laceblade | Entries tagged with a: mcewan ian

(it's been 84 years.gif)

Finished Reading
The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Shadow by Fuyumi Ono - I mostly wrote about this last time, but ended up loving it! I really think that having the insight into Yuko's thoughts helps a lot. I love her growth throughout the book, and the entire constructed fantasy world is just really awesome. I have the second book checked out from the library now, & maybe some day I'll try the anime again, too.

Kaze Hikaru, volumes 6-10 - I'm really enjoying this series a lot more than I thought I would. The art style has grown on me - I really like the faces for Okita Souji & Hijikata & etc., and the backgrounds are great, too. I like reading about the daily inner-workings of the Shinsengumi, & I do like how the volumes are dealing with the populace's perception of the Shinsengumi as blood-thirsty wolves, even though the members of the troop view themselves as noble protectors. This conflicting view of oppressor vs. protector is interesting, and I hope the manga-ka keeps picking it apart.
Taeko Watanabe's end-of-volume reviews of historical fact are nice, too.

Reading this series leads me to look up a lot of historical figures on Wikipedia, & now that I've started watching Rurouni Kenshin on Crunchyroll, I feel pretty conflicted about who to root for in the Bakumatsu!!

All that said, Sei's love for Souji is really compelling. I love her rejection of simply becoming his wife, & continuing to dress as a man so that she can protect his life in battle as her way of expressing her love.

Learning the World by Ken MacLeod - This is a sci-fi novel about a generation ship in which the POV switches back and forth between the people on a ship approaching a world with intelligent life, & the people living on the world which they're approaching. There are politics & governments & inventions & lots of discussions over tea. Sadly, I think this is an author where I like the ideas and concepts much more than the writing.
I find that with many sci-fi enthusiasts, they can rave about the ideas or world-building, but I don't really give a fuck unless the characters & the writing really reach me.
AND YET, it was decent enough that I might try his revolution series that

jesse_the_k told me about.

On Being Ill by Virginia Woolf - Picked this up on a whim at the library. Woolf's questions about why don't more narratives take on the concept of illness - something which could be compelling and with which everyone can relate - were super intriguing!
It was followed by "notes" from her mother, Julia Stephens, about how to care for sick people. While probably unusual at the time, most of her advice comes down to giving sick people autonomy - don't just fluff up their pillows without asking; don't enter the house and mutter about their illness instead of speaking so they can hear you, etc. Lots of advice also on how best to pin the sheets, how best to prepare beef broth, etc.
I wouldn't mind having Woolf's mom care for me, ;)
Quick read.

Dawn of the Arcana, volumes 9 & 10 - I loathed volume 9 because NOTHING ever happens, the volumes are pretty easy to blow through because there's very few words per page, blah-blah. But volume 10 involves a few-months time-jump & a seizure of agency by the protagonist, who's spent a lot of time whining before. I'll probably continue with this! Too bad I'm almost caught up with the English release - I've been waiting for volume 11 for months, & it'll probably be a while before I get it.

K-ON! High School by kakifly - After finishing watching season 2 of the anime, I was happy to be able to immediately pick this up & read about Azusa's last year of high school. I really love K-ON! all around, although I think it's a series in which I prefer the anime to the manga. I have the K-ON! college tome somewhere around my apartment (or at least, I think I do), & I'm kind of dying to read it.

Black Dogs by Ian McEwan - Since reading Atonement a couple years ago, I seem to read one of his per year. I love McEwan's writing, I think I would read almost anything he's written. It's a story about a complicated marriage, told by a son-in-law. It's also about post-WWII Europe, & evil, & love.

Currently Reading
Kitty Takes a Holiday by Carrie Vaughn - do to the content I've been warned about, I put this on hold for a couple months but I think I can handle it now. Only one chapter in so far - following the high levels of excitement in the previous volume, Kitty's hanging out in the middle of nowhere to find some peace. I'm pretty sure she won't quite find it. I'm happy to return to her life.

Crossposts: http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/686744.html

Well, you can tell I've gone back to work, I think.

• What are you currently reading?
Working on finishing Radical Reinvention by Kaya Oakes, which is basically about someone coming to terms with their own Catholicism in spite of the Catholic Church's fail. I suspect I will have a post's worth of thoughts on this book when I'm done (at least, I have about 15 different pages marked with slips of paper), so I'll just hold off 'til then.

• What did you recently finish reading?
Willow #3, This is still meh for me. WHY IS WILLOW BORING? Excited for a new issue of the main Buffy title to come out...wait, it came out today!

