On books, and friends
Mar. 23rd, 2009 05:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecuniumI got a pair of books in the mail last week. It was trade paper editions (inscribed, and the first with such an inscription as one can only hope to deserve) of Ink and Steel, and Hell and Earth by matociquala, and I have a guilty confession.
Some time back she sent me a pdf of the whole thing. I never read it. It sits on my computer's desktop mocking me for 1: not liking to read fiction on the computer (I thought I might read it while travelling, even that wasn't enough), and 2: I am terrible at reading books by my friends.
I am ever afraid I won't like them. This is all out of comparison to the books they may have already pleased me with. I have read a lot of manuscript, with a critical eye. That doesn't bother me. But a finsished product... I get the willies.
And fantasy is even harder for me to get into, because there are so many more places in which it can go wrong. But, once I had these in my hands, I dove in. I like her stuff. I like the period in which she set them, and I like the characters. I had some trepidations.
I've studied the period (late Elizabeth/early James). The people are familiar to me, as is the language. There were only two places in which I saw a real bobble (a misplaced whom, and word which didn't enter English until after WW2), and those were minor. It was familiar, and comfortable and easy to read.
Not just easy to read, hard to put down. I started them on Thursday, and apart from time spent taking pictures and lying in wait for squirrels, it was what I did. I finished the story (one tale, two volumes) this morning.
One long draught, and done.
Y'all ought to think about picking them up.
matociquala, and I have a guilty confession.Some time back she sent me a pdf of the whole thing. I never read it. It sits on my computer's desktop mocking me for 1: not liking to read fiction on the computer (I thought I might read it while travelling, even that wasn't enough), and 2: I am terrible at reading books by my friends.
I am ever afraid I won't like them. This is all out of comparison to the books they may have already pleased me with. I have read a lot of manuscript, with a critical eye. That doesn't bother me. But a finsished product... I get the willies.
And fantasy is even harder for me to get into, because there are so many more places in which it can go wrong. But, once I had these in my hands, I dove in. I like her stuff. I like the period in which she set them, and I like the characters. I had some trepidations.
I've studied the period (late Elizabeth/early James). The people are familiar to me, as is the language. There were only two places in which I saw a real bobble (a misplaced whom, and word which didn't enter English until after WW2), and those were minor. It was familiar, and comfortable and easy to read.
Not just easy to read, hard to put down. I started them on Thursday, and apart from time spent taking pictures and lying in wait for squirrels, it was what I did. I finished the story (one tale, two volumes) this morning.
One long draught, and done.
Y'all ought to think about picking them up.
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no subject
Date: 2009-03-24 12:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-24 01:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-24 01:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-24 01:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-24 05:39 am (UTC)*smooch*
no subject
Date: 2009-03-24 12:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-24 02:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-24 02:06 am (UTC)Sigh.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-24 02:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-24 02:48 am (UTC)Life can be so harsh.
(I'm curious to hear what someone coming to W&W after _Stratford Man_ thinks of one of the characters.)
no subject
Date: 2009-03-24 02:56 pm (UTC)K.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-24 09:50 pm (UTC)The worst part is, I have friends who are really good at writing, and I end up late to the party.