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Some days are more blurry than others. Like today. It's blurry grey outside and also in my head. So instead of attempting to half-heartedly swat at my insanely long to-do list, I'm going back to bed and reading.
I hope you get what you need out of your Sunday (or Monday or whatever day you're facing).
Posted by Justine at 11:21, February 17th, 2008 under New York City/USA, Reading |
As you'll see I've added a new poll for fave books. I'm pretty sure that the last option will win, given that there are so many books published every year, getting consensus is harder and harder. It's tricky enough finding people who've read the books you've read, let alone finding someone who feels the same way about them you do.
So, the poll to the right is made up of books I loved written by people I don't know. ((I met Kathleen Duey and M. Sindy Felin Book Awards after I'd read their books and I'm not sure a brief meeting at a formal event counts as "knowing" them.)) This was so I could reduce my candidates and also ...
Posted by Justine at 9:33, December 30th, 2007 under Praising, Reading |
Cedarlibrarian, a major Harry Potter fan,
doesn't care about spoilers. Her arguments are smart and convincing.
And yet.
I'm really not a very evolved consumer of texts cause spoilers bug the crap out of me. I want my first experience of any narrative---be it book, manga, graphic novel, TV show, movie, play, whatever, to be untrammelled by knowing stuff about it. I don't read reviews unless there of something I've already read/seen or it's something I don't care about.
Frankly, I'd almost prefer not to know what genre it is.
I don't want to know if people liked it or not. All the spoilery grumbling about the latest series of TV shows I haven't seen yet drives me spare. ((And I almost ...
Posted by Justine at 22:51, October 21st, 2007 under Ranting, Reading, Viewing |
At the book shop appearances Scott keeps being offered a free book as a reward for his hard work and charming-ness. We keep choosing mass market paperbacks because we're travelling and running out of spaces. Last choice: the latest Naomi Novik. (I started it last night and it rocks.)
If you were asked to choose one book from your favourite book shop what would it be?
Posted by Justine at 8:52, October 5th, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Reading, Travelling |
A warning: this is one of those stumbly thinking out loud posts.
I just read a dead interesting essay by
Jim Huang reflecting on twenty years of selling books. Most of his comments have to do with mystery books but a lot of it applies to other genres. I've been thinking about this comment:
When I think about the center of gravity of the mystery genre, I still believe that it lies in series. Seventy percent of the titles on the bestsellers lists of the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association in 2007 year to date are part of a series. Seventy percent of these series titles belong to long-running series of five or more books. Sales in IMBA member stores ...
Posted by Justine at 11:45, September 11th, 2007 under Bloggery, Manga, Praising, Reading, Viewing, Young Adult literature |
Someone just told me I'm wrong about Bring It On being the best movie of all time. Excuse me? If I say it is then it is! This is my personal list of the best movies of all time. I cannot be wrong about it.
I'm not saying there aren't other best movies of all time. There are! The Princess Bride is one. Rififi is another. Not to mention Out of the Past and Lagaan.
I am also not wrong about
mangosteens being the best fruit.
Or The Wire being the best television.
Or Emma and Hellsing and anything by Osamu Tezuka being the best manga.
Or zombies being the best monsters.
And cricket absolutely is the best sport.
So nyer!
Though, of course, I reserve the ...
Posted by Justine at 17:23, August 1st, 2007 under Food, Mangosteens, Ranting, Reading, Viewing, Zombies |
For research purposes, I am going to drastically increase my zombie culture consumption.
Thus far I've been reading and loving The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman. (I read the trades not the skinnies---so no spoilers for the latest issues!)
I also plan to read World War Z, An Oral History Of The Zombie War by Max Brooks. So no spoilers, people!
Update: Forgot to mention I have read the entire and very excellent Kelly Link zombie oeuvre.
What other zombie books and graphic novels should I be reading?
And there's the movies---because really the whole zombie thing is very movie driven.
Obviously I've seen and loved all the George Romero zombie films. Yum. My faves. Yes, even the recent Land of the Dead that I've ...
Posted by Justine at 12:11, July 27th, 2007 under Reading, Research, Viewing, Zombies |
Holly Black is
making me giggle (via
Gwenda). Now all I can think about is vampire elves and zombie unicorns and werewolf-griffins and pirate-orcs and . . . and which of all of those would win in battle and what they'd look like and what they'd eat. Would vampire elves still not like steel and not tell lies? And what would a novel with all these creatures in it be like?
Oh, hush, Justine. You have stories to write! Novels to unbuggerize! Admin to adminerate! Stop procrastinating.
Posted by Justine at 12:23, July 18th, 2007 under Bloggery, Frippery, Unicorns, Zombies |
John Hinde was one of my favourite film critics of all time. He was a wonderfully warm and funny man. He could give charmingly negative reviews to sucky films without a hint of rancour, reviews that made you want to see the crappy film just to see what he was talking about. I always wanted to meet him. When he died I cried.
Now he's made me cry again by setting up an
extraordinary literary prize in his wife's memory. It's the "Barbara Jefferis Award for the best Australian novel that empowers the status of females or depicts them in a positive light." The award goes to an Australian writer, but isn't restricted by setting or genre, ...
Posted by Justine at 10:23, April 3rd, 2007 under Reading, Sydney/Australia, Unicorns, Zombies |
So here I am back in Madison, Wisconsin for the annual feminist sf convention,
WisCon. I just figured out that this is my seventh WisCon, while that's nothing compared to the folks who've come here since the very first one way back in the olden days, it's pretty damned amazing. There's no other gathering like this of any kind that I've been to that many times. Such a committment!
Not only have I been coming here since 1996, I've also been actively involved on the convention committee. First organising the academic programming, and for the last few years, the readings programme, (that is organising the writers who want to read their work aloud for the enjoyment of the rest ...
Posted by Justine at 17:12, May 26th, 2005 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Listening |
