I found Billy Budd both annoying and depressing and it might take someone holding a gun to my head for me to read it again. The rest of Melville is wondrous, though, and I hate the idea that Billy Budd is keeping people from Moby Dick and The Confidence Man, not to mention the accounts of Polynesia in Typee and Oomoo.
Illyria: Wesley's dead. I'm feeling grief for him. I can't seem to control it. I wish to do more violence. Spike: Well, wishes just happen to be horses today.
'Not Fade Away'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Ginger - Jan 29, 2010 5:51:45 am PST #10869 of 28359
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
ChiKat - Jan 29, 2010 7:15:54 am PST #10870 of 28359
That man was going to shank me. Over an omelette. Two eggs and a slice of government cheese. Is that what my life is worth?
Mom! Calli made me choke on a carrot!
Calli - Jan 29, 2010 7:59:36 am PST #10871 of 28359
I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul—Calvin and Hobbs
Calli made me choke on a carrot!
Hey, don't blame me! Melville wrote it.
Steph L. - Jan 30, 2010 6:19:30 am PST #10872 of 28359
this mess was yours / now your mess is mine
I started reading The Demon's Lexicon after Betsy mentioned it in LJ. I like it so far, and I'm intrigued enough to keep reading, but -- having never watched the show -- it's pretty much Supernatural, right?
Also, the cover art makes me laugh and laugh, because it looks like Tom Welling. There's a whole CW network thing going on there -- reads like Supernatural, looks like Smallville.
brenda m - Jan 30, 2010 6:52:09 am PST #10873 of 28359
If you're going through hell/keep on going/don't slow down/keep your fear from showing/you might be gone/'fore the devil even knows you're there
Hah, it totally does.
Beverly - Jan 30, 2010 8:26:48 am PST #10874 of 28359
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.
With a touch of Damon (Ian Somerhalder) from Vampire Diaries. Total CW-fest.
§ ita § - Jan 31, 2010 1:51:45 pm PST #10875 of 28359
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Literature-Map - the tourist map of literature.
I'm a bit surprised by Douglas Adams. I guess he's more mainstream than I'd thought.
§ ita § - Jan 31, 2010 4:17:50 pm PST #10876 of 28359
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Where's the best place to read a good synopsis of the Amazon/MacMillan brouhaha? I understand that Amazon has pouted and at least mostly come round, but the details and precisely what they dropped lost me.
Amy - Jan 31, 2010 4:23:58 pm PST #10877 of 28359
Because books.
I could forward you the Publishers Marketplace summaries, if you want.
Tom Scola - Jan 31, 2010 4:25:55 pm PST #10878 of 28359
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
Here are a couple of takes on it that I found useful:
They were written before Amazon released its "capitulation" letter, which has to be one of the most passive-aggressive press releases I've ever read.