Title: When Lovely Woman Stoops to Folly
Author: Oliver Goldsmith
About: Poetry, Old Writing
Old poetry is scary. Sometimes it says very uncomfortable things that speak of a world you really don't want to live in. I thought I'd share one of these with you. It's long been out of copyright, so in its entirety it goes like this:
When Lovely Woman Stoops to Folly
by Oliver Goldsmith (ca. 1730-1774)
When lovely woman stoops to folly,
And finds too late that men betray,
What charm can soothe her melancholy,
What art can wash her guilt away?
The only art her guilt to cover,
To hide her shame from every eye,
To give repentance to her love,
And wring his bosom—is to die.
I highly doubt anybody killed women who ran off with their lovers, or that they killed themselves automatically, but it's a nice reminder of how nice it is to be able to call friends, rant about things going sour, grab a drink, and then move on, with none thinking the worse of you.
Also, when people claim that old times were better, more chivalrious and how nice it would have been to live in the past?... Remind me to bring up this poem.
Friday 2 December 2011
Sunday 27 November 2011
"Comes out of Darkness Morn" - Lightning on the Wave
Title: Comes out of Darkness Morn
Author: Lightning on the Wave
About the Book: Pure Awesome, Fiction, Fanfiction, Adventure, Alternate Universe, Psychological (I don't know what else to call it)
My rating: 10/10.
Fandom: Harry Potter
The third in Lightning on the Waves' Sacrifices series. The first was, of course, Saving Connor.
As time goes by, the series changes in flavor. While "Saving Connor" is where the story properly begins, I think "Comes out of Darkness Morn" is the point which actually makes the Sacrifices series what it is: a grim, realistic, strong story. A story in which good characters fall for good reasons, in which delusion shows itself as a major reason for turning 'evil'.
In later parts Harry will demand that his allies think. It's here that we see why: mindless obedience, the tendency to hide one's problems, the tendency to objectify others turn into Big Issues naturally. Some authors would slam their opinions into us like anvils. Lightning on the Wave shows the underdog, shows the functioning of well-intended, badly misled individuals so that they can be understood. Dumbledore becomes a very tangible antagonist from within the school, Harry's brother Connor makes the wrong decisions for the right reasons.
Every character is justified. Voldemort doesn't have just a few plans, but many of them, spreading throughout the series, plans which aren't discovered or foiled as easily as all that. The threat is not just implied, it is very much present. And not only is it present, it's very relatable.
This is the turning point for Harry in this series, where he decides what his further actions, his further life, shall be like. And in the mean time, we have Dementors, Sirius, Peter Pettigrew, some more Voldemort, Albus playing the villain, Lily Potter being very, very scary, Child Services and any number of exciting things.
"No Mouth But Some Serpent's" - Lightning on the Wave
Title: No Mouth But Some Serpent's
Author: Lightning on the Wave
About the Book: Pure Awesome, Fiction, Fanfiction, Adventure, Alternate Universe, Psychological (I don't know what else to call it)
My rating: 10/10.
Fandom: Harry Potter
This is of course a continuation of "Saving Connor". It is an Alternate Universe of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". It retains some of the elements there, though deliciously twisted.
Unfortunately, to say too much about it would spoil the first part. Let me see if I can find some intrguing things that aren't spoilers.
For the first part, it contains one of my favorite characters in the series, Sylarana. She is... well, she would probably like anybody to say that she is the prettiest, most astonishing, most amazing snake in the entire world. Her desire to be admired probably surpasses Lochkart's own, although hers can be forgiven because she's not a blind idiot. If given a choice, she'd probably be a Mary Sue. She isn't, of course, because the world doesn't agree with her being quite that astonishing, but I've enjoyed many a bout of narcissism from her. And many of her threats to bite people.
