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Sep. 29th, 2005 12:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
uberreinigerWell, while ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
megiloth and thanis_bloodsto are enjoying tasty eats at yaqui's house, I am stuck here at work. Perhaps this can be to advantage, for maybe this time they will have manged to learn the rules to Lord of the Rings Risk and can thus teach me.
Schedules have worked out the past two days that Mel-chan and I have been able to enjoy much quality cuddle time and we have needed it. It also looks like we'll have the pleasant treat of being on the same schedule together for the next few days as some last-minute shuffling at her work means she'll be working nights. Although it complicates our weekend plans a little bit, it is still a pleasant change from our usual routine of one of us getting home from work as the other is getting ready to leave.
I wish L5R Lotus Edition would hurry up and come out already. The previews of the new cards have me writhing in anticipation. I could mock up proxy cards and use them until Lotus is actually available, but I'm too lazy. Just release the darn set already and give me toys to play with!
*ahem*
I'm getting very good at reading two novels at a time these days. All in all, I think I'm finally becoming the kind of fast, dedicated reader I've always wished I could be. Anyway, just started Stephen King's The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The latter seems to be continuing everything I liked about Goblet of Fire and I am thus far amazed at how seemlessly J.K. Rowling manages the transition from "children's" writing to more serious, somber fare while keeping her characters, world, and the story's tone so very consistent. With this book I'm finally starting to appreciate just how ambitious a project the Harry Potter books really are and the immense pressure she must be under as a writer to maintain their quality. As for the former, it really makes me wonder why I ever stopped reading Stephen King. I devoured his novels in my early teens, but then just up and quit. I think I fell prey to the propaganda that often arises among successful writers: that they're "sellouts" because they're successful, that serious fiction fans don't read Stephen King, etc. Well, I am, as they say, so over that now. The Dark Tower series takes all the elements I love about his writing (namely his ability to capture the sense of desolation, isolation, and imminent apocalyptic doom,) and concentrates it into a single massive dose. I'll admit, I do have some issues with his writing, but it's the same issues I have with all his works, and this particular volume of Dark Tower is the first time in all the years that I have found King's ceaseless self-referencing to be gratingly annoying; most likely because he approaches it with none of the subtelty of his other works. But as I'm only a hundred pages in, I will reseve judgement as he is quickly becoming notorious for making me hate things, then making me love them once I read a little farther.
So that's what I've currently got my nose burried in when it's not burried in the Whedonverse. I've got to say, whoever thought of that Firefly quote meme needs to be kissed and pleasured. Scrolling down my friends list today and seeing it glowing with Firefly quotes like, well, like so many fireflies just made my day. Friday cannot come fast enough. I'm pretty much just killing time until the Serenity premier. I can't recall the last time I was this excited about a movie premiere. I think The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was probably the last time I was this into the whole experience. That experience was marred by personal unhappiness. I'm looking to Serenity to make up for it. And make up for it, it shall. After all, they can't take the sky from me :)
megiloth and thanis_bloodsto are enjoying tasty eats at yaqui's house, I am stuck here at work. Perhaps this can be to advantage, for maybe this time they will have manged to learn the rules to Lord of the Rings Risk and can thus teach me.Schedules have worked out the past two days that Mel-chan and I have been able to enjoy much quality cuddle time and we have needed it. It also looks like we'll have the pleasant treat of being on the same schedule together for the next few days as some last-minute shuffling at her work means she'll be working nights. Although it complicates our weekend plans a little bit, it is still a pleasant change from our usual routine of one of us getting home from work as the other is getting ready to leave.
I wish L5R Lotus Edition would hurry up and come out already. The previews of the new cards have me writhing in anticipation. I could mock up proxy cards and use them until Lotus is actually available, but I'm too lazy. Just release the darn set already and give me toys to play with!
*ahem*
I'm getting very good at reading two novels at a time these days. All in all, I think I'm finally becoming the kind of fast, dedicated reader I've always wished I could be. Anyway, just started Stephen King's The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The latter seems to be continuing everything I liked about Goblet of Fire and I am thus far amazed at how seemlessly J.K. Rowling manages the transition from "children's" writing to more serious, somber fare while keeping her characters, world, and the story's tone so very consistent. With this book I'm finally starting to appreciate just how ambitious a project the Harry Potter books really are and the immense pressure she must be under as a writer to maintain their quality. As for the former, it really makes me wonder why I ever stopped reading Stephen King. I devoured his novels in my early teens, but then just up and quit. I think I fell prey to the propaganda that often arises among successful writers: that they're "sellouts" because they're successful, that serious fiction fans don't read Stephen King, etc. Well, I am, as they say, so over that now. The Dark Tower series takes all the elements I love about his writing (namely his ability to capture the sense of desolation, isolation, and imminent apocalyptic doom,) and concentrates it into a single massive dose. I'll admit, I do have some issues with his writing, but it's the same issues I have with all his works, and this particular volume of Dark Tower is the first time in all the years that I have found King's ceaseless self-referencing to be gratingly annoying; most likely because he approaches it with none of the subtelty of his other works. But as I'm only a hundred pages in, I will reseve judgement as he is quickly becoming notorious for making me hate things, then making me love them once I read a little farther.
