Crafting & Kitchening Adventures

With a nice sprinkling of travel, for good measure.

This might not look like much, but I love taking pictures out of airplane windows. This one pleased me particularly because of the way the clouds and earth bisected the sky to create a teeny wedge of blue.

 

I was in Saskatoon for 10 days, visiting with my most excellent of friends, Jacqueline (of Hearts on Fibre & Frippery Digits bloggy fame). It was maybe not the most ideal time for a vacation with all the frenzy in my personal life at home. But away I went, and I had a lovely time, and now I’m back with renewed spirits, feeling far more capable of tackling those things what need tackling.

We did weaving (the link at the top of Jacqueline’s Hearts on Fibre page is currently dedicated to the tapestry she completed while I was there), and we also went crazy making pendants and pins and stuff. Now they are all for sale at the shop where I work.

Don’t they look nice on the rack? I get my own side! All the pins are in a basket on the counter. I have more pendants to attach bails to, and I have to figure out more necklaces, since the place we got those ones from appears to not stock them anymore.

 

 

 

While there, the only bread I ate was homemade. I was in awe of how easy the recipe Jacqueline used is, so I copied it down, and brought it home with me. (It’s from the book Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day by these lovely people who have a blog dedicated to the subject as well, if I find myself actually making bread from this recipe with any sort of regularity, I intend to buy the book myself and play with the other recipes as well.

I’ve been home for about 36 hours. I’ve bought the yeast and cornmeal I needed for the bread, and mixed up my first batch of dough last night. I didn’t take pictures. For shame, I know.

I neglected to buy a container or bowl large enough for me to make a full batch of dough in, so I had to half the recipe. Which wasn’t a problem, except for eye-balling what 3/4 of a tablespoon looks like.

My dough didn’t look very nice. I thought maybe my decision to use a soup spoon to stir (because we’ve had to get rid of all our wooden ones) affected how well I was able to incorporate the flour.

But today, I have two itty bitty loaves (more like buns, really), and they look lovely.

Now I just have to see if they taste any good.

*Toddles away to taste her adorable mini breads*

Yes, it’s good. No, the flour didn’t incorporate evenly, and there are bits of not-quite bread throughout, but for a first attempt, and considering I had to half the recipe and use the wrong tools, I’m calling this an overwhelming success.

Opinions Unsolicited: Bay of the Dead by Mark Morris

My friend Chandra (find her at either SakuraLovesTea on Twitter or on her blog Dreaming in Red) sent me home on Christmas Eve with bags of things to read. BAGS. So after reading those two Doctor Who ebooks, I thought it was time to move on to new subject matter and a different format.

So I read the Torchwood novel that she’d thrown in the bag.

I’ll come right out and say it: it’s only okay. I was expecting a more advanced read, frankly, considering the subject matter of the show. Other than the gore, this book seems to be intended for a much younger audience than the show is aimed at. It was a reasonably simple plot, and very a quick read (I blew through the 238 pages in under three hours).

The main reason I picked this book out of my enormous pile of things to read is this: I miss Ianto. I know, I know, I only finished watching Torchwood about three days ago, but there you have it. I would happily read every last Torchwood book just to take in all the amusing Iantoisms. And pleasingly enough, the cover of Bay of the Dead features Ianto, looking sharp as usual, wearing an uncharacteristically bold red shirt (just ignore the blood spatter and dismembered corpses in the background….)

 

Why, yes, I am easily amused. Why do you ask?

 

The plot revolves around Cardiff being overwhelmed with zombies. Just think of any zombie movie in recent memory, but our team is divided into two groups throughout most of the book rather than working as a single unit, with Gwen and Rhys running around trying to get… somewhere… while Jack and Ianto are tasked with actually trying to sort out what’s going on. (This book takes place after Toshiko and Owen have died. Well, after Toshiko died and Owen’s reanimated corpse got trapped in a nuclear plant containment cell. I can think of half a dozen ways his character could be brought back given the circumstances set up within the show. But anyway, I’m writing about the book. I could write a detailed essay about my opinions and feelings about the deaths of main characters in the series. Maybe one day, I will.)

