odds and ends

[ursula]

I read most of the second two books of Gene Wolfe's Long Sun series on the plane home. Somewhere in the middle I dozed and dreamed that someone was forcibly interrogating someone else using the fact that the someone else was some collection of finitely generated Z-modules, while the interrogator was a free Z-module and could therefore map onto his victim at any time.

The Long Sun books are beautiful but distant, and I react with incredulity every time the main character mentions that he's in love with the woman he's in love with. I think I am supposed to conclude that he's not-very-sub consciously sabotaging his priestly status; but I don't think I'm supposed to conclude that he is arbitrary and unfathomable.

***

Now that I have real internet access again, I can post this, borrowed from mjbarefoot:

Reply to this post and...

1. I will tell you what song reminds me of you. (I reserve the right to substitute other works of art as necessary.)
2. I will tell you what celebrity/public/fictional person you remind me of, either in personality or in looks.
3. I will give you one word that I associate with you when I think of you.
4. I will tell you what colors I associate with you.

***

My car works (mostly) at the moment, in case anyone's keeping score.

Comments

[ursula]

I hate having literary discussions about books I read a couple of years ago, because I always retain strong feelings and forget the supporting evidence :)

This was my response partway through-- my response at the end was more 'never mind, then, I guess it was supposed to be unfathomable'. But it's clear to me that I became less interested in what was going to happen once I knew who the gods were, and I think some of that was related to the reaction described above. (I also think that it should be possible for Horn to make Hyacinth viscerally sexy, even while disliking her. Maybe I'm just too far from the target audience?)

My reaction to Miéville's The Scar was essentially 'this is fascinating world-building, but I don't like being manipulated'. I'm telling you this because (although I liked Book of the Long Sun much better) my thoughts on the two books may be birds in the same flock . . .

[jere7my.livejournal.com]

Well, I do think the lack of any appeal in Hyacinth was deliberate; I think the descriptions of Kypris (the goddess of love) successfully captured her beauty and erotic power, so clearly Wolfe (and Horn) had it in him. Hyacinth always came across as a painted whore, maybe because Horn had to mask his own physical attraction? (He was writing the book with his wife, after all. ;) "What? No, honey, she wasn't attractive at all!")

Anyway, I've just been rereading both series, so I probably have an unfair advantage, memory-wise. :) It worked very well for me, and BotSS further illuminated the situation in interesting ways. (I also have a huge weak spot for Oreb, who's one of my favorite animal characters in all fiction.)

I really need a "Silk for Caldé!" T-shirt for the next election...

[ursula]

Have you read Divine Endurance?

[jere7my.livejournal.com]

Nope. Hadn't even heard of it. What's it about?

[ursula]

It's a novel by Gwyneth Jones about a bandit in post-apocalyptic Indonesia.