Saga #8, bought back in December & not read until now. This series is so good, I cannot. I think what I like most is that when people talk, it feels like real people talking, which is something super hero comics are not so great at! I love this title.

Young Avengers, volume 2: Family Matters by Allan Heinberg, Jim Cheung, Andrea DeVito. Not quite as great as the first volume, for me.
It's hard for me to keep track of everyone's powers & also their parental reveals, as I am new-ish to the superhero Marvel-verse.

I feel betrayed and let-down by the one-page back-story of Kate Bishop, which seemed incredibly unnecessary & cheap.

The spreads where everyone's running all at once (and also the fight scenes in general) seem really cheesy and like shounen manga. I guess I'm not used to the cheese of "Avengers Assemble!" & etc.

More Kate Bishop & Cassie, please. I'll be reading more.

The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan. The plot was a little disturbing for me, and none of the characters sympathetic.
While the writing was fantastic, there's some unfortunate imagery that isn't going away from my mind any time soon.
Adding this to my "sell" pile.

• What do you think you'll read next?
I'd like to keep reading more Gokinjo Monogatari, I kind of stopped doing that after returning home from my parents' place over the holidays.
As for books/etc., I don't care :/
I'd like to read some more Glee fic or maybe return to "The North Remembers" (GoT fic) again.

I need to figure out which Young Avengers comics come next. I gather from Wikipedia that Young Avengers Special #1 happened some time during the issues I already read but idk how to get "just" that issue. US comics are really annoying, you guys. Manga would never do this to me.

I'm not clear on what comes next - I know it's part of the multi-title "Civil War" event, but it seems like some issues happen before Young Avengers Presents & the Runaways/Young Avengers mini-series.
If anyone can help me figure out what these are, & if they were included in any bound editions, that would be useful! I'm trying hard to get these from the library because I find downloads really annoying ~~also b/c I don't even know where to find comics downloads~~.

I like Kate Bishop enough that I'd like to check out the currently-running Hawkeye title, but maybe I'll wait to catch up with Young Avengers first?

The WisCon 37 Anime/Manga Programming Idea-Generation Fest post is still open. Please jump in on existing threads, or start your own. WisCon attendance/interest is unrequired.

Crossposts: http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/615943.html

You know, I always start these entries thinking, "Oh, I didn't read much this week."

• What are you currently reading?
I wanted to bring something new with me on the bus, so I grabbed the comfort of strangers by Ian McEwan, which I impulse-bought Sunday evening at Half-Price Books while I was feeling a little angsty. I read Atonement about a year ago and I really like McEwan's prose. I've been reading a lot of comics, fanfics, and meh-ish sci-fi lately, so it's really nice to read something with such carefully crafted sentences.

Still reading Ai Yazawa's Gokinjo Monogatari (have finished volume 3). I'm glad that the series is focusing on some characters other than the main couple without diminishing their presence. I remember Kare Kano annoying me when it went off to do that, but probably because I found the other characters (and the main characters, after volume 1) so damn boring.

• What did you recently finish reading?
Willow #2, a small arc that's part of Buffy, season 9. Still more pleased with this than the Spike spin-off. Season 9's been interesting to me all along, but it seems now that the threads are all in place, and the writers are starting to pull them. The revelation at the end of the issue was interesting, and I'm excited to see what happens in the next issue of pretty much all these titles.

Mara #1, a new comic series written by Brian Wood, drawings by Ming Doyle. Randomly picked this one up off the shelf having heard nothing about it, although I've read/liked Brian Wood for a while. The cover art was pretty striking.
The protagonist is a volleyball player is a war-torn Earth!future, and I like this enough that I asked my comics guy to add it to my pull list.

Young Avengers, volume 1: Sidekicks by Allan Heinberg/etc. I liked this quite a bit. Find myself wholly uninterested in the dude!characters, but Cassie seems awesome, as does Kate Bishop. I'm slowly starting to get a feel for the Marvel universe - previously, I'd only really been familiar with Runaways. I'm excited to reread the Civil War crossover with Runaways - the first time I read it, I didn't care about any of the Young Avengers, haha.
Basically this story does just what the title would you to believe! Kid versions of Hawkeye, Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, and Ant-Man, whoever the eff that is.

The Pot and How to Use It: The Mystery and Romance of the Rice Cooker by Roger Ebert. This is absolutely what I don't need from a cookbook. Nothing was useful to me, although maybe to someone more confident in the kitchen.
In discussing "how to make" soups in a rice cooker, he'd say something like, "Gather the ingredients for a soup. Toss them in the pot. Add about enough water. Turn it on." Incredibly frustrating. I think the only tip I walked away with was the tip to cook hot breakfast cereal in it, which I promptly did the next morning.

