![[personal profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
This is the entirety of my reading backlogged, as it currently stands. At least half of the books will likely never be read, as they’re either books I picked up at random at the UBS, or are romance authors whose books have been waiting for ages, but whose stuff I probably won’t like as much now as I did a few years ago.
In theory, I will keep this updated. In theory.
This doesn’t include anything I’ve read but not posted on yet.
( cut for list )
Last updated 12/30/10
(no subject)
Jan. 26th, 2012 08:37 pmFrom now to January 30th, rightstuf.com has YesAsia kdramas 35% off.
Same drill as always: click the tickybox for any books you've read at any point in time. Books are divided by genre, to the best of my ability to determine. (So many rereleases get different categories than the original releases!) Classics and non-fiction are lumped together due to laziness.
There were a lot of things I read this year that I meant to post on but didn't. Among them are:
Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl books. (Slightly-annoying worldbuilding, but great fun.)
First reread since teen years of Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising Sequence. (Enjoyable, mythology holds up but tension/danger don't hold up that well as an adult. Kids Hunting Treasure parts were more fun than Boy With Destiny parts, Greenwitch is still my favorite.)
Dianne Day's Fremont Jones mysteries. (Falls apart a bit in the last couple books, but very enjoyable mystery series largely set early 20th century California.)
Austen's Sense and Sensibility (Enjoyable, not as fun as the other Austen's I've read. Questionable honor of the first Austen leading man-Elinor's dude-who I didn't care for.) and Gaskell's North and South (I get the big deal.)
I also read a bunch of Rafael Sabatini's books. They were fun but are rather blended together. I think I meant to post on the Millenium Trilogy after I finished it but got distracted talking about thing I liked instead of found increasingly creepy.
(no subject)
Jan. 22nd, 2012 11:51 pmYesterday, I did my taxes. At the end, Turbotax has this "things we noticed" review bit. The first box was to the effect of "we notice that your gross income for 2011 is several thousand dollars less than last year, but that you have listed no lifestyle or employment changes, are you sure you've entered this correctlty?" The second box was "we notice that you have included multiple thousands of dollars in medical deductables and did not last year, are you certain this has been entered correctly?"
While I'm perfectly aware that this is an automated thing that only looks at the individual sections as opposed to correlations and possible cause-effect situations, it inspires such a "well, you know..." reaction.
While I'm perfectly aware that this is an automated thing that only looks at the individual sections as opposed to correlations and possible cause-effect situations, it inspires such a "well, you know..." reaction.
Lost Girl 2.12-2.13: ( spoilers )
Downton Abbey: Christmas Special: Two non-spoilery things that made me happy:
1. Isobel got Violet a nutcracker for Christmas! A nutcracker! With an explanation full of awkward innuendo.
2. Mary had The Tenant of Windfell Hall in charades. Probably a lot less fun if you didn't read the book a week before watching this episode.
( spoilers )
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (2012): I basically know nothing about this Dickens but checked it out because it was short and I've liked the other recent Dickens adaptations I've watched (Bleak House, Little Dorrit and Great Expectations) despite only being familiar with one of the canons going in. I liked this as much as I can like something where I dislike the main character? I have difficulty liking things where I don't like the lead character. Pretty well done and entertaining, though I liked Great Expectations more.
The Hour: Series 1: A recent BBC series about the founding of an hour long new program in the 50s with Romala Garai as the show's producer, Bel. Her best friend, Freddy, is about half a step from being a conspiracy theorist and feels insulted at only being assigned home affairs for Bel's show and is obsessed with discovering the truth about his childhood friend's death. Freddy was annoying, but less annoying than I expected, and the romantic plotlines were annoyingly predictable from the first episode and I did my best to ignore them. That said, the show is pretty good, even if it does sometimes suffer a bit too much from Mad Men syndrome. (It seems to be going around.) The conspiracy plot isn't revolutionary but it works and the actual reporting and production of the program were interesting and the characters were largely interesting as well. IMO, Bel and her plot are the main reasons to watch, but opinions may vary.
Revenge 1.9-1.13: My ssshhhhooooowwwwww!
