Things that make my brain go ZOIT

[rj_anderson]

I just read lisayee's utterly delighful Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time in preparation for giving it to a niece for Christmas, and now I have to go hunt down the first book, which I am certain I will love even more, because the heroine is an 11-year-old girl with poor social skills and an enormous vocabulary, Y HELO THAR ME. (Only I was not actually a genius on the Millicent Min level, just a bit of a geek, but I'll take it anyway.) Anyway, now I am dying for the third book, which is NOT OUT YET O WHY MUST I SUFFER SO???

I also have three more books to read before giving them away for Christmas: Gideon The Cutpurse, Here There Be Dragons, and The House of the Scorpion. Just to make sure they are Appropriate. And not because they look really good or anything. Ahem.

In other brain-blowing news, I have just started watching North and South, widely acclaimed as The Best Adaptation Ever Made By The BBC, and I can see why it's so highly praised. DH and I have only got through Part One, but I'm dying to watch the rest. But why does Thornton make me think of Snape? Is it the coloring? The nose? The glower? I know not. I could hear my monitor sizzling when Margaret handed him the teacup and he was totally checking her out, though. I love me some early Victorian UST.

I may be feeling a little bit silly today, yes.

Also, I finished First Draft in 30 Days and it all seems very complicated, but I'm sure it will be less overwhelming if I sit down and actually work my way through the exercises one by one instead of trying to hold them all in my brain simultaneously. I am determined to try, though. I'm going to give myself 90 days instead of 30 (since unlike some privileged people, a.k.a. the author of said book, we don't all get to write full-time) and see how it goes. The only question is which book to outline first -- Wayfarer or Touching Indigo. Perhaps I ought to try brainstorming both at once and see which one takes over... because that's pretty much the state I'm in right now. "Ooh! I just realized where Linden could go to look for more faeries!" followed very quickly by "Ooh! I just realized how Thea ended up with such a radical form of synaesthesia!" It's all very confusing AND I STILL HAVEN'T MADE SNICKERDOODLES YET.

I think I had better stop now.

Comments

[drmm.livejournal.com]

Here There be Dragons is a fun book and one I quite enjoyed. One of the better impulse book buys I've made. :) I suspect you'll like it.

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

mmm, snickerdoodles!

I read Millicent Min earlier this year, and it's marvelous. She completely nails not only the voice (since it's told in first-person) but also the clumsy social skills -- in particular, the careful re-crafting of relationships with others to make the relationships what Millicent wants. It was actually kind of painful in that way, because I recognized more than a few notes of me in there. (Me =/= girl genius, but I was definitely the bookish awkward geek type.)

I did not know there was a sequel, so of course now I wantswantswants to read it. Library, ahoy!

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

The third book is So Totally Emily Ebers, and it's due out in a couple of months IIRC. It's nifty how Lisa Yee takes the same time span and the same three characters interacting with one another, and tells three completely different stories without being redundant.

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

Dude, you're very amusing when you're feeling silly. *takes away your coffee* Ahem.

I have had the Millicent Min book on my wishlist for eons but have yet to get around to actually, you know, purchasing it. Although now that I think of it, it would probably make a great gift for my sister-in-law...for whom I buy all kinds of books that I want to read without actually using <me money" to procure them, heh. Teen bookworm sisters-in-law are so handy.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

You don't have to take away my coffee, because I loathe coffee and never, ever drink it. However, I may be slightly overtired. Holiday stress, whee!

[kizmet-42.livejournal.com]

Still no snickerdoodles?

[sigh]

That's very, very sad. I think you may have to put aside the books for a few hours. Hard to do, I know, but what would Christmas be without snickerdoodles

[shudder]

[http://users.livejournal.com/shing_/]

I would love to hear your thoughts about The House of the Scorpion as it is one of the many books I own but I haven't read yet.

Snickerdoodles! YUM. Go and make them now. Yes now. Put book down and go now!

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

I *love* "Millicent Min, girl genius" - have yet to read "Stanford Wong", but my sister read it and loved it, and I'm thrilled there will be a third volume. Lisa Yee is just plain fun, I think.

"House of the Scorpion" is wonderful, IMHO; I thought it the best book of the year when it came out, and the best science fiction I've read in some time. By which I mean it was good science and also good fiction. But I wouldn't recommend it for anyone under 12, personally. I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of it.

Happy Christmas, and happy reading!

[rose-in-shadow.livejournal.com]

Thornton is very sizzly. He even sizzles in the book; on a more moderate level though LOL.

{i}Here there be Dragons{/i}... is that the one starring C.S. Lewis, TOlkien, and Charles Williams as characters?

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Indeed it is, although I haven't yet got to anywhere in the book that makes this explicit.

The story isn't working very well for me, though. It's better written than Gideon The Cutpurse by a long shot in terms of the prose, but I have a hard time getting into stories that are deliberately stuffed with derivative material and in-jokes. I keep getting thrown out of the story by recognizing the sources of all the book's disparate elements. With something like Jasper Fforde, where it's overt and over-the-top, I can deal; with something like this where it's trying to be subtle but (for me, as an adult reader well acquainted with classic fantasy literature, anyway) not succeeding, I can't quite buy into the premise. Alas.

[profshallowness.livejournal.com]

I was going to use my Thornton icon, but realised it might be spoilery, so I'll use another Richard Armitage one. The adaptation is a real class act, true to the book, while obviously cutting it down, but opening it up suitably. The leads are very good, and given that I love those characters and was verty protective of them, it's great to see them intelligently played. Plus yes on the UST.

A fun game as you're watching along, as with any Sandy Welch adaptation, is to commemorate the number of times someone looks (usually down) at someone else through a window. Even if its just by calling out 'Window'.