December 22, 2018 at 8:28 pm (Books, Recommended)
Tags: angst, favorites, novel, Philip Pullman, reading lists, Saturday, Tim O'Brien, Twitter
This morning, self answered a Bookshouse tweet that asked: What kind of books make you cry while reading them?
She wanted to say: Almost every book.
Or she could have said: Angst-y books.
Instead, she decided to name a book. No, it was not The Subtle Knife, though that book certainly did make her cry. It was Tim O’Brien’s In the Lake of the Woods. Because of the character of the wife.
Like Dead Letters (which she compares almost every book to, now), it’s a mystery. While Dead Letters gives us closure on the very last page, In the Lake of Woods doesn’t give us even that much. Read at your own risk! O’Brien executes the wife’s point of view so well.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
Leave a Comment
November 23, 2018 at 8:17 pm (Books, Personal Bookshelf, Women Writers)
Tags: angst, Cambridge, English writers, Fridays, mysteries, novel, reading lists
These two books are mysteries. And each has a ton of angst.
Actually, there’s angst as well in Tana French. But French’s angst doesn’t approach the level of angst in either Dead Letters or Missing, Presumed.
Of the two, self much prefers the hysterical, over-the-top angst in Dead Letters. In fact, now that she knows how Dead Letters end, she’s started re-reading, and it is simply delicious: Nadine, the matriarch, pitches wine glasses at her daughter’s head, the same daughter who has just returned from Paris, leaving behind graduate studies and a nice French boyfriend, all for the sake of grieving for her twin sister, who stole her boyfriend.
In Missing, Presumed, the angst is due to the main character’s being almost 40 and suffering from a bad case of FOMO. The first half of the book gives almost as much attention to her blind dates as to the missing person case itself. Pardon self if she much prefers the angst in Dead Letters. At least, in Dead Letters, the angst is due to having a horrible, living mother and recently deceased sister (burned to a crisp in a raging barn fire — how can this not be the most delicious of set-ups?)
In Missing, Presumed, there is one really bad guy, and it’s not the perp. It’s that horrible, no-good systems analyst from Ely who hooks up with the main character and softens her up by leaving her eye drops (delivering them in person to the police station!) because she’s developed a raging case of conjunctivitis, which — take her word for it — looks horrible during televised press conferences
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
Leave a Comment
November 22, 2018 at 3:42 pm (Books, Conversations, Personal Bookshelf, Surprises, Women Writers)
Tags: angst, English writers, mysteries, novel, reading lists
Missing, Presumed, p. 329
“Listen, he’s a prick,” says Bryony, “top totty like you.”
“He might still change his mind,” says Davy, who seems back to his old self.
“Davy,” says Bryony. “Let’s not give the patient false hope.”
lol
lol
lol
Stay tuned.
Leave a Comment
August 16, 2018 at 2:15 am (Books, Food and Drink, Lists, Women Writers)
Tags: angst, Daphne du Maurier, English writers, noir, novel, reading lists, summer
Her aunt, who had not uttered a word since her husband entered the room, was frying bacon over the fire. No one spoke. Mary was aware of Joss Merlyn watching her across the table, and behind her she could hear her aunt fumbling with ineffectual fingers at the hot handle of the frying pan.
Some Thoughts:
- The frying of the bacon in the middle of the night is a very interesting touch.
- Joss Merlyn is an utter pig and Mary has certainly landed herself in a pickle, stuck with him and his cowed wife in an inn of uncertain repute in the middle of a nightmarishly stark and unfamiliar landscape.
