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Recent books
12/4/05 07:05In roughly reverse order, however many I have time for before I have to leave for work:
Kaguya-Hime #26 and 27, Shimizu Reiko.
Oh, this is good stuff, or at any rate it pushes all my buttons. Shimizu has the rather annoying tendency to lapse into technobabble when I'm really just interested in the characters and can't handle that many kanji at once, so I skimmed, but I got the jist of it, anyway. It will reward a rereading. If you asked me the plot of this series, I couldn't tell you, beyond "There are organ donor clones and then there's all this stuff to do with the moon, because it's falling to earth, and there's some kind of moon mold that's making people sick, and there's a really bad guy who wants the moon and the main character for himself." But the characters, and the emotional button-pushing... this ends in exactly the same way as Matendou Sonata. Bitter and then bittersweet and gorgeous. I was shocked that they killed off who they killed off.
Akira is a raging Mary Sue, as evidenced by how she's in love with a gorgeous guy from space but when she can't have him she settles for the crown prince of England. But she's a Mary Sue who I wouldn't mind being--a graceful ass-kicking tomboy. So I don't mind.
Sono otoko, shikisha ni tsuki... , Akizuki Koo.
This is back to her usual standards now that they're back from Italy. Her usual standards are nothing to inspire awe, but it makes for very warm comfort reading.
I realized a lot about characterization, because if there's one thing these books have, it's the kind of characterization I'm trying to get down. It's based on characters who know each other well, and feel affection for each other, and have a sense of humor, having conversations that don't necessarily have anything to do with the plot. There's only so much of this you can get away with in, say, an American fantasy novel. I have definitely been told not to have conversations without tension, not to have characters sipping tea together... it's a question of keeping things in balance, I suppose.
Murder Must Advertise, Dorothy Sayers.
I found this kind of...opaque. There's enough difference between early 20th century England and late 20th century North America to leave me momentarily confused now and then, and Sayers writes long strings of dialogue without so much as making sure that the reader knows who's saying what. It took me a while to get into this, but after I got used to the language and the other things that confused me, it picked up, and was pretty brilliant in spots; the ending was nicely chilling. Plus, socialist rants about the evils of advertising!
I'm definitely going to read more of these, because I'm sure that I'll find them easier if I do, and be able to appreciate them better.
That's all I have time for--I'll do the YAs later...
Kaguya-Hime #26 and 27, Shimizu Reiko.
Oh, this is good stuff, or at any rate it pushes all my buttons. Shimizu has the rather annoying tendency to lapse into technobabble when I'm really just interested in the characters and can't handle that many kanji at once, so I skimmed, but I got the jist of it, anyway. It will reward a rereading. If you asked me the plot of this series, I couldn't tell you, beyond "There are organ donor clones and then there's all this stuff to do with the moon, because it's falling to earth, and there's some kind of moon mold that's making people sick, and there's a really bad guy who wants the moon and the main character for himself." But the characters, and the emotional button-pushing... this ends in exactly the same way as Matendou Sonata. Bitter and then bittersweet and gorgeous. I was shocked that they killed off who they killed off.
Akira is a raging Mary Sue, as evidenced by how she's in love with a gorgeous guy from space but when she can't have him she settles for the crown prince of England. But she's a Mary Sue who I wouldn't mind being--a graceful ass-kicking tomboy. So I don't mind.
Sono otoko, shikisha ni tsuki... , Akizuki Koo.
This is back to her usual standards now that they're back from Italy. Her usual standards are nothing to inspire awe, but it makes for very warm comfort reading.
I realized a lot about characterization, because if there's one thing these books have, it's the kind of characterization I'm trying to get down. It's based on characters who know each other well, and feel affection for each other, and have a sense of humor, having conversations that don't necessarily have anything to do with the plot. There's only so much of this you can get away with in, say, an American fantasy novel. I have definitely been told not to have conversations without tension, not to have characters sipping tea together... it's a question of keeping things in balance, I suppose.
Murder Must Advertise, Dorothy Sayers.
I found this kind of...opaque. There's enough difference between early 20th century England and late 20th century North America to leave me momentarily confused now and then, and Sayers writes long strings of dialogue without so much as making sure that the reader knows who's saying what. It took me a while to get into this, but after I got used to the language and the other things that confused me, it picked up, and was pretty brilliant in spots; the ending was nicely chilling. Plus, socialist rants about the evils of advertising!
I'm definitely going to read more of these, because I'm sure that I'll find them easier if I do, and be able to appreciate them better.
That's all I have time for--I'll do the YAs later...