My favourite part of the book might very well be when Jack gets his throat torn by a zombie, falls and knocks himself unconscious. Ianto is so used to him dying he deosn’t bother to check for a pulse, and just assumes he’ll revive and heal himself, meanwhile Jack is frustrated he didn’t die because now he has to deal with the pains of concussion and bruising. I giggled. A lot.

Yes, yes. Easily amused. We covered that already.

Also a big point in the book’s favour: the word ersatz was deftly used more than once. A+ to Mr Morris.

I don’t think I actually have anything more to say about the book. So I’m going to throw out a few amusing quotes that have to do with Ianto, because those were my favourite bits to read.

 

Jack had once remarked that you could cook eggs on the heat of the sexual tension between him and then statuesque policewoman. Ianto hadn’t been sure whether Jack was joking, and therefore couldn’t now work out whether he ought to be jealous or not.

##

”I’m always careful,” Jack said out of the corner of his mouth. “Just be ready with the handcuffs.” 

“If I had a penny for every time you’ve used that line,” Ianto deadpanned.

##

”I don’t ‘scamper’. I stride. Briskly but with dignity.”

##

And, very likely my favourite quote of the book:

”Just ignore him. He likes to show off. He’s not even a real American.”

Opinions Unsolicited: Human Nature vs Human Nature

The second of my Doctor Who ebooks is Human Nature, by Paul Cornell. In the third series of new Who, there’s a two-parter that starts with an episode of the same name, with the same premise, written by the same person. The book, however, was written in 1992, while the episodes Human Nature and Family of Blood aired in 2007.

So basically, this has been an exercise in comparing and contrasting.

Which I adore because I’m an enormous dork.

Within the first several chapters, I noticed (as would any fan of the show) a couple of fun coincidences between the book and the episodes which simply could not have been intentional. When Cornell wrote the book it was 92, there was no inkling yet of the show starting up again, or who would be cast in the role. Yet the John Smith in the book believes himself to be Scottish. And one of the villains of the tale tries to pass himself off as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor as part of a ruse.

I know, I know. Coincidence! But it amused me deeply.

Overall, the stories are quite similar, but there are notable differences. The book is about the 7^th Doctor, and he becomes John Smith not to hide, but for respite from himself. His companion here is Professor Bernice Summerfield, who poses as his niece and rents a small house in town. Our villains are still after Time Lord, but for different reasons; in the show, they wanted to feed off a Time Lord, and John Smith simply would not do, while in the book they weren’t after Smith at all but rather the Pod that contained his Time Lord data (which was a pocket watch in the show).

The book makes reference to characters I haven’t encountered in the old series yet (Ace again, Romana, Lord Rassilon, and I think there was even a veiled reference to the Master in there), but I know enough about the mythos of Doctor Who for that not to be an impediment to my enjoying the story. And how I enjoyed the story! After the first few chapters, I found I forgot almost entirely about my exercise in comparing the book to the show. Cornell introduces a bevy of fascinating characters, Alexander Shuttleworth, Richard Handleman, Constance, and of course Bernice. I adored them all, and was eager to learn how they would all deal with the plight they found themselves in. (Of interest (to me): Benny has a “portable history unit”, which basically is a wifi e-book or tablet pc and allows you to browse the books of whatever library you have accounts with. Mr. Cornell saw the future of reading technology. Fun times!)

I think I preferred the Joan Redfern of the show than the one in the book, but that could have to do with the ways in which the stories are different (and also the ways in which John and the Doctor are different). Either way, Joan loves John Smith, but in the show she struck me as a quieter, stronger woman. In the book, she is not a nurse but a science teacher, though she is called upon to tend injuries on more than one occasion. (Her profession has nothing to do with my preference for one version over the other, it was merely an observation).

We also still have young Tim finding the Pod (or pocket watch in the series), though he plays a much larger part in the book. Which shouldn’t come as a surprise, really, since a writer has the luxury of giving its players considerably more to do with a couple hundred pages than it does with ninety minutes. I enjoyed his expanded role in the book a great deal. He is still tormented by the other boys at the school, far worse than was shown on screen, but he comes through it even better than Tim did in the series.