( spoilers )
Other TV (and 1 anime) bits: Finally watched the Moribito anime. It is as awesome as everyone says, but also made me a bit depressed at the "no more US releases of the books" thing. (Which spiraled into "no more Twelve Kingdoms books" and "we only ever got one Kino book...") Am finally watching season 2 of Spooks/MI:5 after watching and being entertained by the first season a couple years ago. It's so...entertainingly absurd. Like, the Drama is so blown up at times that it inspires inappropriate laughter of the "no, wait this is seriously tragic/actually rather offensive WHY AM I GIGGLING?" variety. A (usually) very fun show in which very talented actors play the worst spies ever but we're supposed to think they're amazing. Also, My brain cannot really process Keeley Hawes in a contemporary role. I also watched the first few eps of Lie to Me, which were entertaining enough to keep the rest of the season in my netflix queue, but I'm not sure it'll ever inspire great love. It makes me think of Psych if Psych took itself superseriously and Shawn were able to pay attention for more than 30 seconds. Also, I kind of really don't like the main character so far, even if he is entertaining.
Currently behind on:
Covert Affairs
Nikita
Once Upon A Time
Pan Am
And I think White Collar came back this week.
Meanwhile, Revenge is on hiatus again. Maybe I'l rewatch Gankutsuo.
Downton Abbey: Christmas Special: Two non-spoilery things that made me happy:
1. Isobel got Violet a nutcracker for Christmas! A nutcracker! With an explanation full of awkward innuendo.
2. Mary had The Tenant of Windfell Hall in charades. Probably a lot less fun if you didn't read the book a week before watching this episode.
( spoilers )
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (2012): I basically know nothing about this Dickens but checked it out because it was short and I've liked the other recent Dickens adaptations I've watched (Bleak House, Little Dorrit and Great Expectations) despite only being familiar with one of the canons going in. I liked this as much as I can like something where I dislike the main character? I have difficulty liking things where I don't like the lead character. Pretty well done and entertaining, though I liked Great Expectations more.
The Hour: Series 1: A recent BBC series about the founding of an hour long new program in the 50s with Romala Garai as the show's producer, Bel. Her best friend, Freddy, is about half a step from being a conspiracy theorist and feels insulted at only being assigned home affairs for Bel's show and is obsessed with discovering the truth about his childhood friend's death. Freddy was annoying, but less annoying than I expected, and the romantic plotlines were annoyingly predictable from the first episode and I did my best to ignore them. That said, the show is pretty good, even if it does sometimes suffer a bit too much from Mad Men syndrome. (It seems to be going around.) The conspiracy plot isn't revolutionary but it works and the actual reporting and production of the program were interesting and the characters were largely interesting as well. IMO, Bel and her plot are the main reasons to watch, but opinions may vary.
Revenge 1.9-1.13: My ssshhhhooooowwwwww!
( spoilers )
Other TV (and 1 anime) bits: Finally watched the Moribito anime. It is as awesome as everyone says, but also made me a bit depressed at the "no more US releases of the books" thing. (Which spiraled into "no more Twelve Kingdoms books" and "we only ever got one Kino book...") Am finally watching season 2 of Spooks/MI:5 after watching and being entertained by the first season a couple years ago. It's so...entertainingly absurd. Like, the Drama is so blown up at times that it inspires inappropriate laughter of the "no, wait this is seriously tragic/actually rather offensive WHY AM I GIGGLING?" variety. A (usually) very fun show in which very talented actors play the worst spies ever but we're supposed to think they're amazing. Also, My brain cannot really process Keeley Hawes in a contemporary role. I also watched the first few eps of Lie to Me, which were entertaining enough to keep the rest of the season in my netflix queue, but I'm not sure it'll ever inspire great love. It makes me think of Psych if Psych took itself superseriously and Shawn were able to pay attention for more than 30 seconds. Also, I kind of really don't like the main character so far, even if he is entertaining.
Currently behind on:
Covert Affairs
Nikita
Once Upon A Time
Pan Am
And I think White Collar came back this week.
Meanwhile, Revenge is on hiatus again. Maybe I'l rewatch Gankutsuo.
Mirror Sword and Dragon PrinceDragon Sword and Wind Child before reading this one, as the events of the first are referenced as a part of the world's mythic history, but events between the two aren't related in any way to make one rely on the other. (But you should read it anyway, because it's good.)
MS&SP is loosely based on the legend of Yamato Takeru. Oguna is a foundling taken in by the Tachibana family of Mino and spends his childhood in the shadow of his strong-willed foster sister, Toko. When the two are twelve, the crown prince Oh-usu comes to Mino to collect his father's bride and, because of the resemblance between the two he takes Oguna back to the capital to be his double, the "shadow prince." Years later, Oguna learns the truth of his parentage and is given the mystic Mirror Sword. The sword, however, consumes Oguna and causes him to go to war against basically the world, and Toko sets out to gather the mythic magatama to stop him, and is eventually joined by a beadmaker who bares a startling resemblance to a certain lecherous monk in Inu-Yasha. There's also a secondary romantic subplot between Oh-usu and Toko's cousin that is literally Love At First Sight and works better than it really should.
