Comments | snowystingray: Books of 2009

snowystingray

Books of 2009

Jan 06, 2010 22:53

Just got through with the Cranford Christmas special -- boy but that series does not cut back on the high mortality rates, does it? On the whole I don't think this was as well put together as the original but, still, high old lady hilarity all around and yay Tim Curry and yay Jodie Whittaker. Overall, though, I'm rather disappointed with ( Read more... )

lost, ashes to ashes, dollhouse, my brain is broken, year in review, mad men, books, costume dramas and miniseries, sherlock holmes, philip k. dick, college, big sis, watchmen, lists

Comments 8

cabari January 7 2010, 04:15:25 UTC

Haha, after I read this I tried to think about what books I read this year and realized that, if I did this, it would be "1-12: re-read A Confederacy of Dunces like once a month, cried because I am starting to resemble Ignatius J. Reilly. 11. Marley and Me. The last 50 pages of this book are now illegible because I made the mistake of reading this RIGHT AFTER MY DOG DIED. 12. Half-read Homer & Langley. Realized that the part of me that is not Ignatius is the part that is Homer Collyer."

Um, yeah. So I am, in other words, v. impressed with the diversity on your list.

snowystingray January 8 2010, 01:58:11 UTC

I have to admit that lost_bookclub does a lot to keep me reading new things outside of my comfort zone, but now that there is really not a lot of participation over there, and now that I no longer have school to kick me in the pants to keep up with reading, I'm kind of rudderless. It's quite sad. Actually I'm planning on going to the library tomorrow -- but it's to check out a Barbara Streisand movie I have on reserve, haha, so I'm not really sure that counts...

ladykate63 January 7 2010, 04:50:32 UTC

Oh, I love The Handmaid's Tale! For some reason, though, I have never been able to get into anything else by Margaret Atwood. I've been meaning to give her another try though.

snowystingray January 8 2010, 02:00:12 UTC

I loved it, too! I kept meaning to read it for ages and never got around to it, and then one of my friends had to read it for class so as soon as she was finished I was like BRB STEALING YOUR COPY OF THIS BOOK so I could finally commit myself to reading it -- and, like I said, reading it right next to Dollhouse kind of made a lot of different things in my brain click, so that was kind of cool. Intertextuality, ooer!

arcadiaego January 7 2010, 23:31:04 UTC

I don't like V for Vendetta either. I felt bad about this at first but I'm trying to be confident about my opinions and say actually, it's not all that. (Even if I am still scared Alan Moore can read my mind from Northampton and zap me.)

Is the Emma the one with Romola Garai? I love her but I'm not sure that was a good move.

snowystingray January 8 2010, 02:13:21 UTC

Oh, good, I'm glad it's not just me. I suppose the way that I feel about it is possibly the same way a lot of other non-fans feel about Watchmen -- too overblown, too full of weird rape vibes, too concerned with its own importance -- but somehow Watchmen just feels, for all its flaws, so genius and perfect and effortless to me, whereas V was just kind of like... I could see all the seams. I mean, with Watchmen, even if you don't like the story itself, I think you still have to admit that it's gorgeously told, but I just couldn't work up the same sense of wonderment with V.

Yep, it's that Emma! I've liked Romola Garai in everything else I've seen her in, but, okay, so I've never actually read Emma but I had to watch the Gwenyth Paltrow version for class a few summers ago and LOATHED IT BEYOND ALL LOATHING and basically have no desire to watch another version. There's that famous Austen quote where she said of her titular lady that "I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like," AND OH MY GOD HOW RIGHT YOU WERE, ( ... )

lalumena January 9 2010, 03:16:49 UTC

Ubik by Philip K. Dick - read this and then watch Ashes to Ashes series two. Then watch your brain explode
Ah, really? I think we have some PKD on our shelves but I've never read any.

The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Yay! I've only read some, after having watched most of them in Granada adaptation form. Did you ever see those? They starred Jeremy Brett, and were awesome, if maybe a little bit dated now.

snowystingray January 9 2010, 14:52:29 UTC

DOOOO IT. I think that's what I find most brilliant about PKD -- whenever I'm reading one of his books, it always seems to have some strange mirror in something else going on in the world/in my life/in my other fictional endeavors at the time. That's not to say that his ideas are unoriginal or derivative, but rather that he had a shockingly cutting insight that is still super relevant today (best praise I can give to scifi, I do believe!).

No, I haven't seen those Holmes adaptations, but I've always meant to! The only ones I've seen have been, hmm... I think I've seen one or two of the Basil Rathbone films, and then I've also watched The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. I'll have to look into whether my library carries the Jeremy Brett movies.