Struck by Lightning by Chris Colfer - I ended up liking this more than Land of Stories, which I think I discussed last time.
I'm still hoping the movie will be better than the book. I would have expected the journal of Carson Phillips (protagonist) to be way more guarded and cynical, given the way his character interacts with everyone else.
In spite of [spoiler], I am happy with the message of this book, which is basically: all kinds of shit can happen to make your life go out of control, but having goals and working toward them as hard as you can every single day = the point of life, even if your goals are never achieved.
That said, if Chris hadn't written it, I likely wouldn't have read it.

This week I discovered a new fic author. Her Quinn is especially perfect.

you made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter by

sing_song_sung - This is an AU fic. It is based on the novel The Likeness by Tana French. It's a WIP that seems to have been abandoned, but I'm glad it exists. Santana POV, Pezberry, + Puck and Kurt, and then Jesse St. James, Finn, Mike, and Quinn.
Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

girl, put your records on by

sing_song_sung - In which Santana needs a song and Rachel is the one to sing it.
I don't usually care for the Brittana pairing (or other canon pairings), so I think what I like about this one is the Pezberry friendship.

sky of the sky of a tree called life by

sing_song_sung - Post-3x02. Quinn wanted to call her daughter Caroline.

and these mistakes you make (you'll just make them again) by

sing_song_sung - Quinn and Puck sing the songs of their summer.

look for the girl with the broken smile by

sing_song_sung - Quinn's history rewritten, because she's vulnerable enough without a past that was obviously conceived in the writing of Born This Way.

you'll see a side of love you've never known by

sing_song_sung - Mike/Quinn, season 1.

Also:
Puck/Rachel oral by

astano, basically pure smut.

get you into trouble and take all the blame by

smc_27, basically just a St. Puckleberry threesome OMGGGGG.

BTW, my masterlist of Glee fic recs can still be found here & is updated regularly.

• What do you think you'll read next?
Ugh, I'd really like to finish some of the books I've started-but-not-finished, so I don't want to add new things!

Recently put on hold at the library: Wolf Hall, Into the Woods (so I can read The Likeness and figure out where that fic was going to go!), Geisha, a Life - put on hold after reading about how Memoirs of a Geisha is a huge mess of cultural appropriation :[

My book club's reading Here We Cross for January, so I should get my hands on that. It's a collection of sf/f queer poetry. Since I normally hate poetry, this might be hilarious.

Current Music: CBS Evening News
Crossposts: http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/614734.html

It turns out that you consume a lot of media when you're home all the time and wanting to dissociate from pain.

VIDEO GAMES
Persona 3 FES for the PS2: Umm, this game is pretty sweet. I'm a Japanese high school student who hangs out with friends and goes out for ramen and studies, but sometimes at midnight I have to fight against these shadow spirits with my friends. To fight them, we call on spirits that have fused with us, or "Personas." We do this by shooting ourselves in the head. I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY THE SHOOTING HAPPENS OR WHAT IT MEANS. I named my protagonist Chris Colfer. I REGRET NOTHING. I'm still only in like, May.

Dissidia 012 for the PSP: I didn't play too much of this yet, mostly because holding the PSP felt a little awkward and also because this is an action game and it's SO HARD TO FIGURE OUT THE CONTROLS, OMG. Umm, characters from various Final Fantasies are called to A Place and fight against each other. But they can't remember their past lives, and they keep forgetting the fact that they can NEVER LEAVE. It's kind of depressing.
I thought that I could play the first Dissidia game with 012, but if you can, fuck if I can figure out how.

the_andy is sending me a bunch of video games to play. GUYS IT SOMETIMES TAKES ME FOREVER TO PLAY VIDEO GAMES. But I'm pretty hopeful because it seems to be doing okay things for my brain - stuff to work on in the background (strategy!). I also like when I dream "in video game," which usually happens when I play something a lot.

BOOKS
Atonement by Ian McEwan was pretty great. I almost hated the middle part, but then the end was about as great as the beginning. If anyone have recs for other shit written by McEwan, I'll take them. HIS PROSE, OMFG.

The Book of Heroes by Miyuki Miyabe. I'm only about 1/4 of the way through. IT'S PRETTY GREAT. This is my first book by Miyabe. The prologue made my eyes glaze over, but I'm glad I turned the page to chapter one, because it grabbed me right at the start.

