my loot, let me show it to you(and other bits)

[meganbmoore]

Today, the UBS and Waldenbooks were my friends.

Books:

Marjorie M. Liu:  Eye of Heaven
Fuyumi Ono: The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Shadows
S.M. Peters: Whitechapel Gods
Dorothy L. Sayers: Clouds of Witness, Strong Poison,  The Unpleasantness at the Belladonna Club, The Five Red Herring, Lord Peter(anthology) and Busman's Honeymoon(anthology)
Rob Thurman: Madhouse

Manga:

Land of Silver Rain Vol 6-7
Pumpkin Scissors Vol 2
Togari Vol 5
xXxHolic Vol 11

Ordered from Amazon because no one local had a better price:

Stargate: Ark of Truth
Tin Man

BTW, Stargate fans, will I spoil myself for SGA if I just put it off until I've finished watching all of SG1 and AoT?

Meanwhile, I've started reading Robin McKinley's Spindle's End.  It's been a long time, but I remember loving the McKinley books I read in the past, but 30 pages in, it seems to be trying so very, very hard to be clever that the effect is almost too twee to swallow. Does it get better/is it worth sticking with, or am I better off either dropping it or setting it aside for later, and moving on to something else(like 12K or Madhouse)?

Meanwhile, I seem to have "accidentally" acquired Milano cookies and asiago cheese bread.  The cookies I know what to do with, but I have nothing to have with that bread... 

ETA:  Also, people owe me over $100 in ebay payments.  Do they not realize I have plans for that money?  Do they not realize that money will provide me with(primarily) hours of pretty korean people angsting prettily with swords and guns and other assorted weapons in period costumes, and pretty japanese people doing amazingly cracky things?  GIMME MONEY!

Comments

[mscongeniality.livejournal.com]

How could I have forgotten that Sea of Shadows came out yesterday? Aaagh! Must. Stop. At. Bookstore.

[mscongeniality.livejournal.com]

Heh. I got so distracted by the Twelve Kingdoms that I totally failed to notice the Wimsey books. I recommend 'Clouds of Witness' and 'An Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club' first and then 'Strong Poison' but, then, I'm partial to saving the best for last.


(Also, now I totally regret not having uploaded the Wimsey icons I snagged this morning.)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I'll be reading the Wimsey books in order.

The 12k book is Taiki and Gyosei's book, instead of the second Youko book, which is what I was expecting(not, mind you, that I'm complaining.)

[mscongeniality.livejournal.com]

Keen.

And I think they're relasing the 12K books in publication order.

[the_rck]

I think you're fine waiting to watch SGA until after you've finished SG-1 and AoT. As I recall, SG-1 tends not to refer much to Atlantis (after season 1 of Atlantis, the reverse is not so true).

I liked Spindle's End, but as I recall, I liked it from the start, so I may not be a good indication as to whether or not you should continue. ::tries to remember:: I think I liked it better after the christening. I also liked Rosie quite a bit, and she has to grow up before she gets much point of view time.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Ah, cool.

Hmm...I think my problem with Spindle's End is that I've gotten picky about "super snarky and clever fairy tale retellings" the last year or so.

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

Busman's Honeymoon isn't an anthology. It's the last book in the series, and there are several not on your list you should read before you read it: Murder Must Advertise, The Nine Tailors, and Gaudy Night. I think at this point that Gaudy Night and Busman's Honeymoon are my favorite Wimseys.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Ah. I think I thought that because it and Lord Peter were in one format, and the others in a different format(including chapter titles.) I plan to read them all in order, regardless, with the short stories after, so there wasn't much chance of my reading it out of order.

[shadawyn.livejournal.com]

Yay loot!

I got Night of the Beasts 4 and 5 yesterday, along with D. Gray-man 3. (Lenalee was on the cover... I had to.)

I totally missed Sea of Shadows, though. Oh well, I'll have to go again soon. My life is so hard.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

An excellent manga haul. I love Lenalee...and Kanda...and Komui...and Allen...and Lavi, Miranda and Crowley, who you haven't met yet(though the first 2 started out really, really annoying to me...iirc, you'll meet Miranda in book 3.)