So far, the novel reads like one of those dark fairy tales where a damsel in distress has to endure trial by fire before she encounters a) a prince; b) a fairy godmother; c) an inheritance.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
Leave a Comment
May 6, 2018 at 3:23 am (Books, Conversations, Movies, Recommended)
Tags: angst, blockbusters, His Dark Materials, humor, novel, reading lists, Redwood City, Robert Louis Stevenson, Saturday, Scottish writers, The Amber Spyglass
This past week has been a great, angst-y week. Not only did self definitively decide that she couldn’t bear to read further than p. 253 of The Amber Spyglass — it would break her — but she saw Avengers: Infinity War, and — she just can’t seem to escape the bloody angst. Because the movie — just ask anyone who’s seen it — has angst to the nth power.
As soon as she got home, she resumed reading Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. (For such a slim novel, it is taking FOREVER for her to read through, maybe because she keeps having to blog about pirate tropes, practically every page)
Today’s reading had mild angst. For one thing, a mutiny has just been discovered by the captain of the Hispaniola, a rather decent man named Mr. Smollett (The name alone does not encourage confidence regarding his eventual fate).
So, what are we to do? asks someone of the captain (He means: what are we to do about the mutiny?)
“First point,” began Mr. Smollett. “We must go on, because we can’t turn back.”
The captain and his mates then begin to try and figure out which members of the crew are loyal and can be counted on. They consider a crewman named ‘Hands.’ (Self loves the names in this novel. First there was Barbecue, the ship’s cook. Now there is a seaman named ‘Hands.’)
“Hands was one of mine,” says the squire.
“I did think I could have trusted Hands,” added the captain.
“And to think that they’re all Englishmen!” broke out the squire.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
Leave a Comment
April 30, 2018 at 7:25 am (Artists and Writers, Books, Fan Fiction, Recommended)
Tags: angst, essay, fantasy, Hunger Games, Mondays, novel, Peeta, reading lists, The Amber Spyglass, Will Parry, writing process
NO SPOILERS FOR THE AMBER SPYLGASS, PROMISE!
p. 248, just halfway. But self was immersed in a wonderful piece of Amber Spyglass fan fiction (and there are very few of those. At least, when compared to Hunger Games. There are six times as many Hunger Games fan fics than there are Amber Spyglass fan fics — of any ship.) Anyhoo, self was enjoying the fan fic hugely until she landed on a chapter where the writer quotes the end of The Amber Spyglass. And — self knows the end already because Twitter is an undisciplined space. But she didn’t expect it to go down like that. It was so awful. Seeing as how she found the ending of The Subtle Knife excruciating, she knew she wasn’t strong enough for the end of The Amber Spyglass. Exhibit A: She put off reading the last 50 pages of The Hunger Games for two years, until the movies started coming out, because she was so sure Peeta would die. But then a niece looked self straight in the eyes and said, “Peeta makes it.”
Oh. He DOES?
Screech!
Self returned home, read the last 50 pages of The Hunger Games, went to the local bookstore, bought Catching Fire and Mockingjay, and binge-read.
So, alas, farewell for now, His Dark Materials, and on to . . . Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, which has zero angst.
The edition self checked out of the Redwood City Library has a neat little intro — Stevenson’s essay, “My First Book.” She’s actually been dipping into it off and on, the past few days. Here’s an excerpt:
I am told there are people who do not care for maps, and find it hard to believe. The names, the shapes of the woodlands, the courses of the roads and rivers, the prehistoric footsteps of man, still distinctly traceable up hill and down dale, the mills and the ruins, the ponds and the ferries, perhaps the Standing Stone or the Druidic Circle on the heath; here is an inexhaustible fund of interest for any man with eyes to see or twopence worth of imagination to understand with!
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
Leave a Comment
April 17, 2018 at 3:12 pm (Books, Family, Recommended, Surprises)
Tags: angst, English writers, fantasy, novel, Philip Pullman, reading lists
After spending almost the entire book struggling to bring an alethiometer to her father, who’s being kept in an ice-bound prison in Svalbard by her evil mother’s henchmen, and after surmounting a host of obstacles — which include evil bears, the Oblation Board, trepanned Tartars and their malevolent daemons — in the process, Lyra meets Lord Asriel for the first time since she learned she was his daughter:
- Her father was lying back in his chair, lazy and powerful, his eyes as fierce as a daemon’s. She didn’t love him, she couldn’t trust him, but she had to admire him . . .