"I require someone to care for me, to burnish my scales and tell me I am beautiful and feed me the choicest bits of their food. I like eggs. And milk. And the flesh of birds. And sweets. And—"
This is also the book where, if you haven't realized that there's something very wrong with Harry, you do realize it now. His psychology is messed up beyond the point where if there was a nagging feeling before that somehow the author had messed up and exaggerated things, you realize that it's Harry who is messed up and has exaggerated psychology - for a very good reason, too, that looms darker and darker over the horizon.
And other people notice.
But it's also a book in which the main characters are still children. There are pranks involved, and Lockhart is at the butt of a very satisfying one concerning his most prized possession.
At the same time, one of the things I really appreciate in Lightning's writing is that threats are actually threats. In the canon series there are periods of time when problems seem far off, when studies are the biggest issues. When the attacks upon students happen, the threat seems controlled. Here?... You get the feeling, and for a good reason, that things are much more dangerous than in Rowling's "Chamber of Secrets".
Oh, and Dumbledore?... He gets to be much, much worse than Voldemort at times.
Author: Lightning on the Wave
About the Book: Pure Awesome, Fiction, Fanfiction, Adventure, Alternate Universe, Psychological (I don't know what else to call it)
My rating: 10/10.
Fandom: Harry Potter
This is of course a continuation of "Saving Connor". It is an Alternate Universe of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". It retains some of the elements there, though deliciously twisted.
Unfortunately, to say too much about it would spoil the first part. Let me see if I can find some intrguing things that aren't spoilers.
For the first part, it contains one of my favorite characters in the series, Sylarana. She is... well, she would probably like anybody to say that she is the prettiest, most astonishing, most amazing snake in the entire world. Her desire to be admired probably surpasses Lochkart's own, although hers can be forgiven because she's not a blind idiot. If given a choice, she'd probably be a Mary Sue. She isn't, of course, because the world doesn't agree with her being quite that astonishing, but I've enjoyed many a bout of narcissism from her. And many of her threats to bite people.
"I require someone to care for me, to burnish my scales and tell me I am beautiful and feed me the choicest bits of their food. I like eggs. And milk. And the flesh of birds. And sweets. And—"
"I am not going to take care of you!" Harry hissed back at her, and for a moment, he thought he heard his voice the way she must be hearing it, full of intricate twists and turns and soft sibilants. It was certainly not speaking English.
He blocked the thought from his mind. He was not evil. He would not let himself be.
"Yes, you are," said the Locusta. "I've watched you. Your dearest possession is that lump of a boy who shares your nest. If you do not take care of me, I will bite him."
She becomes one of the closest creatures to Harry, so much so that she actually twines inside his mind. As far as familiars go, she's one of the best. I wonder if she lampshades Mary Sues.This is also the book where, if you haven't realized that there's something very wrong with Harry, you do realize it now. His psychology is messed up beyond the point where if there was a nagging feeling before that somehow the author had messed up and exaggerated things, you realize that it's Harry who is messed up and has exaggerated psychology - for a very good reason, too, that looms darker and darker over the horizon.
And other people notice.
But it's also a book in which the main characters are still children. There are pranks involved, and Lockhart is at the butt of a very satisfying one concerning his most prized possession.
At the same time, one of the things I really appreciate in Lightning's writing is that threats are actually threats. In the canon series there are periods of time when problems seem far off, when studies are the biggest issues. When the attacks upon students happen, the threat seems controlled. Here?... You get the feeling, and for a good reason, that things are much more dangerous than in Rowling's "Chamber of Secrets".
Oh, and Dumbledore?... He gets to be much, much worse than Voldemort at times.
Tuesday 22 November 2011
"The Eyre Affair" - Jasper Fforde
Title: The Eyre Affair
Author: Jasper Fforde
About the Book: Alternate Universe, Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Meta
My rating: 10/10.
The protagonist is called Thursday Next. I usually don't judge a book by its cover, or protagonist name, but the main character here is Thursday Next. And she has a dodo bird from one of the first generations they cloned.
That actually says a lot.