I was disappointed there isn’t a Baines in the book, but then, the family doesn’t operate in the same way. In the show, they possess the humans they come in contact with; in the novel, they are shape shifters that were able to take on the form of any flesh they consumed. (The book was considerably gorier than the show). And anyway, half of the appeal of Baines was the delivery of his lines, which wouldn’t have come across the same way in the book. Another point of interest, the young girl (called Aphasia in the book) has her red balloon that goes everywhere with her. Her evil, horrible, red balloon. Whenever I rewatch the show, I’ll look at the red balloon and shudder.

Some of the biggest differences I noted had little to do with who was or wasn’t present, but were in the Doctor himself. In the show, you discover the Doctor was running from the Family of Blood in order to be kind to them – he knew he would do horrible and cruel things to them to prevent them hurting anyone else. In the book, he becomes John Smith in order to escape himself. I don’t know what’s happened to leave him so disillusioned (in Nightshade he was attempting to find himself as well, and considering settling down and retiring from his adventuresome ways), but obviously it’s something enormous. Whatever the cause, this difference in character motivation drastically changes the outcome of the romantic plot. 10 tells Joan he is capable of everything John Smith was, that everything Smith was came from a place within him. 7 tells Joan he is incapable of the feelings John Smith had because he is in no way human. In one story, the Doctor is refusing to be the man Joan wants, in the other, Joan is refusing to be with the Doctor who is the man she loved but also—terrifyingly—more.

Also interesting to note, in the show, the Doctor became human in an attempt to be kind, to prevent cruelty and harm, but in the novel, that is why John Smith allowed himself to become the Doctor once more. I find this reversal fascinating; within the context of their respective stories, bearing in mind the other differences at play in the character development of the Doctor, both decisions make sense. In the book, the Time War hasn’t occurred, Gallifrey is still kicking around with its orange sky. In one story we have the Doctor as yet untouched by the loss of his home planet and people, while in the other we have the more hardened Doctor, who has had to make unconscionable decisions and deal with loss the likes of which I can’t begin to fathom. The same Time Lord we know and love, responding to events around them differently due to changes in circumstance.

I’ve often wondered what would have happened how 9 would have coped with Donna, or how 11 would have reacted to that first encounter with Jack. Put 10 in 11’s place to deal with the alien menace in The Lodger, and things would have worked out quite differently (I think 10 would have run upstairs the first chance he got, eager to push mysterious buttons). This book has done exactly that. Instead of 10, we have 7 in a similar set of circumstances, and the differences in character cause the story to evolve differently.

And I love it.

There were a few scenes in the novel that I really wish had been kept in the show, but for budgetary and general feelings of squikiness I can understand why they didn’t blow up the school with a bomb that turned all the people within it to fused glass. It would have looked cool, though.

And sadly, the book had no creepy scarecrows.

 

Wow. This turned out longer than anticipated. And I don’t think it’s even that complete, or smooth a read…

If only I could bring myself to work on my own writings this way. I’d be three pages closer to down Asylum!

Opinions Unsolicited: Nightshade

While cruising around feedbooks.com looking for free poetry, classic horror, and tales of Oscar Wilde (with the intent of making my reading selections more distinguished and refined—because hey! I have class! Or something…) I stumbled upon a couple of perhaps-not-quite-so-classy-but-oodles-of-fun gems: no-cost Doctor Who tales. There were a handful of them available for free, but the two I grabbed had a particular draw; they were authored by fellows whose names I recognise from the writing credits for the show.

Furthermore, one of the two books is titled Human Nature*, which happens to be the first half of one of my favourite two-parters in the series.

