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omnia_mutanturWorking backward, i'll start with a humiliating confession.
hello, my name is omnia and i read mercedes lackey novels.
hi, omnia
and recently, i've read
Exile's Valor. Which is everything a 'good' mercedes lackey could be. magic telepathic white horses, good versus evil, euphemistic sex, cheap sentence structure, unlimited tie-in potential.
The bad was actually unexpected, and came in the form of #8 Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary by Pamela Dean.
Once upon a time, Pamela Dean wrote a book called Tam Lin, which ranks right up there with Tartt's Secret History for my favorite college-themed novel of all time, but with traditional fairy tales as opposed to Ancient Greek religion to provide the intrigue. But years ago I lent said novel to a pearl wearing Philosophy prof, and never got it back. (i forgive her, though). So, i figured any other book by the same author, while probably not as endearing, would be good. no such luck. it's a disjointed plot-light opportunity for Dean to use her Bartlett's, when the devil, in the form of an adolescent boy, moves next door, speaks only in quotations, and half-seduces the middle daughter, thirteenyearold Gentain. (seduce in the sense of intrigue, there's nothing sexual here). the novel wins points for having Gentian's dad play Laurie Anderson's Strange Angels CD, and a cat named Margaret Mitchell , and assorted astronomy factoids.
The good was #9, the absolutely adorable Pass the Polenta by a woman with the unfortunate name of Teresa Lust.
Each chapter is a recipe, and the woman endearingly babbles about everything from h ow she got the recipe, to the history of leeks, to how her grandmother used to pluck chickens. and i'm a sucker for enthusiasm, particularly about food, and particularly if it comes with
decent sentence structure. i may have to try and convince myself to try making one more allbutter pie crust, because she (or more precisely, her Nana) makes it make sense. Imagine a chatty, less scientific Alton Brown writing a book. I haven't tried any of the recipes, but I'm planning on changing that when strawberries come back in season, since I'm still hunting the perfect buttermilk biscuit recipe for strawberry shortcake.
Last, and i'm probably going to sound like a raving fan-girl when i talk about this was #10 Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto.
The way she writes is all but luminescent. Somehow, even in translation, which is an even more amazing feat, anything she writes moves me, makes me think and often makes me cry. not because it's tearjerking, just because it's true. even a story about a bitchy terminal invalid and a last summer before a seaside inn gets sold escapes the trite and the sentimental and just rings true.
The title character, the friend and cousin of the narrator is talking about her grudging fondness for a dog, Pooch. "It's no joke, kid. This is the pits. I feel like some sort of Don Juan who's gotten himself all tangled up in the passions of one of his young virgins and accidentally ended up married... But you see nasty people have a special kind of nasty-people philosophy. This business with the mutt goes against that... The idea is I want to be the kind of jerk who could kill Pooch and eat him if it got like that-to a point where there was really nothing left to eat anymore-and not feel anything. Of course I don't mean one of these half-baked jerks who'd shed a little tear afterward and then go put up a tombstone and whisper to it, 'I'm so sorry it had to be this way, Pooch, but thanks to you maybe the rest of us will survive.' I'm not talking about the kind of person who'd take a little chip of bone and make it into a pendant and wear it wherever she went. I want to be able to just laugh and say, 'Wow, that Pooch sure was delicious!' and i want to be able to feel really calm as I say it, and if possible I don't want to feel any regret or any twinges of conscience, you see? Of course that's just an example."
there's more, i could type half the book out, but i won't. but i am going to go reread all the yoshimoto books i do have looking for a specific quote about family i halfremember.
hello, my name is omnia and i read mercedes lackey novels.
hi, omnia
and recently, i've read
Exile's Valor. Which is everything a 'good' mercedes lackey could be. magic telepathic white horses, good versus evil, euphemistic sex, cheap sentence structure, unlimited tie-in potential.
The bad was actually unexpected, and came in the form of #8 Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary by Pamela Dean.
Once upon a time, Pamela Dean wrote a book called Tam Lin, which ranks right up there with Tartt's Secret History for my favorite college-themed novel of all time, but with traditional fairy tales as opposed to Ancient Greek religion to provide the intrigue. But years ago I lent said novel to a pearl wearing Philosophy prof, and never got it back. (i forgive her, though). So, i figured any other book by the same author, while probably not as endearing, would be good. no such luck. it's a disjointed plot-light opportunity for Dean to use her Bartlett's, when the devil, in the form of an adolescent boy, moves next door, speaks only in quotations, and half-seduces the middle daughter, thirteenyearold Gentain. (seduce in the sense of intrigue, there's nothing sexual here). the novel wins points for having Gentian's dad play Laurie Anderson's Strange Angels CD, and a cat named Margaret Mitchell , and assorted astronomy factoids.
The good was #9, the absolutely adorable Pass the Polenta by a woman with the unfortunate name of Teresa Lust.
Each chapter is a recipe, and the woman endearingly babbles about everything from h ow she got the recipe, to the history of leeks, to how her grandmother used to pluck chickens. and i'm a sucker for enthusiasm, particularly about food, and particularly if it comes with
decent sentence structure. i may have to try and convince myself to try making one more allbutter pie crust, because she (or more precisely, her Nana) makes it make sense. Imagine a chatty, less scientific Alton Brown writing a book. I haven't tried any of the recipes, but I'm planning on changing that when strawberries come back in season, since I'm still hunting the perfect buttermilk biscuit recipe for strawberry shortcake.
Last, and i'm probably going to sound like a raving fan-girl when i talk about this was #10 Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto.
The way she writes is all but luminescent. Somehow, even in translation, which is an even more amazing feat, anything she writes moves me, makes me think and often makes me cry. not because it's tearjerking, just because it's true. even a story about a bitchy terminal invalid and a last summer before a seaside inn gets sold escapes the trite and the sentimental and just rings true.
The title character, the friend and cousin of the narrator is talking about her grudging fondness for a dog, Pooch. "It's no joke, kid. This is the pits. I feel like some sort of Don Juan who's gotten himself all tangled up in the passions of one of his young virgins and accidentally ended up married... But you see nasty people have a special kind of nasty-people philosophy. This business with the mutt goes against that... The idea is I want to be the kind of jerk who could kill Pooch and eat him if it got like that-to a point where there was really nothing left to eat anymore-and not feel anything. Of course I don't mean one of these half-baked jerks who'd shed a little tear afterward and then go put up a tombstone and whisper to it, 'I'm so sorry it had to be this way, Pooch, but thanks to you maybe the rest of us will survive.' I'm not talking about the kind of person who'd take a little chip of bone and make it into a pendant and wear it wherever she went. I want to be able to just laugh and say, 'Wow, that Pooch sure was delicious!' and i want to be able to feel really calm as I say it, and if possible I don't want to feel any regret or any twinges of conscience, you see? Of course that's just an example."
there's more, i could type half the book out, but i won't. but i am going to go reread all the yoshimoto books i do have looking for a specific quote about family i halfremember.
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no subject
Date: 2005-01-29 02:42 pm (UTC)You scare me.
*runs away to hide*
;)
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Date: 2005-01-29 03:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-29 03:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-29 10:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-30 06:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-31 05:08 pm (UTC)