The universe is very alternate in this book. Wales is a country of its own, Russia and England are still fighting the cold war and have been fighting it for the past century. Everybody reads and lives literature vicariously - there's even a device that can put people in literary texts.
It's a book so wonderfully in between genres that it somehow got published by one of the Romanian mainstream publishing houses, next to Isabel Allende's works, Milan Kundera's and so on. It has a note of realistic seriosity, many action-like twists, British silly humor and a convoluted plot.
And the world! Travelling in books is involved, as is time travelling. People have Very Serious Standing Points about whether Shakespeare authored his own texts or not and there are some sects that travel from door to door to convert people to their points of view. "Janey Eyre" ends with the protagonist going off to India to help her cousin with his missionary work and most people agree it's a bad ending to an otherwise good book. There are marvelous details in there.
The plot is filled with action - secret agents, an evil villain, old loves, new love, mystery and twists at every turn. Thursday, a Crimean War veteran and a literary detective (can you hear me gasp in geeky pleasure?) investigates the theft of the original manuscript of "Martin Chuzzlewit", which leads to her being integrated into some more secret agent-y circles of the government and to her getting into a bit of a conflict with the huge, nigh all-politically powerful Goliath Corporation. And meeting Jane Eyre's Mr. Rochester.
Packed with nonsensical humor, sensical humor and much fun. A total recommendation (if it's your kind of thing).
Find it here.
Author: Jasper Fforde
About the Book: Alternate Universe, Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Meta
My rating: 10/10.
The protagonist is called Thursday Next. I usually don't judge a book by its cover, or protagonist name, but the main character here is Thursday Next. And she has a dodo bird from one of the first generations they cloned.
That actually says a lot.
The universe is very alternate in this book. Wales is a country of its own, Russia and England are still fighting the cold war and have been fighting it for the past century. Everybody reads and lives literature vicariously - there's even a device that can put people in literary texts.
It's a book so wonderfully in between genres that it somehow got published by one of the Romanian mainstream publishing houses, next to Isabel Allende's works, Milan Kundera's and so on. It has a note of realistic seriosity, many action-like twists, British silly humor and a convoluted plot.
And the world! Travelling in books is involved, as is time travelling. People have Very Serious Standing Points about whether Shakespeare authored his own texts or not and there are some sects that travel from door to door to convert people to their points of view. "Janey Eyre" ends with the protagonist going off to India to help her cousin with his missionary work and most people agree it's a bad ending to an otherwise good book. There are marvelous details in there.
The plot is filled with action - secret agents, an evil villain, old loves, new love, mystery and twists at every turn. Thursday, a Crimean War veteran and a literary detective (can you hear me gasp in geeky pleasure?) investigates the theft of the original manuscript of "Martin Chuzzlewit", which leads to her being integrated into some more secret agent-y circles of the government and to her getting into a bit of a conflict with the huge, nigh all-politically powerful Goliath Corporation. And meeting Jane Eyre's Mr. Rochester.
Packed with nonsensical humor, sensical humor and much fun. A total recommendation (if it's your kind of thing).
Find it here.
Saturday 19 November 2011
"Botchan" - Natsume Soseki
Title: Botchan
Author: Natsume Soseki
Translator: Matt Treyvaud
About the Book: Fiction, Japanese, Comedy, Awesomeness.
My rating: 10/10.
I've just mentioned Soseki being one of the few Japanese authors in my bibliography that I could read. Well, this book is definitely one of my favorites - for two reasons.
1. It's awesome.
2. The translation by Matt Treyvaud is more than awesome. (the link is at the bottom of this post)
The story in itself is fast-paced, funny, full of intrigue. The main character is a teacher who stumbles into a small town school to teach maths and falls into the world of students who prank, teachers who intrigue and people who just plainly need nicknames which he offers freely.
