we're not unreasonable - i mean, no one's gonna eat your eyes

[schmerica]

Vacation so far has been pretty much nothing but reading. Books read so far--

Rubicon: the Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland. Ancient history, amazingly good.

Point of Honour by Madeleine E. Robins. First in the Sarah Tolerance; alternate history Regency noir. AWESOME.

Black Powder War by Naomi Novik. Less to my taste than the first two Temeraire books (more battle scenes and less characterization and society stuff), but still very good.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. I've been somewhat iffy on the whole "YA novels taking place in future seems-to-be-utopia-which-turns-out-to-be-dystopia rebellion oh noes!" genre ever since I was the only person in the world not to like The Giver, but this was pretty fun, and gets better as it goes along; I'll be reading the rest of the trilogy.

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. Currently about two thirds of the way through. I'm not in love with it -- it might be my least favorite Gaiman so far. But my least favorite Gaiman is still worlds ahead of most other stuff.

*****

My official soundtrack for my weeklong summer vacation, if you are curious, consists of two songs: Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard doing "Pancho and Lefty," and Jonathan Coulton doing "Re: Your Brains." Make of this what you will.

*****

My father brought home strawberries today from the roadstands! Oh frabjous day, calloo, callay! (Fresh summer fruit is on my list of things that one is better off buying from the side of the road than an actual stores. Not on this list: everything else in the entire world.)

*****

My parents' dvd player is not working right this week, apparently. It will play some stuff, but not others, with very little method to its madness. One of the things that does work, apparently, are all of my sister's first season NCIS dvds. So, uh. Maybe I'll be watching that in between my reading? Hm.

*****

If I were in the mood to buy comics, a) what would you guy recommend, especially in terms of collections? and b) where is a good place to buy online?

*****

Callum Keith Rennie is hot.

Comments

[the-star-fish.livejournal.com]

"I'm not a monster, Tom -- well, technically I am."

heeheehee

I want to eat JC's brains.

[myriad69.livejournal.com]

NCIS YAY!!!!

I have newly discovered the Joy that is that show.

Dinozzo ain't as hot as CKR but he'll do in a pinch.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Man, it's sad that even when the context is obvious, I still automatically associate the initials "JC" with JC Chasez. I mean, if it was going to be amusingly wrong association, I could at least go the class route with Jesus Christ, right?

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Hee. I have only seen a couple episodes here and there from the season that just ended, when I was home visiting -- apparently it is the show my parents and sister all watch together, now that Joan of Arcadia is gone. I haven't been especially charmed so far, but it's entertaining enough to watch without thinking for me.

[myriad69.livejournal.com]

My dad just loves it, but I've always thought "meh", and then we watched it with him at Christmas and got HOOKED! It's snarky and funny and has pretty decent mysteries. Plus, it's snarky. And you can pair everyone with everyone else and it works. And did I mention the snarkiness?

Plus, Abby rules.

Comics

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

Scott Pilgrim is AWESOME.

You mentioned Gaiman, so I'm assuming you've already hit Sandman. You might like the Lucifer spinoff by Mike Carey. The most fun/interesting things I've read lately are Brian Wood & Becky Cloonan's Demo, a collection of slice-of-life stories about teenagers with psychic powers and Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra's Y: The Last Man.

Manga I love and recommend as starter books:Nana, Saiyuki, Fruits Basket--hmm. For you I'd probably recommend starting with Fruits Basket, since I think you'd appreciate the ongoing theme of people trying to learn how to be kind to each other. Which sounds sappy, especially when you add in the cotton-candy pink and mint green covers, but the series isn't sappy.

[ficbyzee.livejournal.com]

Are you looking for indie comics or Marvel and DC stuff? if it's indie stuff I second the rec for Scott Pilgrim and Y: The Last Man. Strangers in Paradise is also deeply awesome--it's what got me into comics in the first place. As for places to buy online, I *think* that I got comics from here (http://www.mycomicshop.com/) when I used to buy them online, but I can't really remember.

Or you could come visit me and Livia and let us feed you comics. ;)

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

SPEAKING of you and Livia! I'm probably not going home till Sunday, so I can totally come over on Friday or Saturday if you guys are free to entertain me.

Re: Comics

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Oh, lovely! I find myself completely trusting of your taste pretty much all the time.

[ficbyzee.livejournal.com]

I'm going to go see Hairspray with a friend of the family's Saturday night, but Friday I believe we are both free! And the apartment will even be CLEAN because the landlord is inspecting it this week.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Hee, since I made that comment my mother has made me a haircut appointment at 6 Friday. So it would have to just be Friday evening or the beginning of the morning, I guess?

