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Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 05:59 pm
and sometimes it rains toads
Mea culpa.
This is where I say, I have never been mistaken for a literary snob because if it's written in a language I can read, it's likely I'll read it (my reading Finnish and reading Spanish were always about ten times better than my spoken. Well, not now. Now my reading Finnish is mostly an ability to recognize the case of any verb I see. May not know the verb, but I know with that suffix, the bastard means under the. Sometimes). However, I will admit I have never really seen the attraction of the political thriller, the spy novel, or the mystery. If it wasn't sff, horror, or historical, I just wasn't all that interested.
(There was also the novels of Gor, which one day, God willing, I will talk about how that really should have prepared me more for fandom than it did. Mostly, it was my personal rebellion: I covered it with paper and read about enslaved branded women during class feeling very rebellious when my eighth grade teacher denied me Lord of the Flies on the grounds I was too young. I stole it from the high school library; wow, was that a letdown. Seriously. Still bitter. This was also the year of Flowers in the Attic (and related) and Virginia Henley's purple prose. That I survived is still a mystery.)
(Also, I once had a summer of John Grisham that proved to me I did in fact have a secret masochistic tendency. It was all there was to read. A part of me believes at least a portion of my need to write stems from the fact that I never want to be in a position again where my choices are various terrifying religious texts, re-reading The Seven Towers to the point of being able to recite chapters, or ten John Grisham novels. That was a dark time. A very dark time.)
(We won't even discuss John Saul or Dean Koontz. Those were dark days and directly related to, I think, a secret desire to die. There's really no other justification.)
(I'll stop the parenthesis now.)
The Bourne Identity is surprising me. This is very, very readable and is not bogging down in unnecessary detail. And I have to admit, I am kinda impressed he isn't screwing up his pronouns when one character as yet has no name, is referred to as the patient, and the fact he is doing this is not irritating me at all.
Fine. I was totally unconsciously judgmental. I totally cop to it.
This is where I say, I have never been mistaken for a literary snob because if it's written in a language I can read, it's likely I'll read it (my reading Finnish and reading Spanish were always about ten times better than my spoken. Well, not now. Now my reading Finnish is mostly an ability to recognize the case of any verb I see. May not know the verb, but I know with that suffix, the bastard means under the. Sometimes). However, I will admit I have never really seen the attraction of the political thriller, the spy novel, or the mystery. If it wasn't sff, horror, or historical, I just wasn't all that interested.
(There was also the novels of Gor, which one day, God willing, I will talk about how that really should have prepared me more for fandom than it did. Mostly, it was my personal rebellion: I covered it with paper and read about enslaved branded women during class feeling very rebellious when my eighth grade teacher denied me Lord of the Flies on the grounds I was too young. I stole it from the high school library; wow, was that a letdown. Seriously. Still bitter. This was also the year of Flowers in the Attic (and related) and Virginia Henley's purple prose. That I survived is still a mystery.)
(Also, I once had a summer of John Grisham that proved to me I did in fact have a secret masochistic tendency. It was all there was to read. A part of me believes at least a portion of my need to write stems from the fact that I never want to be in a position again where my choices are various terrifying religious texts, re-reading The Seven Towers to the point of being able to recite chapters, or ten John Grisham novels. That was a dark time. A very dark time.)
(We won't even discuss John Saul or Dean Koontz. Those were dark days and directly related to, I think, a secret desire to die. There's really no other justification.)
(I'll stop the parenthesis now.)
The Bourne Identity is surprising me. This is very, very readable and is not bogging down in unnecessary detail. And I have to admit, I am kinda impressed he isn't screwing up his pronouns when one character as yet has no name, is referred to as the patient, and the fact he is doing this is not irritating me at all.
Fine. I was totally unconsciously judgmental. I totally cop to it.
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From:The only thing I can think with Marie is that a.) they wanted to appeal to a younger (male) audience, and two, they weren't sure what to do if they took away her financial contribution, which was part and parcel with the rest. It was lazy. I can think of several ways they could have shifted her with the plot, but *shrugs*. I assume they were trying to simplify the story more.
At least in the books she survives. *sighs*
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Finals-inspired wish needs fairy godmother....
From:I wish for a multi-fandom _Tale of Two Cities/Scarlet Pimpernel_ Fic, Art, Vid, etc. Fest. Any rating. Any fandom. Slash, het, gen... whatever. First time, friendship, romance, h/c, darkfic, humor, etc. Writers pick either of the two works or blend elements of both. They go short as drabbles or long as novels -- series, even. I dream of vids, wallpapers, banners, covers, icons which bring your worlds alive.
Transfer the French Revolution to the Pegasus Galaxy, to Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital, to Hogwarts, to the Impala, to Metropolis, to Los Angeles before the Terminators, to Cardiff, to the Tardis, to Bandom, to your favorite wealthy RPS boys' concerts or trailers or hotels or mansions....
Class warfare. Caste systems. Mistaken identity. Masks. Cross-dressing. Doppelgangers. Doublecrosses. Decadant aristocratic gatherings. Beautiful clothes dragged through streets running with blood. Threat of the guillotine. Knitting. Playing the fop to disappoint those your character loves, and then secretly leading heroic missions. Your hero sacrificing her/his life - or something precious if you loathe deathfic - when no one expects that sort of act from her/him. Offering comfort to another while on the way to execution or loss. Belief a spouse works for the enemy and finding proof s/he does. An unhappy marriage which finds its happy resolution. Whatever other permutation you want.
If you're interested in such an event, copy and paste the above into your LJ, IJ, JF, GJ, etc. Post what you write/draw/edit where/when you want, but please leave a link in my LJ if you're so inclined.
Even if you don't want to participate, please consider passing it on. Add to the suggestions any way you wish.
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Re: Finals-inspired wish needs fairy godmother....
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Re: Finals-inspired wish needs fairy godmother....
From:You so completely rock!
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From:I've only read the first Bourne novel though I remember being really engaged by it and being impressed both by novel-Bourne's ingenuity and how the movie makers had translated that to modern technology.
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From:It's a *tiny* thing. *hopeful*
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From:Gor! I read a bunch of those in high school, which likely explains a lot about me; but my mom hid them from me, so of course I rooted them out and went to the library for more until I'd glutted myself on all ones in print at the time. (Note: Mom was a librarian, so I was there frequently, and could get books from the employee only area so that no one interfered with my selections.) Sharon Green wrote a lot of similar ones, fyi.
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From:I just ordered them in Amazon. This is somehow your fault; I just haven't discovered how as of yet. And here I thought I was the manipulative one. *frowns*
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From:evilorders.I'll let you know what I think.
Have fun reading the second.
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From:My favorite Ludlum is either Bourne or The Matarese Circle, which is all secret societies and conspiracies and the like. Very old-school.
We shall not talk of Gor, except to point out that Kate Elliott has redeemed giant eagles for me. *g*
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From:I think I might just hop over to your journal and ask you something...
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From:btw Eighth Grade - isn't that 13 year olds? I seem to remember we read 'Lord of the Flies' as a set book in schools over here when I was about that age...
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From:(oh god, GOR. Do you know there are people who are actually trying to live the "Gorean Lifestyle" out there? Trufax. It's the most appalling thing EVER, especially because so many of them are so incredibly serious about this.)
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