The title, Botchan, means 'little master' and it's offered to the main character by his loving old maid, who is certain that he is something special and wonderful and a gift to the world. The reader might be less sure about that, since Botchan is quite flawed, but he happens to be delightfully flawed. There's a very human element to his story, while it still keeps a light-hearted tone.
"I have no idea why, but the old lady just adored me. It was a total mystery. My mother had gotten sick of me three days before she died, my father never knew what to do with me, and the whole town called me devil-boy, but Kiyo thought I was the greatest."
And thus the reckless boy who manages to get through college and then acquire a job continues to be seen through life: something that's not quite within the lines of what he's supposed to be, something a bit out of the usual. Reckless? Devil? Greatest? Non-compromising? Well, I was fond of him, I'll tell you that.
While my colleagues from the same literature class were wading their way through a rough Romanian translation, I found Treyvaud's version and loved it to pieces. It's fresh, it's readable, it sounds English, not English made to break in all the wrong places to imitate Japanese and it's wonderfully full of life. There's a free translation available online, but it doesn't hold a candle to Treyvaud's.
From the translator's introduction:
"I gave Botchan himself the voice of the Platonic Ideal of the Assistant English Teacher in Japan blowing off steam: profane and outraged, hilariously aggrieved. As part of that milieu myself, I decided that too much polish would probably work against what I wanted to do, so I decided to translate the whole book in a month. And finally, I did virtually all of the work while drunk."
And that, my friends, is what gives it its perfection in this English version.
You can get it here.
Author: Natsume Soseki
Translator: Matt Treyvaud
About the Book: Fiction, Japanese, Comedy, Awesomeness.
My rating: 10/10.
I've just mentioned Soseki being one of the few Japanese authors in my bibliography that I could read. Well, this book is definitely one of my favorites - for two reasons.
1. It's awesome.
2. The translation by Matt Treyvaud is more than awesome. (the link is at the bottom of this post)
The story in itself is fast-paced, funny, full of intrigue. The main character is a teacher who stumbles into a small town school to teach maths and falls into the world of students who prank, teachers who intrigue and people who just plainly need nicknames which he offers freely.
The title, Botchan, means 'little master' and it's offered to the main character by his loving old maid, who is certain that he is something special and wonderful and a gift to the world. The reader might be less sure about that, since Botchan is quite flawed, but he happens to be delightfully flawed. There's a very human element to his story, while it still keeps a light-hearted tone.
"I have no idea why, but the old lady just adored me. It was a total mystery. My mother had gotten sick of me three days before she died, my father never knew what to do with me, and the whole town called me devil-boy, but Kiyo thought I was the greatest."
And thus the reckless boy who manages to get through college and then acquire a job continues to be seen through life: something that's not quite within the lines of what he's supposed to be, something a bit out of the usual. Reckless? Devil? Greatest? Non-compromising? Well, I was fond of him, I'll tell you that.
While my colleagues from the same literature class were wading their way through a rough Romanian translation, I found Treyvaud's version and loved it to pieces. It's fresh, it's readable, it sounds English, not English made to break in all the wrong places to imitate Japanese and it's wonderfully full of life. There's a free translation available online, but it doesn't hold a candle to Treyvaud's.
From the translator's introduction:
"I gave Botchan himself the voice of the Platonic Ideal of the Assistant English Teacher in Japan blowing off steam: profane and outraged, hilariously aggrieved. As part of that milieu myself, I decided that too much polish would probably work against what I wanted to do, so I decided to translate the whole book in a month. And finally, I did virtually all of the work while drunk."
And that, my friends, is what gives it its perfection in this English version.
You can get it here.
"I Am a Cat" - Natsume Soseki
Title: I am a Cat
Author: Natsume Soseki
About the Book: Fiction, Japanese, Comedy, The Narrator is a Cat (and how cool is that?)
My rating: 9/10.
There were a number of writers that I was required to read for my Japanese literature class for my undergraduate studies. Natsume Soseki was one whom I actually enjoyed. He combines Japanese finesse with just enough plot, just enough twists and turns that you end up enjoying yourself quite a lot (especially when you have a good translation).