I read Nightshade first, penned by Mark Gatiss, who wrote the episodes “The Unquiet Dead” (in which we first learn about the rift in Cardiff), “The Idiot’s Lantern” (in which televisions steal people’s faces; also the episode that inspired me and Mr. B to wail HUUUUUNGGRYYYY whenever we find ourselves feeling peckish), and “Victory of the Daleks” (in which 11 holds the new Dalek forces at bay with a jam-cookie). He also played the part of Professor Lazarus in “The Lazarus Experiment” (in which the fountain of youth machine yields unpleasant side-effects).

Nightshade was a difficult book for me to read. The first several chapters are about being introduced to new characters and then being taken on a trip down their memory lane, only to be brought back to the present day (in this case, the present day is the 23^rd of December, 1968) and start the process over with a new character. While it becomes obvious why this emphasis on the character’s pasts exist later on, I found it somewhat tedious in the beginning. The eeriness and overall mystery of the situation kept me ploughing through, however, and I’m glad that I stuck through it.

It could be confusing at times, dealing with a companion I’m not familiar with (Ace) and therefore not being certain which incarnation of the Doctor I’m supposed to be imagining; I suppose that just means I need to get caught up on what old Doctor Who serials I can find on Netflix (see this arm? Made of rubber). **

All told, the mood and the characters kept me going through the story, even when I was frustrated that some person or another needed to go back to whatever place they just left yet again. There was a lot of travelling back and forth between two locations that could somehow have been streamlined. I’ve noticed this in a lot of television programs as well. Come to think of it, the first Doctor Who serial I watched—The Aztecs—suffered from this same issue. I shrugged it off as writers struggling to bridge the gap between radio scripts and television ones, but perhaps this was a hallmark of the shows early days?

I enjoyed Nightshade well enough to want to write about it, although I don’t seem to be doing a very good job at writing much that’s positive about it. Shame on me. It has atmosphere, an interesting villain with an eerie modus operandi, and engaging characters. I struggled through the first bit of the book, but once I crested the sixth chapter, any thoughts of giving up on the book fled my mind.

Now I’m going on to read the second of the books I downloaded. I’ll write something up about that one when I’ve finished it.

* That’s right, Human Nature. Written in 1992. About Dr. John Smith teaching history in a boy’s school with WW1 on the doorstep. I couldn’t resist.

**A quick trip to Wikipedia informed me that the Doctor in question here is 7. It looks like I have a long way to go before I get to meet him in the Netflix queue.

Opinions Unsolicited: Need by Carrie Jones

I finished reading this last night.

I liked the story, mostly.

I liked the characters, mostly.

I really love the cover.

The premise: Zara is shipped off to live with her grandmother in a small Maine town after her stepfather's death [by heart attack, which Zara had the displeasure of witnessing] has left her an emotional void.

Over and over again throughout the book, I was pulled out of the narrative. It's a good story, but I have issues with certain elements. Sometimes the issue was word choice - for several pages at a time I would find the same word being used to describe different actions. Often I was frustrated with how none of the adults behaved as adults.

I was also frustrated with the way everyone knew everyone else. I understand its a small town, and that people know each other. But Zara was the only stranger here, and instead of this giving me, as the reader, an impression of her outsider status, it gave me the impression that it was done for convenience's sake.

And I kept finding that particular niggling annoyance over, and over again. Half-hearted explanations for important plot elements; overly simplistic character arcs.

I used to love reading YA fiction. Maybe I need to move past that, because I'm finding myself having similar frustrations over and over again.

I liked the book. I wouldn't have finished it otherwise. I loved Zara's voice, particularly Zara when she was detached and broken. It was brilliantly done, and there were many observations she made in that state that resonated with me. I've been depressed, and I related very well to the thought processes and the skewed outlook, and also the quiet re-awakening of her more normal self throughout the story.

I liked Betty, her grandmother, even though she sounded more like a teenage older sister than a grandmother. I liked the mythology within the novel, even though I felt like it needed some extra flesh to hang from its bones.

I liked the overall story, even though I was able to predict all the 'twists' save one or two. I felt as though it were an okay story that could have been mind-blowing if someone had asked the author some hard questions during the editorial process.

I'd read more of her books, or at least, more following these particular characters to see how things evolve. Carrie Jones didn't win me over with Need, but she piqued my interest enough that I'd give her a second chance.

