Time for the weekly "all about memememememe" post (except really about books...and music and stuff)

[goddessdster]

Have some reveiws of books I am not finished reading!

I picked up Craig Thompson's Habibi because that man can draw the shit out of stuff.  Each page is an exploration of beautiful things done in ink.  However, I have to admit, I am troubled by Hipster White Boy deciding he needs to explain Islam to the (white) masses.  I know he spent some time in

Comments

[lynnez59]

I'm pretty sure I've read stuff for free on the internet that was *better* than some mystery series I tried. Its one my mom reads...I think it was Janet Evanovich...the one whose character apparently destroys her car in every book. I couldn't finish it.

Also how are things? I'm decidedly better this week than last.

So CM tonight? The practical jokes between Morgan and Reid were pretty cute last week. But Hotch looks super skinny. What's up with that

[goddessdster]

Hello!

I have been hiding lately because the past week was the One That Exploded. I'm still trying to get myself back to feeling like something useful and normal. It's a long story. I am better today, though.

I have to admit, as a "since the beginning" fan, I am having the same issues with the new writers we had with LOCI writers. They don't quite know our characters well enough to make them feel real, they ignore canon (Reid went to CalTech, not MIT), they have six-year-old Jack reading at a 4th grade level but still talking like he's 4. I will watch it, because that's what I do, but I have little emotional investment in the show anymore.

I think they're going for the "gaunt from overwork" look for Hotch. It's distressing.

[dr_tectonic]

I no longer harbor any illusions that having weathered the vagaries of publication means anything at all about a piece of fiction, other than that someone thought it would sell.

Okay, maybe some bare minimum level of readability, but the bar is set very low. I can remember, for example, reading an actual published book that consistently (and frequently) spelled "a lot" as a single word, back in middle school.

Also, right now I'm in the middle of re-reading a beloved favorite from long ago, and have discovered that within the first ten pages, there are three word mis-uses, a pair of scientific absurdities, and a full-on typo. The typo? Is ON THE VERY FIRST PAGE. (I'm also realizing that the prose is a little turgid and the dialogue is... pretty clunky. It's really the world-building that makes it go.)

And then there's the whole OH JOHN RINGO NO thing. Not to mention Piers Anthony.

So yeah. But that said, I'd still be interested in the romance novel when you're done with it.

[goddessdster]

I already have to admit I have a few issues with reading M/M pro fic that's written by women. Fanfiction is all well and good, but for me it's the same as my issues with Habibi. Though I am an ally and feel I understand the culture and issues with being a closeted man, I don't feel I understand it well enough at all to write from the perspective of one and receive payment for it. But that's me.

I re-read A Wrinkle in Time recently and was horrified at the overuse of all caps and exclamation points. And the screaming. And the religious stuff. What appeals to us as children sometimes doesn't age well. I can read The Westing Game multiple times without issues, though.

Anyway. I will send this along to you sometime next week!

[dr_tectonic]

WRT M/M fic by pro women writers, I've started a half-dozen replies and haven't finished any of them, so clearly it's a complex topic.

Thinking about that perspective being written by an outsider doesn't make me feel weird. Being paid for it... no, that's not a problem, either. I think all I care about is whether it's written in a way that feels, enh, let's say respectful. That's not quite the right word, but it'll do.

One thing about it is that there's sufficiently little written from that perspective that I think it would be counterproductive to shut out anyone who's not an insider. Another thing is that the experience is sufficiently broad that just having someone who's actually lived it writing is no guarantee that the story will be anything that speaks to me and my experience. Heck, my *partners* have had experiences of being queer that are outside my ken.

So I'll take any story that speaks to me, regardless of authorship. But it's definitely A Thing.

[nitasee]

Peter Gabriel is quite possibly my one true love in music. Even his lesser pieces are miles beyond anything any one else does. And he says things with his songs that quite frankly no one else does. He's as close to the soundtrack of my life as any musician gets. I still haven't picked up his new album, but I will soon - and the DVD.

Mr. Fox sounds very interesting to me. I think I may have to read it as well.

[goddessdster]

Is your icon from Crowley's Little Big?

The Gabriel is beauty. I can't stop listening to it. Wallflower still makes me weep.

Also, sorry I was too lazy to provide links to my books. So lazy.

[nitasee]

Is your icon from Crowley's Little Big?

Why, yes. Yes it is. You're the only person to catch that. It's actually from my second copy of the book. The first copy has a lovely Tom Canty illustration on it.

Gabriel's music is so great to begin with, and then with him reorhestrating them, I can imagine they'd be beautiful.

Don't worry about the links, I can do an Amazon search.

[dr_tectonic]

Also: PETER GABRIEL! ♥ ♥ ♥!