"I Am a Cat" is a pretty self-describing title. The narrator, of course, is a cat. But not just any sort of cat. The Japanese for that phrase is "Wagahai ha neko de aru", which translates pompously. This isn't a cat. This is a Cat speaking to you, you poor, deluded mortal. You have no idea who you're dealing with.
The Cat is witty, cinical, observing the world around him - which contains such people as the professor whose house he lives in - with quite a bit of grandiloquence and irony. However, make no mistake. This isn't Disney and it isn't about the Cat, or any cat's view on the world. This is a satire of Japanese society, of humans and their follies and of people generally take themselves too seriously.
There is no particular plot to be followed, but there are a few happenings in the humans' lives that interconnect and reoccurring characters that have a bit of fun poked at them.
I'd give it a 10/10, but it does seem to rant a bit too much at times.
It can be bought here.
Author: Natsume Soseki
About the Book: Fiction, Japanese, Comedy, The Narrator is a Cat (and how cool is that?)
My rating: 9/10.
There were a number of writers that I was required to read for my Japanese literature class for my undergraduate studies. Natsume Soseki was one whom I actually enjoyed. He combines Japanese finesse with just enough plot, just enough twists and turns that you end up enjoying yourself quite a lot (especially when you have a good translation).
"I Am a Cat" is a pretty self-describing title. The narrator, of course, is a cat. But not just any sort of cat. The Japanese for that phrase is "Wagahai ha neko de aru", which translates pompously. This isn't a cat. This is a Cat speaking to you, you poor, deluded mortal. You have no idea who you're dealing with.
The Cat is witty, cinical, observing the world around him - which contains such people as the professor whose house he lives in - with quite a bit of grandiloquence and irony. However, make no mistake. This isn't Disney and it isn't about the Cat, or any cat's view on the world. This is a satire of Japanese society, of humans and their follies and of people generally take themselves too seriously.
There is no particular plot to be followed, but there are a few happenings in the humans' lives that interconnect and reoccurring characters that have a bit of fun poked at them.
I'd give it a 10/10, but it does seem to rant a bit too much at times.
It can be bought here.
Tuesday 15 November 2011
"Saving Connor" - Lightning on the Wave
Title: Saving Connor
Author: Lightning on the Wave
About the Book: Pure Awesome, Fiction, Fanfiction, Adventure, Alternate Universe, Psychological (I don't know what else to call it)
My rating: 10/10.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Lightning on the Wave deserves an amazing introduction - unfortunately, relatively little is known about her. I have heard that others pieced together that she was studying for her Ph.D. and teaching some university-level classes a few years back and I've seen her mentioning a Ph.D. somewhere. This is the curse of fanfiction authors: they are here, then they are gone. It's not a curse upon their heads, but upon the heads of their readers. You can never quite keep track and all you have is amazing stories to testify that they exist.
"Saving Connor" is the first part of a series of 7 AUs (each corresponding, like the canon, to a school year). James and Lily Potter are still alive. Harry has a twin brother, Connor, who is the Boy-Who-Lived. Harry has his lightning bolt-shaped scar from canon, but Connor has a heart-shaped scar that shows off his status. Sirius and Remus are quite well and Peter Pettigrew is in Azkaban. Coming to this story from canon, it looks like your basic dream-fulfilment story. Except Lightning has a way of twisting dreams into nightmares.
The characters are amazingly built. Connor is a carefree heroic type, not very bright and very blunt, living his childhood. Harry, a quiet, studious type, loves him to pieces and will protect him and give him a happy life at all costs - and you will come to hate this love along with many other characters before "Saving Connor" is done. Lily is sweetness personified, Albus is a shrewd leader, James is as shiny as a nice Gryffindor should be. With these patterns in mind, Lightning dances around expectations, revealing new facets underneath masks.
