Hair and influence

You've got to love these t-shirt designs from Hirsute History. I'm considering getting the Neil Gaiman one...

Literary crushes

The first crush I ever had was on a fictional character. Nuuskamuikkunen. Or, in the English translation of the Moomins, Snuffkin. The reason was simple. He was a thinker, and I liked that. I wanted to marry him. I must have been four or five years old.

Since then, I think the fictional characters I’ve ‘had a thing’ for have outnumbered the ‘real people’. I don’t think I’m alone in this, and I think the reason is simple. We get to know fictional characters, really know them, in a way we rarely know people we come across in day to day life. Isn’t that what happens when you fall in love? You get to know someone so well that their faults and their mistakes make sense to you, because you know their motivations and their history. Sometimes you know them better than they know themselves. That’s what love is. Is it any wonder that we sometimes feel a shadow of it for the characters we know intimately?

Here are a few of my literary loves:

Peter Pevensie, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
Teddy Kent, the Emily series by L. M. Montgomery
Matthew, the Obernewtyn Chronicles by Isobelle Carmody
Fitzwilliam Darcy, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Wintrow Vestrit, The Liveship Traders trilogy by Robin Hobb

I actually began typing out a brief description of each of the characters, and then realized I was saying the same things about each of them: unflinchingly loyal, considerate, immovable on matters of integrity and conscience, confident in his own judgment. (Mind you, a lot of these characters are quite different. They just happen to share all of these qualities.)

I guess the fact that Peter Pevensie makes it onto the list shows that even at age seven I knew that standing for something is hot.

Argh! Or, The difficulties of purchasing an e-reader.

Despite my love for books of the paper and ink variety, I have decided to buy myself an ebook reader. I don't actually think I'll buy significantly less books. That is, I'll keep buying graphic novels, photographic books, picture books and books which are unavailable electronically or are cheaper as hard copies (there are more of those than you'd suspect).

What I will buy electronically are the books I would have previously bought as paperback fiction. And some of those, I suspect, I will go on to buy as hard copies (if I like them enough), because I am a compulsive collector.

Why buy an ebook reader, then?

1. Portability
2. The ability to carry study materials and notes
3. The ability to make notes or highlight as I read even though I've left my pens and highlighters at home again
4. The ability to search study materials and the notes I've made on them

It's about convenience, really. But now that I've decided to buy one, I'm having trouble finding one that meets my needs. And I don't think I'm being extravangant with my 'needs'. I want:

•  Something easy on the eyes (i.e. with a decent sized screen and E-ink technology, which rules out the iPad and anything smaller than 6 inches)
• Something which allows me to highlight and make notes as I read (Which rules out the beautiful green Cool-er)
• Something which isn't going to cost me more than $600 (which rules out the Irex models sold by Dymocks)
• Something which allows me to buy ebooks from any store I like without jumping through hoops (which rules out the Kindle)
• Something which doesn't punish me for living in Australia by making it almost impossible to register the product or purchase compatible ebooks (which rules out pretty much everything else)

Which leaves me with a grand total of two options:
The Sony Reader Touch Edition, which apparently is a bit difficult to procure books for. OR, the BeBook Neo, which hasn't been reviewed yet due to its April release date and has the misfortune of being $200 more expensive and looking a lot like an iPod.

Sigh.

Stardust: Child vs. Adult

I've just been listening to a podcast found here about Neil Gaiman's Stardust. Most of the discussion in the podcast revolves around what makes the book a 'fairytale for adults'.

Stardust, as you know, is one of my favourite books. Gaiman describes the premise of the book:

"I wanted a young man who would set out on a quest - in this case a romantic quest, for the heart of Victoria Forester, the loveliest girl in his village. The village was somewhere in England, and was called Wall, after the wall that runs beside it, a dull-looking wall in a normal-looking meadow. And on the other side of the wall was Faerie - Faerie as a place or as a quality, rather than as a posh way of spelling fairy. Our hero would promise to bring back a fallen star, one that had fallen on the far side of the wall.

