neh
Collection of short stories published by an independent editor
"I live in two worlds; one is a world of books"
Posts: 943
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Post by neh on Mar 6, 2008 5:58:05 GMT -5
*sorry for the delay in my reply - the comp only JUST got fixed* Aw, i'm glad you enjoyed it, hurray! And yeps, i have a facebook - check your pms. Now, what would you like to discuss, SFT?
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sagedautumn
Collection of short stories bought by Random House
You Might Need This!
Posts: 1,509
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Post by sagedautumn on Mar 6, 2008 11:22:18 GMT -5
Oh gosh! Everything!! First off, what did you think of it?? ( I got ur PM and I requested you!!)
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neh
Collection of short stories published by an independent editor
"I live in two worlds; one is a world of books"
Posts: 943
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Post by neh on Mar 7, 2008 5:07:47 GMT -5
I liked it muchly - talk about some serious revelations. Also, there was a fair amount of very disturbing social realism dealt with (which i guess really began with the opium issue and Fee's secretin book 2) especially during the time spent in London, in the slums (the one passage about the ghost-like little boy who offered Kartik favours still haunts me) I have to commend Libba for not taking the easy way out with many storylines, such as Pip's choices, or Mr Doyle's fate. And props to her for still being able to deliver the suprising/unexpected character turn-about, such as with Circe and Fowlson. I could go on and on... actually, to save some time i'll just copy what i wrote to a friend when i first finished the book: - Fee broke my heart when she muttered her 'prayer' "Pippa, Pippa, Pippa"- Pippa must have felt some love for Fee: pg. 753 and 755Gemma was inside her mind and found "the secret wound, Felicity"Gemma said to Fee "you were the only force that kept her from turning completely"- Poor Wendy - and her Mr Darcy! That's just awful!!!!! Poor little bunny.... at least Wendy survived, but now she's stuck with Bessie, who'll probably beat her up *unless we're to understand she's suddenly changed*- What will happen to Mae? Will she just wander about calling Pippa's name and eating the berries forever???- Where did the Winterlands pixies go? They were in the hall at Spence - did they just disintergrate or something?- I really hope Nightwing is gonna take up Gemma's command to re-evaluate what they teach the girls at Spence. That moment really made me think of the movie The Hairy Bird... *hmm.. might go watch that...*- Like HP, there's always the question of loyalty, 'goodness' and forgiveness getting twisted around in these books, just to confuddle me, i'm sure. Like suddenly, cruel thugs like Bessie and Fowlson are fighting with the good guys, and Circe is showing some mercy, and Miss McCleethy sacrifices herself, and Miss Spence is showing greed and weakness and TOM - TOM! - is being nice to Gem!!!! What the?! I mean, good on him, but honestly!- Go Gorgon go! Nice to see her in action- Pip. Scared the crapper out of me. Really. They're gonna have to find a dam good young actress for that role, to carry all that out.- Fee's gonna live with her mum?! She can't stand her! Or is she beginning to feel a bit of sympathy for her or something? *shrugs* At least they're away from him. And speaking of which, did he take poor Polly on that 'vacation' that he tried to bribe Fee to be quiet about??? Coz i don't care what's prudent or in my power etc., i would have stopped him from doing anything of the sort, no matter what!!!! I know Fee snubbed his 'gift' for her silence, but did she try again to protect Polly? - Oh! There was a heck of a lot of insanely depressing social realism in this one, what with all the cavorting around London, there was bound to be, i guess. But that boy they pass, Gemma and Kartik, after watching the mudlarks by the Thames... the young boy with the mouth ulcers, who offers something that Kartik says will be taken up by someone else soon.... that just.... oh boy, that's horrible... i was nearly vomiting and screaming and crying... i know Gemma used magic and the mudlarks found rubies in the water, but would any of that have gone to that one boy???- Gemma's dad. I know he tells her the true story of the tiger, and he admits his weakness and that she has shown strength he didn't have, but he's still chosen to forget and ignore many things, and he's still going to die. That's just sad... just sad....
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sagedautumn
Collection of short stories bought by Random House
You Might Need This!
Posts: 1,509
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Post by sagedautumn on Mar 12, 2008 10:37:48 GMT -5
Reading your post was like reading your stream of consciousness...Very enlightening! I'll agree that I enjoyed the fact that certain characters who were portrayed in the sour light turned out to be "All right" in the end i.e. McCleethy, Fowlson, and even Fee. The one thing that kind of ruined the book for me, and it wasn't big of a deal only the romantic in me was that every time Gemma was to experience some sort of happiness it kept getting more and more distorted. I mean I felt bad for the other girl. The one flaw i found in the plot was Simon's character. I thought Libba did a wonderful job introducing him but then in the third book it kind of fell apart because whereas in the second book it was all about Simon and even at parts his hoity mother the third book was all about his father. Like out of nowhere!!! And then all of a sudden we are introduced to this clear foible of Gemma, his cousin, who will be the woman that Gemma could supposedly never be. I found that, excuse my languare, to be a bunch of shit, and I think she did it to kind of rid of the whole Gemma/Simon thing....What are your thoughts!??
