Reading roundup

[hamsterwoman]

I forgot to mention with the previous post, but, as is obvious from the numbering, I've bypassed my goal of 52 books for the year (which is pretty far above where I got last year), and even my previous record of 54, although that's not really fair, probably, as back then I wasn't keeping track of every book I read and was trying to reconstruct the

Comments

[lookfar]

Isn't Cassandra Clare the one who caused that enormous wank about plagiarism a year or so ago? It turned out that she had stolen ideas, characters and even chunks of prose from other fanfics and published fantasies? And then there was the usual labyrinthine business of sock puppet critics and defenders of CC appearing and disappearing and LJ accounts likewise, and someone else who wrote up a whole history of L'Affaire de CC. There was so much kerfuffle I couldn't follow it, but the concensus seemed to be that she was a plagiarist.

[hamsterwoman]

I think the monumental wank with the multi-part expose and disappearing accounts and sock puppets last year was the MsScribe one. There was massive wank associated with CC, which was indeed about plagiarism, but that was long ago. At least four years, I think, 'cos it was before my time. It came up in the MsScribe wank, because CC and MsScribe were friends. Of the original CC wank, I've only read later accounts that I think were probably biased, so I don't really have an opinion. I think Clare admitted that she had peppered her fanfic with quotes from and references to books and TV shows, and a chunk of prose from Pamela Dean's The Secret Country, and I think her argument was that she never intended to pass off these bits as her own work. (When I read her fanfic, those sections were clearly marked, but presumably that was a result of the plagiarism wank

[_grayswandir_]

This is going to be a really erratic comment, because a very loud football game is taking up most of my attention. Gya

[hamsterwoman]

Hey! Happy Thanksgiving! (I was secretly hoping you'd have internet access around family dinner and would be able to comment on Sandman things :)

The "novelization" info on Neverwhere came from Wikipedia, so it might not be totally correct. It seems like the TV series ran and the book was published pretty much concurrently, so I don't know if one can say which came first based on that.

It just... seems like Gaiman was actually a great comic writer, but is only a very mediocre novelist. Eh.

Hmmm... I wonder if it matters which "side" of him one knows first, and therefore what one expects, or if it's just differences of taste. I haven't read enough comics to be able to tell if Gaiman is particularly good at writing for them -- I mean, I enjoyed the writing, but I don't really have a point of reference. I do like his prose writing quite a lot, though. I loved American Gods. I was probably biased in favour of it to begin with because I love the Norse gods in general, but the style just worked for me, too. I also enjoyed Anansi Boys,

[_grayswandir_]

Hee. Yep. :) Football's over, and now there's a show about penguins on...

Hmmm... I wonder if it matters which "side" of him one knows first, and therefore what one expectsProbably, at least to some degree. The thing is, most comics are all action and no subtlety at all, and even the ones that try to be plot-based or treat particular themes tend to fail. I assume this is partly because the authors know their audience is largely teenage boys, and partly because the authors themselves are just not generally of the epic-novelist variety. So when I first picked up the Sandman comics, I was pretty amazed. All the different pantheons, and all the little myths and fairy tales within the larger stories, were a long way above what I was expecting from a "graphic novel." As comic books go, I think they were pretty revolutionary. I guess when I picked up Neverwhere, I was expecting something equally epic and unusual, but what I got instead was a fairly run-of-the-mill fantasy novel

[hamsterwoman]

So when I first picked up the Sandman comics, I was pretty amazed. All the different pantheons, and all the little myths and fairy tales within the larger stories, were a long way above what I was expecting from a "graphic novel." As comic books go, I think they were pretty revolutionary.

That makes perfect sense, actually. I can totally see how they would be revolutionary, and the themes and the scope were above what even I expected, even knowing it was Gaiman and knowing these were something special.

Actually, I think part of the problem is that Gaiman didn't often have the best artists, at least in my opinion.

Yeah... I have to say I was kind of underwhelmed by the art. I realize the artists are putting out these things on schedule, with hundreds, thousands of panels to draw and ink, so it's not like each one can be the Sistine Chapel, but there were quite a few cases where the characters looked weird all of a sudden, or had strange bits sticking out of their anatomies.

I guess when I picked up Neverwhere, I was expecting

[aome]

Thanks for linking me to your City of Bones review. I didn't remember the DT reference to the hawk story at all, but anemonerose said that there was a Jace story straight out of the DT, and I assumed it was probably that one.

In terms of Cassandra Clare's references to her RL friends - having never read any of Holly Black's stuff except the Spiderwick books, I didn't notice those references, but ... at least during the Harry Potter heyday, some of Cassie's very good friends included Brits named ... Simon. And Alex. And Alex is, in fact, gay. And dark-haired. So, that caught my attention, anyway. Also, although I'm sure this is completely coincidental, Isabelle reminded me strongly of Isabelle from the Roswell TV show - headstrong teenage girl, fashion-conscious, protective of her brothers even though one isn't really a brother, and damn good with her supernatural talents. The TV Isabelle was blonde, however