Opinions Unsolicited: Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr

I started reading it yesterday afternoon. I finished it sometime after midnight. That was with a break to visit with my neighbours and a dinner break as well.
I tend to do that with Melissa Marr’s novels. I just find myself so drawn into the story that the idea of putting the book down before I know what happens next is a vile, loathsome thing.

Mr. B. Probably thinks that my retreat into the pages of a book that is nigh impossible to distract me from is a vile and loathsome thing. I’m fairly certain you could set me on fire, and I wouldn’t notice until my hands were burning and thusly could no longer hold the book.

But anyways, we’re talking about Fragile Eternity here, not my propensity to get so wholly absorbed in words on a page that I stop responding to the world at large.
The third instalment of Marr’s Faery series centers around Seth Morgan, who is, if you haven’t been keeping up with the series, the boyfriend of Aislinn — the teenage girl turned faery Queen of the Summer Court who is trying to balance having a somewhat normal human life with being the ruler of a troupe of the very beings she spent her entire life avoiding at all costs.

In Fragile Eternity, Seth is dealing with being stuck between two worlds. He’s too human to be a part of the Faery world, and he knows too much about faeries and their world to walk away and return to a purely human state of affairs. Add to the mix the coming of summer, which dials up the magical imperative his girlfriend is burdened with to be constantly near the Summer King, and things aren’t looking too keen for poor Seth.

I really enjoyed this instalment. In Wicked Lovely, we saw Seth through Aislinn’s eyes: he was her rock, her confidante, and he was perfect. I appreciated him then, even if we were only given a one dimensional view through Aislinn’s love-tinted glasses. Everyone should have someone that they feel is there for them, no matter what, and Seth was undeniably there for Aislinn.

In Fragile Eternity, we are given the reverse: we see Aislinn and how she’s changed through Seth’s eyes. He’s still there for her as much as he can be, but due to his fragile human state, it can’t be as often as he’d like. We see his frustration with Aislinn’s growing power and how he feels like he’s losing her, we see his envy of the faeries of her court, and his jealousy at Keenan’s machinations. He’s maddeningly, woefully human surrounded by magic and power that he can’t hope to touch or understand.

Until he realises that there is hope, after all.

It makes for a wonderful story.

I couldn’t help but feel terrible for Seth, but I also felt terrible for Aislinn. She was born human, and has been at this faery business for less than a year by the time the novel starts. She has to learn that she can’t behave like the teenage girl she still thinks that she is, she has to discover that those who were her friends while she was a fledgling faery are only her friends now if it doesn’t interfere with the needs of their respective courts. And Keenan’s misdirection and manipulations help to ensure that he is the only ‘friend’ that Aislinn has left. It’s unfortunate that Aislinn trusts Keenan so much, but with no one to give her solid reasons not to trust him, she can’t really be faulted for wanting to believe he is a good person.

Which, on occasion, he is. But not nearly enough to make up for all the shady things he says and does for the ‘benefit’ of his Court.

I can’t wait to read the fourth instalment.

Opinions Unsolicited: The Wild Hunt

I finally got around to reading The Tarot Café: The Wild Hunt, which was written by Chandra over at Dreaming in Red.
I say ‘finally’ only because, although the book was released in January, due to a mix-up at the local comic shoppe where I tried to pre-order it I wasn’t able to get my own copy until earlier this week. And I had to get that copy from Chapter’s. I wasn’t going to wait a day past St. Patrick’s day for the comic store to get it in though. Chandra was having a signing, and I’d be damned if I wasn’t going to be there to get my book signed.

As it turns out, I also got a book signed for a friend who couldn’t make it. And I’m regretting my lack of funds, because I should have gotten a copy for the Mummabear too. It’s too bad I’m not friends with the author and don’t know how to get a hold of her or anything.

Yeah, sometimes I’m not so good at fibbing.

