days spent reading are love
8 May 2007 08:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
salineaSo instead of using the holliday to read Reaper's Gale like any sensible fan of Erikson who just bought to book would do (or, for that matter, Feast of Souls, which I finally found), I've been reading a book called Devices & Desire by KJ Parker which I had bought on a whim several months ago and which I only started reading a couple of days ago for the maion reason that it's a paperbook that actually fit into my handbag to read on the subway which, of course, neither Reaper's Gale nor Feast of Souls do. (I hate hate hate hardcover and the fact I'll still buy them because I have no patience, and I hate hate hate people who like their books heavy, pretty and overpriced who makes the making of such books saleable when it would be so much better having a nice, flexible, small book that fits into a bag for anytime you have a free moment to read!)
That book is brillant.
How come I've never heard of KJ Parker? How come she's not prized by everyone and reccomended to hell? (funny how reading metafandom made me aware that anyone writing fantasy signing with initials instead of first name was probably a woman, and how a quick google confirmed. Funny how Friedman doesn't sign with her initials anymore, too. Guess she finally got famous to not need it anymore)
I mean, I've just read one review of this book that said it was not as good than her previous books. If this is not as good as the previous, I want to read her good books!
All right, a big reason of why I loved it is the humour. Meaning that it's that kind of wry, cynical, self-depreciative, tied-to-characters humour I love so much. So I fell in love with most of the cast of characters very very quickly. Actually the main character sort of remind me of Remus. If Remus was an engineer.
There's also the fact it's very much not a book about good and evil. It's a book about people and how they get stuck into a terrible system, because of what they want, because of what they are.
It's also very much a book made for me in that there's this sense of horribly tragic doom looming over, and heartbreaking fate overall. And about the way it says "ya know love? yeah, well, bad idea. Don't."
Which should be taught in class, really. I don't how it comes that popular culture got into its head that love was this thing to be praised and aconquer all, because it is a very strange idea. It always made much more sense to me to have love herald the way to troubles and heartbreak.
The plotting is pretty good. The world building is good, not very sophisticated or original, but well nuanced and efficient. There's no magic so far. It's also got some very good lines I need to hunt back and quotes.
So the sequel's already out, so I need to hunt and buy it tomorrow. Reaper's Gale can wait, I'm sure.
Otherwise, I saw Spiderman yesterday. It was terribly funny - most of it intended, I think. Maybe not the "Well I am French" line (the whole room was laughing at that point >_>;;) Very overthetop and cookiecutter and very very cheesy, but fun. You can see the money in the FX, it was quite impressive and very gorgeous. There's also lots of stuff I didn't like, of course. I actually liked the part where it was so packed because the pacing was slightly unusual and fresh because of that, which was good because everything else was so very expected (and annoying).
Also, for some reasons they stole line out of Dumbledore's speech, WTF?
I'm not in the mood to read fanfics at all, so I hadn't read your lattest gorgeous story, that's why. Not because I hated it.
And apparently Tonks' a Hufflepuff, wtf? (not that I dislike Hufflepuff, i think they're awesome and fearsome, but Tonks' a lazy, individualist ass, if there ever was one)
That book is brillant.
How come I've never heard of KJ Parker? How come she's not prized by everyone and reccomended to hell? (funny how reading metafandom made me aware that anyone writing fantasy signing with initials instead of first name was probably a woman, and how a quick google confirmed. Funny how Friedman doesn't sign with her initials anymore, too. Guess she finally got famous to not need it anymore)
I mean, I've just read one review of this book that said it was not as good than her previous books. If this is not as good as the previous, I want to read her good books!
All right, a big reason of why I loved it is the humour. Meaning that it's that kind of wry, cynical, self-depreciative, tied-to-characters humour I love so much. So I fell in love with most of the cast of characters very very quickly. Actually the main character sort of remind me of Remus. If Remus was an engineer.
There's also the fact it's very much not a book about good and evil. It's a book about people and how they get stuck into a terrible system, because of what they want, because of what they are.
It's also very much a book made for me in that there's this sense of horribly tragic doom looming over, and heartbreaking fate overall. And about the way it says "ya know love? yeah, well, bad idea. Don't."
Which should be taught in class, really. I don't how it comes that popular culture got into its head that love was this thing to be praised and aconquer all, because it is a very strange idea. It always made much more sense to me to have love herald the way to troubles and heartbreak.
The plotting is pretty good. The world building is good, not very sophisticated or original, but well nuanced and efficient. There's no magic so far. It's also got some very good lines I need to hunt back and quotes.
