barbed_whispers

i solemnly swear to read anything tammypierce tells me to ASAFP from now on. for serious. the woman has never steered me wrong, and the last two books i read that came from her rec list were fucking A+ amazing.

so now i'm reading graceling by kristin cashore, which i think she told us to read at d*c. in 2008. I SUCK, OKAY? it is so effing good, though. i read a lot of mediocre ya fantasy that i think is good until i read something like this and remember how rich and well-written ya fantasy can be. and katsa is such a bad-ass. i spent a good hour at work today thinking about katsa, katniss (from the hunger games by suzanne collins), alanna and kel (from the tortal books by tamora pierce), and the girl from those hilari bell books that i adored having a tea party. and then locke (from the lies of locke lamora by scott lynch- not actually YA, but whatever) would try to sneak in and maybe GEORGE (tortall) would catch him and talk shop with him instead. and then locke would meet katsa and drive her up a fucking wall, but po would really like him. and then all the ladies would get together and stab bella swan in the fucking FACE.

and giddon and motherfucking jon could trade tips about being hateful misogynists to the women they allegedly love! maybe they can invite some of the boys from forks! weeeeeee!

and cos simplykatie wanted to know what else i got from the library:

• revealers by amanda marrone
  
• the last knight by hilari bell
  
• life as we knew it by susan beth pfeffer
  
• skate by michael b. harmon
  
• cybele's secret by juliet marillier
  
• gingerbread by rachel cohn
  
• thirteen reasons why by jay asher

this week has been outrageous, you guys. i had an awesome weekend, and loved life a lot on monday, and then my car broke down monday night and i didn't sleep hardly at all and the mechanic people were annoying and i was the crankiest girl in the world, for realsies. a nap & a taco & my amazing friends made that all about a frillion times better ♥ (and the car is fine now. the battery dropped dead for no apparent reason and one of my electricians fixed it for me today.)

my hp shirt ended up looking pretty rad. i went with the ron design, cos i loff him. i'm sad that i made it with acrylics and not fabric paint, but that was all i had in the house so oh well.

and of course i went & saw hbp with the local gang. lots of fun was had. i liked the movie for the most part- it kind of dragged in parts, but it's a boring book so that was ok. dumbledouche wasn't treated like a goodamn saint, which made me way happy. (i realized at one point that i respect fucking jon more than i respect dumbles. that's so wrong.) the kids are all pretty outstanding, and tom felton is way hot, and i spent a lot of the night humming songs by draco & the malfoys. all in all, i probably liked the movie a bit more than i liked the book. (and i can't complain about canon changes, because i actually had to ask people whether the christmas scene was canon because i could not remember. yeah, i'm pretty awesome.)

the real reason for this post: i'm going to nj/ny tomorrow night and getting back sunday night. i am way excited. i am not bringing my laptop. sheena & my parents & surf taco & gretchen & west side story & whatever else, hooray!

getaway_machine: do crows lay eggs?

I finished The Words of Every Song by Liz Moore today. I bought it when I went home for Christmas because I forgot the book I was reading here, and it has an interesting cover, and it's about the NYC music scene, which we all know I am mildly obsessed with.

Anyway, it's wasn't earth-shattering or anything, but it was a good read. I recommend it to anyone who is casually interested in local music scenes (casually, because I do not know how authentic it all is). I think I was most interested in Jax's parents, although whichever Mike from The Burn had his own story was really awesome and heartbreaking too, and Cynthia and Theo both rock. (It's a set of interconnected short stories that all revolve around a label in NYC, so there are recurring characters but each story focuses on someone different.)

Then, since it was only about 10am, I started Trickster's Choice. I like Nawat a lot more this time around, which is good cos he made my skin crawl last time. Also: GEORGE. Oh, George. Even better, I don't think I've ever actually read Trickster's Queen so I get to do that next! And since I am at shows almost all week, that should be happening sooner rather than later. Hooray!

(And then tonight I started s3 of due South. Ray Kowalski is going to grow on me, right? Because I spent the whole first episode and all but the last five minutes of the second one moaning about how much I missed Vecchio. And also, that phone call? ::wibbles:: But then Dief was wearing a party hat, so.

Even worse- until I like Kowalski, I am not allowing myself to watch the vid that I have been watching obsessively, because I'm afraid my current distaste for him will ruin what is a vid that I clearly love more than is healthy. So Ray Kowalski, make me love you so I can watch the vid and squee again! Please! You can start by shooting another tree in half!)

(Just kidding, getaway_machine.)

(Probably.)

Poll #1094269 this poll is pretty much what it's been like to live in my apartment this weekend.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7

does the woman who rides like a man send you into a rage blackout every time you read it?

what would be the best part about growing up to be alanna?

be honest- when not actively reading the books, how many spaces does jon occupy on your Top Five Characters That Make Me Wish I Could Reach Into Fictional Worlds and Punch People list?

ps: getaway_machine just started lioness rampant, so put spoiler warnings if you want to chat in the comments.

also, getaway_machine just hit the rage-inducing scene in the third alanna book and stormed in here all "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE!" i feel vindicated about jon being on my my "Top Five Fictional People I Want to Punch in the Face List" three times now!

