*neglects LJ woefully*

[tenlittlebullets]

Why have I neglected LJ so woefully lately? Well... I've been reading. This is a good thing. Tore merrily through Night Watch in a matter of two days, am about to finish The Thirteenth Tale, afterwards will start on the Silmarillion, and all through that I've been slowly chugging through Paris Between Empires. Which is full of all sorts of useful information; I just have to get past how much I hate Mansel's writing. It's terribly dry, and trying to pretend it's not biased even though it is. He never comes right out and says "Napoleon is teh suck and the Restoration is of the win," but the choice of language and selection of quotes and anecdotes are anything but neutral. (And he insults the looks of Godefroy Cavaignac's mother. Dude. There are plenty of easier and less utterly pathetic ways to take a swing at Cavaignac.)

Am loving Thirteenth Tale though. In addition to being a compelling story, it's just so deliciously... meta. Because it's about the power of stories, and of books, and it's chock full of hidden and explicit references to Jane Eyre, and Wuthering Heights, and plenty of other books in that vein.

Comments

[coppertone.livejournal.com]

NIGHT WATCH. <333333333333333 Best Terry Pratchett book of them all.

Thirteenth Tale sounds amazingly shiny. I may have to look for it!

And yay for the Silmarillion! ^__^ I have to admit that the beginning can be awfully dry, if you think shameless copying retellings of Paradise Lost with a rock and/or roll twist is dry, which some people do, but the actual stories? Pure non-stop awesome. And death. Especially death. Mainly death.

*cough* *has to pimp this way too often*

[just-marzipan.livejournal.com]

Eeee, the Silmarillion! It is awesome, really! Don't be fooled by the somewhat difficult beginning, once you get past that there is kinslaying and dramatic speeches and hanging off of cliffs and incest and Big Epic Battles! Plus, it all becomes intensely interesting when you think about all the bits Tolkien doesn't tell us about.

... And I realise I am starting to get over excited and rambling, so. I hope you enjoy it.