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neh
Collection of short stories published by an independent editor
"I live in two worlds; one is a world of books"
Posts: 943
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Post by neh on Mar 13, 2008 2:28:39 GMT -5
Hmmm... i agree that Simon needed a stronger story in book 3, seeing as he was a fairly big presence in 2, and it did feel a little like- wow, better throw in a quick solution to this plotline! But i never wanted him to be anywhere near a romantic relationship with Gemma again, so in that regard i was glad for this other woman, though i feel very sorry for her really, coz she and Simon were headed down a dull, lifeless path if you ask me and there seemed to be something almost tragic about their union in that sense... I never liked Simon though, so i am biased! And as for the girl being who Gemma could never be, it pissed me off that she (Gem) even considered feeling sorry for herself in that area, coz everyone knows it's far better to live an original and independant life than to go with the flow like society wishes and that was always what Simon's wife was going to have to do - and why would anyone want that?! sheesh. Gemma made me mad sometimes... i guess you can't expect her to contain and project every modern female desire and ideal but sometimes she just adhered to particular social constraints a little too much - not in the end though, thankfully! She finally learnt her lesson! If only she could have really solidified an act of sical defiance by getting to marry poor Kartik... sob!
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neh
Collection of short stories published by an independent editor
"I live in two worlds; one is a world of books"
Posts: 943
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Post by neh on Mar 26, 2008 7:33:53 GMT -5
Hehe, now this vid is somewhere in the vast array of Libba's LJ updates *speaking of which we must catch up on those - but some of 'em are getting so long! libba-bray.livejournal.com/Anyways, this vid where she chats with mate Maureen Johnson... and they're so delightfully insane! www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ5sCHkKM5E
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bookishgirl
First piece published in the school’s newspaper
"Love all. Trust few. Do wrong to no one." --Skakespeare
Posts: 74
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Post by bookishgirl on Jan 31, 2009 15:48:49 GMT -5
oh yes i have read them! i love them soooo much!! they are amazing!!
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neh
Collection of short stories published by an independent editor
"I live in two worlds; one is a world of books"
Posts: 943
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Post by neh on Jan 31, 2009 18:41:11 GMT -5
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Post by Carma on Apr 11, 2009 5:17:50 GMT -5
I ordered The Sweet Far Thing online and they only had the hardcover version, it arrived today, but the pages seem all weird... some pages are wider than others.. does that makes sense? When you look at the side of the book where you 'open'it, it's not smooth, like most books are. I was wondering if it's supposed to be that way? Or if I should send it back to get a new one, since it wasn't a cheap book and I'd like to have a good version of it. So I was wondering if any of you have the hardcover book?
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sagedautumn
Collection of short stories bought by Random House
You Might Need This!
Posts: 1,509
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Post by sagedautumn on Apr 11, 2009 21:29:10 GMT -5
Yea, I bought all three books in hardcover and the pages for all of them are like that. They gave jagged edges and some of the pages seem more cut up. I remember when I bought 'A Great and Terrible Beauty' some of the pages were still stuck to each other,I had to use a knife to open it. So don't worry about it! How are you liking the books?
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Post by Carma on Apr 13, 2009 5:17:41 GMT -5
ooh, ok then! I'm glad it's normal, it does give a certain feel to it... I'm loving the books! I'm now reading Rebel Angels, and I have to make myself put down the book. I don't want to finish it too fast. But it's so tempting to keep reading!
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Post by Carma on Apr 16, 2009 6:32:40 GMT -5
Libba Bray wrote a great and terrible beauty in Tweets on her blog (and I think it's funny..) : "A GREAT AND TERRIBLE TWITTER Mom dead. Leaving India for London. Always wanted 2 go but now am 2 sad 2 w00t. :-( Girls @ Spence mostly douches. FW=psycho bitch. PC iz total follower. Roomie iz humorless cutter. Fun. Weird cloaked guy following me. Annoying but hot. Visions won't stop. Sooo embarrassing. Dead girl gave me old diary. Should wait 4 pb or read now? J/K ;-) OMG! I haz powers! Off 2 realms. BFN. Life in realms GR8. IRL, not so much. French=pain in my ass. *sadness* New art teacher Miss Moore ROCKS. Off 2 caves. TTYS. Got deets abt fire @ Spence from NW & Bridget. SRT and MD were part of Order! OMG. Punked Cecily and others. ROTFLMAO! Magic is kewl. Hot guy iz still hot. See pic @ his blog: Hot Men of the Rakshana. tinyurl.comJSYK, finally got rid of Bumble this w/e. Fab. Turns out Mom was in Order. WTF? Tweetup in caves epic fail. FW tried to kill K. Have 2 take peeps 2 realms now. *sigh* Do NOT trust Huntress. M8jr beyotch. Update: Pip 8 berries. :-( Update update: Funeral was bummer until K showed up. Totally crushing. *squee* TTYL, BBs!" I'm not sure what/who she means with Bumble... libba-bray.livejournal.com/46755.html
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Bina
First novel published
Posts: 2,472
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Post by Bina on Apr 16, 2009 10:25:35 GMT -5
LOL (in keeping with the style)! It´s great that she can be so sarcastic about her own stuff.
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sagedautumn
Collection of short stories bought by Random House
You Might Need This!
Posts: 1,509
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Post by sagedautumn on Apr 19, 2009 17:57:11 GMT -5
Haha! I love reading her livejournal blog! She is HILARIOUS!
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Michelle
First novel published
Posts: 2,563
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Post by Michelle on Jan 7, 2010 23:42:30 GMT -5
I feel like I'm alone here, but I definitely don't love this series. I thought book 1 was ok, book 2 a little less ok. But book 3 was torture for me. Why on earth we needed 820 pages of it I will never know. I could have done with just the last part. And some Gemma/Kartik action.
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