Poll #1093859 this is totally hypothetical, i swear.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 10

how bad is it to have a dream where you are making out with your mortal enemy?

what if it wasn't just random making out? what if you were actually in love with the bane of your very existence?

what if i- i mean, YOU, hypothetical you! what if you weren't you in the dream? in fact, you were someone else who you know and who has no connection with the turdpile you were sucking face with in the dream?

i feel like i will never be clean again.

maybe after getaway_machine finishes the alanna quartet, i will post a whole thing in which i think too hard about how i 'ship. but there will definitely be spoilers (and probably some rage, since i will be talking about couples in tortall) so i might as well wait. also, it will probably be really boring.

Poll #1092274 i have been reading a lot of my favorite books.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 9

unresolved sexual tension- even better than the real thing? (1 = all ust, all the time, and 7 = canon relationships ftw.)

i am very sorry about last night, so tonight there are ticky boxes.

luna lovegood and river tam are BFFs. how did this happen?

[after the pages get a weeklong punishment for brawling]

"It's not fair," Merric grumbled as he wrung out sheets. "Zahir started it."

"But you lot didn't have to pitch in," Kel reminded him. "Besides, this may be the only time all winter that we get the mud out from under our nails."

Merric glowered at her, and Kel waited for the explosion. Instead he shook his head, smiling wryly. "Don't you get mad about anything?" he demanded in amused exasperation. "You know they call you the Lump."

"I try not to show anger," Kel explained. "The Yamanis won't talk to you if you let your feelings out. To them it's like picking your nose at table. Besides, haven't you noticed how tiring losing your temper is?"

-Protector of the Small: First Test, pages 161-162

Poll #1086025 lewis levander orwell need not apply.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 14

Which would you rather be?

Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeorge! Oh man, I just finished the Song of the Lioness quartet, and that last book makes me so happy it is sort of outrageous. I still think Jon is a flaming bag of shit, but I don't think that will ever change so whatevs. But everyone else! I even felt bad for Thom this time around, which is new and different. But mostly I was filled with an overwhelming (as always) love for George and Myles and Buri and Coram and Eleni and Thayet and uh, basically, everyone who isn't Jonathan or actively evil. Hah.

I think I am going to reread Protector of the Small now, cos I miss Raoul and NEAL! Oh Neal. And of course Kel, who is pretty much my hero. Not that Alanna ISN'T, because she is awesome and I love her a lot and I see a lot of myself in her, but Kel is just. She's just normal and amazing and I wish I could be as awesome as she is. She rocks my world, is the thing.

I actually vaguely want to reread, uh, whatever the quartet between those two is, but I am missing a book apparently? And also I just don't care that much? Heh. I think I've only read it once or twice as it is. Hm. Daine (is that even her name?) just doesn't do it for me. I kind of just want to read the parts that have to do with Alanna, but eh, too much work.

i finished a mango-shaped space by wendy mass last night. my unspoilery thoughts: awesome book. the writing could have been a bit better, but the story was fab and the writing was spot-on where it really mattered. ( my spoilery thoughts: ) so yeah, fascinating book about a medical condition that i had never heard of before, but which actually sounds fantastically neat, as strange as that may sound.

i was going to start how i live now by meg rosoff today, but g. beat me to it at work this afternoon (i believe this was before the 4 games of mash we played, *and* the journey to the roof- clearly we were busy *g*) and liked the beginning, so i let her borrow it. of course, now i'm really itching to read it :P

instead i went out and bought some more books: coraline by neil gaiman, it's a wonderful lie: 26 truths about life in your twenties by emily franklin (editor), an idiot girl's christmas by laurie notaro (on sale!), and a pez book that is actually a birthday gift for g. and then i bought some books from amazon (i used about $100 worth of gift cards tonight, and 3/4 of that was on books :D): the amber spyglass by philip pullman (FINALLY), the yanti by christopher pike, and ill wind by rachel caine.

(argh, of course i had to google philip pullman's name to make sure i was spelling it correctly, which led me to this, which means i am going to have to sell my copies after all. dammit. simplykatie, let me know if the ones you got have the drawings and whatnot? if i'm going to buy new copies, i'd prefer to buy those gorgeous covers since i want them anyway haha.)

(speaking of new covers, i am still ridiculously in love with the new alanna covers. ohmygodddddddd, i know i don't need them, but they are SO. PRETTY. and the new tortall book looks awesome, but i have to wait for the mass market paperback to come out so it'll match all of my other tortall books. hmph. i still need the ali books too, but ugh, i do not want those monstrous books!)

