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Things to do; things to do today.
Apr. 28th, 2007 08:06 pmGotta keep on top of my life; gotta keep moving...
(the reader who gets that reference gets a peanut.)
Here are some things I would like to accomplish this weekend.
1. Mom birthday mix: sadly late
2. Groceries
3. Compress a bunch of video files
4. Post about books I've just read
5. Post about Supernatural
6. Post some recs
7. Import photos off camera
8. Pick up clothes
9. Finish the work I brought home from the office
10. Pick up new birth control pills
11. Make reservation at Vermont inn this summer for our friends' wedding
12. Memorize a bunch of Bach for stupid, stupid choir
So, in keeping with these goals, here's a start:
BOOKS I HAVE JUST READ.
Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi
I've been meaning to read this for a while, and it is really lovely. An autobiographical graphic novel about being a little girl (and then a young woman) in a progressive Iranian family during the Islamic Revolution.
I learned a lot about the history of Iran and about the Islamic Revolution reading this, but the author never skimps on the personal story, which is equally fascinating and funny and terrifying. What a thing to live through. The story itself doesn't really hang together until about halfway through, when it suddenly picks up steam and grabs you hard and doesn't let you go until you reach the final, heartbreaking page. The art is wonderful, too: simple and expressive, in stark black and white. I highly recommend it.
Has anyone read the sequel? I've heard it's disappointing.
City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare
Yes, I read it. Yes, I even bought it. Yes, that probably lowered my karmic standing considerably. Yes, I'm sorry. It wasn't worth it.
Don't get me wrong -- the book has its entertaining elements, even a couple of arguably original moments. And, AND: (this is important) it is not worse than A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY or TWILIGHT. There's a lot of mediocre YA fiction out there that does very very well in the marketplace for one reason or another, and CITY OF BONES is squarely and justly in company with a whole slew of clumsy, shamelessly derivative, inconsistent, shallow YA fantasy novels of the last few years.
But I still feel crankier about Clare than I did about Bray or Meyer, and that's because I know a little about her fannish history. I wasn't really in Harry Potter fandom when it all went down, but it's impossible to be in almost any fandom and not know a little about the whole drama. And as ugly and excessive as the fannish outcry became when her book deal was announced, it does make a person feel a little sour about the publishing business to see poor behavior fiscally rewarded.
I don't believe, as I have seen suggested on Fandom Wank, that she got the book deal on the strength of her internet notoriety, however. For one thing, I think it's absurd to privilege a corner of fandom to that extent as a market force, or to assume that publishers would even know or care about fandom as a market force to begin with. Clare has advantages other than her fannish infamy. She has a solid and attentive agent. In addition, the last few years have generally been very good for writers of YA fantasy trilogies (everyone's buying them) and Clare's brand of overwrought, over-plotted, morally and emotionally simplistic, paint-by-numbers, highly derivative urban fantasy is a comfortable genre for unadventurous publishers.
I will admit, I secretly hoped CITY OF BONES would be excellent. It would have been nice to see a fannish villain redeem herself by getting something terrific published. As it is, the fact that the series is so solidly mediocre just makes me feel vaguely embarrassed for everyone involved -- including me, the reader.
ADDENDUM: I recently realized I've actually read some of Clare's fanfic: she wrote a very funny and engaging series in the HP universe that I read at least five years ago where Draco was having this terrifically dysfunctional affair with Harry and they all lived in a crumbling garret and I think Hermione was a kick-ass crime-fighter in a cat suit? And in the end Voldemort rang the doorbell and the building fell on him, and I kind of think Ron had something to do with that. Anyway, it was pretty interesting -- and funny -- and it would have been nice if her book had had some of the originality shown in that fanfic.
(Does anyone know the fic I'm talking about? Care to share a link?)
(the reader who gets that reference gets a peanut.)
Here are some things I would like to accomplish this weekend.
1. Mom birthday mix: sadly late
2. Groceries
3. Compress a bunch of video files
6. Post some recs
7. Import photos off camera
9. Finish the work I brought home from the office
10. Pick up new birth control pills
12. Memorize a bunch of Bach for stupid, stupid choir
So, in keeping with these goals, here's a start:
BOOKS I HAVE JUST READ.
Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi
I've been meaning to read this for a while, and it is really lovely. An autobiographical graphic novel about being a little girl (and then a young woman) in a progressive Iranian family during the Islamic Revolution.
I learned a lot about the history of Iran and about the Islamic Revolution reading this, but the author never skimps on the personal story, which is equally fascinating and funny and terrifying. What a thing to live through. The story itself doesn't really hang together until about halfway through, when it suddenly picks up steam and grabs you hard and doesn't let you go until you reach the final, heartbreaking page. The art is wonderful, too: simple and expressive, in stark black and white. I highly recommend it.
Has anyone read the sequel? I've heard it's disappointing.
City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare
Yes, I read it. Yes, I even bought it. Yes, that probably lowered my karmic standing considerably. Yes, I'm sorry. It wasn't worth it.
Don't get me wrong -- the book has its entertaining elements, even a couple of arguably original moments. And, AND: (this is important) it is not worse than A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY or TWILIGHT. There's a lot of mediocre YA fiction out there that does very very well in the marketplace for one reason or another, and CITY OF BONES is squarely and justly in company with a whole slew of clumsy, shamelessly derivative, inconsistent, shallow YA fantasy novels of the last few years.
But I still feel crankier about Clare than I did about Bray or Meyer, and that's because I know a little about her fannish history. I wasn't really in Harry Potter fandom when it all went down, but it's impossible to be in almost any fandom and not know a little about the whole drama. And as ugly and excessive as the fannish outcry became when her book deal was announced, it does make a person feel a little sour about the publishing business to see poor behavior fiscally rewarded.
I don't believe, as I have seen suggested on Fandom Wank, that she got the book deal on the strength of her internet notoriety, however. For one thing, I think it's absurd to privilege a corner of fandom to that extent as a market force, or to assume that publishers would even know or care about fandom as a market force to begin with. Clare has advantages other than her fannish infamy. She has a solid and attentive agent. In addition, the last few years have generally been very good for writers of YA fantasy trilogies (everyone's buying them) and Clare's brand of overwrought, over-plotted, morally and emotionally simplistic, paint-by-numbers, highly derivative urban fantasy is a comfortable genre for unadventurous publishers.
I will admit, I secretly hoped CITY OF BONES would be excellent. It would have been nice to see a fannish villain redeem herself by getting something terrific published. As it is, the fact that the series is so solidly mediocre just makes me feel vaguely embarrassed for everyone involved -- including me, the reader.
ADDENDUM: I recently realized I've actually read some of Clare's fanfic: she wrote a very funny and engaging series in the HP universe that I read at least five years ago where Draco was having this terrifically dysfunctional affair with Harry and they all lived in a crumbling garret and I think Hermione was a kick-ass crime-fighter in a cat suit? And in the end Voldemort rang the doorbell and the building fell on him, and I kind of think Ron had something to do with that. Anyway, it was pretty interesting -- and funny -- and it would have been nice if her book had had some of the originality shown in that fanfic.
(Does anyone know the fic I'm talking about? Care to share a link?)
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