[ficbyzee.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not sure what time Hairspray is on Saturday--maybe you could come over during the day? (And I have *no* idea what Livia's plans are, I should mention...) Whatever works for you, I think.

[cabari.livejournal.com]

Oh, I loved Rubicon-- I have a history crush on Julius C. and that book just made me love him more, somehow. Are you very big on ancient history? I ask because I'm a huge nerd and would love to rec some books, fiction and nonfiction, if you're interested.

And Callum Keith Rennie is reeeaaaaally hot.

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

I am the only person in the world who hasn't read The Giver.

[notemily.livejournal.com]

some excellent comics: Fables, Ex Machina, Y: The Last Man, Sandman, Watchmen, Fray, Astonishing X-Men, Planetary, Transmetropolitan, Bone, Superman: Secret Identity, 1602, and Powers. I'm not sure about buying online--Amazon has most of these in trade paperback, but I usually go to a comic store.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

I like all sorts of history, dude, if it is written well -- I welcome recs!

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

I am impressed!

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thanks -- I've read some of them, but only a few.

[daemonluna.livejournal.com]

[Warning: Random Acts of Book Recs Contained Herein]

As far as dystopic teen SF goes, how i live now by Meg Rosoff is pretty good and nothing like The Giver. (About a girl who goes to England to stay with her cousins, set present-day, when war with an unnamed country breaks out, and the area is occupied.) And Grand & Humble by Brent Hartinger is one of the best YA books I've read in a while. (Two guys from very different levels of high school social strata are both having premonitions of unspecified doom, and it all has to do with the intersection of Humble & Main.)

[raveninthewind.livejournal.com]

Y: The Last Man and Runaways (both Brian K. Vaughn comics) are current faves.

I like the manga Fruits Basket and Hikaru no Go and CLAMP: Clover (very pretty but it does end on a cliffhanger).

Greg Rucka's Batman: No Man's Land and the gritty thriller Queen and Country are worth reading. The Watchmen by Alan Moore is a classic.

Bite Club is a trade that's a fun read:
http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn=2907

I have't read all that have been issued so far, but from what I've read, Fables is interesting storywise; haven't made my mind up about the art, though.

Past favorites: Love & Rockets, Bone, and Fray

Web comic that I find charming: Digger.

[raveninthewind.livejournal.com]

Here's a post I made with better linkage:
http://raveninthewind.livejournal.com/463206.html

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Thanks a lot!

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Ooh, interesting -- thank you for the recs!

Re: Comics

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

*blushes* Thank you!

Oh, and my favorite Westerfeld novel is Peeps, even though in general I am SO TIRED of vampire novels.

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

Eh, I just never really wanted to. It didn't look appealing.

[cabari.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool! Okay, have you read anything by Mary Renault? She is one of my absolute favorite writers, regardless of genres. My favorites of hers are her Alexander trilogy (Fire From Heaven, The Persian Boy, Funeral Games-- the first two focus a lot on Alexander's lovers Hephaistion and Bagaos-- and if you've any interest in Alexander at all her book The Nature of Alexander is one of my favorites on him), but I also liked her Theseus books (Bull from the Sea, The King Must Die) because she basically breathes life into a figure who's completely made up, you know? Also good is The Charioteer which is set during WWII and is really, really lovely. I don't know a whole lot about WWII fiction, but if you enjoy it, I just finished reading The Night Watch by Sarah Waters and I liked that quite a lot (actually Sarah Waters' stuff in general is pretty good, mostly Victorian-era stuff).

I just got finished reading Pride of Carthage by David Anthony Durham, which I liked quite a lot but then again, I have a history crush on Hannibal (brains AND strength? Mmm). Also, if you've never read I, Claudius by Robert Graves, well, I think everyone should. He is my favorite translator ever and the fact that he's also an amazing fiction writer makes me so happy.

Also, Julian and Creation by Gore Vidal are pretty good.

Nonfiction... well, I've already said The Nature of Alexander, so let's see what else. Courtesans and Fishcakes by James Davidson is one of my favorite books about Athens ever.

And, as for primary sources, I LOVE anything by Ovid, especially the Metamorphoses and the Ars Amatoria. Ovid is pretty freaking hilarious if you let him be. Also funny is The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius, it's basically a gossip rag on the 12 julio-claudian rulers. So funny. So wonderful.

...uh, that's all I can think of right now (I'm at work), but believe me, I'm sure there're if you're not already overwhelmed and thinking I'm kinda crazy. :)