I'm not really sure what to say about save that the plot is very good, the characterization is excellent and often complex, and the translation is very solid. The book as a whole has a very good, strong mythic feel without feeling too removed from "normality." Some parts feel a bit too simple at times-like the ease with which people sometimes forgive others or move past their actions-but that works for the story instead of against it, and while it's based on the legend of Yamato Takeru, it's often much more Toko's story than Oguna's.
MS&SP is loosely based on the legend of Yamato Takeru. Oguna is a foundling taken in by the Tachibana family of Mino and spends his childhood in the shadow of his strong-willed foster sister, Toko. When the two are twelve, the crown prince Oh-usu comes to Mino to collect his father's bride and, because of the resemblance between the two he takes Oguna back to the capital to be his double, the "shadow prince." Years later, Oguna learns the truth of his parentage and is given the mystic Mirror Sword. The sword, however, consumes Oguna and causes him to go to war against basically the world, and Toko sets out to gather the mythic magatama to stop him, and is eventually joined by a beadmaker who bares a startling resemblance to a certain lecherous monk in Inu-Yasha. There's also a secondary romantic subplot between Oh-usu and Toko's cousin that is literally Love At First Sight and works better than it really should.
I'm not really sure what to say about save that the plot is very good, the characterization is excellent and often complex, and the translation is very solid. The book as a whole has a very good, strong mythic feel without feeling too removed from "normality." Some parts feel a bit too simple at times-like the ease with which people sometimes forgive others or move past their actions-but that works for the story instead of against it, and while it's based on the legend of Yamato Takeru, it's often much more Toko's story than Oguna's.
(no subject)
Jan. 19th, 2012 08:02 pmI was not actually deliberately joining the blackout yesterday (mostly), I was just embarking on a glorious 4 hour Revenge marathon. But i did spend half an hour arguing with a coworker about wikipedia's right to do the blackout despite wikipedia not being directly affected.
No comment about the megapload bit. Just kicking and eyerolling and petting thepiratebay.org.
Also, required reading: a response to the Jim C. Hines fantasy cover poses that compares male and female cover model pose equivalents.
No comment about the megapload bit. Just kicking and eyerolling and petting thepiratebay.org.
Also, required reading: a response to the Jim C. Hines fantasy cover poses that compares male and female cover model pose equivalents.
(no subject)
Jan. 17th, 2012 11:09 pmSo, to renew and update my Norton antivirus, they made me reboot 3 times.
Once to delete the old version, once to install the new version, and then again to actually start it.
Am I alone in thinking this may be a bit much?
Once to delete the old version, once to install the new version, and then again to actually start it.
Am I alone in thinking this may be a bit much?
(no subject)
Jan. 17th, 2012 09:03 pmDoes anyone know if there's a tally anywhere of characters who no longer exist in the DC Universe?
Off the top of my head, there's Lian Harper (I think?) Connor Hawke (nice fell swoop there on eleminating pesky multiracial characters from the Green Arrow corner of canon) and Helena Bertinelli.
I know there are more, though.
Did they bother getting rid of any of the white men?
ETA: Wally West! I admit to being floored, though I doubt that one will last.
Off the top of my head, there's Lian Harper (I think?) Connor Hawke (nice fell swoop there on eleminating pesky multiracial characters from the Green Arrow corner of canon) and Helena Bertinelli.
I know there are more, though.
ETA: Wally West! I admit to being floored, though I doubt that one will last.
Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer
Jan. 16th, 2012 10:45 pmThis is, I think one of the more popular Heyers, and I can see why. I'm not sure it'll end up one of my favorites simply because I didn't like Vidal a lot of the time. I mean, I did at some times and didn't at others, but he was mean to his mother early in the book (but nice to her later) and I feel there have been far, far too many Vidal's in my fictional life over the years, even if there were far, far fewer in fiction when Heyer wrote this.
Anyway!
The Marquis of Vidal is mad, bad, and has every vice you can think of and drives everyone bonkers with his sinning. After one duel too many, his father (apparently far worse in his own youth) decides to exile him to France. Vidal decides that it will be a bit lonely to go alone and sends a note to Sophia Challoner, who he has been planning to run away with, to meet him before he leaves. Sophia's super-practical older sister, Mary (I love Mary), accidentally intercepts the letter and realizes that Vidal wants Sophia to be his mistress, while Sophia thinks they'll be eloping. Mary goes in Sophia's place to make Vidal think Sophia has only been playing with him, and gets abducted and dragged to France for her troubles.
