Of Swords and Parasols

It's been very light on reading here, lately. I've bounced off a few things in addition to what's here, but couldn't tell you what now.

What are you currently reading

Manna From Hades by Carola Dunn. First in a mystery series about a retired world-traveller who now works in a thrift shop in Cornwall. I haven't read enough yet to have a real opinion of it.


What did you recently finish reading?

A night Like This by Julia Quinn. Pretty standard Quinn fluff, which is what I was in the mood for. though I feel compelled to mention that according to the blurb, the 11-year-old who won the debate with the mathematician over the existence of unicorns in The Sum of All Kisses, thought she was a unicorn in this book. This is not true. She just wants to play a unicorn in her sister's play about Henry VIII. I feel a touch betrayed.

Youn In-Wan and Yang Kyung-Il: Shin Angyo Onshi Vol 1-5. A Japanese-Korean collaboration manhwa loosely based on the legend of Chun Hyang, in which Myong Rong dies very early on, and Chun Hyang becomes the bodyguard of a would-be-amoral angyo onshi named Munsu, who has a dark and angsty past and lots of secrets and is connected to the downfall of the government. I read the first couple volumes a few years ago and liked it, but didn't get very far due to only being able to read scanslations on a computer screen at the time. I still like it now, but am much more aware of how Chun Hyang has gotten far less development so far than Munsu (or Bang Ja, for that matter) and how incredibly scantily clad the women are. (Chun Hyang literally runs around wearing nothing but a few leather scraps and a giant cape.) It's very interesting and entertaining anyway, and I'll read more later, but I need a break for a bit.

A Bride's Story Vol 5. As charming and full of scenery pr0n as every other volume. I am greatly amused that, as soon as the plotline about the twins' weddings was concluded, there was a chapter that was almost literally nothing but gorgeous spreads of Amir's daily life. It was almost like "hey, in case you forgot who the main character is supposed to be..."

What do you think you'll read next?

The rest of the Dunn book and the other two books in the series, if I like it, and probably manga.

1. I was going to start this with “first and foremost, where is this week’s Lost Girl?” but it finally showed up a little while ago, if way later than usual. I actually just got around to watching ep 8 on Sunday, and haven’t seen ep 9 yet, but having it is the most important part! Speaking of ep 8, I rather hope the Villain of the Week doesn’t reappear, though he’s certain too. He bugged me on multiple levels, not the least of which was that it was like watching Damon Salvatore try to impersonate Jack Sparrow. Actually, despite certain good parts, that episode was one I could do without altogether.

Incidentally, though the character has not (to my knowledge) appeared since the first episode (though she has been mentioned a few times) I will be deeply saddened if the Morrigan is not Bo’s mother, aunt, or grandmother. Or somehow related. If she is not related to Bo, I demand she be the goddess. Slumming.

2. It is entirely possible that I am being stalked by “The Magic Flute.” Shortly after posting on the 2 versions I recently watched, I read Julia Quinn’s latest book* where the characters go to watch it at the opera and the hero…almost quotes me regarding Pamina and Tamino’s Epic Love. Then, while traveling to visit my brother and his family last weekend, I was browsing radio stations on the highway and settled on a classical music station…then realized it was playing instrumentals from “The Magic Flute.” And then I was flipping through one of Eva Ibbotson’s YA romances (though they were originally published as general fiction, I believe) and realized the heroine was involved with a company putting on a production of “The Magic Flute”!

3. I am rewatching the first Fairies of Liao Zhai arc with some of the usual suspects, though not the usual combination of the usual suspects, and while I’ve always noticed that this director likes deeply saturated colors, Hu Ge, friendships of all sorts, melodrama, crack, and Doom, I think part of why I always start something of his assuming that I’ll love it is that he always has lots of women (not unusual for wuxia) but also that his shows are more willing to give them flaws and acknowledge the flaws, but also still expect us to like them. I actually can’t think of any of his female characters that didn’t seem to be written with the expectation that the audience would like her and find her interesting, even if the actual character sometimes mostly just one time isn’t as fun as written. (Also, rewatching is letting me appreciate the clothes more. OMG the clothes.)

4. Is Undercovers gone forever? I thought there were a few more eps left to air!

5. Nikita and Vampire Diaries being on hold is reminding me of why I don’t often watch shows until they’re finished/the season is complete/there are DVDs. The breaks are traumatic! (Purely in the fannish sense.)

This is particularly bad with Vampire Diaries as I am prone to theorizing there, and fantasizing about what the future may bring. My head may have spun epic plot arcs about the Bennett witches, Caroline and Tyler having supernatural adventures, and Meredith having a hugely important role in which she is still Hispanic, does not die, does not hook up with Alaric, because he’s older here and I like him with Jenna even though I’m annoyed they aren’t having her do much outside of that this season, and I know the show will give me none of these. Ok, maybe Caroline and Tyler having supernatural adventures. It also gave me time to ponder.

