We Happy Few Wednesday
Oct. 25th, 2017 10:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
evelyn_bWhat I’ve Finished Reading
Making Money was ok! It relies heavily on two of my least favorite Pratchett running jokes/worldbuilding elements – the Igors and the Fool’s Guild – but when I say “least favorite,” I don’t mean I’m running around loathing them, just that if I had to rank all the things in Pratchett they’d end up near the bottom. I guessed Mr. Bent’s painful secret only a little ahead of the cast of characters, which was probably about when I was meant to. Moist is threatened with a blackmailer who knows all about his other life, but deals with it admirably; there are lots of cameos from our old friends on the Watch, a smattering ofnecromancy post-mortem communication, and a very brief appearance by my favorite minor character, C. M. O. T. Dibbler – who doesn’t actually do much here, and in fact doesn’t even offer to cut his own throat, but all the same a pleasure to see you, Throat. Same with our even older friend Death, who appears briefly. Not nearly as good as Wyrd Sisters or Feet of Clay but still enjoyable. I’ll have to find and read the earlier book about Moist von Lipwig, Going Postal.
I also finished a book called The Best of Judith Merril, a collection of sci-fi short stories (and two poems) from about 1940-1970. I thought some of the stories were interesting and some were a bit bad, but since the book fell apart in my hands while I was visiting family and I didn’t feel enough attachment to it to take it home in that state, I gave it to my sister to light the wood stove with.
What I’m Reading Now
I’ve been meaning to read My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell for a long time. I didn’t find My Family and Other Animals at the new used bookstore the other day, but I did find Birds, Beasts, and Relatives, which is a sequel and probably just as good. Gerald Durrell is the younger brother of Lawrence “Larry” Durrell, author of The Alexandria Quartet and one of my very favorite nemeses. As writers, they have in common a gift for extremely vivid sensory description bordering on the hallucinatory. Gerry’s adventures collecting animal specimens on his sunny Greek island are always good reading, though his depiction of the smell of turtle dissection, for example, was a little too real. The “relatives” side of things is a little less satisfactory. Gerry’s family members have about one trait each: Leslie likes to shoot things, Larry’s eccentric friends eat all the food, Margo has acne and is unhappy about it. Poor Margo gets the shortest end of this already short stick; even in her own chapter she is upstaged by everyone else. But that’s not necessarily much of a flaw; this is a light-hearted book about people and a lovingly detailed one about the natural life of Corfu, and it works pretty well most of the time.
Along withosprey_archer, I’ve also started reading The Three Musketeers! by Alexandre Dumas! I have to say, this one hasn’t grabbed me by the lapels, danced me around the living room, and flung my heart into the heaving ocean with as much dispatch as The Count of Monte Cristo - but this will be the last time I compare it to The Count of Monte Cristo, since that’s not a fair comparison for anyone.
Open on: D’Artagnan, who may or may not have a given name, but who definitely has a head full of bad advice from his father as he swaggers off to Paris to make his fortune. Never back down from a fight, son, his father tells him, to paraphrase a long monologue: We Gascons are the fightiest bros on the continent of Europe and it’s up to YOU to uphold that reputation. D’Artagnan is also given a magical secret-recipe balm including but not limited to rosemary and olive oil, which heals all wounds except direct stabs to the heart. So now you have no excuse for not fighting, son! His father also gives D’Artagnan a weirdly-colored horse with a hanging head, possibly as part of his master plan to get his son killed. Some dudes at an inn laugh at the horse; D’Artagnan fights them; his sword gets broken and his letter of recommendation gets stolen. Maybe there are also spies? We’ll find out.
Even though I have actually seen a film adaptation of The Three Musketeers long ago, I have managed to retain only two things about it, neither of which is a plot per se: 1) contains bros, and 2) there is an evil cardinal played by Tim Curry. Five chapters in, I don’t feel like I have very much more than that. This book takes place in approximately Cyrano de Bergerac times (will Cyrano make an appearance? Will the guy who trades good pastry for bad poetry show up? probably not; that play hasn't been written yet), the king is Louis XIII, about whom I know nothing except that 13 comes before 14; there’s some kind of conflict between the cardinal (a.k.a. The Red Duke) and the king, either leading to or arising from constant squabbling and street fighting between their respective personal guards, so that the streets of Paris are swarming with dangerously short-tempered sword-toting bros trying to kill each other in parks.
The way D’Artagnan meets the three Musketeers of the title is pretty funny. Running after the guy he thinks stole his letter of recommendation, he runs into and inadvertently insults three different musketeers in a row, who challenge him to three separate duels later that afternoon. He shows up to the first duel, and all three of them are there! “Oh, you don’t know about us,” they tell him “We’re the Three Inseparables! We always second each other.” D’Artagnan is torn between his solemn vow to DESTROY ALL HATERS and his deep desire to be the bro of these bros. Luckily, a group from the cardinal’s guard shows up just in time to pick a fight, all three duels are forgotten in the melee, and D’Artagnan goes back arm in arm with his new best friends. That’s about all that’s happened so far – which means I’m probably way behindosprey_archer, but I’ll catch up later this week.
