(no subject)
I just read the translation of character profiles for Yamapi's summer drama Code Blue. Sigh, yet another character "influenced by his tragic background" *cough*Kurosagi anyone*cough*. I also feel he's a bit too young to play a doctor who has already worked 2 YEARS in an ER, but we shall see how this goes. I'm going to watch it anyway :D. I just wish he'd get rid of the hideous perm before they start filming the drama!
I'm also exited to see Aragaki Yui and Toda Erika playing in the drama. It could turn interesting, or it might turn boring.
On other stuff, grrr, I've caught a cold. Of course immediately after my holidays began :P. I've been running some temperature and feeling generally icky and tired (probably won't get to beta that fic until I feel better, lovespiral) and listless. There went my plan to catch up on dramas, because sitting for long in front of the computer just sounds like a too uncomfortable prospect at the moment. I'd much rather snuggle under a blanket on my sofa and read something fluffy...
And speaking of reading, I guess quite a few of my latest reads have also fit the description of "something fluffy", though perhaps not the first one:
(46.) Lord Dunsany's Haltiamaan kuninkaantytär [King of Elf-Land's Daughter] was a nice dreamy fantasy read and I loved the Finnish translation by Johanna Vainikainen-Uusitalo. I can well see how Neil Gaiman might have picked some element from this novel for Stardust, the border between our world and Faerie and how perilous it is to want some magic in your life, because you might get more than you wanted.
Sabrina Jeffries's (47.) Never Seduce a Scoundrel, (48.) Only a Duke Will Do, and (51.) Beware a Scot's Revenge are the first three books in the School for Heiresses series. They were okay reading, but are all going to my Bookmooch inventory now that I've finished reading them. Jeffries's books are a bit hit-and-miss for me. I do enjoy some of them, but they aren't really anything I want to keep. And I was getting distinctly annoyed by the obstinate idiot who was the male lead in Beware a Scot's Revenge...
(52.) Loretta Chase's Lord of Scoundrels, on the other hand, was a very enjoyable read. I loved the sensible, down-to-earth Jessica Trent and the big, bad Lord Dain (who was really just hurt, abandoned little boy in need of love, but afraid of being hurt, so decided to be the biggest, baddest scoundred there is to protect himself). She shot him, as a very well planned theatrical gesture! :D Go, Jess!
I think I need to check out some more books by this author. Any recommendations?
And then I finally got books (49.-50.) 17 and 18 of Natsuki Takaya's Fruits Basket from the library.
SPOILERS!!!! SPOILERS!!!!! SPOILERS!!!!
I knew about Akito well before actually reading this book, so it came as no surprise to me that Akito is a woman. And I still hate her as much as ever :P. So her mother isn't the best there is. There are plenty other characters in this manga who have awful parents and have been abandoned or abused by them and they still haven't turned selfish monsters like Akito.
I guess part of the reason why she might have turned the way she is, is they way she has been treated as a god and something wonderful and long-waited from her childhood. So she got used to the feeling that everything she did was right. She has no real concept of right or wrong. From her viewpoint the things she wants are right and anybody who opposes her or does something she doesn't want them to do is in the wrong.
She views the zodiac members as her private property, her plaything with which she can do whatever she wants: "I'm special! I'm free to do whatever I want with my zodiac! I can do anything I want!" That still doesn't excuse the way she exults in tormenting others and destroying their lives. Because they are not property or playthings. They living, breathing people with feelings and hopes, dreams, but she just can't see them like that.
Her relationship with Kureno is also totally twisted. He was a big brother like figure to her, who promised to always be there for her and protect her, but now he stays with her only out of duty and because he once made the promise to always stay with her. "Maybe it's only out of pity that I hold him?" combined with pictures of them making love are another indication of how wrong their relationship is.
The Shigure - Akito - Kureno triangle is pretty interesting as well. Shigure slept with Akito's mother because Akito slept with Kureno, but apparently Shigure only did it to spite her, because he was hurt by her actions.
I wonder what it was that made him break out of the Sohma curse? Because knowing the reason might help the other Sohma members to break the curse as well.
Book 18, aaaahhhh!!!! Haru and Rin!!!! *incoherent*
The look of rage on Haru's face when he found out that Akito pushed Rin out of the window after finding out about their relationship! And at the same time Kureno is finding Rin locked up in the cat's room where she has been imprisoned for quite a while already. HATE AKITO!
And the way that Kureno just calmly tells Akito that she shouldn't do like things like that. At least someone is telling her that she is in the wrong, though I still don't think she'll learn anything from this episode.
Kureno's words ("It doesn't matter who you are. There are things in this life that you should and shouldn't do.") sound like a betrayal to Akito, and as a sign of him choosing someone else over her. She still blames everyone else for her own horrible actions: in her mind it was Haru's fault for choosing Rin over Akito that merited all this. She weeps that everyone is betraying her, but she just can't understand that it's her own actions that are driving the zodiac members away from her one by one.
I loved the scene where Haru finally found Rin and carried her in his arms, reassuring her that he had grown up enough to be able to carry her and take care of her, and that she was not a burden. So sweet!
Since Shigure knows that Kureno is no longer under the Sohma curse, I thought it interesting that he told Rin that it was possible for the curse to break with time. Rin had been so desperate to find a way to break the curse. But now Tohru is also desperate to break the curse as soon as possible, since she doesn't want Kyo to be locked up for eternity. She feels the curse must be broken before that happens.
