Are the excerpts crucial to the understanding of the plot? If so, jackass. At best, they'll still be naggy to many.
Gwen: Demon, OK? The whole nine—cloven feet and horns and teeth. He wasn't wearing lamé though. Lorne: Yeah, the evil ones can't pull it off. It gets camp.
'Harm's Way'
We're Literary 2: To Read Makes Our Speaking English Good
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."
§ ita § - Apr 27, 2005 11:19:26 am PDT #7493 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Scrappy - Apr 27, 2005 11:19:54 am PDT #7494 of 10002
Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Is it a Britiish book, Jilli? I notice no translations of French in books published there--maybe because it's assumed everyone knows at least enough French to get by and to imply they don't is to insult the reader's intelligence? I have found it vastly frustrating in the past.
Connie Neil - Apr 27, 2005 11:20:15 am PDT #7495 of 10002
brillig
Die Upon a Kiss by Barbara Hambly
Oh, the mysteries set in early 1800s New Orleans. I read one of them but couldn't read the others because I couldn't shake my knowledge of what history was like for blacks in the south later in the century, I couldn't just immerse myself in the period, fascinating though it is.
Connie Neil - Apr 27, 2005 11:20:53 am PDT #7496 of 10002
brillig
Is it a Britiish book, Jilli? I notice no translations of French in books published there
Sayers is horrible for that.
Betsy HP - Apr 27, 2005 11:21:02 am PDT #7497 of 10002
If I only had a brain...
I admire those mysteries greatly, but they only get more and more heartbreaking.
Atropa - Apr 27, 2005 11:27:10 am PDT #7498 of 10002
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
Is it a Britiish book, Jilli?
Yep.
I notice no translations of French in books published there--maybe because it's assumed everyone knows at least enough French to get by and to imply they don't is to insult the reader's intelligence?
Hmmph. That's probably the case with this book. I did ask Pete if it was common for UK-published books not to translate any sections in French, but he wasn't sure.
The other non-fiction book I'm currently reading (Courtesans : Money, Sex and Fame in the Nineteenth Century, by Katie Hickman) DOES provide translations for the great whopping chunks of French that are part of it. Of course, I'm not sure if that book was originally published in the UK or not.
I have found it vastly frustrating in the past.
I almost stopped reading the dratted thing because of it.
Atropa - Apr 27, 2005 11:28:12 am PDT #7499 of 10002
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
I admire those mysteries greatly, but they only get more and more heartbreaking.
Should I not bother reading this one since I haven't read the first four?
Amy - Apr 27, 2005 11:28:29 am PDT #7500 of 10002
Because books.
Die Upon a Kiss by Barbara Hambly
I admire those mysteries greatly, but they only get more and more heartbreaking.
Fever Season and Sold Down the River were especially so. And also terrifying.
Connie Neil - Apr 27, 2005 11:29:07 am PDT #7501 of 10002
brillig
The mysteries are self-contained--I think--but there are lots of references to family life and relationships.
Edit: Fever Season is the one I read. That one was fiendish.
Amy - Apr 27, 2005 11:30:03 am PDT #7502 of 10002
Because books.
Should I not bother reading this one since I haven't read the first four?
Cereal:
Personally, I would read at least the first one, A Free Man of Color beforehand to acquaint yourself with the characters and world.