Five books last week! That’s the 27th August to the 3rd September – and yes, I realise I’m writing this on the 7th of September! I’m moving to Manchester in eight days, which involves a lot of wrapping things up. For instance, returning my last West Midlands library book. I’d returned all the books I’d borrowed from Sandwell, Dudley, and Solihull, so that only left House of Leaves to go back to Birmingham. I finished rereading it this week and then took it back. It was a little anti-climactic, really.
I feel like I took in more of the book this time; I noticed little things like the substitution of the word ‘heal’ for ‘heel’. A few notes from my journal;
- If Johnny is the minotaur then his footnotes are the roars, echoing around the House of Leaves. This also indicates a communication through time, a la For the Time Being.
- Navidson doesn’t feel that the tapes really capture the true scope of the house. Really, films not capturing the fullness of a ‘house of leaves’ (book)?
I finished rereading (listening to) Feet of Clay and Jingo this week. Both books in the Ankh-Morpork City Watch sub-series of the Discworld.
Some comments from my diary about Men at Arms; Dorlf reminds me a lot of Simony from Small Gods. They’re both the kind of atheists who spend a lot of time thinking about god. I also spent some time wondering if Cheery is trans, since her genitals are never discussed. She might be; it’s totally irrelevant what genitalia she has, both in and out of universe. She wants to present as female, so she does.
I nearly cried when Big Fido died, the poor mad bastard. He so desperately wanted to be a fallen angel rather than an ascending ape, a la Science of the Discworld. That’s what his wolf thing was about.
In the alternate timeline of Jingo, Vimes dies on the barricades of Ankh-Morpork. Since he’s not yet seen it from the other side, as he will in Night Watch, he’s likely having flashbacks to the first one and watching Keel die, especially when his fellow Watchmen start dying around him. TV Tropes also points out some specific tearjerkers in the order in which the characters die; Detritus immediately after Cheery, as if he waded into a group to avenge her. Visit alongside other Watchmen, finally accepted. Carrot immediately before Vimes, as if he took a the blow for him.
Reg Shoe as well; imagine the flashbacks he’ll be having to the Glorious 25th of May.
Pretties is the second in the Uglies series, another one which I’ve read before. I do like Shay, and it’s a pretty good version.
Bag of Bones I’ll be writing a longer post about later.
No comments:
Post a Comment