Busy for too long.

[reynardo]

Uni is ramping up, and on Monday I start my 6 week block of placement at school. So the zombie part has hit already. Add in some medical issues and I've been present only on the lightest level. Any serious thinking has dissolved before I could catch it (so I'm sorry, mr_figgy - I have owed you a critique for days and just couldn't get my head to work).

Anyway, in the interests of fluff and lightness, try this. Give me a letter and I shall answer the accompanying question. Your choice entirely if you'd like to do it yourself. (Snurched from all over the place)

A. Author You’ve Read The Most Books From
B. Best Sequel Ever
C. Currently Reading
D. Drink of Choice While Reading
E. E-Reader or Physical Books
F. Fictional Character You Would Have Dated In High School
G. Glad You Gave This Book A Chance
H. Hidden Gem Book
I. Important Moments of Your Reading Life
J. Just Finished
K. Kinds of Books You Won’t Read
L. Longest Book You’ve Read
M. Major Book Hangover Because Of
N. Number of Bookcases You Own
O. One Book That You Have Read Multiple Times
P. Preferred Place to Read
Q. Quote From A Book That Inspires You/Gives You Feels
R. Reading Regret
S. Series You Started and Need to Finish
T. Three Of Your All-Time Favorite Books
U. Unapologetic Fangirl For
W. Worst Bookish Habit
V. Very Excited For This Release More Than Any Other
X. Marks The Spot (Start On Your Bookshelf And Count to the 27th Book)
Y. Your Latest Book Purchase
Z. ZZZ-Snatcher (last book that kept you up WAY late)

Comments

[magically25.livejournal.com]

F

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

Professor Clifford Jones is, alas, from the Telly (although I did have the novelisation). Hmmm - Ah yes! Of course! Edward Fairfax Rochester, of Thornfield Hall. (Well, he *did* marry a fictional relative of mine. Jane Eyre's name was taken from a local prominent family where Charlotte Bronte grew up.)

[splodgenoodles.livejournal.com]

M!

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

By "Hangover", do you mean as in "stayed up far too late reading"? Sheesh. Hard choice. Probably Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

[splodgenoodles.livejournal.com]

No, that's item Z.

A book hangover is the feeling you get that you can't tackle a new book just yet because you're still feeling after effects from the last one.

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

Ahh, see what you mean. Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire. The first paragraph had three terms in it that sent me scurrying to a dictionary! I only manage to read about half a chapter at a time, and it had me not wanting to touch another book for a while each time. Mind you, powerful stuff...

[gelsey.livejournal.com]

G

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

"The Stainless Steel Rat" series by Harry Harrison. I'd dipped into the third book at a friend's place, and wasn't impressed, then someone else gave me the first. It wasn't until about a quarter of the way in that suddenly it made sense.

Loved them all until book 5. After that, not so much. But they did expand my love of things SF.

[delphipsmith]

Ah, Slippery Jim diGriz, one of my favorite people. "We must be as stealthy as rats in the wainscoting of their society." Mr and Mrs Smith had nothing on Jim and Angelina :)

[kerravonsen]

O!

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

Oh how many are there that meet that criterion! Right beside me... hang on...

Read until it's falling to pieces. It's stained with cough medicine, spotted with mould, and I still love it. I picked it because of the name (of course), and because of the cover - I was looking for mind candy. What it turned out to be was rather good political history of a minor noble family in the time of the Plantagenets.

Other than that, I'm on my third copy of "Watership Down".

[minaharker87.livejournal.com]

T

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

We of the Never Never by Mrs Gunn

Rivers of London by benaaronovitch

And the above-mentioned "Gilliane" by Roberta Gellis.

[delphipsmith]

I'm curious about K and/or R.

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

Let me give you R then.

I read slush. Mills and Boon. Swooning females, dukes in tight pants and no shirt, lurid pink covers and stamped gold writing. (Pls refer to example above).

And as anyone who has helped me move will attest, I hate throwing books out. Detest it.

So I thought I'd see what Barbara Cartland was all about. After all, she's sold so many, she can't be *that* bad, can she?

I was first of all put out that I had to pay full paperback price for it (and books are pretty expensive here in Aus). Then I sat down and read it.

Oh.

Dear.

The premise was pretty good - turn of the century female journalist follows gorgeous mystery man from London through Paris and down to the Mysterious Middle East, where he turns out to be a sheik in disguise trying to bring progress to his otherwise backwards country.

But the writing? Oh... so bad... Lifeless dialogue. Lousy use of characters in situations that could have been awesome. Contrived setups. I have no problems with a book where the hero and heroine don't even kiss until they're engaged, but I *do* have a problem when they don't even react to each other normally.

I took an axe to the book, and stuck the one remaining corner of it up next to my front door as a warning to all other books that enter that there *is* a minimum standard.

There *is* another contender. It's a Pride and Prejudice sequel called "Loving Mr Darcy". It's ... terrible. It has reminded me of so many things not to include in my writing. It's not even so much the HAWT SEX0R between Darcy and Elizabeth (SO out of character), but it's the complete lack of any actual story, coupled with Wikipedia-listed travel descriptions, anachronisms galore, and the one decently-written character, who seemed to be being set up beautifully as a sympathetic gay doctor, suddenly turned and lost all his good points and became a girl-chasing drone. (We think that someone pointed out to the author that the character seemed to be gay, and she hurriedly changed it). Feel free to read the reviews, just not the good ones.

[delphipsmith]

Heh. Yeah, it's not exactly quality literature :)