Book Giddiness
Nov. 4th, 2005 03:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieYou know, there is no feeling in the world like finding a book you think you might like and just holding it, opening the first page: there is a whole world in between those pages for you to slip into. Of course, when you are disappointed, as I often am, the crash ain't pretty.
But this time, the Book Giddy has stuck!
I've bought Mercedes Lackey's Phoenix and Ashes and Rupert Holmes' Where the Truth Lies and am in love.
Unlike with Where the Truth Lies, the movie version, which I saw last night and still don't know what I think about it ("interesting" is hardly a good descriptor of feelings), I can unequivocally declare I adore the book. More specifically, the writing style, which makes me roll on the floor (almost, I have a new sweater on) in glee.
Of course, even though I picture Colin Firth and Kevin Bacon as Vince and Lanny as I am reading (even though Firth is British and not Italian, and Kevin Bacon does NOT look Jewish, somehow the vibe works), after reading the book, Alison Lohman was really, seriously miscast. She comes across as a helplessly pretty sharp kitten, not at all the way I see the narrator. O'Connor should be played by Katherine Ross, if it really was 1970s, or someone like Reese Withspoon today: sharper angles, harder edge.
I was amused to see that the very bizarre and cool scene of O'Connor having lesbian sex with Alice in Wonderland was in the book and not just Egoyan's imagination. I did read the end to clarify certain things in the movie and was glad to see that it did explain a lot of things the movie just dropped. Found out what happened to Reuben, for one (in the movie, he rather oddly disappears), and I was severely amused to discover that at the end, O'Connor married Lanny. Amused in a very good way, and not just because Kevin Bacon and Alison Lohman's sex scene was the only one that didn't make me want to gouge my own eyes out. I think it's deliciously retro that at the end of all her ghost-writing, murder-investigating, bisexual-orgy-having, she ended up with a husband, even if one who was intimately involved in all three.
And as to Mercedes Lackey's book, Phoenix and Ashes, I could not resist the fact that it was set in a (fantasy) equivalent of WWI England. Plus, it had a hero named Reggie and a heroine named Eleanor, and aaaangst. Plus I started reading it and like it a lot.
The third book I am reading at this time is the Russian language version of Main Reid's Headless Horseman, set in 1850 Texas and a book I loved when I was 10 and love equally now. It has everything I love in books: different historical setting, a lot of adventure, really complicated plot, horrid villain, strong heroine, alpha competent hero who gets hurt horribly and also angsts over his love. Perfect.
Borders, where I bought the first two, had a lovely special: teddy bear for $7.99 with purchases over $30 and I couldn't resist. Now I have a fluffy, useless, adorable bear which I decided to name Reggie. I do have another teddy bear at home somewhere, named Aloysius after Sebastian Flyte's bear in "Brideshead Revisited" so I better be careful or I'll turn into a toy equivalent of a cat lady.
But this time, the Book Giddy has stuck!
I've bought Mercedes Lackey's Phoenix and Ashes and Rupert Holmes' Where the Truth Lies and am in love.
Unlike with Where the Truth Lies, the movie version, which I saw last night and still don't know what I think about it ("interesting" is hardly a good descriptor of feelings), I can unequivocally declare I adore the book. More specifically, the writing style, which makes me roll on the floor (almost, I have a new sweater on) in glee.
Of course, even though I picture Colin Firth and Kevin Bacon as Vince and Lanny as I am reading (even though Firth is British and not Italian, and Kevin Bacon does NOT look Jewish, somehow the vibe works), after reading the book, Alison Lohman was really, seriously miscast. She comes across as a helplessly pretty sharp kitten, not at all the way I see the narrator. O'Connor should be played by Katherine Ross, if it really was 1970s, or someone like Reese Withspoon today: sharper angles, harder edge.
I was amused to see that the very bizarre and cool scene of O'Connor having lesbian sex with Alice in Wonderland was in the book and not just Egoyan's imagination. I did read the end to clarify certain things in the movie and was glad to see that it did explain a lot of things the movie just dropped. Found out what happened to Reuben, for one (in the movie, he rather oddly disappears), and I was severely amused to discover that at the end, O'Connor married Lanny. Amused in a very good way, and not just because Kevin Bacon and Alison Lohman's sex scene was the only one that didn't make me want to gouge my own eyes out. I think it's deliciously retro that at the end of all her ghost-writing, murder-investigating, bisexual-orgy-having, she ended up with a husband, even if one who was intimately involved in all three.
And as to Mercedes Lackey's book, Phoenix and Ashes, I could not resist the fact that it was set in a (fantasy) equivalent of WWI England. Plus, it had a hero named Reggie and a heroine named Eleanor, and aaaangst. Plus I started reading it and like it a lot.
The third book I am reading at this time is the Russian language version of Main Reid's Headless Horseman, set in 1850 Texas and a book I loved when I was 10 and love equally now. It has everything I love in books: different historical setting, a lot of adventure, really complicated plot, horrid villain, strong heroine, alpha competent hero who gets hurt horribly and also angsts over his love. Perfect.
Borders, where I bought the first two, had a lovely special: teddy bear for $7.99 with purchases over $30 and I couldn't resist. Now I have a fluffy, useless, adorable bear which I decided to name Reggie. I do have another teddy bear at home somewhere, named Aloysius after Sebastian Flyte's bear in "Brideshead Revisited" so I better be careful or I'll turn into a toy equivalent of a cat lady.