So the sequel's already out, so I need to hunt and buy it tomorrow. Reaper's Gale can wait, I'm sure.
Otherwise, I saw Spiderman yesterday. It was terribly funny - most of it intended, I think. Maybe not the "Well I am French" line (the whole room was laughing at that point >_>;;) Very overthetop and cookiecutter and very very cheesy, but fun. You can see the money in the FX, it was quite impressive and very gorgeous. There's also lots of stuff I didn't like, of course. I actually liked the part where it was so packed because the pacing was slightly unusual and fresh because of that, which was good because everything else was so very expected (and annoying).
Also, for some reasons they stole line out of Dumbledore's speech, WTF?
I'm not in the mood to read fanfics at all, so I hadn't read your lattest gorgeous story, that's why. Not because I hated it.
And apparently Tonks' a Hufflepuff, wtf? (not that I dislike Hufflepuff, i think they're awesome and fearsome, but Tonks' a lazy, individualist ass, if there ever was one)
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no subject
Date: 8 May 2007 06:19 pm (UTC)Tonks a Hufflepuff? I'm guessing this is per JKR? On the one hand, I guess I'm pleased to see that JKR has recognized that good characters can be in houses other than Gryffindor, but it doesn't seem to fit. Then again, we don't see her much with her peers; it may be that she's very different with a group of same-age friends...
no subject
Date: 8 May 2007 06:25 pm (UTC)Yes, she updated her website's FAQ with a couple of info, including Draco's wand (hawthorn), Tonks being Hufflepuff and Myrthe being Ravenclaw (that I can buy), and avoiding telling what Draco's Patronus is.
I sorta think the point about Hufflepuff is made, between Cedric and Zacharias, it's not her fault if fans keep ignoring that in favour of fanon.
But Tonks, yeah, the age group point is well taken, I'm also quite bold and sassy with younger and older folks, and much more unsure of myself with people my age XD then again,I doubt I'd be a Hufflepuff either.
no subject
Date: 8 May 2007 06:29 pm (UTC)Now, the 'Claws...I wish we got to see a little more of them being bookish. Luna, however, does seem to fit with her knowledge-seeking, even if it's kind of far-fetched sometimes.
no subject
Date: 8 May 2007 06:35 pm (UTC)I always felt the Claws were the most misrepresented. Both in definition (all the Houses have several trails going for them, but all that Ravenclaw has is intelligence, which, obviously, they're not the only ones to have). I love Luna, how she showcase others kind of approach to knowledge and learning. But all the other Ravenclaws are meh and very bland : Cho has very little personnality, Marietta has a horrendous role, Padma's little more than a name - do I forget anyone? I guess some of Ginny's boyfriends, whatever. We could do with some bookishness, or with experimenting, or with anything that show a love for knowledge, odd facts, and intellectual curiosity.
no subject
Date: 8 May 2007 06:37 pm (UTC)YES, let's have some love of knowledge in Ravenclaw, darn it! :)
no subject
Date: 9 May 2007 05:45 am (UTC)I wonder if I should read 'Devices and Desire'. It sounds pretty good from what you've said.
XD I'd agree that love isn't the be-all end-all of life, though I'm sure that there are a lucky few for whom it all turns out perfectly in the long run. I tend to think that it's rather appropriate that the flower which is usually associated with love and romance is the rose, what with its thorns and all.
no subject
Date: 11 May 2007 02:25 pm (UTC)Happy love? Cannot be! I refuse to believe in such an absurdity *poots*
Roses... hmmm, I should inform this by reading lots of medieval poetry. The answer's probably there. I always thought all the classical conceptions of love were very BDSM anyway, full of capture and bondage and suffering metaphores ♥
Spider-Man 3
Date: 11 May 2007 08:22 pm (UTC)And Venom was less than impressive in combat: he seems
so little compared to Sandman. I guess Sam Raimi liked
a lot this last one. <80)
Anyway, which was the Dumbledore's speech, for info?
Re: Spider-Man 3
Date: 11 May 2007 08:38 pm (UTC)re: Dumebledore's speech : I was thinking of the speech about Cedric's death in GoF... Peter has a little voiceover at the funeral at the end that had a couple of very close lines. One about blah blah blah ther comes a choice (that's when Dumbly says the "between doing what is easy, and doing what is right"), and there was a line about it's our choice that makes us what we are which looks a lot to what Dumbledore said to Harry at the end of CoS. I'd need to check the script to verify that the words were as similar as what it felt like.