[shadawyn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I didn't like Kanda at the beginning of Volume 1, because he was too angry and emo and just seemed sorta stereotyped, but by the end and with what is implied, I suddenly loved him. I've only seen a little of Lenalee, and she looks like she could go either way with cool or annoying, but I'm shallow and I also really like her character design ;) Of course, I can say the same of Kanda...

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Kanda isn't remotely nice and is very unpleasant and cranky...but, as tends to happen, pretty nice underneath.

Yeah, I like Lenalee and Kanda's designs, though I'm not big on a lot of the character designs in the book.

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

I look forward to your thoughts on Whitechapel Gods. I saw it in the bookstore the other day but I decided to buy the new Michelle West instead.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

The West called to me, but I decided to wait until I've read the rest of the series, and maybe the Elantra books, too(plus, I want to catch up on Lindskold and maybe a few other things, too.)

ETA: I suspect that Whitechapel Gods, for me, will be rather like the Menageries books: awesome action, awesome world, awesome characters, snark, badassery, lots of fun...and without a lot of real substance.

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

That's the impression I got from reviews. But, you know, that has its place too.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Hurray for Busman's Honeymoon, which is kind of lightweight according to the in-the-know Sayers fans but is one of my personal favorites, because it deepens the characters and relationships so beautifully.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Busman's Honeymoon I think suffers a little in comparison by following on the heels of Gaudy Night, which is perhaps Sayers' deepest work barring her scholarly non-fiction. It's very high on my list, though, for the way it blends the charming lightness of the best earlier stories with the increasing depth of the Harriet/Peter relationship.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

I love Gaudy Night. It was the first Sayers I ever read, because my then-boss had an extra copy and gave it to me, so I felt obliged to read it and say something. But I was hooked right away and reading it was a pleasure, and then I went on and read all the rest. Sayers danced so beautifully through the painful intricacies of the romance while never stinting on the mystery - and they worked together so well that I never felt manipulated.

OK, no more fangirlish ravings.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I think I need the order of the books again.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Titles in order of story chronology (http://lordpeter.org/corpus/internal.php).

Clouds of Witness should be next up on your list.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Thankies. CoW has been moved to this month's reading list(a pity I didn't find the 3rd book...hopefully I'll have time to go to the other local UBS soon...I'll have to print that list off beforehand.)

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

If you want to be obsessively completist about it, make sure to scribble in Jill Paton Walsh's A Presumption of Death in the 1939 slot alongside "The Wimsey Papers", in between "The Haunted Policeman" and "Talboys".

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

I second Gaudy Night. I see its discussion of academic women and "having it all" as one of the strengths that make it transcend the genre of detective fiction.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

The only Sayers I've read so far is Whose Body?, and I plan to read them in order, so it'll likely be a while until I make it to Busman's Honeymoon.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

A few more links you may find interesting as you read through these:

Sayers litcrit postings (http://truepenny.livejournal.com/tag/dls) by author Sarah Monette (aka truepenny) -- she revisited all the books in order, you'll need to skip back a few pages to get back to the beginning. Lots of interesting discussion in the posts and comments.

The Wimsey Annotations (http://www.planetpeschel.com/index?/wimsey/index/) -- this would be the DLS equivalent of Jess Nevin's comic spot-the-reference guides.

[filmi-girl.livejournal.com]

I love "Spindle's End!" It's really sweet towards the beginning, but gets better as the book goes on. There isn't much romance and most of the book deals with what it means to be part of the inherited nobility.

Have you read "Donkeyskin"? It's a much darker fairytale retelling.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

D'you mean Deerskin?

[filmi-girl.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes! Donkeyskin is the original story.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I think I'm going to save Spindle's End for another time. I suspect I'll like it when I'm in the right mood, which I don't think I am.

I've read Deerskin, but I was in HS at the time and, I think, not ready to be able to read some of the elements in it without a DO NOT WANT!" reaction.

[filmi-girl.livejournal.com]

It's nice and creepy. I only read it for the first time a couple of years ago, but it has really grown on me.

(I still get the OMG reaction, at certain parts, however!)

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

I... never got round to reading Spindle's End. But I might have preferred the silly childishness of Beauty, so.

[fa3ryg1rl.livejournal.com]

Oooh thanks for reminding me Tin Man came out this week. I loved it so much, I watched it multiple times on when it was on tv!

Spindle's End...it took me twice to get through it but I do remember liking it. I liked Rose Daughter much better though.