entirely ruined her disposition with books

I say British here because the books I read where I picked up these spellings were British, not because I’m ignoring the existence of other countries who spell things that way.


Not too crazy about all those extra “u”s, and I like the letter z, so we’ll keep that one around in things like “realize.”

But!

Judgement. LOOKS WRONG WITHOUT AN E. QUIT YELLING AT ME WITH YOUR SILLY RED LINE, SPELLCHECK!

Grey. I usually use “grey” to talk about a pretty or natural shade of grey—mist or the sea or clouds or something. On the other hand, I use “gray” when I’m talking about something more metallic or ugly—concrete or an ugly building or something.

I’m sure there are others, but those are the ones that leap to mind. Got any of your own? And if you are from not-America, is there any American spelling you actually like better? English as a second language speakers, which did you learn when you were taught the language? American or British spelling and pronunciation? I AM INTERESTED.

Also, Oxford commas forever and ever and ever.

Dear German language,

I love you and the fact that you have a word for everything. I also love that when there's not a word for something, you make one up by smooshing already-existing words together. I hope we get tons more loan-words from you (schadenfreude is one of the most useful words in the world!), but I hope we steal this one from you next:

fremdschämen: cringing embarrassment for the actions of others

What English says with seven words, you say with one.

SO. USEFUL.

It describes why I can't watch The Office or America's Funniest Home Videos and why I can't be friends with that one--very nice girl--from high school who I have a lot of common interests with but who makes me wince whenever she's around.

Thank you!

Umarmungen und Küsse,

Lauren

P.S. You are also the most fun language in the world to sing in.

Sir Patrick Stewart is currently Macbeth-ing it up on my TV screen. He will never not be incredibly talented and ridiculously attractive. Also he is a feminist who speaks out against domestic violence. WHY IS HE SO GREAT? Picard is the greatest Trek captain forever and ever and ever, the end.

The lady playing Lady Macbeth has glorious cheekbones and has reminded me that I need to make a post about my ~thing for cheekbones sometime. She is very intense and awesome--she is getting into her lines, I am telling you. Also, her dress has just slipped down so far that I swear I just saw nipple. Is that allowed on PBS?

The production design is gorgeous--WWII-inspired and creepy as all get out and cool beyond words. The Weird Sisters as played by creepy nurses! EXCELLENCE! Basically, it's the coolest version of Macbeth ever. Sorry, James Marsters. Even if you ever get around to making yours, it will not be as cool as SIR PATRICK STEWART IN A WWII NIGHTMARE WORLD.

I am sad I will never be an actress for this one reason--I would love to do Shakespeare. HIS LANGUAGE, Y'ALL. How could it not be the most fun thing in the world to memorize and deliver? And there are such excellent lady parts! Portia or Beatrice or Desdemona or Lady Macbeth, y'all!

I've been meaning for a while to talk about what I've been reading. Because it's something that's not fic or meta or articles on feminist websites! After I graduated from college, it took me a long time to be able to read again because I'd spent so much time analyzing texts over those four years that I just got burned out. But I am back to being able to read again, and it feels good.

So what have I been reading? Some really good stuff.

* Kindred by Octavia Butler. This book is perfect. One day, I want to be able to write something as perfect as this book. I was actually halfway through Fathom (see below) when I picked this one up. Whenever I pick up a new book, I like to read the "beginnings," as I call them: the introductions, acknowledgments, author's notes, and the first few lines. So I read the first few lines. And I was really engrossed. And I thought, "I'll just read the prologue. It's like two pages long." AND I NEVER STOPPED. Seriously, the book is compulsively readable. But at the same time, it's deeply profound. Perfect characterization: I could spend the rest of my life analyzing the relationship between Dana and Rufus, for instance, and I would never get to the bottom of it. Add in Kevin and Alice and the others? Gah. I can't even talk about it.

And this book is about the kyriarchy. It's the best book about the kyriarchy I've ever read. The whole thing is an exercise in examining the hierarchies of power and the ways they're tangled up in race and gender and class and even health. But it isn't preachy, and it's just so entertaining, too: if you didn't know or care about the kyriarchy, you could still love it and enjoy it. It sucks you in and doesn't let you up and you're completely captivated by these characters, but it's just so easy to read! I adore that.

