thoughts about things, book-related

1. Re: things that disappointed me about Graceling: I think my problem with Katsa's big NO I WON'T GET MARRIED THING is that I could sort of see why she was doing that, in a murky area that was half-in the writing and half-subtext-y. Like, all the examples of marriage that Katsa saw involved the women settling down in a domestic setting and running a household and having babies, all things she's not interested in. So I can understand her not wanting to end up in that situation.

( but this does not mean I am satisfied with the way it was handled )

2. I finished the Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper. One of the things that kept coming to my mind, over and over again, was, "man, philia_fan would love this series, because all the books stand alone on their own!" I know people cite them as examples of series books that get Newberries, but honestly Silver on the Tree is the one that I would say most relies on the others. The Dark is Rising, the Newberry Honor, stands quite firmly and solidly on its own two feet, and The Grey King (Newberry winner) only slightly less so, in that there's a little background information that is helpful to have when reading it. But even the characters appear and are fleshed out on their own terms in each novel. It really is fascinating to read.

Susan Cooper's prose is also wonderfully, indescribably British. I'm not entirely sure why. It just is.

( HERE THERE BE SPOILERS AND MUSINGS )

So in short, read this series, if not in the least to observe how curiously different it is while somehow managing to be very much the same.

And this is a long post, and I wrote it instead of doing my Zutara Week contribution for the day, so I think I will save movie-related musings for another post.

Another friend of mine is taking the GRE tomorrow, so please send good vibes her way, too!

Love and sweet dreams,
Jade