Angel: You know, I killed my actual dad. It was one of the first things I did when I became a vampire. Wesley: I hardly see how that's the same situation. Angel: Yeah. I didn't really think that one through.

'Lineage'


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."


sj - May 09, 2013 9:02:23 am PDT #20756 of 28370
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."

Gone Girl was a page turner for sure, and there were some things I liked about it, but so much of the characterization just did not work for me, and all the hype about how it's a book about marriage and men and women and blah blah blah... uh, if
you're married to a total psychopath (sociopath?), then perhaps it would give you some insight into your own marriage, but otherwise it didn't seem to have a whole lot to say about actual human relationships.

I disagree with this. I think the book had a lot to say about how people often present one face to a significant other when you first start dating and then end up showing your real self little by little over time. It was just taken to the extreme in this case.

I also thought there was some great stuff in the book about journalism and the media and how they report on things like a missing woman, and how easy it is to sway public perception of someone's guilt or innocence.

Just started Gone Girl -- maybe four chapters in -- and I love it. She's an incredible writer. I'm a little wary about hating the plot of it toward the end, because there was a pretty divisive twist, right?

The writing really was incredible. Has anyone read any of Flynn's other books? I think I need to check them out.

yeah, you too see the ending more "favorably" than I did. I really hated it. Makes me wonder
if this is how her parents started out .

I loved the ending, but the book did really make me wonder about Amy's parents. They're really the great unsolved mystery of the book. How exactly did they end up raising someone like Amy, and was their marriage really as perfect as it seemed from the outside? Was it a perfect marriage where they only cared about each other and not as much about Amy help turn Amy into what she was? What does that say about Amy and Nick's baby's future? Can two such messed up people raise a perfectly normal child?

Count me among those who think the ending of Gone Girl is rather perfect. Not satisfying in any way, but perfect.

I agree. I loved that I couldn't figure out where it was going to go, even as the end got closer and closer.

I'd really love it if Flynn wrote another book someday from the point of view of the kid, and I'd also love another book with the lawyer and his wife.


Connie Neil - May 09, 2013 9:36:55 am PDT #20757 of 28370
brillig

re: book covers, I'm really annoyed about books marketed to women that don't show a woman's face, or a body from the neck down or nose down, or osmething. As if seeing a picture of an actual person will somehow hurt the chances of someone picking up the book.


Gris - May 09, 2013 10:03:22 am PDT #20758 of 28370
Hey. New board.

I'm really annoyed about books marketed to women that don't show a woman's face

That's true. I remember the Gossip Girl books all doing that, and I thought it was very weird. Those covers matched the books almost not at all, except that neither of them were very good.


Connie Neil - May 09, 2013 10:08:37 am PDT #20759 of 28370
brillig

It's like someone in marketing said "Women want to identify with the heroine of the book, and they can't if there's a picture of someone on the book."


Jessica - May 09, 2013 10:15:34 am PDT #20760 of 28370
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

I don't actually mind gender-marketed covers, though. My problem is with the men who want to read the books more pitched toward women but get embarrassed by the cover.

But the slideshow isn't really about that - most of these books are general fiction which in theory are marketed to everybody. But all the female authors get girly covers and all the male authors get manly ones regardless of what their book is about or who would enjoy reading it.


sj - May 09, 2013 10:50:46 am PDT #20761 of 28370
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."

In the past two weeks I have finished three books that I really enjoyed (Girl Gone, Devil Said Bang, and, Frost Burned) now I can't figure out what to read next. Any suggestions? I have to take a couple things back to the library today, so I'll probably look around there. We're headed to Mom's tomorrow for the weekend, and I'd like to have something good with me.


Steph L. - May 09, 2013 10:52:20 am PDT #20762 of 28370
this mess was yours / now your mess is mine

I really enjoyed The Diviners, by Libba Bray.


Polter-Cow - May 09, 2013 11:49:15 am PDT #20763 of 28370
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

Have you read anything by N.K. Jemisin, sj? She's my new Recommend to Everyone. If you're in a fantasy mood, check out The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (first in a trilogy) or The Killing Moon (first in a duology).


hippocampus - May 09, 2013 12:01:34 pm PDT #20764 of 28370
not your mom's socks.

seconding PC's rec for N.K. Jemisin.


-t - May 09, 2013 12:12:23 pm PDT #20765 of 28370
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration

What is apparently the last Sookie Stackhouse novel is out. I've got it (I find this series perfect for reading while lounging in the sun and maybe dozing off) but I haven't started it yet.