(no subject)

[fiercebunny]

My days off from work this week went okay. I'm pretty sick of the cold though, it dropped about forty degrees between Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm thinking about buying a dozen pairs of over the knee socks if it stays this cold.

When it was a bit warmer on Monday, I ventured out to the library and found several nice books. I checked out House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones (it's another book set in the same world as Howl's Moving Castle); A Fatal Waltz by Tasha Alexander (I liked her previous historical mysteries); The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner (YA novel about the French Revolution); and The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Bronte by Laura Joh Rowland (Charlotte Bronte writes gothic novels... and fights crime!). Well, I like Rowland's other mysteries set in feudal Japan, so that's my excuse for checking out that last one.

I know there are way too many parentheses in that last sentence D: Sorry.

I also looked for The Independence of Miss Mary Bennett by Colleen McCullough, couldn't find it, and then found out from Amazon hasn't been released yet. I haven't read any of the Jane Austen "sequels" by modern writers (is there a name for them, since they're kind of a genre?), but this one sounded interesting. Mary Bennett's a prig in the book , but I've always kind of felt sorry for her.

But then I read Amazon's description for this, and the book sounds totally insane. Like it's set in the Bizarro Austen universe.

"McCullough's (The Thorn Birds) sequel to Pride and Prejudice vaults the characters of the original into a ridiculously bizarre world, spinning dizzily among plot lines until it finally crashes to a close. The novel begins 20 years after Austen's classic ends, with Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy trapped in a passionless marriage, Jane a spineless baby machine, Lydia an alcoholic tramp, Kitty a cheerfully vapid widow and Mary a naïve feminist and social crusader. Shrewish Mrs. Bennett's death frees Mary from her caretaker duties, and, inspired by the writings of a crusading journalist, Mary sets off to document the plight of England's poor.

Along the way, she is abused, robbed and imprisoned by the prophet of a cave-dwelling cult.

(!!) Darcy is the book's villain, and he busies himself with hushing up the Bennett clan's improprieties in service of his political career. His dirty work is carried out by Ned Skinner, whose odd devotion to Darcy drives his exploits, the nastiest of which involves murder. McCullough lacks Austen's gently reproving good humor, making the family's adventures into a mannered spaghetti western with a tacked-on, albeit Austenesque, happy ending"

Seriously, were there any cave dwelling cults in Regency England? Have there ever been any since the Celts? WTF? Now I'm not sure if I should steer clear of it or if I have to read it for the lolz. Maybe I should write my own sequel where Kitty and Mary fight Mr. Collins and his sekrit band of ninjas.

Comments

[the-impassive.livejournal.com]

Never apologize for a post full of books.

Have you read _The Thirteenth Tale_ or _In The Woods?_

Really, between Sockdreams and books, this post is so porn to me that I can hardly say: get well soon.

[caerbannog.livejournal.com]

I've read The Thirteenth Tale, which I liked. IMO, you can't go wrong with a story about feral twins. In the Woods I haven't read, but I want to. Is it good?

I really, really want to plan a trip to Portland, Oregon. Mainly so I can go to Powell's books, Sock Dreams and that place (http://voodoodoughnut.com/) where Anthony Bourdain had bacon doughnuts on No Reservations. That's my idea of a great vacation.

[the-impassive.livejournal.com]

I f'loved _In the Woods._ I screwed up, though - I was interested in delving into contemporary mysteries, and started with Tana French's debut. And it was SO good, so well-written, and so unusual that I'm now utterly ruined for contemporary mystery. There's nothing else like it & no one else writing like French, from what I can tell. Everything else seems cheesy and formulaic compared to _In the Woods._

Does SockDreams have a storefront now? If so, I'm going with you on that trip.

Voodoo Donuts was featured on the most recent Amazing Race finale and I was bummed there wasn't a bacon donut-eating challenge.

[caerbannog.livejournal.com]

Sockdreams does have a storefront. They have some pictures on their sock journal (http://www.sockdreams.com/weblog/2008/03/31/soft-opening/).

And thanks for the book rec! I will definitely check it out :D

[oxymoron67.livejournal.com]

I think cave dwelling cults could liven up most any classic. Think of what they could do for, say, Silas Marner or Ivanhoe.

[caerbannog.livejournal.com]

You're probably right about that. It definitely would have livened up most of my hs/college English classes.

That reminds me, one time I saw a Shakespeare in the Park production of Taming of the Shrew that involved a pickup truck full of ninjas. Which was pretty awesome. I'm sure Shakespeare would totally have written about ninjas, had he known what they were at the time.

[padawansguide.livejournal.com]

A new Diana Wynne Jones? Or did I miss one? I don't think I've read that one! I love her books.

WTF, though with the P&P sequel??!

[caerbannog.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't know what's up with the trend of crackfic lately.