So that's what I've currently got my nose burried in when it's not burried in the Whedonverse. I've got to say, whoever thought of that Firefly quote meme needs to be kissed and pleasured. Scrolling down my friends list today and seeing it glowing with Firefly quotes like, well, like so many fireflies just made my day. Friday cannot come fast enough. I'm pretty much just killing time until the Serenity premier. I can't recall the last time I was this excited about a movie premiere. I think The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was probably the last time I was this into the whole experience. That experience was marred by personal unhappiness. I'm looking to Serenity to make up for it. And make up for it, it shall. After all, they can't take the sky from me :)
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no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 08:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 09:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 10:05 am (UTC)Re: Wizards and Glass. This is really the odd-man-out amongst the Tower books. The whole story takes one huge break from the main story. Was frustrating in real-time, you can just move along to the next book without waiting for years, like we did.
As for King's self-reference...dude, get VERY used to that. That's all I'm sayin'.
Oh, and if you haven't, post-Wizards is a GREAT time to take in Insomnia. Out of all the Tower-universe books, this one is the only MUST. The other would be Hearts In Atlantis, but even then only Low Men In Yellow Coats, the other stories are nice but not terribly important. Lastly, the short story Everything's Eventual (found in the collection of the same name) is also required. If you read those, you will understand everything that is to come. If you don't, be prepared to miss a lot. Insomnia, though? Oh holy hell...that's just so damn important words can't describe.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 02:29 pm (UTC)I haven't met Umbrage yet but everybody bitches about her and I'm not looking forward to her. If I want to read about irritating witches with PMS I'll read The Mists of Avalon :)
no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 06:56 pm (UTC)Stuff like Rose Madder just isn't worth anyone's time, no matter whether there are extremely shady and vague references to the Tower in it or not. Same goes for From A Buick 8 and a few others. But Insomnia, oh heavens. You'll be wondering what the hell is going on in this book about an old man who can't sleep, then all hell breaks loose.
I love that book for one thing: how many times have we seen a character finally track down someone in a story and demand answers, only to have that character dodge the question and escape, or be killed after giving only the briefest clue? In Insomnia, the lead character finally tracks down someone very important and demands answers...and they proceed to lay the whole damn thing out, in detail. It's just so damn refreshing to finally have so many questions answered.
As for Umbrage, eh, it's just a little over the top. The book could be three chapters shorter if they'd just cut some generic 'Umbrage does something else outrageous to students' stuff. You get the idea that Rowling listened to Floyd a little too much. But the rest, oh the rest...so very, very much goodness lies in store. I only wish I could go back and read it for the first time again.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 08:23 pm (UTC)The part about the Stand is relevant to the rest of the story, the doors, the tower, the worlds .. etc. I love King, though, and since I've read pretty much all of them anyway, I'll skip over those ones that you said weren't worth it.
Me, I'm on the last book of the Tower, and in all, it's one of the most depressing stories he's ever told. Even more so than Stand was, or Insomnia was. I like that he's not all about "shock you" horror anymore, but more about drama and real people feeling real things. It's refreshing.
Uber, I have not read any of the newer ones yet, and I'm fine in the journey to the Tower. You can get by if you read Desperation/the Regulators (the second is more important) and Insomnia, as well as the Stand.
You better read Eyes of the Dragon though .. or I'll find you and make you read it :p
no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 08:31 pm (UTC)Desperation/Regulators aren't really necessary to the whole Tower journey, I don't think, but they're fantastic reads. Desperation is my favorite non-Tower King book.
Oh, and Aegis...The Tower doesn't necessarily have to be depressing. I mean, after all...there are other worlds than this... ;)
no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 08:34 pm (UTC)it was pathetic.
;)
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Date: 2005-09-29 08:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 10:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 05:58 pm (UTC)Wizard and glass is really only useful for the very end of it. The story is boring and yes, it is sad, but - I want to hear about Roland and his new ka-tet.
I look at book 4 as King telling not a story of Roland and Susan, but of the ka-tet at the time and Sheemie ....
Uber, you'll understand later. Please don't give up after reading 5.
The only one I thought didn't belong completely is Song of Susannah. I thought it was dull, and since it took me all of oh, 2 days to read, not really a vital point in the story (seeing as how that story ends in 7 ...)
no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 06:57 pm (UTC)Lucky bastard.
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Date: 2005-09-29 12:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 02:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 10:21 pm (UTC)About fiction fans not reading King...well, I do read his stuff now and then. I'm not a die-hard fun, sure, but he's quite OK.