Bone, volume 2 by Jeff Smith. Why does everyone think Bone is the greatest comic book series in the history of ever? Does it suddenly become amazing? Maybe this is like dude-bros who say that Love Hina & Maison Ikkoku are the pinnacles of manga.

VISUAL MEDIA
"Ever After" - rewatched the movie with a couple high school friends. We used to watch this like, every-other sleepover (opposite of "Center Stage"). I CANNOT BE OBJECTIVE ABOUT THIS MOVIE. IT IS AMAZING. I STILL KNOW EVERY LINE.

"Chak De! India" - I CANNOT CAPSLOCK ENOUGH ABOUT THIS MOVIE. OMG. Luckily, other people have written things that make sense. Rec post 1. Rec post 2.
This movie is currently streaming on Netflix. WATCH IT.

Parks & Rec - I'm a little more than halfway through season 2. AMAZING.

Downton Abbey - I've already posted about this. IT'S PRETTY GREAT, although season 2 is pretty soap opera-y now (I'm watch episodes as they air on PBS). Matthew and Anna are usually my favorite characters.

FANFICTIONS
I read fanfiction lots & lots when I was in middle school, and after that I just didn't have the patience to read that much text on a computer screen unless I was at work and paid to do so. BUT THEN I GOT AN E-READER.

"The Poetry in Blood" by Glass Shard - FF7 horror fanfic. The dialogue is, um, a lot more terrible than I remember it being. BUT. There are gunfights, and Vincent!angst and etc. Not as fab as I remember it being, but still one of the FF7 fics of my heart.

"Shards" by Frank Vederosa - I'm about 3/4 through this reread. I haven't read this fic for more than 10 years, probably. The fiction holds up better than I thought it would, but I hate how much of a victim Tifa has to be in order for her character to mature. I'm reading tons of epic-length FF7 fic lately, and I'd really like to do a comparison post of "what I remember" to "what it's like now." OMG I WANT TO DO THAT. I WILL.

Umm, I usually only read FF7 fanfiction. But I've been really into Glee lately, like, even a semi-active member at

ontd_glee?? So I've been reading Glee fanfic.

Singing the Journey by

wintercreek - "Blaine takes a job as Music Director at a Unitarian Universalist church to pay for grad school. Kurt is uncomfortable with this but finds his own way of fitting it into their lives. A story of liberal religion, complex relationship negotiation, family, music, marriage and a year in the lives of Kurt and Blaine."
IDK where to start with this fic. Umm. Blaine the character on Glee doesn't really do anything for me. I don't say that to bash a character while simultaneously reccing a fic, but rather to commend

wintercreek's writing, because even not really digging the character, I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS FIC.
This fic is what kept me grounded in the last frantic hours before surgery, and in the horrible, terrible, no-good hours spent in a hospital recovery room when I wanted to die. It deals with heavy emotional stuff, but the fic is so comforting. Because it's about food, and music, and relationships, and Kurt Hummel ILU.
The third part isn't yet complete, but there's a pretty hefty word count there right now, and...and LOVE. I really can't say enough how comforting this fic was, and I hope to reread it soon, when I am not high on a morphine-variant like I was the first time.

I'm making way through

lexie's Glee fic after reading her Tumblr post pointing out what was fucked up in the Michael Jackson episode.
I love ALL OF HER FIC; she captures each character's voice so well. She picks at things the show ignores; explores the relationships I wish the show paid more attention to. Here are some of my favorites, of what I've read so far.
Thousand Ways to leave this place - "Kurt has to figure out how life works, now that he's a student at Dalton Academy."

Find me a find, catch me a catch - in which Finn is a spectacularly inept matchmaker

What friends are for - "Santana and Brittany's friendship, from middle school through the summer before sophomore year."

To boldly go - Star Trek AU, in which Kurt and Blaine attend Starfleet academy.

If any of you have any recs for Glee fic, send them my way. This is the first fandom in which I'm cool with real fic, too. Except for Kurt/Darren, :p Lea/Dianna = my fave. Also like Kevin McHale, Harry Shum Jr., Dianna Agron, Chris Colfer, & Lea Michele.
For the actual show, I'll take pretty much anything, although the fic seems especially heavy on the Kurt/Blaine. It's not my favorite pairing, but it seems to be fandom's. My favorite characters include Kurt, Santana, and Sam. Fics giving actual personalities/backgrounds to Tina or Mercedes = appreciated.

MUSICS
I bought Lana Del Rey's album and I fucking love it. That's about it.