subdee

Otherwise known as the book I was carrying around during the Harry Potter party, accidentally got face paint on, and was forced to buy. Which isn't to say that I wouldn't have read it, just that I would probably not have bought it. As silly as this is going to sound, I like to feel like I'm paying for an appropriate number of words when I buy a book, and The Alchemist is just not long enough. Plus, it's a "best seller phenomenon" -- meaning, the author doesn't need my money. So, I'd just as soon read it in-store or take it out at the library.

On to the the book. The Alchemist is a deeply spiritual book, which is I think what made it so popular. The trick here, and what Coelho manages beautifully, is that while it supports a kind of transcendent spirituality -- all things are God, those following their dreams follow Personal Legends, whereon they must listen to their Hearts, and to the Soul of the World -- it's also quite specific. The narrator, a Catholic from Andalusia, recounts stories of Christian saints and medieval Christian kings, but also spends most of the story traveling across North Africa in the company of Muslims, and the book's best anecdotes are specifically Islamic. ( Read more... )

Anyway, quibbles. It's a beautifully written story, albeit one that peddles an idiosyncratic worldview. (Though actually, that idiosyncrasy was part of what made the book attractive -- maybe I didn't buy into the book's inspirational message (even if I had, it wouldn't have applied to me), but I enjoyed the immersion. Up to a point, anyway.) I also really enjoyed the desert-y bits.

Noble Goal to Write Something At Last = TOTAL FAIL. (Do I even get to complain about this? I have to sit down and write for more than a few minutes before I can complain about this, right?)

Arrrrrrrggggggh. Here, have a rant on C. J. Cherryh's Foreigner series:

( I'll have to tag this under bookblog but it really is just ranting )

My problem with this book might be just that the set-up is too much like a nightmare. A culture where you have to be polite all the time, because if you are not, and offend someone, even accidentally, they will kill you? Ahhhhhhhh! If this were a book about a human culture, I could survive by arguing that In Reality, It's Not Like That -- allowances are made for well-intentioned people, no one is going to kill you for something minor like dress code, at least not without warning you first -- but this is science fiction: you have to accept the premise or you are in for a long tough road of deluded anti-reading. I really don't want to accept the premise though. -_-;

Links!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yvhgiKK74A

If you’re an Avatar fan, you’ve seen this already. If you’re not an Avatar fan, why not?

logansrogue.livejournal.com/956733.html

Male superheroes drawn in female superhero poses. I’m linking because of the undeniable feeling I got when I saw the cyclops pose: haven’t I seen this in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. XD Suddenly it all makes sense!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Miniature-Books-Years-Tiny-Treasures
A book about miniature books. I’m linking because this reminded me of Tin. (Of her original novel The Vanity of Angels.)

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6264530.stm

A drug that can repress bad memories!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=akNJ6S2UqsE

Transformers cosplay!!

www.aintitcool.com/images2007/sweeneylarge.jpg

Sweeny Todd, directed by Tim Burton, starring Johnny Depp. \o/ LIFE IS GOOD.

addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/39

Mouse gestures add on! Right-click, then draw little patterns on-screen to go back, open a new tab, close the current tab, etc. Maybe I’m just amused because I feel like I’m doing Ri Maajon out of Simoun XD.

www.literature-map.com/

Spatial mapping of authors. I kind of want to pick up a book by Norman Spinrad now.

www.01-20-09.com/

COUNTDOWN TO FREEDOM

Originally published at SD Alternative. You can comment here or there.

Today's Harry Potter's birthday and I saw Harry and the Potters and Draco and the Malfoys at the Ann Arbor district library. *g* It was a lot of fun! One housemate (who couldn't make it) tipped off another (fledermauskid) who could and we went together -- though the library is, like, two blocks from my house, so I probably would have heard the concert regardless.

( More on the show. )

In conclusion, Draco loves his parents very much <3.

More links!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yvhgiKK74A
If you're an Avatar fan, you've seen this already. If you're not an Avatar fan, why not?

http://logansrogue.livejournal.com/956733.html
Male superheroes drawn in female superhero poses. I'm linking because of the undeniable feeling I got when I saw the cyclops pose: haven't I seen this in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. XD Suddenly it all makes sense!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Miniature-Books-Years-Tiny-Treasures
A book about miniature books. I'm linking because this reminded me of Tin. (Of The Vanity of Angels.)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6264530.stm
A drug that can repress bad memories! Link c/o flyingsauce.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akNJ6S2UqsE
Transformers cosplay!! Link c/o murinae.

http://www.aintitcool.com/images2007/sweeneylarge.jpg
Sweeny Todd, directed by Tim Burton, starring Johnny Depp. \o/ LIFE IS GOOD. (link c/o coffeeandink)

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/39
Mouse gestures add on! Right-click, then draw little patterns on-screen to go back, open a new tab, close the current tab, etc. Maybe I'm just amused because I feel like I'm doing Ri Maajon out of Simoun XD.

http://www.literature-map.com/
Spatial mapping of authors. I kind of want to pick up a book by Norman Spinrad now.

http://www.01-20-09.com/
COUNTDOWN TO FREEDOM

...

Eve, I'm so sorry, I've been unforgivably slow with Elegy. WILL EMAIL YOU TONIGHT I SWEAR.

Not the backblog meme, sadly, though I swear I will get to that before I die even if it kills me. These are all books I read since.

Robert Angell, Let Me Finish:
I got so caught up reading New York Times Book Reviews about literary dynasties that I forgot that I don't like reading memoirs by less-famous relatives about their more-famous relations. The first part of the first chapter, about a car trip the author took with his mother and E. B. White (who would later become his stepfather), made me sit up and take notice, but after that it's mostly downhill. ( Read more... )

Celestine Vaite, Taire in Bloom:
Sequel to Breadfruit and Frangipani. This series, about Tahiti's best listener -- who now has her own popular talk radio show, where she is a professional listener -- is still great. ^__^ The cast of characters is still great, the writing is still great, and there's still a lot of warmth -- though actually, the series has been getting more (explicitly) political. ( Read more... )

Diana Duanne, Wizards at War:
I don't know what it is, but I just can't read this series anymore. Maybe I outgrew it? So much of it is about growing up, maybe I don't want to read about the maturation experiences of 14-year-olds when I was fourteen eight years ago? This was going to be the awesome, focus-on-Dark-Matter book that brought back my love for the series, too. ( Read more... )

Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevemer, The Mislaid Magician:
Sequel to Sorcery and Cecilia and The Grand Tour, both Victorian-fantasy-themed improvised novels (this novel is one too). The biggest change between this book and the previous two was that this time, Kate and Cecy's husbands also contribute to the story. Kate's husband's POV was a more valuable addition to the novel, I thought -- Cecilia's (Wrede's) sounded too much like her. In fact I liked Stevemer's sections more in general, I thought they had more character. Then again Wrede does most of the heavy lifting, plot-wise, and it's probably much easier to write entertainingly in-character when you are less concerned with advancing the action. ( Read more... )

Still to come: Foreigner by C.J.Cherryh (seriously xenophobic -- I liked Cherryh better when she was describing sentient alien lizards), The Secret Books of Paradys Vols I and II by Tanith Lee (Vol I has highlights but is overall too dream-sequency, Vol II is amazing), The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh (...I can't sum this up in parenthesis, you'll have to wait for the post.)

Another thing this post isn't: the major news I promised in the last post. That's also still coming. (I need, like, a checklist something.)