The book is geared for the YA crowd, and I was really pleased with the plot mechanics. I haven’t read the graphic novel series that the novel is based on, although several discussions with Chandra helped me form an impression of the world. Which I liked. But I was uncertain as to how she was going to translate that to novel format.

I mean, it’s called The Tarot Café for a reason, right? We have a café, in which Tarot cards are read. And I know that the reader is just that, a reader. An awesome reader, but I didn’t expect that she was going to read the cards and then decide to embark on an adventure with the querent. That’s just not what a reader does. A reader interprets the cards and offers advice, and maybe provides some ideas of where to seek further help if there is help needed*. So I was left anticipating how the story would play out.

I only considered the mechanics of the plot as I was reading the novel because it was honestly something that I had actively been curious about before I had read it. I don’t usually read books with the intention of working out how the story will be told, I promise you. When I made it to the fourth chapter or so and realized that the bulk of the novel truly was going to be about the Tarot reading and how it related to the querent, well, I was excited. It means that as each card is drawn in the Celtic Cross spread, we get to go down a little memory-lane trip with Bryn. [Bryn is the querent** I keep mentioning, thought that might be worth eventually mentioning….] Since I was excited about it, I felt it was worth mentioning first [although it got mentioned second… oops].

I suppose I could talk about the story itself, instead of how it was put together.
The truth is, this story is a little out of my usual genre. I like the paranormal, this is true, but I’m not usually one for romance. And considering this was romance geared towards a younger audience, I mostly found myself feeling my age. The writing itself is wonderful – vivid and bright, even though the story is dark; I was always able to see in my mind’s eye what had been written upon the page. The story is interesting and new—I appreciate a non-typical ending [especially in young adult fiction] and the emotions were all ones I could identify with given the situation. But in the end, I felt the same as Belus did about the whole affair. Where there was talk of soul-mates and a love that had to go on at any cost, I kept thinking that vision of love is sweet but terribly naïve and unrealistic. And then I felt like a jaded old fogey. I understand this is a tale aimed at people considerably younger than myself; people that [hopefully] haven’t had the ill-fortune of having those idealistic views of romance and love dulled and chipped by the reality of life.
Had I been in Bryn’s shoes, I can see myself easily making the same mistakes she had. Unintentionally hurting someone with poorly considered words is something that almost everyone wrestles with having done. The choice she makes in the end… I can see why she did it, feeling the way she did. It doesn’t mean I have to like it.

My favourite parts of the story overall have to do with the subtle things that were going on in the background. Jack’s muse, for instance—we get his name once, from Bryn’s lips, in one of the flashbacks. And when he shows up later, it is not at all in a capacity that you would expect. Belial is a character that is mentioned less than a handful*** of times, and never met. But his presence is heavy and dark, and even more so once we are able to consider the reasons his name appears. I want to know what that deal is all about. [See what I did there? Double meaning, for the win!] That little mystery I want to see unfold.

I haven’t even discussed Pamela, or Andrew [I like Andrew, he was cheerful and sweet with a dark sad filling; he’s huggable], or any other number of characters. It’s getting late, and I’m getting tired. The only thing I can think of right now is: Luned? Where did you get that name from? I kept mistaking it for words to do with the moon. You know, the way lunatic has to do with the moon. And sometimes I’d read it as lured, and man that made for weird sentences. Also, I find myself pronouncing the last syllable ‘éd’ and have no idea if that was right. I know Chandra puts a lot of thought into the names that she chooses, so I’m really curious about this one.

I would have liked to see more of Jack, but I understand how that would have skewed the narrative. I just felt like I didn’t know very much about him, other than he was a painter, Bryn loved him intensely, and he was missing. It would have been nice to have a little more sense of him as person and not simply the man of Bryn’s unfettered affection. I also kept hoping that Cora’s sudden departure was going to play into the plot more. I was very intrigued by the comparisons drawn between her and Pamela.

I really enjoyed reading The Wild Hunt, I started this morning on the bus to work and finished a few hours after I made it home. I have to confess I was confused at first because the first page didn’t seem like a normal first page to me—the first line wasn’t indented, there was no chapter number or graphic, and it seemed to start midsentence.