I decided to like it when Mary gets a gun that may or may not be loaded and use it to defend her honor, then shoots Vidal when he tells her to. At which point, he decides that Mary is an honorable young lady and he should marry her, while Mary decides she should stay in France and become a governess. Then Vidal's flamboyant cousin, Julianna, and her staid fiance and their romantic troubles show up and further complicate things, and there are many misunderstandings and chasing people around France.
The abduction aspect works better than it should and it's lots of fun, but think I needed to read it many romance novels earlier to love it the way others do, though I did like iot overall a lot.
Anyway!
The Marquis of Vidal is mad, bad, and has every vice you can think of and drives everyone bonkers with his sinning. After one duel too many, his father (apparently far worse in his own youth) decides to exile him to France. Vidal decides that it will be a bit lonely to go alone and sends a note to Sophia Challoner, who he has been planning to run away with, to meet him before he leaves. Sophia's super-practical older sister, Mary (I love Mary), accidentally intercepts the letter and realizes that Vidal wants Sophia to be his mistress, while Sophia thinks they'll be eloping. Mary goes in Sophia's place to make Vidal think Sophia has only been playing with him, and gets abducted and dragged to France for her troubles.
I decided to like it when Mary gets a gun that may or may not be loaded and use it to defend her honor, then shoots Vidal when he tells her to. At which point, he decides that Mary is an honorable young lady and he should marry her, while Mary decides she should stay in France and become a governess. Then Vidal's flamboyant cousin, Julianna, and her staid fiance and their romantic troubles show up and further complicate things, and there are many misunderstandings and chasing people around France.
The abduction aspect works better than it should and it's lots of fun, but think I needed to read it many romance novels earlier to love it the way others do, though I did like iot overall a lot.
Heroes of Olympus, the sequel series to Percy Jackson and the Olympians, isn't as good as the first, but is still pretty fun. The first book is about an amnesiac boy named Jason who wakes up between two other demigods-Piper and Leo-on a bus just in time for the bus to be attacked by air spirits and the three-who don't know they're demigods-to learn learn that their gym teacher is a rabid, homicidal satyr.
Annabeth shows up and announces that PERCY IS MISSING and that she was told she'd find the answer to his disappearance at the bridge where she meets the three new kids. At first, I thought Jason was going to turn out to be Percy with amnesia and hidden in plain sight by the gods with a new face, but that possibility was quickly done away with. Then literally 5 minutes after learning who their respective godly parents are, Camp Halfblood learns Hera has been kidnapped and the three new kids are given a mission to rescue her.
( I don't think this is too spoilery, but just in case. )
There are also lots of deadly/tragic secrets and personal and family curses running around, and Riordan is exploring almost entirely new areas of mythology from the first series and seems to be trying to make most of the new characters-lead and otherwise-be diiferent (sometimes almost antithetical) to the general types he portrayed their subset of demigods as in the first series, with mixed results in both cases, though not really with anything that makes me want to hit something. The characters are also starting out in their mid/late-teens instead of being 12, which I like. Both books seem largely to be set up for the rest, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens. And hoping Annabeth gets POV chapters.
Also, there's lots of "Raised by wolves! And ghosts!" going around. And Riordan seriously ships Annabeth/Percy to an almost ridiculous degree. As in "it's a good thing I like this pairing, too, or this could get annoying."
Annabeth shows up and announces that PERCY IS MISSING and that she was told she'd find the answer to his disappearance at the bridge where she meets the three new kids. At first, I thought Jason was going to turn out to be Percy with amnesia and hidden in plain sight by the gods with a new face, but that possibility was quickly done away with. Then literally 5 minutes after learning who their respective godly parents are, Camp Halfblood learns Hera has been kidnapped and the three new kids are given a mission to rescue her.
( I don't think this is too spoilery, but just in case. )
There are also lots of deadly/tragic secrets and personal and family curses running around, and Riordan is exploring almost entirely new areas of mythology from the first series and seems to be trying to make most of the new characters-lead and otherwise-be diiferent (sometimes almost antithetical) to the general types he portrayed their subset of demigods as in the first series, with mixed results in both cases, though not really with anything that makes me want to hit something. The characters are also starting out in their mid/late-teens instead of being 12, which I like. Both books seem largely to be set up for the rest, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens. And hoping Annabeth gets POV chapters.
