Willow: You know what they say. The bigger they are... Anya: The faster they stomp you into nothin'.

'The Killer In Me'


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."


Jesse - Feb 20, 2008 11:38:28 am PST #5080 of 28343
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

Can you? It seems so un-Spanish.

That's why it sounded so bad! In my head.


Pix - Feb 20, 2008 1:11:03 pm PST #5081 of 28343
The status is NOT quo.

I pronounce Juno JU-no and Junot ju-NO, but I'm not sure where I picked that up. The Junot I know was a French general, so it may have been just my own vague and inaccurate way of Frenching it up in my head.
I imagine that there are many pronunciations of the name. "Juno" is just the way this particular Junot says his own name.

(I just re-read, and that sounds snippy in my head. It wasn't meant to be snippy at all, just to be clear.)


Susan W. - Feb 20, 2008 1:14:01 pm PST #5082 of 28343
Good Trouble and Righteous Fights

It didn't come across as snippy at all, Kristin. My original post was sort of an embarrassed, "My God, have I been Jean-Andoche Junot's name wrong all this time? Maybe I should learn French sooner rather than later so I don't put my foot in my mouth."


Consuela - Feb 20, 2008 7:39:55 pm PST #5083 of 28343
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix

I missed the lunar eclipse because I was finally finishing The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, which was great fun once it finally got going. I definitely recommend it if you like thieves and con men and fantastic cities and that whole Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser thing.


Shari_H - Feb 21, 2008 11:08:42 am PST #5084 of 28343
Keep breathing!

(De-lurking to say-)

The Lies of Locke Lamora! My teenage sons and I devoured that one last year and we're now re-reading it, in preparation for reading the sequel, Red Seas Under Red Skies. I hope it comes close being as much fun as Locke Lamora (although second books in a series rarely are, sigh.)

Has anyone read the new People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks yet? I LOVED her other books (March, Year of Wonders, and Nine Parts of Desire).

Also, having mentioned March, I just finished a joint biography of Louisa May Alcott and her father that was quite good, Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson.

(Returning to lurk mode now.)


Amy - Feb 21, 2008 11:09:59 am PST #5085 of 28343
Because books.

Hi, Shari!

I've had Year of Wonders on my shelf for a couple of years, but haven't read it yet. I want to, though!

That biography sounds great. ::makes note::


-t - Feb 21, 2008 11:15:24 am PST #5086 of 28343
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration

I just finished a joint biography of Louisa May Alcott and her father that was quite good, Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson.

Oh, cool. I find the Alcotts endlessly fascinating.


Kathy A - Feb 21, 2008 11:18:28 am PST #5087 of 28343
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil

Speaking of classic children's lit authors and their relatives, I've been meaning to order Ghost in the Little House, a bio about Rose Wilder Lane. I'm not a fan of what I've heard is the author's theory that RWL was the ghost-writer of the Little House books, but I still find her life fascinating, so I'm interested in reading this.


Amy - Feb 21, 2008 11:22:03 am PST #5088 of 28343
Because books.

Oh, don't say that! Half Pint totally wrote the books!

::clings to illusions::


Kathy A - Feb 21, 2008 12:24:34 pm PST #5089 of 28343
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil

Well, from what I understand, this author takes the original one-volume manuscript called "Pioneer Girl" and compares it to the final manuscripts for the individual books, taking into account that Rose did take the individual book mss from her mother and shape them up a bit before passing them onto the editor. I think what is closer to the truth is that she polished them up a tad, but didn't do the extensive work that the bio author supposes. Laura was an experienced newspaper writer and not the almost-novice that the bio author makes her sound like. Rose probably did more of making each book progressively more complex for advancing reading skills (one of my favorite aspects of the series) than Laura did.

In reading The First Four Years, one probably gets more of straight-Laura writing in its rawer form before it got cleaned up from both Laura and Rose. It was found in Laura's writings after both she and Rose passed away, IIRC, and was barely edited before publishing. Laura apparently just found the subject matter too depressing to work on after first writing it, especially after losing Almanzo in 1947.