Mal: You know, you ain't quite right. River: It's the popular theory.

'Objects In Space'


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."


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.


DavidS - Sep 18, 2010 12:37:10 pm PDT #12428 of 28326
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

and one of the recommendations under it was Rosemary and Rue about a half-fairy PI.

Isn't that the book by P-Cow's friend, Seanan?


Strix - Sep 18, 2010 2:45:17 pm PDT #12429 of 28326
A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to flee from zombies. — Ginger

Yep, David. I read it; I liked it, but I wasn't blown away by it.


Consuela - Sep 18, 2010 3:57:07 pm PDT #12430 of 28326
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix

Rosemary & Rue is an urban fantasy set in SF with an adult woman (with an interesting history) as the lead. It's not one of the half-naked kickass female lead stories, a la Laurell K. Hamilton. I liked it well enough, but not enough to get the next one--urban fantasy just isn't my beautiful cake anymore.

But McGuire won the Campbell Award for best new writer, on the strength of that and Feed, a post-zombie apocalypse political thriller about Web 3.0. (She published that one as Mira Grant, if you want to look for it.) I liked that one better than R&R, myself, and definitely intend to read the sequel.