Books I didn't finish

[rachelmanija]

I finally figured out how to get the YAMI NO MATSUEI CDs to play on my computer. (CDs courtesy of the bodacious boniblithe-- thank you, thank you, I owe you.) I've only had time to watch the first episode so far. Given all I'd heard about how the series was full of Death! And Tragedy! And Angst! I was surprised to see that one of the characters is a talking, levitating spirit chicken wearing a bonnet and tennis shoes.

These are all books I started recently but didn't finish. If anyone wants any of them, you're welcome to them. (I also mysteriously have two copies of Jennifer Crusie's hilarious romantic comedy, GETTING RID OF BRADLEY. If anyone wants one of those, let me know.)

Sharyn McCrumb, GHOST RIDERS. An Appalachian novel with parallel stories, one in the past about Civil War guerillas, one about Civil War re-enactors.

I used to love McCrumb, but now she drives me crazy. It's me, not her; if anything, her prose style has improved. It's her snarky, contemptuous attitude toward anyone who's interested in a culture that's not their own, or is a fan of anything and does any sort of fan-like activities that bothers me. She's written two books now about re-enactors, and in both of them they're portrayed as shallow morons who know nothing about the past they romanticize. GHOST RIDERS hit the wall when a Cherokee mountain man muses that the stupid re-enacters would be shocked to learn that real Civil War soldiers had maggots in their food. Someone should tell McCrumb that her portrayal of Indians and true-bred poor Appalachians as more authentic and worthy of serious attention than the middle-class white folk she mocks is exactly the same pick-and-choose the good parts, romantic attitude that she despises in her "inauthentic" characters.

Also, there should be a moratorium on moments in historical novels where people make strikingly wrong predictions about the future so that the readers can feel proud that they're educated enough to laugh at them. GHOST RIDERS really did not need anyone to remark that in a year, no one will remember Tom Dooley.

William Sanders, JOURNEY TO FUSANG. An alternate history in which the Chinese and Moors colonized the New World. I keep hoping to find one of those that I like enough to finish, and so far it hasn't happened. Sanders' sense of humor has all the appeal of an overripe mackerel as far as I'm concerned:

"And, had the Bard not been forced by hardship to take temporary employment as cook to the exiled Pretender to the Danish throne, would he ever have been inspired to write the hilarious comedy _Omelet, Prince of Denmark_?"

Carol Plum-Ucci, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO LANI GARVER? A teenage girl recovering from cancer has her life turned upside-down by the androgynous Lani, who her classmates hate and fear and eventually gay-bash to death but who is so perfect and wonderful and sensitive and brave and kind that he just might be an angel. I don't think I need to elaborate on the problem I had with this novel.

Comments

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't mind taking an extra Crusie off your hands...^_^

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I was surprised to see that one of the characters is a talking, levitating spirit chicken wearing a bonnet and tennis shoes.

Also, it has a nifty laptop and excellent research skills.

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

You're welcome!

Don't mind GuShoShin. We tend to ignore them as much as possible. The first 3 eps realyl set up the characters and the universe - it's the later arcs in which you get all the pain. And the manga really REALLY tortures them, so the anime doesn't quite reach the same bloody and horrible limits that the manga does - but it does its best.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

Also, there's less and less of chibification, kitten ears, and fluffy puppy dog tails as the series goes on, which I personally consider a plus. Though I have to admit that the food fight in the first arc does crack me up.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

You know you've been assimilated by the Anime Borg when you use words like "chibification."

I enjoyed Battle Dumpling too. A lot of anime start out light and get a lot darker, TRIGUN (the anime more than the manga) being a particularly notable example.

It seems that almost every anime series, no matter how dark and glum, must have a cute animal sidekick. Even EVANGELION has a totally out-of-place hot water penguin. And then there's Chu-chu, the grotesque monkey-mouse in UTENA, which I think the animators must have hated because they keep beating up on and squashing it.

[inaurolillium.livejournal.com]

McCrumb spent an awfully long time in the Fannish community (hence Bimbos of the Death Sun and Zombies from the Gene Pool), so a certain amount of that is always self-satirical on her part. Not having read any of her work lately, I can't say any more than that.

[hokelore.livejournal.com]

Sharyn is kind of a crank, but I keep reading her stuff. One thing about Tom Dula...as I understand, he nearly was forgotten, except for a few singers. Then someone told the Kingston Trio about the song...

[pameladean]

I finished LANI GARVER because I was very much taken with the narrator, but I certainly know exactly the problem you had with the character, and it probably means I can't ever recommend the book to anybody.

Pamela

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I was enjoying it up until the point when Lani opened his/her exquisite compassionate truth-telling mouth.