On my lunch break I realised that the table of contents had simply stuck to the first page and I started on page two. Go me.

But anyway, it’s an interesting tale told well, it leaves me wanting to read more stories [and it is written in such a way to leave the door open for more stories]. If I weren’t so broke I’d even consider reading The Tarot Café graphic novels to see how many of the questions I have are answered there. But I’d rather see Chandra get the opportunity to write more of them.

At the back of the novel there is a bonus comic by the artist/author of The Tarot Café comics. Considering it’s in The Tarot Café novel as extra content you’d think that it might have something to do with The Tarot Café.

It doesn’t.

The artwork is pretty. That’s about the only nice thing I have to say about it. It’s got nothing to do with the characters or the word I’ve just invested my imagination in. It has a twist in the middle that didn’t feel like a twist so much as being blindsided with Bad Story™. By the time I finished it I was making exasperated sounds and consciously putting the book down gently so as not to harm the novel that my friend had graciously signed for me. My dislike of that short comic is why I’d need to consider whether to buy the graphic novels or not.

Read the novel, but ignore the comic at the end. I am so happy I read it first, and therefore got it out of the way.

This ‘little’ commentary I thought I was going to write turned into 1,675 words. Yeowch.



*I work with an astrologer/tarot reader at one of my day jobs, so my ideas about the profession might be too based in reality to apply to a series of fiction that is planted in the realm of paranormal romance, but these things need to be said to understand the position that I’m coming from. The reader’s [in this case, the reader of the book, not the reader of the cards] personal knowledge and proximity to the subject matter is of course going to colour their expectations as well as their curiosities and enjoyment.

** Querent is a person asking a question, and the commonly used term for the subject of a Tarot reading. Since this is a novel about a Tarot reading, I’m using querent rather than protagonist as it seems a little more in keeping with the nature of the book. Also, because as much as this is Bryn’s story (she’s the one with the choices to make and the journey to embark on) I feel strange calling her the protagonist. Don’t ask me why, I’m not sure how to answer that yet, but I thought this was another tidbit that warranted being eventually mentioned as well.

*** I don’t really know how many times a name would fit in my hands, but you get the idea.

Happy New Year!

Okay, I'm a couple of days late. But Thursday was the Chinese New Year. We have now moved into the year of the Rat [and if we want to get super technical, its the year of the Earth Rat].

So woooooo! And stuff.

This Chinese Astrology stuff is pretty nifty. I bought a nice little book about it from the store that I work at. Simple Chinese Astrology by Damian Sharp. The cover is white and red, and the book gets a huge bonus for being authored by a Damian. [While looking for a link on Amazon to the book, I learned that there is a Simple Numerology book written by the same author. I may have to get work to order it for me].

I'm born in the year of the Metal Rooster. Here's what Mr. Damian says about my outlook for the year [and the outlook of more than a few friends of mine as well]:

A difficult year in which money is hard to come by and the Rooster finds little to no assistance from friends or associates. Troubles at home and minor health problems are indicated as the Rooster must go it alone to solve his problems.

Well. That is not the chipper news I was looking forward to.

Ah well.

So, I have plans for my next tattoo. It involves getting the symbol for Taurus at the nape of my neck, with the writing for Rooster and Metal below that. But I have to make sure that the writing I end up getting actually says what I mean it to say. I eventually will add the same symbols as they relate to my parents and brother as well. Which means I likewise need the symbols for Gemini, Aries, Rat, Boar and Fire too.

If anyone knows of or can think of a good resource that I can trust, that would be awesome. [I've checked some sites online, but I have noticed minor differences in stroke order and direction from one site to another, which makes me think that there are two ways to write rat in Chinese, and one of them may be more appropriate than the other for the purpose I intend to use them. Its going on my body forever, I don't want ambiguity there, you know?]

I might just go to the university and talk to my old Japanese instructor. She can probably put me on the right path.

