gdp's Comments

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Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:01:30 +0000

How the hell am I supposed to answer this one? Seriously, whoever thought up this meme. I also don't think I can just choose the best book. Too many factors, too many options. Still, if I was abandoned somewhere with only one book, I think I'd choose To Kill a Mockingbird. I've read that book dozens of times, and every time I find something new to love about it. I never get tired of it. Runners-up include The Silmarillion, Never Let Me Go, The Way the Crow Flies, Cat's Eye, Guns, Germs and Steel, and The Left Hand of Darkness.

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Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:29:36 +0000

Oh probably. But I enjoy making up ridiculous scenarios.

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Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:26:37 +0000

Jesus Christ, Martin Freeman is so adorably perfect I CANNOT STAND IT AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH.

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Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:24:12 +0000

Although I'm mainly an Aragorn girl... Right there with ya. ::drool:: Though only in the movie. In the books, I'm all about Faramir. I've had a crush on that character since I was, oh, 11.

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Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:23:17 +0000

My theory is they're just screwing with people. There's no romance of any kind in The Hobbit and god knows we can't have a movie without romance, so they've decided to pretend there's some romance in this movie by using the trailer to fake out people who aren't familiar with the story. The uninitiated be like OMG GANDALF 'N' GALADRIEL! and then the movie will be like NUH UH FOOLED YA and all of us long-time Tolkien fans will be like OH THANK GOD AND ALSO AHAHAHHA.

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Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:20:36 +0000

At least he's drawing to the right place, as opposed to drawing to the chin or somewhere several inches from the face like just about every other movie that involves archery.

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Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:17:46 +0000

When I was picture-book age, I loved The Lorax (actually, I still love that book). Apparently I had the entire thing memorized when I was four, years before I could read it. When I was a bit older, my favorite book was The Giver, which I read when I was eight, and still think is brilliant. I also loved Little House in the Big Woods, The Hobbit, A Wrinkle in Time and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.

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Mon, 19 Dec 2011 07:38:04 +0000

I'm not happy. It just hasn't been long enough since the show went off the air. It got seven seasons of (mostly) awesome. It had a good run. I don't see the need to recast the entire damn thing and make a new movie. I like some of the hypothetical casting there (I don't know who most of those people are so I'm going purely by appearance, but I like the look, and GILES OMG YES), but I just can't imagine Buffy without the show's actors. I'd be on board for a movie set in the Buffyverse but not involving the show's characters, though.

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Mon, 19 Dec 2011 07:32:48 +0000

I have upwards of 400 books at last count, not counting cookbooks, plays, and dictionaries of languages I don't speak but enjoy looking at, and I've read every one multiple times (the books, not the dictionaries :-P). And I ran out of shelf space some time ago. My most treasured book is my first Canadian edition signed copy of Cat's Eye, which I found at a book sale, priced at $3 by someone who clearly didn't recognize it for what it was. Sometimes I take it out of the bookcase and pet it while calling it "Precious". Second place goes to my hardcover illustrated Lord of the Rings.

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Sat, 17 Dec 2011 17:29:48 +0000

AHHHHGFHJGDUSIHKJSDHF SO EXCITE!! <img src=http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd161/DanaanMI/Gifs/M8MDf.gif> <img src=http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd161/DanaanMI/Gifs/jumpshout.gif>

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Fri, 16 Dec 2011 02:24:48 +0000

True. Plus, despite the generally high body count, Doctor Who rarely kills off main characters For Real. I may be remembering wrong, but I think the last long-term companion to actually die totally, permanently dead in the course of traveling with the Doctor was Adric, back in Five's time. Unless you count River Song's demise in the Library as real death (which I kind of do, but she's still alive in some weird way, I guess), that's a long precedent. It would be one hell of a shocker for them to do it now. But I don't put it past them.

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Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:44:32 +0000

I think Moffat enjoys breaking our hearts. Then again, so did RTD. I guess it's a thing now. I blame Joss Whedon.

