Feb. 15th, 2009
Winter reading, the flist edition
Feb. 15th, 2009 06:19 pm-Under My Roof by Nick Mamatas (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nihilistic_kid)
The short: Political and social satire.
The long: Herbert, who can read minds, and his dad build an nuclear bomb. They encase it in a garden gnome and Dad declares their property a free nation. Cue media circus.
Herbert was written brilliantly. He can read minds, but mostly he doesn't. Because he's 12, and not all that interested in what adults think about.
The story's strength comes from involving the reader. It's not afraid to show the shitty side of solutions, beliefs, and etc. Everyone's idea of utopia varies, and crazies and losers and scary sorts will gloom on your gig. Or they'll go make their own, and you have to be okay will Annoyingville existing just down the block from your Perfectplace.
I stopped a lot, and thought about my own lines in sand. Freedom is fluid concept, and it's one people are willing to barter, but not share.
-The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom, and Their Lover by Victoria Janssen (oracne.
The short: Erotic romance
The long: Camille is a duchess with an impotent, jerk of a husband, and he's decided to kill her. First, she gets it on with a stable boy in order to produce an heir. Then she figures she'll likely get killed away. She runs off with her maid, the stable boy, and her guards with the goal of meeting up with a politically connected past lover and regaining her duchy.
I liked the plot (duchess condemned because he lout of a husband has bad spunk) much more than the sex. Unfortunately, the plot was minimal, more a premise really. Sex scenes made up the bulk of the book, and only two worked for me. My favorite was the bath scene between the stable boy, Henri and Nico, an attendant at the local baths/brothel. He was weary, she liked him because he wasn't rude. It had a good set-up emotionally and sensually-- the descriptions of Nico barely dressed and thoroughly wet were quite tasty.
The other scene that worked was the Duchess' threesome with her guards. Again, there was good set-up emotionally, and this scene was blissfully relaxed. Lots of foreplay, massages and touching which is oddly rare in sex scenes. Also it was a new blend of characters: Camille is in her 40s, her guards are eunuchs. It was a tinglepanty reminder in how much the joy of sex comes from the whole scene, not just the penetration.
The rest of the scenes had a weird undercurrent to them. Similar to fanfic's THIS MUST BE THE BEST SEX EVAR vibe. The maid character came off as pushy, and that's probably why I didn't like any scene she was in. And sadly, the my least favorite cliche "fucked through the mattress" is not limited to fanfic.
-Batista Unleashed by David Bautista and Jeremy Roberts. Dave and Jeremy aren't on my friendslist, butangstbunny would not shut the fuck up until I read this. And gawd, she gave me this weird code to follow so I could pick out all the sekrit love notes from Dave to her in it. Funny how she never mentioned the line "I really like Opera." though.
And sorry Twig, but this is one of the worst wrestling biographies I've ever read. Dave contridicts himself all the time. He calls Shane Helms a dickhead. He brags about money. BORING.
-Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison. Dorothy isn't on my friendslist either (I WISH), butwishtheworst has talked about this book and Ms. Allison. I'm a total toady when it comes to wishtheworst so I read it.
Wow. Shitty stuff happens all the time to everyone, and mostly they bring it on themselves. The book starts with heartache and ends with heartache, and there's nothing but heartache in between. Bone, a young girl growing up in a white trash extended family, loves gospel music and hates her kid-toucher step dad.
I applauded all the talk about girl masturbation. So often in fiction, female masturbation is shown as weak sub for having a partner--- a last ditch effort, rather than the way a women can get to know her body or explore her sexuality or learn how to deal with shit.
I also like how much wasn't said, which fits that family. Near the end, when her uncle in vowing revenge for her, nothing is said, Bone doesn't even think it, but you get that she believes he's doing it more because he has an excuse for violence, not for her honor.
nihilistic_kid)The short: Political and social satire.
The long: Herbert, who can read minds, and his dad build an nuclear bomb. They encase it in a garden gnome and Dad declares their property a free nation. Cue media circus.
Herbert was written brilliantly. He can read minds, but mostly he doesn't. Because he's 12, and not all that interested in what adults think about.
The story's strength comes from involving the reader. It's not afraid to show the shitty side of solutions, beliefs, and etc. Everyone's idea of utopia varies, and crazies and losers and scary sorts will gloom on your gig. Or they'll go make their own, and you have to be okay will Annoyingville existing just down the block from your Perfectplace.
I stopped a lot, and thought about my own lines in sand. Freedom is fluid concept, and it's one people are willing to barter, but not share.
-The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom, and Their Lover by Victoria Janssen (
oracne.The short: Erotic romance
The long: Camille is a duchess with an impotent, jerk of a husband, and he's decided to kill her. First, she gets it on with a stable boy in order to produce an heir. Then she figures she'll likely get killed away. She runs off with her maid, the stable boy, and her guards with the goal of meeting up with a politically connected past lover and regaining her duchy.
I liked the plot (duchess condemned because he lout of a husband has bad spunk) much more than the sex. Unfortunately, the plot was minimal, more a premise really. Sex scenes made up the bulk of the book, and only two worked for me. My favorite was the bath scene between the stable boy, Henri and Nico, an attendant at the local baths/brothel. He was weary, she liked him because he wasn't rude. It had a good set-up emotionally and sensually-- the descriptions of Nico barely dressed and thoroughly wet were quite tasty.
The other scene that worked was the Duchess' threesome with her guards. Again, there was good set-up emotionally, and this scene was blissfully relaxed. Lots of foreplay, massages and touching which is oddly rare in sex scenes. Also it was a new blend of characters: Camille is in her 40s, her guards are eunuchs. It was a tinglepanty reminder in how much the joy of sex comes from the whole scene, not just the penetration.
The rest of the scenes had a weird undercurrent to them. Similar to fanfic's THIS MUST BE THE BEST SEX EVAR vibe. The maid character came off as pushy, and that's probably why I didn't like any scene she was in. And sadly, the my least favorite cliche "fucked through the mattress" is not limited to fanfic.
-Batista Unleashed by David Bautista and Jeremy Roberts. Dave and Jeremy aren't on my friendslist, but
angstbunny would not shut the fuck up until I read this. And gawd, she gave me this weird code to follow so I could pick out all the sekrit love notes from Dave to her in it. Funny how she never mentioned the line "I really like Opera." though.And sorry Twig, but this is one of the worst wrestling biographies I've ever read. Dave contridicts himself all the time. He calls Shane Helms a dickhead. He brags about money. BORING.
-Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison. Dorothy isn't on my friendslist either (I WISH), but
wishtheworst has talked about this book and Ms. Allison. I'm a total toady when it comes to wishtheworst so I read it.Wow. Shitty stuff happens all the time to everyone, and mostly they bring it on themselves. The book starts with heartache and ends with heartache, and there's nothing but heartache in between. Bone, a young girl growing up in a white trash extended family, loves gospel music and hates her kid-toucher step dad.
I applauded all the talk about girl masturbation. So often in fiction, female masturbation is shown as weak sub for having a partner--- a last ditch effort, rather than the way a women can get to know her body or explore her sexuality or learn how to deal with shit.
I also like how much wasn't said, which fits that family. Near the end, when her uncle in vowing revenge for her, nothing is said, Bone doesn't even think it, but you get that she believes he's doing it more because he has an excuse for violence, not for her honor.