Also, there's lots of "Raised by wolves! And ghosts!" going around. And Riordan seriously ships Annabeth/Percy to an almost ridiculous degree. As in "it's a good thing I like this pairing, too, or this could get annoying."
Within the Flames by Marjorie M. Liu
Jan. 14th, 2012 09:48 pmThis is, I believe, the 11th book in Liu's Dirk & Steele series, but can largely be read independently, though scenes pertaining to the series as a whole may make you “bzuh?”.
Lyssa is the daughter of a dragon and a witch. Who is secretly a famous yet secretive children’s artist under a pseudonym, but who lives in the sewers because she must forever be in hiding. And because one of her arms is covered in scales and the fingers on the hand attached to it are rather clawlike. Eddie is an agent of Dirk & Steele (aka "The X-Men, if the X-men were a detective agency and considerably less soap opera-like") who is almost abnormally nice and polite in this day and age and who has a tendency to burst into flame. As they are the leads in a romance novel, yes, the sex actually is a tad on the dangerous side.
Eddie is sent by Dirk & Steele to find and protect Lyssa when the agency learns that she's being hunted by evil superwitches. Lyssa isn't exactly thrilled to suddenly have a a bodyguard, but decides he's pretty useful. Along the way they get rid of abusive fathers, tangle with various forms of good and evil witches, face off with the scary lady dragon and hang out with shape-changing, one-eyed female mercenary captains. (Never forget, Liu is the one who actually had a character run away to join the circus. If she can think of a way to include something, it'll be there.)
It's fun and there's a lot of development with Liu's mythology for witches, most of which was interesting, but I kept getting the feeling that this shoe was going to drop and I'd hate the shoe. It didn't really happen, but I kept having that FEELING as I was reading it. It’s also a bit disappointing as “Eddie’s book” because fans (at least, the ones I know) like Eddie because he’s super nice and not because he’s angsty and has Tragedy in his past.
Lyssa is the daughter of a dragon and a witch. Who is secretly a famous yet secretive children’s artist under a pseudonym, but who lives in the sewers because she must forever be in hiding. And because one of her arms is covered in scales and the fingers on the hand attached to it are rather clawlike. Eddie is an agent of Dirk & Steele (aka "The X-Men, if the X-men were a detective agency and considerably less soap opera-like") who is almost abnormally nice and polite in this day and age and who has a tendency to burst into flame. As they are the leads in a romance novel, yes, the sex actually is a tad on the dangerous side.
Eddie is sent by Dirk & Steele to find and protect Lyssa when the agency learns that she's being hunted by evil superwitches. Lyssa isn't exactly thrilled to suddenly have a a bodyguard, but decides he's pretty useful. Along the way they get rid of abusive fathers, tangle with various forms of good and evil witches, face off with the scary lady dragon and hang out with shape-changing, one-eyed female mercenary captains. (Never forget, Liu is the one who actually had a character run away to join the circus. If she can think of a way to include something, it'll be there.)
It's fun and there's a lot of development with Liu's mythology for witches, most of which was interesting, but I kept getting the feeling that this shoe was going to drop and I'd hate the shoe. It didn't really happen, but I kept having that FEELING as I was reading it. It’s also a bit disappointing as “Eddie’s book” because fans (at least, the ones I know) like Eddie because he’s super nice and not because he’s angsty and has Tragedy in his past.
Var. books by Agatha Christie
Jan. 12th, 2012 10:26 pmA fairly random selection of Christies I've been reading for the last few months. A few Poirots (apparently, I love him on screen but am annoyed with him in print) but mostly standalones. I largely liked them when Christie's racism and xenophobia weren't running rampant. Well, that and the fact that I don't think I like her view of families-at least in fiction-very much.
( comments on books here )
( comments on books here )
icons: mostly movies
Jan. 9th, 2012 08:11 pm54 x 39 Steps (2008)
38 x Brave
71 x Clue
31 x Pope Joan
17 x Shirley: The Shirley Bassett Story
42 x Wendy (webseries)
icons @ my LJ
38 x Brave
71 x Clue
31 x Pope Joan
17 x Shirley: The Shirley Bassett Story
42 x Wendy (webseries)
icons @ my LJ
Offered without comment.
