Saffron: You're a good man. Mal: You clearly haven't been talking to anyone else on this boat.

'Our Mrs. Reynolds'


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."


erikaj - Sep 16, 2010 5:37:17 pm PDT #12418 of 28326
Always Anti-fascist!

Exactly.


Jessica - Sep 17, 2010 5:24:10 am PDT #12419 of 28326
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

I also read some of it and was impressed by the language-- it was lovely and lyrical, but that couldn't make up for the fact that the lead characters were some of the most loathsome characters I've ever come across in fiction.

That's how I felt about Chronic City.


megan walker - Sep 17, 2010 7:46:01 am PDT #12420 of 28326
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist

That's how I felt about Chronic City.

Ditto. Biggest literary disappoint of my year (so far).


Hayden - Sep 17, 2010 8:31:25 am PDT #12421 of 28326
aka "The artist formerly known as Corwood Industries."

Tritto. Lethem's been on the opposite of a roll since Fortress of Solitude.


Kate P. - Sep 17, 2010 9:03:24 am PDT #12422 of 28326
That's the pain / That cuts a straight line down through the heart / We call it love

It's got the butt-ugliest cover, I swear.

Seriously! I was complaining about it to my coworkers and they all like it. I don't know why. Everything about it is off, to me. The colors, the positioning, the letters... ugh.

I actually do want to read it; we ran an interview with Franzen that was genuinely intriguing, and it's the kind of major literary/cultural event that, for myself, I think it's worthwhile to participate in, even if I don't end up loving it. Plus, Mark wants to read it, and since I love talking about books with him, that's a pretty big additional draw.


erikaj - Sep 17, 2010 9:14:01 am PDT #12423 of 28326
Always Anti-fascist!

I love Fortress. And Motherless Brooklyn. Hated the last one...hoped this would be better. Sigh.


Consuela - Sep 17, 2010 9:20:50 pm PDT #12424 of 28326
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix

Hey, all y'all steampunk folks, you may want to check out Kate Elliott's Cold Magic, which is a YA-ish icepunk novel with a smart athletic female lead, something of a woobie in the male lead, and a brilliantly endearing secondary male character, all set in an alternative 19th-C England where the glaciers never retreated, Christianity never developed, refugees from West Africa came to Europe and mixed with Celtic tribes to form a multi-cultural society, and the Cold Mages are using their elemental magic to fight off the egalitarian forces of the oncoming industrial revolution.

I really enjoyed it, and I suspect y'all might, too.


sj - Sep 18, 2010 8:10:06 am PDT #12425 of 28326
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."

So Oprah chose FREEDOM for her final book club.

I just watched the episode and it is NOT her final selection. She is going to do book club selections all season and plans on continuing the book club on her new network after the show ends, fwiw.


sumi - Sep 18, 2010 9:14:11 am PDT #12426 of 28326
Art Crawl!!!

I went over to check out Cold Magic at Amazon and one of the recommendations under it was Rosemary and Rue about a half-fairy PI. I thought it looked interesting -- has anyone here read it?


Pix - Sep 18, 2010 9:20:21 am PDT #12427 of 28326
The status is NOT quo.

I just bought Cold Magic on the iPhone to read in the ER. Thanks for the rec.