Reading roundup (ARRR)

[hamsterwoman]

This is actually a Reading Roundup post, but since today is Talk Like a Pirate Day, certain duties must be discharged:

Ahoy, mateys, arrr, avast, etc.

I'd never encountered this before, so thanks to gehayi for linking it: Talk Like a Pirate Day Song by Tom Smith.

Click to view

I actually found it not only clever (the rhymes!) and funny (giggled out loud a few

Comments

[lunasariel]

I love Holly Black, but I admit to not having read much of her beyond her Modern Tales of Faerie and one read-through of the original Spiderwick Chronicles when they first came out, but I'm glad to hear that she's still putting out some good work!

And I like the random little details of real life that have nothing to do with the magic, like Sam's sister in Bryn Mawr "driving my parents crazy because she has a girlfriend covered in tattoos".
That's one thing I've always liked about Holly Black: that she's able to interject all these little bits of realism, for lack of a better word, into these fantastical settings, that really bring everything to life.

There, I found the world-building pretty interesting, and the characters. In this series, not so much.I completely agree about Kim Harrison's worldbuilding (at least in her Hollows books)! It's complex, but it never feels tedious or like it could have been cut. I used to follow the Hollows pretty closely, but Rachel eventually got on my nerves, so I haven't read the latest few. But I

[hamsterwoman]

If you enjoy Holly Black's other writing, I think White Cat/Red Glove are well worth checking out! I liked Tithe and sequels a lot, and was disappointed to find out that she wasn't going to be writing more Modern Faerie Tales and was going to work on these Curse Worker books instead, but I have to say the new books are good. Probably better than Tithe et al -- all the same strength, neat touches of realism, grittiness, interesting teenage protagonists, plus worldbuilding that's more original and more coherent, more nuanced themes.

I read a couple of books of Hollows, in very strange order (something like 6, 1, 2, 5), but I enjoyed them anyway, mostly for Trent and Ivy/the Tamwoods. I never felt swept up enough to go out of my way to find the missing books, and my library stopped ordering the new ones, I guess, but I wouldn't mind catching up.

I smell editorial interference!Could be! It was certainly pretty bloodless... Dunno if her hands were tied as far as writing the more interesting stuff or (less charitably) is somebody told

[if0x]

I really liked White Cat, and certainly enjoyed Red Glove, so I too will be eagerly awaiting Black Heart next year.

I particularly liked the whole Alternate Universe feel that Holly Black has going in those books. It sort of feels Depression-era America, even though they have iPods and stuff, as though things didn't pick up. I had a brief conversation with Holly Black about this on twitter, and she says that she watched a lot of noir to try and get the tone/feel for the writing. So I felt kinda smug that I'd picked up on that :-)

[if0x]

Also, extremely glad that you're enjoying Gunnerkrigg! As I said in that post, I really like the whole thing; the artwork, the pacing, the characters. I hadn't realised that antimony was just about bismuth in the period table... oh, that is interesting.

[hamsterwoman]

It sort of feels Depression-era America, even though they have iPods and stuff, as though things didn't pick up.

Ah, interesting way to put it! I definitely felt the noirish tone, but hadn't thought to put it in a historical context, but it fits!

I really like the whole thing; the artwork, the pacing, the characters.

I should've commented on the artwork, too, because I'm really liking that also, and that is often the hurdle for me in getting into webcomics/graphic novels. But here the "normal" art is simple enough that I don't worry too much about missing half the context (I'm a terrible reader when it comes to visual media), but then there are the really complex panels, and the neat psychedelic ones for Coyote, and I like how things like hairstyles and clothes actually change.

So, thank you very much for the rec! :D I'd actually come accross GC before and decided it wasn't for me after some very cursory browsing, so I'm glad your post got me to take a second, deeper look.

[reynardine]

Tom Smith is hilarious and a very nice guy. We've run into him at a few cons and bought some of his CDs.

[hamsterwoman]

Neat! I really liked this song and want to catch a few more when I have the chance. (And, if I've mapped him to the right person, I just realized that I think I've seen him around LJ as filkertom...)

[ambyr]

Ooh, yes please on the Zacharov and Desi fic. Do you do Yuletide?

[hamsterwoman]

Sadly, I don't write fic, merely gleefully consume it, at Yuletide and otherwise... But I'm glad I'm not alone in wanting to read Desi and Zacharov fic!

Damnedest thing... I get Error 500 whenever I try to view your LJ... but I peeked at your Dreamwidth, and, of course, I remember bouncing around upon the discovery that you were a Steven Brust fan in your sorting app, and we seem to have some overlap in reading, which is all to say, do you mind if I friend you?

[ambyr]

Oh, feel free! I prefer reading on DW, but everything crossposts and I do look here too. My book review type stuff tends to happen over on Goodreads, though, which I'm guessing you don't use?

[hamsterwoman]

Yay, friended! :)

I do have a Dreamwidth, but the cross-posting became a hassle after a while (since all my icons live here on LJ and I kept having to go back and edit them in) so I've let that lapse...

I have a Goodreads that I never use, but there seems to be a critical mass of flisters posting stuff there instead of on LJ, so I think I'll need to bite the bullet and make a fannish Goodreads...