book report
I had a run on the YA Historical Mystery stuff.
I read:
1. a couple of Maisie Dobbs books....The history part is fun. She did her homework and uses the research for details that make the story richer instead of smacking us longside the head with Facts (well, occasionally there's a teeny tiny head-smack) . Maisie herself isn't impressing me all the time. She's too perfect and the way she tells people what to do in a rhhather pompous manner is rhather annoying. And there isn't a sense that she questions herself and the Great Blanche's methods--not enough self-awareness. Plus those methods. Nope, I'm not sure they are presented so that I'd believe them.
So that bit above sounds whiny, but I like the books just fine. The author knows her pre-WWII world. Overall grade: fun stuff. OH! And there's the big secret about the man Maisie had loved at the end of the first book and that made me like her more. She became slightly more human. More flawed = human. But am I in this series for the long run? Will I run to the store when a new one hits the stands? Eh. I'll read them when I find them and think these are good when you're under the weather and requiring a book that won't make demands. A lot of YA is like that.
I don't think I'm doing a glom of Maisie...Of course I said that about the Thompson series and then suddenly WHAM I was an addict. Buying hard-cover for God's sake.
Hey, what is with that? How do people get addicted to stuff they know isn't fabulous? Like all of the sudden, I want to watch Trauma. I crave that damn thing. And then I think, Hey Maybe it really IS fabulous.
WTF? Nothing has changed....except me.
The show is cancelled already which is sort of a relief. Addiction to a series is a PITA. And a series you don't entirely respect? Silly. Of course the more I watch the more believable it is, because I start to buy into the world (and thank god they finally brought in the parade of craziness that is SF.) and care about the characters.
I do think that female lead is pretty great. The tough as nails, cynical, love-em-leave-em loner cast as a woman and one who doesn't whine? I think she's why I like the show.
BACK TO BOOKS....
2. I read the three Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart series. She's a lot like Maisie as in bossy and sure of herself in a time that didn't allow for that sort of behavior in young women, but she has the right to be (and the backstory to show why she's like that.) AND she occasionally stops and questions herself.
It's funny because Sally's stories are the more outrageous Penny Dreadful of the two series, with opium crime lords and huge conspiracies and boatloads of action, but they feel more realistic because she and her friends have a touch more depth. That Pullman's a fabu writer. Maybe if I hadn't read Sally and Maisie at just about the same time, I would be more pro-Maisie. (and perhaps less pro-Sally?)
3. Now I've moved on to the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Of course I want to raise my hand and ask Teacher, Hey, how come he's allowed to do all that telling instead of showing?
It took a while, but now I'm caught by the story.
Time to work. I have to go crank out more stories that won't get boughtededed.
I read:
1. a couple of Maisie Dobbs books....The history part is fun. She did her homework and uses the research for details that make the story richer instead of smacking us longside the head with Facts (well, occasionally there's a teeny tiny head-smack) . Maisie herself isn't impressing me all the time. She's too perfect and the way she tells people what to do in a rhhather pompous manner is rhather annoying. And there isn't a sense that she questions herself and the Great Blanche's methods--not enough self-awareness. Plus those methods. Nope, I'm not sure they are presented so that I'd believe them.
So that bit above sounds whiny, but I like the books just fine. The author knows her pre-WWII world. Overall grade: fun stuff. OH! And there's the big secret about the man Maisie had loved at the end of the first book and that made me like her more. She became slightly more human. More flawed = human. But am I in this series for the long run? Will I run to the store when a new one hits the stands? Eh. I'll read them when I find them and think these are good when you're under the weather and requiring a book that won't make demands. A lot of YA is like that.
I don't think I'm doing a glom of Maisie...Of course I said that about the Thompson series and then suddenly WHAM I was an addict. Buying hard-cover for God's sake.
Hey, what is with that? How do people get addicted to stuff they know isn't fabulous? Like all of the sudden, I want to watch Trauma. I crave that damn thing. And then I think, Hey Maybe it really IS fabulous.
WTF? Nothing has changed....except me.
The show is cancelled already which is sort of a relief. Addiction to a series is a PITA. And a series you don't entirely respect? Silly. Of course the more I watch the more believable it is, because I start to buy into the world (and thank god they finally brought in the parade of craziness that is SF.) and care about the characters.
I do think that female lead is pretty great. The tough as nails, cynical, love-em-leave-em loner cast as a woman and one who doesn't whine? I think she's why I like the show.
BACK TO BOOKS....
2. I read the three Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart series. She's a lot like Maisie as in bossy and sure of herself in a time that didn't allow for that sort of behavior in young women, but she has the right to be (and the backstory to show why she's like that.) AND she occasionally stops and questions herself.
It's funny because Sally's stories are the more outrageous Penny Dreadful of the two series, with opium crime lords and huge conspiracies and boatloads of action, but they feel more realistic because she and her friends have a touch more depth. That Pullman's a fabu writer. Maybe if I hadn't read Sally and Maisie at just about the same time, I would be more pro-Maisie. (and perhaps less pro-Sally?)
3. Now I've moved on to the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Of course I want to raise my hand and ask Teacher, Hey, how come he's allowed to do all that telling instead of showing?
It took a while, but now I'm caught by the story.
Time to work. I have to go crank out more stories that won't get boughtededed.
Oh, but it is full of WIN!
ReplyDeleteYou made me smile, thanks.
Have a lovely weekend.