Stuff I've Been Reading

[dr_tectonic]

I just finished reading Wicked. It's an interesting book, but I have to say that as far as I can tell, it has nothing to do with the story of the musical other than character names and source material. I think I will like the musical better, but I guess I'll find out next weekend.

I re-read the entire Sandman series recently. It flows a lot better when you read it all at once. You can see the ending implicit in the beginning, and note all the repeated themes and elements a lot more easily then when it's streched out. Definitely a classic.

I also read the first 50 issues of Books of Magic for the first time. It's a little uneven -- the story kind of skips and stutters here and there -- but it's a lot of fun. There's a pleasantly high proportion of sudden and unexpected left turns.

(We were supposed to find out about our lease situation today, but the landlord forgot to have his conference with the manager and the maintenance guy. Earlier on, I thought his motivations were monetary. I now realize that his motivations are rooted in the fact that he's an asshole.)

Comments

[ng-nighthawk.livejournal.com]

I liked Wicked (the book) quite a bit. I detest musicals, so I refuse to spoil my pleasant memories of the book with anything approaching that piece. I like that he made Oz into a place that has a fair amount of sophistication and the witch into someone who, through a clear progression, becomes both anti-social and esoteric enough to fit the Frank Baum character.

So when someone's motivations are rooted in the fact they are an asshole, does that mean their motivations are primarily selfish? Sadistic? Meglomaniacal? All of the above?

[goobermunch.livejournal.com]

I think his motivations are primarily the result of ignorance, stupidity, and bad manners.

But that's just me.

--G

[k8cre8.livejournal.com]

I also liked the book, but, I realized some of the parts I didn't like so well were because I thought they should've been done differently. But, beyond that, I enjoyed it. I think it might make a decent musical, but, well, I'm sorta picky on the musical front.

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

The musical has very little to do with the book. You should listen to the soundtrack sometime; you can get most of the musical's storyline from that (I think, anyway), and I think it's a better plot, overall.

My biggest complaint about the book is that too many things were left unexplored and unexplained.

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

I detested the book version of Wicked. But I've never seen the musical version; it played for a month in Toronto in the winter, but tickets were freakily expensive, and I decided I had better things to do with the money.

I hope the lease thing works out soon. There are definitely times I'm glad we own our house.

[zalena.livejournal.com]

I didn't know there was an issue... I thought it had been cleared when you talked to the manager last week. (Something about utility bills.) Good luck with the lease. I hate how by attempting the follow the rules, one often runs into more trouble than if one just pretended one is on the shy side of the law. I admire your following up on the issue. I would have been likely to just hide.

Books of Magic... it has been a very long time. I got fed up with it when Molly came back from faerie and everyone started burning up. I think that's when I decided I didn't like faerie.

[saintpookie.livejournal.com]

If you read the accompanying Books of Faerie it adds to the story, and the Molly stuff gets resolved. I have another series which takes a different slant on faerie if you'd like to read it sometime. Unless you've read it already that is, it's called Starchild.

[zalena.livejournal.com]

I haven't read it, sounds interesting!

[saintpookie.livejournal.com]

Next time you're over I can show it to you and you can decide if you'd like to read it.

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed Wicked, but liked Lost better. And i totally agree that reading Sandman en masse is the way to go.

Is it possible that the landlord is simply poorly organised, and/or somewhat incompetent?

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

Not really. I mean, those things might be true as well -- but it's also increasingly clear that he is, in fact, an ass.

[k8cre8.livejournal.com]

Sorry about the difficulties with the landlord.

I will admit, I've not read Sandman yet. I admit this knowing that, well, I will be chastised and there will be faux surprise, or what not. But, as most of my reading material of late has been comics, this is probably the time.

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

Naaaah. We'll just encourage you to read them when you get the chance.

[k8cre8.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I sorta wish I'd already read it, especially after I saw the Whedon/Gaiman interview in Time this week. It's here: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1109313,00.html

Be sure to go to the end of the interview, and click on the link to the full transcipt. Much, much better than the short version.

[k8cre8.livejournal.com]

That would be swell! I would. Afterall, I have a stint on the couch to do next week.

[saintpookie.livejournal.com]

I also have the entire collection (which is how Dr T read them).

[jennsteele.livejournal.com]

Grrrr. Sorry your landlord is an asshole. I'd have more to say about him, but none of it would be very nice. I still wish you the best of luck and will keep my fingers crossed that the asshole doesn't win.

[backrubbear.livejournal.com]

I still need to back-fill my collection of sandman with the rest of the graphic novels. I have various of the individual comics stacked here and there, but I read them for the story. :-)

Books of magic was about 20 issues in when my comic vendor completely flaked. That was the third one I had dealt with in two years and honestly, I was just *done* with the whole comic experience. I hope to get the graphic novels at some point.

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

I'm all about the graphic novelization.

It's actually saintpookie's collection that I'm reading -- I don't own much besides a handful of graphic novels, myself. Like you say, I read them for story, not collectability. (Plus I've never had the money to be a collector.)