I also really loved how it fit in seamlessly with the slave narratives I read in Southern Lit in college. I've never been so glad for being an English major: having had that prior experience with slave narratives, I felt that this book was so much richer.

I cannot rave about it enough. I'm going to read it once a year till I die, I think. Oh, and I read it in a day, so yeah. Very readable.

[eta] What it's actually about: a modern (written in the 70s) black woman who keeps getting pulled back in time to the nineteenth century to save her white ancestor, who is the son of a slave owner. Time travel. Slave narrative. YES.

* Fathom by Cherie Priest. This woman has a fantastic imagination. I can honestly say that you have never read a book like this. I adore the plot and the worldbuilding more than I can say. But I felt there was something lacking. I didn't really feel emotionally invested. I don't know if it's because I didn't feel like I got to know the characters well enough or if their motivations weren't nuanced enough or if it just wasn't long enough, but there was something missing for me. At the same time, I'm interested in seeing what else Priest has written because she has the most awesome imagination ever.

* Shards of Honor and Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold. Solid, character-driven sci-fi. Great characters--especially Cordelia and Aral and Kou and Drou and Bothari. Interesting relationships I cared about. Good worldbuilding. A strong female protagonist who was very competent but didn't physically kick ass. Good pacing and plotting. Basically just goodness, all the way around. If I could find more "sci-fi" (as opposed to fantasy) like this, I would read a ton more of it. This was my first Bujold experience, and I was impressed. Very.

Anyone have any advice as to how to proceed from here? I know she wrote the rest of the books all out of order, so I'd like to know which order to read them in. Chronologically? Or is it more like the Narnia books, where you need to read them as they were written? Help please!

And now for what some of you have been waiting for...

* The Hunger Games (all of them!) by Suzanne Collins. What did I spend Friday through Sunday doing? Reading all of the Hunger Games books, of course. Because I am like that. And yes, becoming pretty addicted and loving Katniss/Peeta forever and falling for a lot of the supporting characters. Read the books, people!

I will now proceed to spoil you horribly. DON’T READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THEM!

( spoilers for the first two books )

( spoilers for Mockingjay )

And one last thing, because I am predictable:

( a final, MJ-spoiler-free note on shipping )


People, is there any good fic out there? I want good fic, and I don’t know where to look!



And now I have a thousand comments to reply to! I should get on that!

I kind of want to write a piece of meta about how much Flannery O'Connor would love Spike and how he's like the most grotesque character ever and how both him getting his soul and dying in "Chosen" are like the most O'Connor-esque moments of grace EVER and how well-constructed his arc is and how O'Connor would think at the end he'd grown closer to the Catholic view of the world (ha! but she would!) and how she would just eat this up (incidentally, Faulkner would also love Spike. In case you were wondering, and I know you were). I sort of started rambling about this whedonesque and it was just coming together before my eyes and I LOVED IT.

There are a couple of problems:

1) It's been a while since I've studied her in depth, and I'd have to go back to the university library and pick up a ton of books and spend a lot of time on this and, really, I should be working on my novel. Or at least writing fic for the approximately 12.7 challenges and fic-a-thons I'm signed up for.

2) Who would read this? No, seriously: who would read this?

3) Why does my brain work this way?

Speaking of ways my brain works, last night when I went to visit my parents (I was kinda weepy and needed hugs from my mama, okay?) for some reason we were talking about babies, and I asked if anyone has ever done a spoof of Baby and Child Care as written by Mr. Spock instead of Dr. Spock and how this needed to exist in the world somewhere, and my daddy shook his head and said that this was proof that I had too much time on my hands. And I'm like, "I just had this thought! Sitting right here with you! You should be more interesting in hopes of distracting me if it bothers you!"

Oh, family.

Also, I really, really need to avoid getting into internet arguments in places outside of lj. I really, really do. They always leave me feeling slightly sick to my stomach.