books I've been reading
Apr. 17th, 2013 10:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
perevisionI've been following petronia's reading/watching meme for a while now, and between that and Film Crit Hulk I've been inspired to catch up on movies, series and books.
Movies finished:
Jiro Dreams of Sushi - my mouth watered the entire time, and so will yours, but that's an irrelevant detail. This has so much in common with my favourite documentary, Bill Cunningham New York: it's inspiring and very humbling to watch these men perform their craft with such skill. I wanted to say their skill was effortless but it's not true--like a kata, constant repetition makes every movement smooth and light. I have never been so mesmerised watching someone pinch nigiri together. Also charmed by food critic Masuhiro Yamamoto, who serves as a guide to Jiro's genius. Loved his breakdown of the three criteria for the Michelin stars: quality, originality and consistency. This one's going in the Artist Handbook.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - ahahaha this actually showed in London while I was there. I enjoyed the hell out of this film; I'm sad I didn't see it in the theatre.
Books finished:
To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee - I am so ashamed that I hadn't read this yet! Of course I loved it, but I can't really process my feelings until I read it a few more times, detached from everything that's already been said about it.
Do the Work, Steven Pressfield - a little gung-ho for my taste, but good for motivation.
Blood and Gold, Anne Rice (reread) - Short version: vampires are assholes, but they're fascinating assholes.
Zen and the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury - Another one for the Artist's Handbook, but also just fun to read.
Still reading/watching:
The Fall - about 1/3 of the way through and enchanted. Although that might be more the two leads than anything else; I am super weak for Lee Pace.
Sunshine Cleaning - I honestly thought this would be way more engaging and funny?
Elementary - now watching 'M'.
Venice Is A Fish, Tiziano Scarpia - ♥
Why We Broke Up, Daniel Handler - Lemony Snicket's turns of phrase are just as amazing when he is not being Lemony Snicket. And I feel even more for his characters.
Stuff White People Like, Christian Lander - Sometimes I read so many sad things, I just need a bathroom book.
Just acquired:
Hannibal, ep 1
Da Vinci's Demons, ep 1 - SO EXCITED.
Diary of a Dictator, William Rempel - Ferdinand Marcos's diary. I honestly have no idea what to expect.
The Dreyfus Affair: A Love Story, Peter Lefcourt - apparently an LGBT love story about baseball NOT written by Steve Kluger. Recommended on the podcast Slash Report.
The Eagle of the Ninth, Rosemary Sutcliff - because I am obsessed, not with Channing Tatum, but with trying to remember the title of this one children's book I read, which was also about the dying days of Roman Britain and featured a teenage protagonist called Marcus who meets a Celtic boy. In the book Marcus, whose family is about to leave for Tuscany, gets to witness the ritual of the Horned God and exchanges his toga for a fur pelt. Also Rosemary Sutcliff.
Fantastic Metamorphoses, Other Worlds: Ways of Telling the Self, Marina Warner - I love this lady.
petronia's reading/watching meme for a while now, and between that and Film Crit Hulk I've been inspired to catch up on movies, series and books.Movies finished:
Jiro Dreams of Sushi - my mouth watered the entire time, and so will yours, but that's an irrelevant detail. This has so much in common with my favourite documentary, Bill Cunningham New York: it's inspiring and very humbling to watch these men perform their craft with such skill. I wanted to say their skill was effortless but it's not true--like a kata, constant repetition makes every movement smooth and light. I have never been so mesmerised watching someone pinch nigiri together. Also charmed by food critic Masuhiro Yamamoto, who serves as a guide to Jiro's genius. Loved his breakdown of the three criteria for the Michelin stars: quality, originality and consistency. This one's going in the Artist Handbook.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - ahahaha this actually showed in London while I was there. I enjoyed the hell out of this film; I'm sad I didn't see it in the theatre.
Books finished:
To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee - I am so ashamed that I hadn't read this yet! Of course I loved it, but I can't really process my feelings until I read it a few more times, detached from everything that's already been said about it.
Do the Work, Steven Pressfield - a little gung-ho for my taste, but good for motivation.
Blood and Gold, Anne Rice (reread) - Short version: vampires are assholes, but they're fascinating assholes.
Zen and the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury - Another one for the Artist's Handbook, but also just fun to read.
Still reading/watching:
The Fall - about 1/3 of the way through and enchanted. Although that might be more the two leads than anything else; I am super weak for Lee Pace.