So real! Philip Pullman, what have you done to self? Turns out Lyra was never meant to bring Lord Asriel an alethiometer. The alethiometer was for her. She didn’t realize it at the time the Master gave it to her because she didn’t think anyone could be as important as her father. So she’s come all this way for, basically, nothing. Not to mention, she realizes her father will be her last opponent. Because he is mad.
GAAAH! Can’t you cut this kid a break, Philip Pullman? So much angst, self can’t even.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
Leave a Comment
September 16, 2016 at 3:54 pm (Fan Fiction, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: angst, Everlark, Fridays, humor, indulgences, Peeta
It is Friday.
Self is pondering her fan fiction.
Unless you’ve been lost in space for four years, you know that she ships Everlark. And only Everlark.
Her readers — self has no idea who they are, because this is fan fiction. Everyone goes by an alias.
She loves when someone leaves a comment and says: Hey, are you going to update this story? It’s been years!
This morning, she’s re-reading a story by Ronja (who is Swedish, self thinks)
684 days ago, a reader left Ronja this comment:
Por favor, ni de casualidad que me puedo morir de tristeza.
Though self’s Spanish is a bit rusty, she thinks she can figure out the gist.
That’s because Ronja has Peeta engaged to someone else.
In self’s newest fan fic, Peeta is a serial killer. Or at least, a suspected serial killer. And Katniss is a detective (with a few secrets of her own), and her partner is Gale. And just so you know, self frequently gets comments like this on her own fic:
Jesus, can’t your Peeta catch a break?
Well, no, he cannot.
LOL
Bodies pop up all over San Francisco.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
Leave a Comment
August 12, 2016 at 12:41 am (Artists and Writers, Lists, Movies, Surprises)
Tags: angst, disappointment, Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, performances, praise, reviews, summer, summer movies, Woody Allen
Live every day like it’s your last, and one day you’ll be right.
— a character in Woody Allen’s Café Society
Why do Woody Allen’s recent movies end like that?
Why do they just seem to stop — as if the director realized he was running out of time and it would take at least an hour to untangle the mess he’s thrown his characters into but uh-oh, he doesn’t have the time or the budget so, rather than compromise with a manufactured ending, he just stops.
Sometimes, he can get away with it, but not here. No, no, no. Self refuses to accept that this ending “works.”
About the performances: Jesse Eisenberg, it’s almost a physical transformation. Is the actor really that skinny, that stooped, that — plain?
Kristen Stewart — not nearly as convincing as the California object of men’s desires. J-Law could have done this part, in her sleep. And she would have nailed it, too.
Blake Lively — her part was sooo under-written but she did her best with the little she was given.
Steve Carell — okay, you were good. So good that self hated you. Almost all the way through.
And Corey Stoll — Self knows. Corey who? But, what a performance. Scary and convincing. Watch for it.
Cinematography — aced. The settings were so beautifully framed, in almost every shot.
More later.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
Leave a Comment
May 3, 2016 at 8:13 am (Conversations, Fan Fiction)
Tags: angst, Everlark, fan fiction, indulgences, Katniss, Mondays, Peeta
Oh, thou jest-est. Or whatever.
The setting is England, in the self-doesn’t-know-what century.
Peeta has just been called up to Oxford, while Katniss and Prim remain in Winchester.
KATNISS
My aunt and uncle wish to take Prim and I to Newcastle.
PEETA
To Newcastle? My God, why not to Shanghai?
KATNISS
Please, do not jest.
PEETA
And you wish to give Prim the opportunity to have a London season?
KATNISS
I do (I could not doom my sister’s future by being selfish enough to go after my own heart’s desires.)
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
Leave a Comment
« Older entries