Hmph. I just looked up the books Tamora Pierce is writing next, and I'm not thrilled. I still haven't read The Circle Opens, so maybe the continuations of that will interest me. And the Provost's Dog ones sound like they could be good, plus it's about George's ancestors, so what more could I want? But the rest? MEH. The Daine books are definitely my least favorite, and I don't even remember who Maura was, and Numair is boring. I want more about Kel and the guys she grew up with! Or more Aly, even though I haven't read the second one yet! But mostly Kel, or random girls following in Kel's footsteps. Or something. Raar.

Or I'll just reread Protector of the Small and as much of The Lioness Quartet as I can stomach for the rest of my life.

eta: ARGH, I need to stop reading her site, because I'm getting angry (with Jon, of course) and I'm going to start yelling soon. But dude. STOP DEFENDING HIM. Alanna didn't want to marry him cos he's a jerk and George is amazing. He wouldn't let his daughter become a knight because he's a jerk and I'm glad Thayet ripped into him for it! The "Kally had to have an arranged marriage and therefore could not be a knight" argument is bullshit. If Jon had more respect for female knights, he would have encouraged his daughter to become one and if any potential husbands freaked out, he could have told them that women are equals to men in Tortall, and that if that's a problem, maybe he didn't want his daughter marrying someone so backwards after all. Yeah yeah "Middle ages, marriage is not about love, blah blah." And that's all well and good, but how can Jon say "Yes, women should be knights, unless they are royalty or otherwise important in some way" and not expect to get his ass kicked? Cos seriously, the books aren't Middle Ages. They might have started there, but they're in a whole other realm and the "Women can do anything, unless it interferes with how the men in power want to do things, in which case they can do nothing, and they had better LIKE it!" message pisses me off like no other. This shit is bananas, man.

I finished the Remember Me trilogy yesterday. I still really, really love it. The second one is kind of dull, but it's a great bridge between the two books. And oh man, will I ever not be awed by "The Starlight Crystal"? If I ever get around to it, I will do a post of all of my favorite quotes. The third book is all highlighted from years ago, heh.

I finished Lirael today. Holy fucking shit, dude. I need the third one. ( Spoilers and stuff. )

When I ventured to the bookstore (I went to Freehold actually, but Tray was not working :( ), I also got Ender's Game because they did not have the BJT short story book thingy. ARGH. But yay, Ender's Game! I haven't bought books in such a long time that I decided it doesn't matter that I'm poor, because I deserve them. Or something. Whatever.

Also petted the new Tamora Pierce covers. Oh my GOD, they are so fucking pretty. And of course, they're for the Alanna books. So now there are two AMAZING sets that I would love to own, and then there is the set that I DO own, and there is no way I could ever justify getting one of the new sets, because I can't even *read* those books anymore. Hmph. Also grumbled because they still have not printed the Aly books in covers I will actually buy. Why can't they make them regular book sized? Do they hate me and my need for conformity amongst my book covers?

Then I petted the various Pike covers. It's so sad, but I don't have any from this newest set of covers. I have the oldest ones, and the next ones, a few of the third set, but none of these. And these are nice. Someday, when I'm rich, I'll have every printing of every Pike book, and also, shut up. I've been reading his book for ten years this fall, which is almost half my life omg. This is terribly exciting.

Why why why can't I be a knight? I would absolutely love to spend my life thinking about things like honor and kicking ass. Plus knights are sexy. Mm hmm.

If I could become a character at the start of his or respective book(s) (such as being Harry from the time he goes to Hogwarts on), I would most definitely want to be Kel from the Protector of the Small quartet. That's like, my ideal life. She hangs out with awesome guys. She doesn't waste her time with idiotic females. She has honor, and courage, and a cool head, and ok, she likes math, that's a bit odd. But animals like her. I especially admire her ability to (mostly) diplomatically tell people (Jon) that they are being assholes. If I had 7 years of Yamani training, maybe I'd bite my tongue more often! Plus, she has the most amazing friends, and I miss the boys (and everyone else, really) so much, GAH. I am madly in love with Owen this time around, which is new and different. And his adorable cousins! And Dom and Neal, of course, And Raoul and GEORGE!, as always. And Wyldon. Just a little bit. Shut up.

(My #2 choice, hm, might be Shari from Remember Me. Which is odd, cos she starts the book off dead. But her afterlife is terribly exciting! OOH, or Sita, from The Last Vampire. She has many adventures, and oh, my love for Seymour knows no bounds!)

ANYWAY, I am going to lay in bed and read the rest of Squire, and maybe start the fourth one, because it's my day off, and I have decided to ignore all of the plans I made for today (which included exercise, sunbathing, getting work done, and putting on real clothes) and laze about reading children's books. Hooray!

(Also, I just spell-checked this because I can never spell "exercise" properly. Shouldn't it recognize "doesn't"? And maybe even "Hogwarts"? I mean, for realz people.)