I’m still having a hard time parsing the political situation, but I’m not sure how relevant it’s going to be yet. I might give up and just read a Wikipedia summary of the reign of Louis XIII or something - but maybe I'll just relax and enjoy these ridiculous murderbros enjoying their impossible youth.
What I Plan to Read Next
More catching up is ahead! Eventually I’m going to read Sign of the Unicorn by R. Zelazny. We’ll see what else.
Making Money was ok! It relies heavily on two of my least favorite Pratchett running jokes/worldbuilding elements – the Igors and the Fool’s Guild – but when I say “least favorite,” I don’t mean I’m running around loathing them, just that if I had to rank all the things in Pratchett they’d end up near the bottom. I guessed Mr. Bent’s painful secret only a little ahead of the cast of characters, which was probably about when I was meant to. Moist is threatened with a blackmailer who knows all about his other life, but deals with it admirably; there are lots of cameos from our old friends on the Watch, a smattering of
I also finished a book called The Best of Judith Merril, a collection of sci-fi short stories (and two poems) from about 1940-1970. I thought some of the stories were interesting and some were a bit bad, but since the book fell apart in my hands while I was visiting family and I didn’t feel enough attachment to it to take it home in that state, I gave it to my sister to light the wood stove with.
What I’m Reading Now
I’ve been meaning to read My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell for a long time. I didn’t find My Family and Other Animals at the new used bookstore the other day, but I did find Birds, Beasts, and Relatives, which is a sequel and probably just as good. Gerald Durrell is the younger brother of Lawrence “Larry” Durrell, author of The Alexandria Quartet and one of my very favorite nemeses. As writers, they have in common a gift for extremely vivid sensory description bordering on the hallucinatory. Gerry’s adventures collecting animal specimens on his sunny Greek island are always good reading, though his depiction of the smell of turtle dissection, for example, was a little too real. The “relatives” side of things is a little less satisfactory. Gerry’s family members have about one trait each: Leslie likes to shoot things, Larry’s eccentric friends eat all the food, Margo has acne and is unhappy about it. Poor Margo gets the shortest end of this already short stick; even in her own chapter she is upstaged by everyone else. But that’s not necessarily much of a flaw; this is a light-hearted book about people and a lovingly detailed one about the natural life of Corfu, and it works pretty well most of the time.
Along with
osprey_archer, I’ve also started reading The Three Musketeers! by Alexandre Dumas! I have to say, this one hasn’t grabbed me by the lapels, danced me around the living room, and flung my heart into the heaving ocean with as much dispatch as The Count of Monte Cristo - but this will be the last time I compare it to The Count of Monte Cristo, since that’s not a fair comparison for anyone. Open on: D’Artagnan, who may or may not have a given name, but who definitely has a head full of bad advice from his father as he swaggers off to Paris to make his fortune. Never back down from a fight, son, his father tells him, to paraphrase a long monologue: We Gascons are the fightiest bros on the continent of Europe and it’s up to YOU to uphold that reputation. D’Artagnan is also given a magical secret-recipe balm including but not limited to rosemary and olive oil, which heals all wounds except direct stabs to the heart. So now you have no excuse for not fighting, son! His father also gives D’Artagnan a weirdly-colored horse with a hanging head, possibly as part of his master plan to get his son killed. Some dudes at an inn laugh at the horse; D’Artagnan fights them; his sword gets broken and his letter of recommendation gets stolen. Maybe there are also spies? We’ll find out.
Even though I have actually seen a film adaptation of The Three Musketeers long ago, I have managed to retain only two things about it, neither of which is a plot per se: 1) contains bros, and 2) there is an evil cardinal played by Tim Curry. Five chapters in, I don’t feel like I have very much more than that. This book takes place in approximately Cyrano de Bergerac times (will Cyrano make an appearance? Will the guy who trades good pastry for bad poetry show up? probably not; that play hasn't been written yet), the king is Louis XIII, about whom I know nothing except that 13 comes before 14; there’s some kind of conflict between the cardinal (a.k.a. The Red Duke) and the king, either leading to or arising from constant squabbling and street fighting between their respective personal guards, so that the streets of Paris are swarming with dangerously short-tempered sword-toting bros trying to kill each other in parks.
The way D’Artagnan meets the three Musketeers of the title is pretty funny. Running after the guy he thinks stole his letter of recommendation, he runs into and inadvertently insults three different musketeers in a row, who challenge him to three separate duels later that afternoon. He shows up to the first duel, and all three of them are there! “Oh, you don’t know about us,” they tell him “We’re the Three Inseparables! We always second each other.” D’Artagnan is torn between his solemn vow to DESTROY ALL HATERS and his deep desire to be the bro of these bros. Luckily, a group from the cardinal’s guard shows up just in time to pick a fight, all three duels are forgotten in the melee, and D’Artagnan goes back arm in arm with his new best friends. That’s about all that’s happened so far – which means I’m probably way behind
osprey_archer, but I’ll catch up later this week. I’m still having a hard time parsing the political situation, but I’m not sure how relevant it’s going to be yet. I might give up and just read a Wikipedia summary of the reign of Louis XIII or something - but maybe I'll just relax and enjoy these ridiculous murderbros enjoying their impossible youth.