Sunshine Cleaning - I honestly thought this would be way more engaging and funny?
Elementary - now watching 'M'.
Venice Is A Fish, Tiziano Scarpia - ♥
Why We Broke Up, Daniel Handler - Lemony Snicket's turns of phrase are just as amazing when he is not being Lemony Snicket. And I feel even more for his characters.
Stuff White People Like, Christian Lander - Sometimes I read so many sad things, I just need a bathroom book.
Just acquired:
Hannibal, ep 1
Da Vinci's Demons, ep 1 - SO EXCITED.
Diary of a Dictator, William Rempel - Ferdinand Marcos's diary. I honestly have no idea what to expect.
The Dreyfus Affair: A Love Story, Peter Lefcourt - apparently an LGBT love story about baseball NOT written by Steve Kluger. Recommended on the podcast Slash Report.
The Eagle of the Ninth, Rosemary Sutcliff - because I am obsessed, not with Channing Tatum, but with trying to remember the title of this one children's book I read, which was also about the dying days of Roman Britain and featured a teenage protagonist called Marcus who meets a Celtic boy. In the book Marcus, whose family is about to leave for Tuscany, gets to witness the ritual of the Horned God and exchanges his toga for a fur pelt. Also Rosemary Sutcliff.
Fantastic Metamorphoses, Other Worlds: Ways of Telling the Self, Marina Warner - I love this lady.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-17 07:21 am (UTC)Hee!
Having said that, I had to quickly wiki to see if that was the book I was thinking of, and was a little surprised to realise a whole lot more happens than just Marius/Amadeo.
And, huh, that was published after the Vampire Armand. I thought I stopped reading that series after that book (I liked the first half and the second half didn't feel in-character to me) but clearly I read more than I realised.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-18 02:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-18 02:43 am (UTC)Oh, yes, I agree. I think that's one of the most jarring things about that series -- the difference between your impression of a character through someone else's eyes, and the character as self-described. I don't know if that's inconsistent writing or a very strong example of everyone being unreliable narrators to some extent, but it does get jarring with multiple povs.
(Plus, it hurts my little OTP-framed heart. I'm used to loving a couple together and secretly hoping for them to be together, but that series clearly follows the idea of people falling in love with different people at different times in their life. It's a valid world-view, but not what makes my inner-shipper happy.)
no subject
Date: 2013-04-18 03:30 am (UTC)Ugh, it hurts me too. Marius/Amadeo is my OTP for reasons, but the balance of power between them is so biased in Marius's favour that the only thing going for Armand is supposedly that he was the love of Marius's life. Pandora didn't affect it because Marius broke things off so completely that it felt finished. And then Blood and Gold came along, and suddenly there are all these affairs everywhere, and I got the feeling that poor Armand had been fooling himself all along and Marius had been playing with him (whether unconscious or not). It made me so sad. Also, Marius has impossible standards.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-18 05:50 am (UTC)You can tell I always loved Armand, can't you? I mean, I think Louis, Lestat and Armand are my favourites because I fell hard for the first book (at 14/15, I think you fall hard and don't always recover. My Pride & Prejudice love has continued from that age and shows no signs of leaving my heart of hearts), but for different reasons. And I will say that all of them had their own distinctive flaws that would probably drive me up the wall within six months of knowing them. (Okay, Louis, possibly within 3 months. ... and Lestat... it would depend how much his outgoing personality disrupted my sleeping patterns because if I couldn't get a decent nine hours, I'd be over his reckless self-importance in a matter of weeks.)
But my point -- as much as I'm rambling now -- was that I still have clear feelings. I haven't read the books in years, and yet I always loved the story of Marius and Armand, but the more detail you get about it, the more you suspect that it only makes for a good story with rosy-coloured hindsight. The power shifts and Armand, from Paris onwards, no longer accepts that other people have authority over him. Even though I love the story of Marius/Armand and secretly wanted them to get back together, I suspect there's no way that they'd actually get on.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-18 01:34 pm (UTC)So yeah, it's hideously compelling, and I find no character in it more hideously compelling than Armand, for complicated reasons. And instead of working out my feelings through well-thought-out fanfic, I want to create stupid comics where the whole clan drifts in and out of this huge flat in Little Venice (London), and Pandora gives Armand a copy of The Tale of Genji with all the Murasaki bits bookmarked. XD
But mostly it just makes me happy to share this with people, that I'm not silly to have such strong feelings over something written decades ago that may not even be as good as I thought it was.