This is getting really twisty and I love it :)!
I'm also exited to see Aragaki Yui and Toda Erika playing in the drama. It could turn interesting, or it might turn boring.
On other stuff, grrr, I've caught a cold. Of course immediately after my holidays began :P. I've been running some temperature and feeling generally icky and tired (probably won't get to beta that fic until I feel better, lovespiral) and listless. There went my plan to catch up on dramas, because sitting for long in front of the computer just sounds like a too uncomfortable prospect at the moment. I'd much rather snuggle under a blanket on my sofa and read something fluffy...
And speaking of reading, I guess quite a few of my latest reads have also fit the description of "something fluffy", though perhaps not the first one:
(46.) Lord Dunsany's Haltiamaan kuninkaantytär [King of Elf-Land's Daughter] was a nice dreamy fantasy read and I loved the Finnish translation by Johanna Vainikainen-Uusitalo. I can well see how Neil Gaiman might have picked some element from this novel for Stardust, the border between our world and Faerie and how perilous it is to want some magic in your life, because you might get more than you wanted.
Sabrina Jeffries's (47.) Never Seduce a Scoundrel, (48.) Only a Duke Will Do, and (51.) Beware a Scot's Revenge are the first three books in the School for Heiresses series. They were okay reading, but are all going to my Bookmooch inventory now that I've finished reading them. Jeffries's books are a bit hit-and-miss for me. I do enjoy some of them, but they aren't really anything I want to keep. And I was getting distinctly annoyed by the obstinate idiot who was the male lead in Beware a Scot's Revenge...
(52.) Loretta Chase's Lord of Scoundrels, on the other hand, was a very enjoyable read. I loved the sensible, down-to-earth Jessica Trent and the big, bad Lord Dain (who was really just hurt, abandoned little boy in need of love, but afraid of being hurt, so decided to be the biggest, baddest scoundred there is to protect himself). She shot him, as a very well planned theatrical gesture! :D Go, Jess!
I think I need to check out some more books by this author. Any recommendations?
And then I finally got books (49.-50.) 17 and 18 of Natsuki Takaya's Fruits Basket from the library.
SPOILERS!!!! SPOILERS!!!!! SPOILERS!!!!
I knew about Akito well before actually reading this book, so it came as no surprise to me that Akito is a woman. And I still hate her as much as ever :P. So her mother isn't the best there is. There are plenty other characters in this manga who have awful parents and have been abandoned or abused by them and they still haven't turned selfish monsters like Akito.
I guess part of the reason why she might have turned the way she is, is they way she has been treated as a god and something wonderful and long-waited from her childhood. So she got used to the feeling that everything she did was right. She has no real concept of right or wrong. From her viewpoint the things she wants are right and anybody who opposes her or does something she doesn't want them to do is in the wrong.
She views the zodiac members as her private property, her plaything with which she can do whatever she wants: "I'm special! I'm free to do whatever I want with my zodiac! I can do anything I want!" That still doesn't excuse the way she exults in tormenting others and destroying their lives. Because they are not property or playthings. They living, breathing people with feelings and hopes, dreams, but she just can't see them like that.
Her relationship with Kureno is also totally twisted. He was a big brother like figure to her, who promised to always be there for her and protect her, but now he stays with her only out of duty and because he once made the promise to always stay with her. "Maybe it's only out of pity that I hold him?" combined with pictures of them making love are another indication of how wrong their relationship is.
The Shigure - Akito - Kureno triangle is pretty interesting as well. Shigure slept with Akito's mother because Akito slept with Kureno, but apparently Shigure only did it to spite her, because he was hurt by her actions.
I wonder what it was that made him break out of the Sohma curse? Because knowing the reason might help the other Sohma members to break the curse as well.
Book 18, aaaahhhh!!!! Haru and Rin!!!! *incoherent*
The look of rage on Haru's face when he found out that Akito pushed Rin out of the window after finding out about their relationship! And at the same time Kureno is finding Rin locked up in the cat's room where she has been imprisoned for quite a while already. HATE AKITO!
And the way that Kureno just calmly tells Akito that she shouldn't do like things like that. At least someone is telling her that she is in the wrong, though I still don't think she'll learn anything from this episode.
Kureno's words ("It doesn't matter who you are. There are things in this life that you should and shouldn't do.") sound like a betrayal to Akito, and as a sign of him choosing someone else over her. She still blames everyone else for her own horrible actions: in her mind it was Haru's fault for choosing Rin over Akito that merited all this. She weeps that everyone is betraying her, but she just can't understand that it's her own actions that are driving the zodiac members away from her one by one.
I loved the scene where Haru finally found Rin and carried her in his arms, reassuring her that he had grown up enough to be able to carry her and take care of her, and that she was not a burden. So sweet!
Since Shigure knows that Kureno is no longer under the Sohma curse, I thought it interesting that he told Rin that it was possible for the curse to break with time. Rin had been so desperate to find a way to break the curse. But now Tohru is also desperate to break the curse as soon as possible, since she doesn't want Kyo to be locked up for eternity. She feels the curse must be broken before that happens.
This is getting really twisty and I love it :)!