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Thu, 15 Dec 2011 23:56:02 +0000

I agree. I adore Amy and Rory, but they've been around for two full series now. It's time for a new companion. But heartbreaking? If they kill Rory for real I'm going to be pissed.

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Sun, 11 Dec 2011 13:09:30 +0000

Yep, I didn't even realize until several years ago when I was browsing around a bookstore in London. I ran across a Bill Bryson book I didn't recognize, and when I picked it up I realized that it was the British edition of I'm a Stranger Here Myself. When I started looking through it, I saw a bunch of essays that weren't in my US edition of the book (there's one that discusses and criticizes some US states' rather enthusiastic use of the death penalty, for instance). I bought the book, and went home and got rid of my US edition. It is a really good book, great stories, but if you're going to read it, buy the British edition on Amazon.co.uk or something.

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Sun, 11 Dec 2011 01:45:08 +0000

Margaret Atwood: Cat's Eye, no doubt about it. I love how she takes the issue of being bullied in childhood and shows how it can influence your entire life. The attitude of "Oh, it's just kid stuff, all kids get teased" is so prevalent, and so completely wrong, that it's great to see someone take the opposite view. As someone who was bullied for roughly half my childhood, the book is just so spot-on. Close runner-up is The Robber Bride. Ursula K. Le Guin: Oh dear. She's written so many good books. But I think I'm going to have to go with The Lathe of Heaven. Brilliant concept, brilliant execution. Plus, it's set in the city where I lived for several years, and reading a sci-fi book set in a city one knows well is really cool. Honorable mentions go to Changing Planes, The Birthday of the World, A Wizard of Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness. Neil Gaiman: Smoke and Mirrors. Best short stories ever. Isabel Allende: Probably Inés of my Soul or Island Beneath the Sea. But Zorro is fun too. Bill Bryson: For travel writing, probably In a Sunburned Country (published in Britain as Down Under, I believe) or Notes From a Big Country (US title I'm a Stranger Here Myself, but I'm pissed off at the US edition because it's expurgated but they don't tell you that. Basically the US edition has been purged of all essays in any way critical of America because GOD FORBID AMERICANS READ ANYTHING THAT SUGGESTS THAT WE AREN'T THE BEST NATION ON EARTH RAAAAAGGGGEE. Ahem.) For non-fiction, The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way. Fantastic history of the English language. David Sedaris: All of his books are hilarious, but I think my favorite is When You Are Engulfed in Flames.

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Fri, 9 Dec 2011 19:24:56 +0000

Let's see... Margaret Atwood: I love her style and her stories. Ursula K. Le Guin: She's just plain brilliant, especially the way she uses the sci-fi medium to explore aspects of society. Neil Gaiman: I don't understand how his mind comes up with this stuff. Isabel Allende: Great writer, IMO, and I love her use of magical realism. Bill Bryson: Such fun travel writing, and also great, readable non-fiction. David Sedaris: For the laughs.

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Thu, 8 Dec 2011 15:32:04 +0000

Sebz gur yvggyr V'ir ernq guvf vf fbzrguvat Tnvzna yvxrq qbvat naljnlf: gnxr zlguvpny svtherf naq znxr gurz qnex nf uryy.
So. Very. True. Exhibit A: \"Snow, Glass, Apples.\" ::shudder::

---- Original Message ----

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Thu, 8 Dec 2011 13:22:04 +0000

Yeah, I don't really get the point of that bit, other than to destroy the idea that Aslan is a good guy. In the most squicky way possible.

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Thu, 8 Dec 2011 04:18:27 +0000

It's not that the general concept is necessarily bad, IMO. A nuanced, academic look at how concepts of honor have shaped different cultures throughout history would be quite interesting. What made this book crap was that the author had a blatant agenda, and that agenda was being furthered at the expense of actual historical fact, not to mention common sense.

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Thu, 8 Dec 2011 04:16:32 +0000

If you have pleasant childhood memories of Narnia, particularly in regards to Aslan, kiss them goodbye now.