I thievered my rat picture at the top from here because I don't have any pictures of my Nez :(

Opinions Unsolicited: Farmer Giles of Ham, Between the Beautifuls, and The Night Watch

Farmer Giles of Ham is a tale by J.R.R. Tolkien. It has nothing to do with Middle Earth. It does have to do with a farmer who has some hobbit-like qualities [mostly in that he just wants to be

left to mind his own business, otherwise he is rather curmudgeonly and somewhat of an unpleasant fellow] who sets out to rid his village of a dragon.

One thing I especially enjoyed about this story were the names involved. Nevermind that I can't read or hear or think the name Giles and NOT think of Anthony Stewart Head; the other names are simply brilliant. We are offered the likes of Chrysophylax Dives, Caudimordax Tailbiter, and Fabricius Cunctater, which name [in no particular order] a sword, a blacksmith and a dragon.

The story itself is simple, but in a typically Tolkien way – he uses ten words where three might have done. And of course there is the commentary on language; even in a tale that's directed at children, there are many references to words in other languages [well, Latin, at any rate] and their translations into the 'vulgar'. Otherwise known as 'Plain English'. I get the impression that Lemony Snicket/Daniel Handler may have been a fan.

It's a fun whimsical tale, I need to add it to my collection. But not this copy, because it was leant to me by a co-worker some months ago [approaching five of them], and he has been hounding me to get it back.

This weekend, I bought Hawksley Workman's newest album, Between the Beautifuls.

What can I say, other than love? The cover of the album is essentially black and white, with the colour of the daffodils pulled out by some
technique I don't know the word for. All throughout the booklet, there are nature shots in a similar style, all stunning in their simplicity.

But the music is not pictures in a booklet.

If you are familiar with Hawksley's catalogue, Between the Beautifuls lies at the crossing of For Him and the Girls and Lover/Fighter. Amongst my favourites are All Alone (ballads of bunches of things), Piano Blink, and Pomegranate Daffodil. But I adore the whole album.

Hawksley here is the Hawksley I love the most: whimsical, poignant, exceptional.

I just finished reading The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko. I started reading it near on a year ago, got distracted, and then finally picked it back up yesterday. And finished it.

It's an engaging tale of Light vs Dark, set in Moscow. The Watches are set up in order to regulate and keep tabs on the opposing side. The Night Watch guards against infractions by the Dark, and the Day Watch does the same for the Light.

The book is divided into three different stories that all focus around the same characters, with Anton at the centre of it all. They are all told from his perspective. At it's root, all the stories [which are all subsequently divided into chapters] are really just one large, overarching story.

It's a very engaging tale about Anton, who starts the story out as a fourth grade magician, as he goes from assignment to assigment that make no sense to him – he's not a field operative, why is he being sent out in the field then? I don't feel like writing a book report here, so I'm just going to say that this novel presents an interesting take on the good vs evil dichotomy, and how sometimes good people do bad things to achieve even greater goods, and how sometimes bad people will use good deeds to bring about devastating results.

There were two things I especially enjoyed about this book.

1- Anton has a tendency to put his walkman on random throughout the novel, and the music seems to always fit his mood. I enjoyed this little detail tremendously, as well as the fact that Anton makes a point of naming the artist most of the time this happens. I like musics that are not in english. So this gives me many artists to look up that are Russian.

2- I enjoy reading translated books. I can get the feeling reading it, that while the grammar is correct, it wasn't meant to be read in english. There are little cultural cues and quirks of speech that are simply not natural in English that are obviously observed in Russian, and I like observing that. Since I can't speak Russian, reading things translated from Russian is the next best thing.

So, here's another book that I can finally return! If you had any idea how huge my To Be Read list was, you'd shake your head in shame. And possibly call a fire marshall to investigate my house.

I have other entries planned, one about cooking, another soymilk experiment [hopefully the last], and I intend to write a tarot entry at some point. I better get cracking if I want to post all that before the next Opinions Unsolicited goes up [which, by the by, I am totally failing at making a regular Sunday installment so far].

Farmer Giles picture from here.

I got the Between the Beautifuls photo from Hawksley's site.

The Night Watch picture was usurped from here.