‘90s dated, but fantastic.
Some Guy with a Female Pseudonymn, In A Blue Velvet Dress. I think I read this at some point when I was young and foolish, and neglected to make book lists. The trouble with both directly mentioning awesome books and over-referencing them is that it reminds the reader how vastly inferior your own book is (Certain People, I’m sorry but I really do mean you too. Ellen Kushner gets away with it because her references are a lot subtler and more obscure and totally unrelated, and also, she is a much better writer than you are right now. Then again, I think most urban/modern-day fantasy suffers from this because it reads like it’s just trying too hard. This is why I dislike most urban fantasy. You notice Neil Gaiman does not need to write about iPods and Google? Neil Gaiman can also play with words in children’s books without being cutesy. Everybody should read his books, even the weird ones I don’t particularly like, because I said so).
Terry Pratchett, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents. AHAHAHAHAHA. I read something else a couple days after this and just about fell off my chair from coincidence!squee. The Discworld books without Rincewind are significantly better than the ones with him, I’ve noticed.
Other books read relatively recently and reviewed:
Manuel Lainez, The Wandering Unicorn. (Rec’d by someone.) Kind of weird, quite interesting, although all the Guys and Reynalds tend to blur together after a while. Clearly the Crusaders did not hold with the creative naming of babies. Luckily, strolling players did.
Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited. Revisited. Oh, Sebastian.
Evelyn Waugh, The Loved One (I think) Decline and Fall. Ahahaha. (“’Darling, I know you think you’re in love with me, but hadn’t we better just be sure there’s no mistake?’ Fortunately there was no mistake, and the banns went out the next morning.” Or something like that.)
Lois McMaster Bujold, Barrayar. If I’d known about feminist science fiction ten years ago I probably wouldn’t have harbored a deep aversion for the genre for so long. Ah well. Baby steps. You notice feminist science fiction is never on those abominable high-school summer reading lists? It is a cruel and unjust world we inhabit.
Friday, 5 October 2007 In which there are TV shenanigans.
ME: Mmm, Friday night TV. What to watch, what to watch... huh, there’s Eragon. I suppose I might as well see if it’s really that bad...
SOME FARMBOY (watching Some Baby Dragon): ...So, not a stone then. An... egg?
ME: Oh look, Rome is on!
(Later)
ME: I’ll just flip back and see.
SOME FARMBOY: What’s the word for tree?
JEREMY IRONS: ...
ME (hurriedly): Oh look, it’s one of the episodes with Agrippa! Hi, Agrippa!
AGRIPPA: I am cute and totally clueless when it comes to wooing Octavia, but I’m a pretty good general.
ME: At least that’s a start.
(Later)
SOME FARMBOY: My name is Aragorn.
ME: *splutter* I beg your pardon?
SOME FARMBOY: I mean, Eragon.
ME: Oh look, What Not to Wear: The Wedding Episode!
I am at last moved into my Very Own Totally Mismatched Basement Cave of Awesome. There will need to be pictures; it is indeed that awesome. I have a kitchen/living room, bathroom, hall room, bedroom, closet/room full of pipes, laundry room, and music room. (The last is a music room simply because it has a hardwood floor and I have no furniture to put in it other than a carved Mexican chair with no armrests. Hence, music room!)
Tuesday, 18 September 2007. In which I begin my new life in Canada.
Good Celtic music is, well, good. But there’s nothing like badly-played Irish airs to make a person homesick.
My feet are sore from the little bit of walking that I do. Luckily I can switch off every other day, as I have not one but two pairs of fantastically uncomfortable shoes.
Ye Olde Movie Reviewe: Rope. Even old!Jimmy Stewart is teh awesome.
Saturday, 22 September 2007 In which I ponder the various uses of a Liber Damnatis
Apartment hunting is utter madness. On plus side, I bought a cell phone today, so maybe things will become easier. It is very shiny, and black and silver. Shinyyy.
Yesterday I corrected the random Latin in a proof, and then had to talk to a professor because of course nobody wants to take the word of somebody who’s been working for them for all of four days. I was right, of course. I also argued passionately over plot glitches for hours until we solved everything more or less.
Re: Liber Damnatis. I suspect “damnatis” is wrong. Shouldn’t it be Liber Damnati or Liber Damnatum (Damned Book)? Am I just writing it wrong in the first place?
Interesting things heard on the street, in the bus...
- “It’s called the Zen of Two-fingered Clapping.”
- An entire conversation about medieval and ancient armour between to high-school kids who clearly had no idea what they were talking about
Today I befriended (or rather, was befriended by) a small boy at the bus stop. He was perhaps eleven years old, and his parents had clearly neglected to tell him not to talk to strangers.
Saturday, 29 September 2007 I’m singin’ in the rain/ What a glorious feeling, I’m happy again
Went into two bookstores today and came out with three books. YES! Victory is MINE. One was Susan Cooper’s The Boggart and the Monster, which I’d had no idea existed. Score! I also found sugar cubes, and sauntered home jauntily through the rain.
ME: You know you have four copies of Titus Alone but none of the other two?
BOOKSTORE PROPRIETRESS: Yeah. And you know what else? We have about five of Claudius the God but not one I, Claudius.
BOTH: That’s just wrong.
In conclusion: a good day.
Monday, 1 October 2007 Books bought (some reviewed)
-Peg Kerr, The Wild Swans (Score! Do you have any idea how hard it is to find this book?)