You can find it here.
Author: Lightning on the Wave
About the Book: Pure Awesome, Fiction, Fanfiction, Adventure, Alternate Universe, Psychological (I don't know what else to call it)
My rating: 10/10.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Lightning on the Wave deserves an amazing introduction - unfortunately, relatively little is known about her. I have heard that others pieced together that she was studying for her Ph.D. and teaching some university-level classes a few years back and I've seen her mentioning a Ph.D. somewhere. This is the curse of fanfiction authors: they are here, then they are gone. It's not a curse upon their heads, but upon the heads of their readers. You can never quite keep track and all you have is amazing stories to testify that they exist.
"Saving Connor" is the first part of a series of 7 AUs (each corresponding, like the canon, to a school year). James and Lily Potter are still alive. Harry has a twin brother, Connor, who is the Boy-Who-Lived. Harry has his lightning bolt-shaped scar from canon, but Connor has a heart-shaped scar that shows off his status. Sirius and Remus are quite well and Peter Pettigrew is in Azkaban. Coming to this story from canon, it looks like your basic dream-fulfilment story. Except Lightning has a way of twisting dreams into nightmares.
The characters are amazingly built. Connor is a carefree heroic type, not very bright and very blunt, living his childhood. Harry, a quiet, studious type, loves him to pieces and will protect him and give him a happy life at all costs - and you will come to hate this love along with many other characters before "Saving Connor" is done. Lily is sweetness personified, Albus is a shrewd leader, James is as shiny as a nice Gryffindor should be. With these patterns in mind, Lightning dances around expectations, revealing new facets underneath masks.
First line of the book: "What are your vows, Harry?"
I thought I saw where this was going from the beginning. I thought this was going to be an overly-long series about Harry Potter always being in the shadows and Connor taking the spotlight. I thought Harry and Lily had a conspiracy going to save the world and that it would go on forever.
I was wrong.
Harry knew what they were, even though he was only five. He whispered them as his mother held him over his brother's bed, and his mother said them with him, murmured hypnotic words that Harry had heard his whole life.
This first book in the series follows the plot of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" closely enough, but you still have hints of things that are entirely different. Holes that JK Rowling left open in the originals are now filled.
Why do pureblooded wizards despise wizards born out of normal families?... Because purebloods have their own, very rich culture, centering on magic and rituals and they believe that outsiders are threatening this. Why is Lucius Malfoy such a stuck-up? It's part of his Dark culture, complete with facade. As the story goes by it becomes clearer and clearer that the magical world has its very clear subtle lines, courtesies, practices which are visibile to those who are born into it, invisible to outsiders, who then look like fools.
There are also some very significant differences between the canon and "Saving Connor", new meanings added to events which start adding up to a feeling of wrongness which will eventually get explained (in the next part of the series), but which is not at all accidental. After all, mostly all the scenes are written from Harry Potter's third person POV, which means that somewhere... in there... there is a problem.
"The unicorn was a sacrifice. He'd been a sacrifice, in Lily's terms, even though he didn't think of himself that way; he was just making sure that Connor got to enjoy a chance in the sun that would otherwise be snatched away, and unfairly.
And he loved his brother enough to lie for him, and to burn a troll for him, and to let a unicorn die for him."
It's an engaging story, with an occasional snippet of humor that strikes gold. Again, the characters are very well-developed and Narcissa is one of my favorites in this series. The take on Dumbledore will (eventually) change your views on him forever and even Voldemort manages to be more purely evil than in the original. Another bonus point is that there is very little left to chance and victories happen with any amount of preparation and care taken in advance. Battles between strong wizards are indeed impressive, violent scenes are just as violent as they need to be, politics with its conflicting interests is very well described.
A ten out of ten for style, plot, ideas, background culture, characterizations and generally everything. Including being annoying in all the right places to show that people aren't always perfect or smart, but not annoying enough to make you stop reading.
You can find it here.
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