( series spoilers )But! Breaks in airing! Trauma! Though I may try watching the currently airing kdrama Secret Garden a few weeks behind as it comes out, once there are a few more subbed eps. It worked fairly well for me with Chuno, and it’s Ha Ji Won and Hyun Bin switching bodies. Err…their characters switching bodies. I have yet to see Hyun Bin in anything, but Ha Ji Won is my favorite Korean actress, and the star of 2 of my 3 favorite kdramas.

6. Out of curiosity, is there much Bollywood fandom on LJ/DW, or is that fandom basically the people I already follow? I know there’s a pretty good sized English language fan base for Bollywood, but I get the impression that it’s like wuxia, where most English language fandom centers around the forums of a few websites.

*Which was a fun book, but I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a single character who wasn’t landed gentry or upper class. Like, I know Julia Quinn basically singlehandedly made super-windowdressing Regency Historicals the norm and created scores of copies (but she’s usually fun so we usually forgive her, except the one “no, JQ, men can so be raped too!” book) but that was a bit much. Also, the hero coped with his angst by writing gothic novels, and lives to encounter his fans, who all think he’s a woman hidden out in the country or something. I’m pretty sure he’s one of the guys who annoyed me in Quinn’s last book, but he was fun here.

Grace Eversleigh has spent the last five years as the companion to the dowager Duchess of Wyndham. It’s a very thankless job, but the dowager did rescue Grace from almost literally the brink of a forced marriage, and so she’s grateful. When their coach is held up by an Irish highwayman, Jack Audley, the dowager becomes obsessed with the man’s resemblance to her dead son, who died on a voyage from Ireland around 30 years ago. And so she collects the footmen and kidnaps him.

The “is he or isn’t he” question isn’t even a factor as Jack knows his father’s name, he just never bothered to meet his father’s family because his father had told his (maternal) aunt that they didn’t get along. The question is if he was legitimate, and if he’ll accept the dukedom.

Grace is longsuffering, and I wish she’d stand up to the dowager more, but she’s not a martyr, and stands up to pretty much everyone else. Jack is ridiculously nice for a long-lost heir who is a highwayman hero. In any other book, he’d be the guy clearly too sweet to be the love interest who would “tut tut” and pat the heroine’s hand and sympathize with her about what an awful jerk the angsty brooding hero is. That would be Thomas, the current duke, who is the hero of the sequel to this book. Thomas really only has angsty brooding jerk moments due to the whole thing where he was supposed to be duke and now he’s about to be the penniless cousin making him drink way too much. The sequel, I understand, isn’t really a sequel but is what Thomas and his fiancée, Amelia, are doing during this book, which results in a number of scenes where random things are referenced but never followed up on.

I adored the first half of the book, which was really Julia Quinn at her best, but was less fond of the second half, where people started angsting. Angst really isn’t Quinn’s strongest point at all, and the explanation for the angst comes too late for it to really be effective. Still, it was a lot of fun, though I may also be influenced by bouncing off several books in a row after reading several non-happy books in a row.

When she was ten, Miranda Cheever’s best friend Olivia’s older brother, Nigel (called Turner, after his honorary title, Viscount Turner) took her home after her scholar father forgot to pick her up from Olivia’s birthday party. After learning she’d been bullied by other girls for not being pretty, he gave her a pep talk which, naturally, caused her to fall in love. Ten years later, she’s still in love and Turner is staying with his family after burying his adulterous wife, who fell off her horse and broke her neck while riding to meet her lover.

According to her website, this was the second book Quinn wrote, but it never made it into the publishing schedule, so she decided to do some edits and rewrite some parts, and publish it now. Well, in 2007. Unfortunately, it really shows that different parts of the book were written a dozen years apart. It would have been better to simply publish the original book or completely rewrite it, IMO, as the end result is two clashing comedic styles that, while clearly coming from the same person, don’t really work very well together. There’s also the fact that, very simply, angst is very much not Quinn’s strong suit. While some parts are effective, others aren’t, and certain important things are handled in an offhand manner. When combined with the humor, both characters end up coming across as inconsistent and immature, and there’s one bit where it makes Turner’s behavior almost unforgivable.

Despite that, the basics of their relationship are very endearing, they just aren’t followed through as well as they could be, and I loved the various interactions with Turner’s family, as well as Miranda’s extreme bookworm-ness.

Kitty:  Dad: "Pipsqueak"  Mom "The Cat"  A bowl with water has miraculously appeared on the back porch and somehow, food has spilled onto the back porch while being poured into food bowls inside the house...I have been informed that the kitten is cute enough to move for and to pay a pet deposit for.

Milehigh's 40% off trades/manga and 50% off backissues codeword sale has proven to be rather dangerous...enough to negate what mild progress has been made.

Work is slowing down a bit...enough that I'll probably be working 11 hr days this week, instead of 12 hr days.  Doesn't sound like much, but I could tell a major difference in the 1 hour on friday.

I have my new layout set up.  It's pretty and suits my mood lately.  I need to see if i can make the bars wider and put things on the sides...or I may just leave it alone.  And so, new (temporary) default user pic to go with it, courtesy of drealkulit.  Will likely make a few more Brian Froud icons for myself once I DL a new program.  My trial expired and I've been reading Naruto in Paint, and so have had little incentive to DL it...

And now, on to the stuffs...