-Elizabeth E. Wein, The Winter Prince (rec’d by someone, I think, and omg SQUEE. SQUEESQUEESQUEESQUEE. I have totally gone off Arthurian fiction, but OMGSQUEE. It is deliciously Oedipal. That is a combination of words I never thought I’d use, but it is. Oh, the SQUEE.)
-Susan Cooper, The Boggart and the Monster (I was unbelievably excited, because I didn’t even know she’d written it, but it’s kind of eh, really.)
-Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day
-Jane Yolen, The Bagpiper’s Ghost (haven’t read it yet and it looks kind of, how do I say this, wannabe? but it was only $2.11 and it would be pathetic to go to a book fair in the rain and not buy anything. Also, the public library main branch is like a shopping mall. A really awesome shopping mall that’s half library, half coffee shops and cheap postcard racks).
Ye Olde Boke Reviewes (dug out from boxes in the office and read in the name of my education):
Jenny Nimmo, Midnight for Charlie Bone and The Time Twister. Kind of eh, really. And proof yet again that even if sequels “can” be read before the first book, READ THE FIRST ONE FIRST ANYWAY. The most interesting character is Olivia Vertigo, who gets absolutely no screen time at all. People who waste good characters shouldn’t be allowed to write without a stern talking-to from yours truly (yes, JKR, I mean you as well. Hem, hem).
Karen Cushman, Catherine, Called Birdy. I think this was a Newbery Honor book? Anyway it is pretty hilarious. Newbery Honor books are usually better than Newbery Medal books. The Grey King was a Newbery Honor, wasn’t it? I always get confused because that whole series is just MADE OF AWESOME, but especially The Grey King.
Some GuyAlan Garner, The Owl Service. At first I thought this was some kind of weird takeoff on the whole concept of owl post, but in fact it was written in 1970 or thereabouts, so apparently not. It reminds me a bit of Susan Cooper's books, in that weird mythology-based stuff happens in Wales, and there is an awesome sarcastic Welsh boy (Gwyn) with a chip on his shoulder about the English. Unfortunately the plot and exposition sort of go all over the place and end up with a huge wtf abrupt ending with no more awesomeness from Gwyn. (Bran is muchly superior, even if he was written five years later.) Kind of cool despite all the wtf. Although there is something sad about liking something inferior just because it reminds you of something else you love completely and utterly.
eta: this is apparently maybe the first in a trilogy, which would explain the wtf?
Susan Cooper, The Boggart. Okay, so I’ve read it a million times before and it’s still fantastic. Kind of seriously mid-‘90s dated, but fantastic.
Some Guy with a Female Pseudonymn, In A Blue Velvet Dress. I think I read this at some point when I was young and foolish, and neglected to make book lists. The trouble with both directly mentioning awesome books and over-referencing them is that it reminds the reader how vastly inferior your own book is (Certain People, I’m sorry but I really do mean you too. Ellen Kushner gets away with it because her references are a lot subtler and more obscure and totally unrelated, and also, she is a much better writer than you are right now. Then again, I think most urban/modern-day fantasy suffers from this because it reads like it’s just trying too hard. This is why I dislike most urban fantasy. You notice Neil Gaiman does not need to write about iPods and Google? Neil Gaiman can also play with words in children’s books without being cutesy. Everybody should read his books, even the weird ones I don’t particularly like, because I said so).
Terry Pratchett, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents. AHAHAHAHAHA. I read something else a couple days after this and just about fell off my chair from coincidence!squee. The Discworld books without Rincewind are significantly better than the ones with him, I’ve noticed.
Other books read relatively recently and reviewed:
Manuel Lainez, The Wandering Unicorn. (Rec’d by someone.) Kind of weird, quite interesting, although all the Guys and Reynalds tend to blur together after a while. Clearly the Crusaders did not hold with the creative naming of babies. Luckily, strolling players did.
Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited. Revisited. Oh, Sebastian.
Evelyn Waugh, The Loved One (I think) Decline and Fall. Ahahaha. (“’Darling, I know you think you’re in love with me, but hadn’t we better just be sure there’s no mistake?’ Fortunately there was no mistake, and the banns went out the next morning.” Or something like that.)
Lois McMaster Bujold, Barrayar. If I’d known about feminist science fiction ten years ago I probably wouldn’t have harbored a deep aversion for the genre for so long. Ah well. Baby steps. You notice feminist science fiction is never on those abominable high-school summer reading lists? It is a cruel and unjust world we inhabit.
Friday, 5 October 2007 In which there are TV shenanigans.
ME: Mmm, Friday night TV. What to watch, what to watch... huh, there’s Eragon. I suppose I might as well see if it’s really that bad...
SOME FARMBOY (watching Some Baby Dragon): ...So, not a stone then. An... egg?
ME: Oh look, Rome is on!
(Later)
ME: I’ll just flip back and see.
SOME FARMBOY: What’s the word for tree?
JEREMY IRONS: ...
ME (hurriedly): Oh look, it’s one of the episodes with Agrippa! Hi, Agrippa!
AGRIPPA: I am cute and totally clueless when it comes to wooing Octavia, but I’m a pretty good general.
ME: At least that’s a start.
(Later)
SOME FARMBOY: My name is Aragorn.
ME: *splutter* I beg your pardon?
SOME FARMBOY: I mean, Eragon.
ME: Oh look, What Not to Wear: The Wedding Episode!