Those of you who have heard me talk about my brother know that he's not a voracious reader. I'm doing my best to suggest books he might like, only in recent years realizing that he might not like what I do, and not force any books upon him. Shocking, I know.

When he was in his early teens, some of the books he's read and enjoyed on his own are ttyl ( Read more... )

Dear Steven Moffat,

Please don't let other people write your stuff anymore. Or at least, become friends with people who can write as well as you can. All things being equal between episodes one and two of Sherlock (acting talent, production, directing), the average suckitude of episode two just depressed me.

( spoilers for The Blind Banker )

So I am reading this YA novel. There is an undesirable boy the protagonist uses to "explore" sexuality--and emphasis on the "uses": she basically seduces him, clams up when he goes too far for her comfort, then gets him fired from his job. Yeah, okay, he's not the nicest or most pleasant guy to have around, clearly a foil to the majestic and overly ( Read more... )

Because even in times of unemployment, tea will be had.

My dear friend elfqueen7377 and I decided to throw a tea party instead of a graduation party. It was really an excuse to get together and sip tea, munch on nommy sandwiches, eat scones and catch up with good friends. Lucky, the weather cooperated and we were able to hold it outside.

We had: earl grey, ( ( Read more... )

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It's Sirens time again! Sirens is a conference on women in fantasy literature, and quite unlike any other conference out there in my humble opinion. There is a programming chat Saturday from 2-4 EDT, held here. There is also an awesomely comprehensive lj community sirenscon that tells you everything you want to know. And a fully-equipped website.

I could ( Read more... )

(some spoilers for The Beast Below)

"I was looking for something more, I don't know, something more Roald Dahl in a way, something madder and more, more fairytale. Fairytale is a very, very important tone for Doctor Who. Fairytales are the way we tell our children that there are people out there who might want to eat them. They are warnings in ( Read more... )

WARNING SPOILERS for Wildwood Dancing and the sequel, Cybele's Secret

( An open letter to Juliet Marillier )

I assume most of you have, at some point or another, heard about Sirens, either from me directly or from all the LJ, newsletter and facebook blasts the lovely narrate_hallie has been sending. If not: Sirens is an awesome conference on women in fantasy literature put together by awesome people for awesome people, so if you're an awesome person you should listen ( Read more... )

This is the post I've been wanting to write all week, but haven't found the time to, because of papers, readings, company, and the myriad of other things besides watching the Olympics. So I will offer you all, should you care to read them, a couple of snippets about what fascinated me about the Olympics. As usual, I do my best not to offend people ( Read more... )