Music & Books
Sep. 28th, 2004 04:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
butterflydreamingNot a big list of favorites, but I'll do that when I'm motivated.
Took all my CDs for selling to the record store yesterday, and traded for some music.
New Tanya Donelly -- can you say "Squee!!!
Butterfly Boucher -- as the in-store review said, with a name like that, you'd think it'd be dumb. But, she's really quite good, kind of Liz Phair-esque. "Life is Short" has a nice little wiggle in it.
I finally bought Dial-a-Song (They Might Be Giants)
A band called Devotchka... damn, but I like them! Playing locally on Wednesday, but I don't know if I'm able.
On recommendation, some Ivy, and some Sense Field. (thumbs up)
And I feel smart, because most of them were used. Listening to Jim White right now (No Such Place), which I find amusing. Reminds me of Badly Drawn Boy. It's borrowed from my music-savvy (British) customer, Peter, who just happened to have it in his car or something. Heh. I'll copy it later.
I picked up a few books yesterday, too: Bitten by Kelley Armstrong (from the library), and from the used-book store,
The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
They Eye of Horus by Carol Thurston
Transformation by Carol Berg
and Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris.
Nearly halfway through, and I've just realized that this is the second book in the series, not the first! Which is on the plus side for this book.
Plusses: Definitely a mystery, with good world-building, and a humorous tone that almost works.
Minuses: Some problems in narrative agreement. Twice, I've found that I've had to think about what she meant & should have said, which worked for the second one but not the first one. I'm still not sure how someone can kiss someone, then say "I've been waiting to do that for years", and have that agree with the backstory that there had been a kiss on a date "a few months ago". Puzzling. The MC is not entirely likeable, though she is original (pretty, buxom, blonde, southern, and a telepath).
Plus: The structure of vampire society is interesting.
Minus: Some elements of their society & nature are very derivative. The sex-is-tied-to-feeding thing is notably Tanya Huff.
Plus: The human characters have infinite variety, and a certain realistic charm, even the (actually) dead guy. I almost think that Sookie would be much more interesting on her own, without the vampire framework.
Minus:The vampires are a variety of ages, but all old. Sorry, I'm tired of ancient French vamps. And their characterizations are shaky. Also, there's a maenad. {falls over}
I was surprized that Harris was putting the reader right into events, without the usual first-book-in-the-series warm up "origin" story, but I thought, "Wow... this is really working. Hey, that's funny!" I don't think I would have been terribly impressed, had I started with the first book. Her voice reminds me of Tamar Myers, a little silly, somewhat fluffy.
Plus: Good enough to finish reading. Good enough to already consider reading more in the series.
Minus: It's goading me to do a vampire NaNoWriMo novel.
Took all my CDs for selling to the record store yesterday, and traded for some music.
New Tanya Donelly -- can you say "Squee!!!
Butterfly Boucher -- as the in-store review said, with a name like that, you'd think it'd be dumb. But, she's really quite good, kind of Liz Phair-esque. "Life is Short" has a nice little wiggle in it.
I finally bought Dial-a-Song (They Might Be Giants)
A band called Devotchka... damn, but I like them! Playing locally on Wednesday, but I don't know if I'm able.
On recommendation, some Ivy, and some Sense Field. (thumbs up)
And I feel smart, because most of them were used. Listening to Jim White right now (No Such Place), which I find amusing. Reminds me of Badly Drawn Boy. It's borrowed from my music-savvy (British) customer, Peter, who just happened to have it in his car or something. Heh. I'll copy it later.
I picked up a few books yesterday, too: Bitten by Kelley Armstrong (from the library), and from the used-book store,
The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
They Eye of Horus by Carol Thurston
Transformation by Carol Berg
and Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris.
Nearly halfway through, and I've just realized that this is the second book in the series, not the first! Which is on the plus side for this book.
Plusses: Definitely a mystery, with good world-building, and a humorous tone that almost works.
Minuses: Some problems in narrative agreement. Twice, I've found that I've had to think about what she meant & should have said, which worked for the second one but not the first one. I'm still not sure how someone can kiss someone, then say "I've been waiting to do that for years", and have that agree with the backstory that there had been a kiss on a date "a few months ago". Puzzling. The MC is not entirely likeable, though she is original (pretty, buxom, blonde, southern, and a telepath).
Plus: The structure of vampire society is interesting.
Minus: Some elements of their society & nature are very derivative. The sex-is-tied-to-feeding thing is notably Tanya Huff.
Plus: The human characters have infinite variety, and a certain realistic charm, even the (actually) dead guy. I almost think that Sookie would be much more interesting on her own, without the vampire framework.
Minus:The vampires are a variety of ages, but all old. Sorry, I'm tired of ancient French vamps. And their characterizations are shaky. Also, there's a maenad. {falls over}
I was surprized that Harris was putting the reader right into events, without the usual first-book-in-the-series warm up "origin" story, but I thought, "Wow... this is really working. Hey, that's funny!" I don't think I would have been terribly impressed, had I started with the first book. Her voice reminds me of Tamar Myers, a little silly, somewhat fluffy.
Plus: Good enough to finish reading. Good enough to already consider reading more in the series.
Minus: It's goading me to do a vampire NaNoWriMo novel.
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-28 06:18 pm (UTC)*sigh*. Wish my DH believed in that kind of thing, but no. It's OK for me to do it with books, but music? No way. I have vinyl I don't have room for, so never play (in spite of having a functioning turntable), but he gets in a strop every time I mention selling any of it. (Mind you, I'd like to MP3 some of it first, since some of it's not available on CD. Yet).
vinyl
Date: 2004-09-29 12:23 pm (UTC)Being alway in need of funds is a great motivator for selling CDs and books, though!
Re: vinyl
Date: 2004-09-29 12:36 pm (UTC)Protected from unauthorized access, too. Or authorized, for that matter. They're in boxes that live under our end tables in the living room. Impossible to get at without removing all the crap on the end tables. Thus, the records never get played. *sigh*.