What I Plan to Read Next
More catching up is ahead! Eventually I’m going to read Sign of the Unicorn by R. Zelazny. We’ll see what else.
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no subject
Date: 2017-10-25 05:00 pm (UTC)Heh, yes, like my 'least favourite' Doctors!
THree Musketeers is not at all like The Count of Monte Cristo except in being written in joy. I read it when I was young, and loved it first, so The Count didn't have that unfair advantage. It was too big and even I wimped out at the idea, which was bad news for me, good news for the Musketeers.
And you shouldn't worry about the film you watched. That was the 1993 and is not worth remembering.* (My favourite is this one, which gets the tongue-in-cheek nature of the book very well, so I am biased.)
* Other people may disagree violently, but they are clearly wrong.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-25 07:05 pm (UTC)My goodness, look at those costumes! Christopher Lee is in it! Well, well.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-25 07:17 pm (UTC)The 1970s one have a fab cast, though. It's even got random Spike Milligan.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-25 08:15 pm (UTC)Man, though, I do worry that my lack of knowledge of French history is going to become a stumbling block here. I know about Joan of Arc, and then it's basically a great big blank until Louis XIV or the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of the Huguenots, whichever comes first, and the fact that I'm not sure probably tells you everything you need to know. And unfortunately Louis XIII falls in that gap, except for Richilieu I've never heard of any of the other historical people.
Hopefully the book will focus on Epic Swashbuckling Bros and not political intrigue because that will definitely be easier to keep track of. And in any case the swashbuckling is A++. D'Artagnan's meeting with the Three Musketeers is the most epic meeting ever, although he is also super lucky that the cardinal's men showed up when they did. Nothing like banding together to fight a common enemy to make new friends!
no subject
Date: 2017-10-28 03:31 pm (UTC)D'Artagnan is a lucky dude for sure. Though I might still read this book if he were a fighty ghost who refused to let his annoying lack of a body prevent him from challenging everyone to duels, and got furious when the living tried to ignore him like sensible living people. "Now you really have no excuse not to fight!" as his father would say.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-26 08:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-10-28 03:20 pm (UTC)I thought The Man in the Iron Mask was a totally different story (one I also don't know anything about, apparently).
no subject
Date: 2017-10-30 09:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-10-30 04:57 pm (UTC)It sounds like you should take the plunge, for the sake of your bookcase! Maybe give it a hundred pages, and if you don't feel like reading any more, you can say, "Bros, I tried" and reclaim that shelf space with no regrets.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-26 02:37 pm (UTC)Yeah, the multiple duels thing is great! I don't think you need to know the political situation, at least it never bother me. I think Richelieu was a cat fan in real life?
I think most of the film adaptations change the book or don't do the whole book. Dogtanian and the Muskerhounds is the best, though as it's a kid's cartoon it gets changed from the book, but the little pieces of narration is great and the horse features more.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-28 03:37 pm (UTC):D This certainly seems to be the case! though Gerry is at least a little interested in Larry's eccentric friends and a few other people. He likes people who help him find cool animal specimens and who will talk to him about fish etc..
Maybe I'll check out the Muskerhounds after I finish reading! I did like the horse and was sorry when D'Artagnan sold him unceremoniously, against his father's wishes.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-29 02:46 pm (UTC)The Muskerhounds animation isn't bad for the 80s and it goes at a cracking verbal pace because it was made for the Spanish and the English dubbers had to speak rapidly to keep up with the flapping mouths. I was annoyed when Sandy disappeared in the book. In the kid's cartoon he's in the whole thing! The sequel isn't as good, I don't think many like it. Richelieu becomes a goodie, boo! He becomes good by wearing pink.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-30 12:35 pm (UTC)(Charlotte Holmes also showed up on my kindle this morning, but I can’t hateread before coffee. At least I’m expecting to hate it because it looks like it hits most of the tropes I dislike in Holmes pastiche, but maybe not!)
no subject
Date: 2017-10-30 04:51 pm (UTC)He really is! I need to get my hands on My Family and Other Animals, but I'm still holding out hope that I'll find it at one of the semi-local bookstores or a library sale (not impulse-ordering things from Amazon is how I keep my bookshelves from filling back up).
I've heard some very enthusiastic things about Charlotte Holmes - but then, I've also heard some enthusiastic things about Mary Russell, and we know how that turned out. Is that the one where Holmes has direct descendants for some reason? I object on principle to Holmes having descendants, but a good enough author can make anything work.