Excuse me? Who gave you permission to exist?

Cordelia ,'Beneath You'


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."


Atropa - Jul 29, 2013 6:17:03 pm PDT #21177 of 28378
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.

Sandman. Start with Sandman.

Well, okay, that's my purist reaction. The Graveyard Book may be a good place to start.

P-C, Amy -- have you read The Ocean at the End of the Lane? Because it's quick and accessible as hell. I almost feel like telling her to start with that.

Hey, will one of you who has read The Ocean at the End of the Lane give me a general rating for the emotional gut-punchiness of it? I love Neil's writing, but I've seen some comments that the book can be emotionally wrenching around the ideas of the helplessness of childhood, and that's kind of a loaded topic for me nowadays.

(Yes, I have the book and I haven't read it yet. Crazy, I know.)


Polter-Cow - Jul 29, 2013 6:19:10 pm PDT #21178 of 28378
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

Hm. Jilli, I didn't really get that from the book at all, but that doesn't seem like something that would ping me.


Steph L. - Jul 29, 2013 6:26:26 pm PDT #21179 of 28378
this mess was yours / now your mess is mine

Jilli, without spoiling the plot, there's some threat of helplessness, but it ends up not happening. But you have to get through the spooky-ass threats and such to get to the point where it doesn't actually happen. There was maybe one moment where I kind of went "Nooooo no no, do NOT do that," in response to a threat, and almost put the book down, but then the threatened thing didn't happen.


Atropa - Jul 29, 2013 6:30:30 pm PDT #21180 of 28378
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.

Is there any thread or refrain of the main character feeling like they can Fix All The Things, or that they need to be responsible for Fixing All The Things? That's pretty much a sure-fire trigger to a bad headspace for me nowadays.

(On the one hand, therapy has been very helpful for me. On the other hand, there are times when I think not investigating my baggage was a totes okay coping strategy, because doing so has made me hyper-aware of some things in the media I like.)


Polter-Cow - Jul 29, 2013 6:36:55 pm PDT #21181 of 28378
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

I don't think so, Jilli. Now that you've made your trigger more specific, I'm a little more certain it's not in there. But I did read the book very fast and was more focused on the fantasy/horror aspects.


Atropa - Jul 29, 2013 6:39:03 pm PDT #21182 of 28378
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.

Well heaven knows I will glom onto the horror aspects with glee, so I'm feeling reassured about the book. Thank you, I will read it once I get through this work week!


sj - Jul 29, 2013 7:06:40 pm PDT #21183 of 28378
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."

Jilli, no on your most recent whitefont. The narrator is well aware that he is incapable of fixing the problem. I was terrified for him at several points, even though the book starts off with him as an adult having obviously lived through the events of the book.

I'm currently listening to the audiobook of The Ocean at the End of the Lane and it is even better hearing Gaiman read it.


sj - Jul 29, 2013 7:09:20 pm PDT #21184 of 28378
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."

Tea:

I had a customer come in to the library bookstore when I was volunteering the other day looking specifically for fantasy novels, and I tried to steer her toward the Gaiman novels we have on the shelf when she told me that she read one of Gaiman's novels and didn't like. I honestly couldn't think of a thing to say to her after that.


Connie Neil - Jul 29, 2013 8:21:00 pm PDT #21185 of 28378
brillig

regarding ereaders. I love my Nook, but the interface to organize things is highly annoying. I've got lots of shelves, but I know of no way to organize those shelves without having to do all the moving on the Nook itself. Are Kindles any better at organizing things? I've been thinking for a while about upgrading my ereader, and I'd like to stay with Nook--yay, no restrictions on formats!--but if the Kindle will organize things easily I'll have to do some serious thinking. Alternately, have I been missing the wonderful app that will organize things? I use Calibre for managing the library, but I haven't seen a way to organize things on the Nook.


meara - Jul 29, 2013 8:24:31 pm PDT #21186 of 28378

I don't know how Nook organizes, but I do not love the kindle organizing.

Random thing: I was at the bookstore near me today, and realized that half the books I read were in their "horror" section. I was startled (it was things like Gail Carriger, and Kim Harrison), as I normally find them in Science Fiction, and don't at all think of horror as something I enjoy. But then I was trying to think of what I *would* classify as "horror" (if not vampires and werewolves, which seemed to be the main bent of the section, at this store) and was like "Um...serial killers?" but then thought that I read a lot of those type too, but they're usually "thrillers" and under either mystery or just regular fiction. The only thing I could come up with for "horror" was Stephen King, and I don't even read his books, so i don't know what they're like. Thoughts?