Jan. 7th, 2012 08:43 amOne word more, and I have done. Respecting the author’s
identity, I would have it to he distinctly understood that Acton
Bell is neither Currer nor Ellis Bell, and therefore let not his
faults be attributed to them. As to whether the name be real
or fictitious, it cannot greatly signify to those who know him
only by his works. As little, I should think, can it matter
whether the writer so designated is a man, or a woman, as one
or two of my critics profess to have discovered. I take the
imputation in good part, as a compliment to the just delineation
of my female characters; and though I am bound to attribute
much of the severity of my censors to this suspicion, I
make no effort to refute it, because, in my own mind, I am
satisfied that if a book is a good one, it is so whatever the sex
of the author may be. All novels are, or should be, written for
both men and women to read, and I am at a loss to conceive
how a man should permit himself to write anything that would
be really disgraceful to a woman, or why a woman should be
censured for writing anything that would be proper and becoming
for a man.
JULY 22nd, 1848
Anne Bronte, in the preface to the second edition of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
identity, I would have it to he distinctly understood that Acton
Bell is neither Currer nor Ellis Bell, and therefore let not his
faults be attributed to them. As to whether the name be real
or fictitious, it cannot greatly signify to those who know him
only by his works. As little, I should think, can it matter
whether the writer so designated is a man, or a woman, as one
or two of my critics profess to have discovered. I take the
imputation in good part, as a compliment to the just delineation
of my female characters; and though I am bound to attribute
much of the severity of my censors to this suspicion, I
make no effort to refute it, because, in my own mind, I am
satisfied that if a book is a good one, it is so whatever the sex
of the author may be. All novels are, or should be, written for
both men and women to read, and I am at a loss to conceive
how a man should permit himself to write anything that would
be really disgraceful to a woman, or why a woman should be
censured for writing anything that would be proper and becoming
for a man.
JULY 22nd, 1848
Anne Bronte, in the preface to the second edition of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
Rivals for the Crown by Kathleen Givens
Jan. 6th, 2012 05:15 pmThis is a medieval romance set in the 1290s and centering around Edward I's attempts to take over Scotland. I really liked the first half, which focused on two childhood friends, Isabel, who becomes one of the queen's ladies-in-waiting and gets involved in courtly scheming of all kinds, and Rachel, whose family moves to Scotland after Edward exiled the Jews. Both acquire strapping Scottish rebel hunks as love interests, as one does, but I really liked the focus on and contrast between Isabel and Rachel's lives and how the politics of the time affected both. it focused more on Isabel than Rachel, which disappointed me a bit because I really liked the idea of a medieval romance with a Jewish heroine, even though I actually did like Isabel more, and Jewish protagonists are extremely rare in romance novels. Then again, Isabel also had more adventures and got to show how she dealt with things more, so it's a bit of a catch 22 situation there to a degree.
The second half was mostly Braveheart ground, but with a much greater resemblance to actual history. It was good, but forgot about the girls for long stretches, and so I didn't like it as much as the first half. I still really liked the parts with Isabel, but thought Rachel's parts in the second half came close to punishing her for making smart choices instead of romantic choices. While the second half wasn't as much my thing as the first half, it was still very good and I thought both romantic plotlines were well done, and plan to read Givens's other books. (I, uhm, wish they weren't all Scottish though.) After Braveheart came out it seemed like every other historical romance had a Scottish hero, half of whom got to teach stuck up English girls about how awesome Scotland was and how bad England was, and I kinda got antagonistic towards anything resembling a Scotsman in a romance novel for a few years there.
The second half was mostly Braveheart ground, but with a much greater resemblance to actual history. It was good, but forgot about the girls for long stretches, and so I didn't like it as much as the first half. I still really liked the parts with Isabel, but thought Rachel's parts in the second half came close to punishing her for making smart choices instead of romantic choices. While the second half wasn't as much my thing as the first half, it was still very good and I thought both romantic plotlines were well done, and plan to read Givens's other books. (I, uhm, wish they weren't all Scottish though.) After Braveheart came out it seemed like every other historical romance had a Scottish hero, half of whom got to teach stuck up English girls about how awesome Scotland was and how bad England was, and I kinda got antagonistic towards anything resembling a Scotsman in a romance novel for a few years there.
Great Expectations
Jan. 5th, 2012 09:42 pmSpent a large part of the evening watching the new Great Expectations that aired a couple weeks ago. (Last week? There's a post-surgery blur there.) I wasn't sure going in (a lot of which was that I'd never heard of Estella and Pip's actors-they were both good in the roles) but it was pretty decent. Gillian Andersen was almost unrecognizable as Miss Haversham, and I'll be rather surprised if she doesn't get nominated for awards for this.
Also, nice to have Harry Lloyd going back to playing sweet characters after his Game of Thrones stint.
