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cimoreneI've either permanently given up on My Chemical Romance badfic or taken an extended break from it to allow the spare punctuation reservoirs in my brain to be refilled. Reading pages of badfic with improper paragraph breaks and dialogue almost completely devoid of commas and periods can become quite wearing to the soul, and the lack is hardly remedied by the occasional mediocrefic which has been overly enthusiastic with the semi-colons.
In the meanwhile I've been reading paper books such as the fourth volume of CJ Cherryh's Foreigner saga and more Georgette Heyer. I buy a new Heyer mystery or romance, alternately, every time I go into the bookstore. My last reread was Arabella, which is always a little surreal to read, sort of like Shakespeare, because it was the originator of so many now-clichéd plots and tropes within the romance genre (and consequently within slash as well), most notably
This novel is one of my favourites partly because of the hero, who is very droll, and partly because of the dog, Ulysses, which is one of my favourite Heyer characters. The actual romance is written with a slightly skeezy paternal vibe and a lot of "my darling little idiot" sort of thing, unfortunately. And Heyer loves her gambling-debt-related B-plots, of course, but the brother in this one is such a moron that the chapters from his point of view drag quite a lot. I prefer the gambling B-plot from The Grand Sophy (which, however, is not saying much, since that is my favourite Heyer novel of all) in which she takes a hackney with a pistol in her muff to the money-lender and bullies him into giving back the collateral. It must be admitted, however, that Arabella's decision to sell herself nobly into marriage (with the man she was already in love with anyway) in order to demand the money from him is both historically significant and hilarious. As for the posing as an heiress plot, I don't suppose it was any great leap of inventiveness on Heyer's part, since people are always posing as things in literature, even in other Heyer novels, such as The Masqueraders where the heroine poses as a gentleman and her brother simultaneously as a lady. There's no question the posing-as-an-heiress plot has been much copied specifically, of course, but I don't believe I can recall any specific instances of books ripping off the particulars of Arabella's, in which she starts the charade in a fit of pique upon overhearing the hero call her a fortune hunter. She doesn't intend the rumour to make its way through polite society, which makes her spirited and charmingly naïve as opposed to calculating or lost to all sense of propriety.
I warned my better half yesterday not to stare into the Picspam Vortex, because the Picspam Vortex will look back, but she did anyway, and stayed up until six am, which leaves me unable to take her shopping. It's that time of year when I want to sew things and paint furniture, and I need large quantities of fabric, thread, sandpaper, brushes, and acrylic and latex paint for this purpose. Unfortunately I also need a microphone for my computer, because I broke the mic part off my headset the other day. It has these sad little wires protruding from the ends and is most definitely dead.
Yesterday afternoon was spent at Carmela's third birthday party, which was something of an ordeal even though Brother Windows is my favourite, and oldest, non-wax Finnish connection. At this age, though, the offspring's birthday parties still consist mostly of her parents' friends all talking about their own babies and pregnancies (and not interacting with the kids directly, really), which is the worst kind of party I can imagine. We should have brought a deck of cards. The weird part was when Carmela ignored Brother Windows' and wax's attempts to get her attention, and then wax said "Let cim try - she likes her," and I did, and she... totally didn't diss me! I mean, she lets me babysit her, but I didn't think she really particularly liked me. Evidently she does. I always feel frazzled and face-palmy and incompetent after babysitting, which I never did when I was a teenager. Evidently one gets a certain amount of credit with kids just for participating in endless games of make-believe as instructed.
In the meanwhile I've been reading paper books such as the fourth volume of CJ Cherryh's Foreigner saga and more Georgette Heyer. I buy a new Heyer mystery or romance, alternately, every time I go into the bookstore. My last reread was Arabella, which is always a little surreal to read, sort of like Shakespeare, because it was the originator of so many now-clichéd plots and tropes within the romance genre (and consequently within slash as well), most notably
This novel is one of my favourites partly because of the hero, who is very droll, and partly because of the dog, Ulysses, which is one of my favourite Heyer characters. The actual romance is written with a slightly skeezy paternal vibe and a lot of "my darling little idiot" sort of thing, unfortunately. And Heyer loves her gambling-debt-related B-plots, of course, but the brother in this one is such a moron that the chapters from his point of view drag quite a lot. I prefer the gambling B-plot from The Grand Sophy (which, however, is not saying much, since that is my favourite Heyer novel of all) in which she takes a hackney with a pistol in her muff to the money-lender and bullies him into giving back the collateral. It must be admitted, however, that Arabella's decision to sell herself nobly into marriage (with the man she was already in love with anyway) in order to demand the money from him is both historically significant and hilarious. As for the posing as an heiress plot, I don't suppose it was any great leap of inventiveness on Heyer's part, since people are always posing as things in literature, even in other Heyer novels, such as The Masqueraders where the heroine poses as a gentleman and her brother simultaneously as a lady. There's no question the posing-as-an-heiress plot has been much copied specifically, of course, but I don't believe I can recall any specific instances of books ripping off the particulars of Arabella's, in which she starts the charade in a fit of pique upon overhearing the hero call her a fortune hunter. She doesn't intend the rumour to make its way through polite society, which makes her spirited and charmingly naïve as opposed to calculating or lost to all sense of propriety.
I warned my better half yesterday not to stare into the Picspam Vortex, because the Picspam Vortex will look back, but she did anyway, and stayed up until six am, which leaves me unable to take her shopping. It's that time of year when I want to sew things and paint furniture, and I need large quantities of fabric, thread, sandpaper, brushes, and acrylic and latex paint for this purpose. Unfortunately I also need a microphone for my computer, because I broke the mic part off my headset the other day. It has these sad little wires protruding from the ends and is most definitely dead.
Yesterday afternoon was spent at Carmela's third birthday party, which was something of an ordeal even though Brother Windows is my favourite, and oldest, non-wax Finnish connection. At this age, though, the offspring's birthday parties still consist mostly of her parents' friends all talking about their own babies and pregnancies (and not interacting with the kids directly, really), which is the worst kind of party I can imagine. We should have brought a deck of cards. The weird part was when Carmela ignored Brother Windows' and wax's attempts to get her attention, and then wax said "Let cim try - she likes her," and I did, and she... totally didn't diss me! I mean, she lets me babysit her, but I didn't think she really particularly liked me. Evidently she does. I always feel frazzled and face-palmy and incompetent after babysitting, which I never did when I was a teenager. Evidently one gets a certain amount of credit with kids just for participating in endless games of make-believe as instructed.
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(no subject)
Date: 28 May 2007 12:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 28 May 2007 12:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 28 May 2007 01:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 29 May 2007 07:07 am (UTC)Arabella was the very first Heyer novel I ever read, and it sent me into a blaze of writing obsessively for the next six years of my life. I simply couldn't stop, all because of that novel. It's still my favorite. I love Arabella and Bertram and the Nonpareil (and Ulysses!) so much.
(no subject)
Date: 29 May 2007 10:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 29 May 2007 10:44 am (UTC)