"And the star, I knew, would not, when he found it, be a lump of metallic rock. It would be a young woman with a broken leg, in a poor temper, with no desire to be dragged halfway across the world and presented to anyone's girlfriend."

In the same article, Gaiman mentions that he loved The Princess Bride when he was young, and wrote Stardust with the wish of creating another story that was "unapologetically a fairytale, and just as unapologetically for adults."

Much of the podcast discussion revolves around the single sex scene and the single swear word found in Stardust. Are these what make the novel one for adults? Or are they just the elements which make adults able to claim a fairytale as their own without embarrassment?

A new favourite

I blogged about my favourite books here, but alas, the list is now out of date. I've added Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, to my list of favourite-ever books.

I wrote about Good Omens here. I really can't praise the book highly enough.

And I am rather excited to have found some wonderful fan art, here on deviantART. Do yourself a favour and check it out. It's beautiful art, and it's an excellent recommendation for the book.

View on fishpond: Good Omens

Never buy...

There are just some books I would simply never buy. Here's a few examples:


The book that tells you where to shop for clothes. Seriously. The only person who knows your shopping needs is you. Do a bit of research.
Instead, for inspiration: Grace Kelly Style: Fashion for Hollywood's Princess , The Sartorialist

The book with the film poster as cover art, so that film-going shoppers won't have to tax themselves too much trying to identify the book-the-film-was-based-on in the bookstore. You're smarter than that, right?

Instead: The Field Guide: The Spiderwick Chronicles: Book 1, The Lord of the Rings, Inkheart

Aren't they so much prettier?

The book you think you 'have to read' because everybody else has.
Here's a brilliant little-known: Girl in Hyacinth Blue

The cookbook without pictures. (Shudder!)
Here's some cookbooks I've had success with: Frost Bite: Everyday Food Fresh from the Freezer, Real Food: Healthy, Delicious, Easy to Prepare

The book that tells you how to be happy. I've never seen one that worked.
Try instead: Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More Than IQ, Happiness, Enough: Breaking Free from the World of More

New popular penguins

Penguin is bringing out 75 new titles in its 'Popular Penguins' range. You know, the $9.95 ones with the orange covers. This time there's some Oscar Wilde, another Jane Austen, Verne, Coetzee, Dickens, Winton... even (I'm pleased to say) an Isobelle Carmody. The books will be available for purchase in July.

You can view the list here.

A reader's advice

Laura Miller points out that while authors keep seeking advice about writing from other authors, readers might have something to contribute as well.

On artistic prose lacking story: "it's daft to write something with the deliberate intention of denying readers what they love and want and then to be heartbroken when they aren't interested."

You can read the whole article here.

The one about cover art

I was linked by a fellow blogger to this video of the design process for the cover of a Victorian/Steampunk novel. The cover is quite striking, and so is the creativity that goes into it!

It got me thinking about recent cover art. I am a sucker for a good cover. I have been known to buy books simply because the art was beautiful. Here's some covers that have caught my eye in the last year or so.

Of course, there are things I can't show with 2D pictures. You can't see that the cover of Dreaming of Dior is textured, and you can't see that Enchanted Hunters (besides wearing an incredibly detailed dust jacket) looks good naked.

View on fishpond: Fire, Friendship, Family, Love and Laughter (M.I.L.K), Dreaming of Dior, The Lady and the Chocolate, The Arrival, Enchanted Hunters: The Power of Stories in Childhood

Reaching distance

Some books are simply indispensable. For study and writing, I think it's absolutely essential to have certain books in reaching distance. My wonderful desk (my favourite possession) has quite a few books on it.

Here's where I keep my computer:

Note the stack of notebooks and the massive dictionary. I have to keep it close because if I had to walk across the room to use it, I probably wouldn't. And my writing would suffer for it.

Then there are the books I keep at arm's length- close enough to reach over and grab as need fits. I changed these over last night. My grammar texts and style manuals were replaced with texts about truth and fiction...

My Honours study can now commence!

Before:

After: