you know what goes well with chai? cupcakes! and more chai

[timeripple]

A day off, and it’s too hot to go out and actually do much, so cadragongirl and I are holed up at Panera. I am spectacularly failing to write my staff rec for Plain Kate, because I love it like burning and keep getting sucked into re-reading bits and crying and then failing to have the right words.

But it’s nice to have a day with air conditioning and computers and time to just write. I should be doing other things, but I really need this day to just sit and drink chai and write. I’ve been full of ennui lately; the hot weather makes me grumpy and lethargic. Now that I’m full of chai and AC, though, I kind of want to go dancing.

Last Friday M and I walked down Faneuil Hall to the waterfront, then around the back of the aquarium where you can see the seals from outside. Yay! We window-shopped our way back (I was unexpectedly impressed by American Eagle Outfitters jewelry--think it was AE, anyway), and I bought an outrageously expensive (but delicious!) bag of chocolate chip cookies at Quincy market. A good afternoon. I will keep it in my memory to ward off feelings of inadequacy when they come prowling.

In other news, I think I should dye my hair red while I still work at a bookstore and am living the carefree young life. On the one hand, I want to get a job in publishing. On the other hand, I want to continue living the carefree young life. I want, I want, I want.

Note to self: lay off the black v-neck of shoulder-baring awesome. For some reason it has been garnering me a lot of sleazy looks this week. Ugh.

And now, a word or two about Mockingjay! Um, probably kind of spoilery. And super vague. Sorry. But mostly about ships, which are not really the point of the books anyway.



I thought it was brave, and not entirely pleasant, to let--perhaps to make-- Katniss be destroyed by the war, as she is. I totally cracked up at this part, though:

GALE: Here, have some water.
PEETA: Thanks, man.
GALE: So.
PEETA: So.
GALE & PEETA: Awkward love triangle is awkward.

And how much do I love Katniss for going, okay, you guys are going to spin the love triangle like this? F*** that, I don’t need either of you.

And at that point in the narrative, she doesn’t need either of them.

But on the topic of Katniss/Peeta, and the misguided souls who call him wimpy: seriously, what’s gonna be wrong with a guy who can bleed all over the cave floor, endure unimaginable physical and mental torment, and at the end of it all can still make you cookies? Post-traumatic cookies, but still. Wimpy? I think people underestimate the importance of cake.

In the circles I've been keeping up with, the Peeta or Gale? debate has turned into cupcakes vs venison. And between cupcakes and venison, I think Katniss is right to choose cupcakes. Hello, this is Katniss. If she wants venison? She can go out and shoot her own damn venison.

Which was, I thought, kind of the whole point.

By the time Mockingjay rolls around, I think Katniss/Gale vs Katniss/Peeta really illustrates the soulmates vs true loves point that Hana Yori Dango tries and generally fails to articulate with Makino/Rui and Makino/Domyouji: namely, that sometimes there is a difference.

Uh, narratively. I make no claims about any of this applying to real life.

Anybody else wanna weigh in? Make a case for Team Venison? Tell me to get my act together and explain myself better? I may edit this in a bit anyway.

Comments

[littlecatfeet.livejournal.com]

Go for the red hair. I did, and I LOVE it. A word of warning, however: you will get many, many comments on how "fiery" or "dangerous" you are from strangers.

Also, unless you are considering something along the lines of Franka Potente in Run, Lola, Run or Mila Jovovich in The Fifth Element, you can keep the red hair in the staid and upright publishing world, thus retaining some of the carefree youth of your bookstore days.

[timeripple.livejournal.com]

Did you? I bet it looks AWESOME.

Oh, how I love the Run, Lola, Run hair. But not for myself, alas. ;)

[satakieli.livejournal.com]

Gah. I'm sorry. I suddenly feel very lucky that I am brunette, and that only two people I can think of have ever leered the "Redheads have more fun" type of comments at me under the impression that they apply.

[snowqueenofhoth.livejournal.com]

RED. DO IT. I LOVED IT. I WANT TO BE RED AGAIN. Although I'm enjoying the blond at the moment.

[timeripple.livejournal.com]

Now we know you can cosplay as an anime Magical Girl if you want to

I will when I can afford it... I remember how awesome the red streaks looked when I had them, and how terrible the rest of my hair looked in comparison. XD

[a4yroldfaerie.livejournal.com]

Dye hair with me! I need want to dye my hair again soon, as this is the longest i have gone without, and I can help you and am very good at this and have a a brush and gloves and everything!

Also, for purposes of invites roommates fall into the "etc." part of "significant others etc.." Just for the record.

[timeripple.livejournal.com]

Oh excellent, on both counts. I'll be in touch--have to see what my schedule looks like for the next few weeks.

[satakieli.livejournal.com]

Oooh, air conditioning...

At least loving it too much to be efficient at writing a review is a problem in the right direction, I hope. Is the title a reference to that exchange in Taming of the Shrew?

[timeripple.livejournal.com]

Not as far as the narrative goes, but I'm betting it was an extra bit of fun. It's really a stunning book--you think it's going to be a lovely, slightly dark fairy tale adventure about a girl who trades her shadow for her hearts' desire and goes on a journey of personal growth. Which is is. And then you realize no, there's a lot more going on here, there are plots of dubious morality, and ghosts, and you know what? Somebody has to feed the ghosts blood, or there will be hell to pay.

And then the real difficult moral decisions start, and it's completely heartbreaking and wonderful.

Also, it features the best cat companion since Sabriel's Mogget. And I say this as someone who wishes Mogget had narrated all the books. ♥ Taggle.

[satakieli.livejournal.com]

Huh, you really know how to write a book description that makes me want to run right out and read it!

[timeripple.livejournal.com]

*cackles* Excellent! And thank you. I find it easier to recommend things to specific people than to write for general consumption.

[edajaramsmom.livejournal.com]

Since nobody else has weighed in on Mockingjay, I shall. Cupcakes rule! Sorry, Gale...

[timeripple.livejournal.com]

I find it really funny that people like to argue about Peeta and Gale, because I think the text makes it pretty clear why cupcakes are the right choice for Katniss. Blatantly, explicitly clear. "Dear Reader," direct address clear. If people would just preface their arguments with "Now, as for me..." it would make more sense. You want to argue about your personal preferences, fine, but leave Katniss out of it unless you're arguing about whether cupcakes or venison would be better for her.

Not that I'm not guilty of doing the same thing, but--a little separation of text and RL never hurt anyone, you know?

P.S. Cupcakes ftw!

[edajaramsmom.livejournal.com]

Couldn't have said it better myself. Obviously. Or I would have... How can my dear daughter not like these books? I think she must have been switched at birth!

[timeripple.livejournal.com]

As much as I always get sucked into them and enjoy discussing them, I have to admit I don't love them the same way I love Plain Kate or The Demon's Lexicon or The Orphan's Tales. There are books I like a lot, and then there are OMG BOOKS OF MY HEART, if you see what I mean. ;)

If you like dark, postapocalyptic YA, though, you should definitely check out The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. I think it's a better book in some ways than the Hunger Games, though it also demands much more of the reader. It's a much more interior story, if that makes sense--Rachel might like it better than she did the Hunger Games books. (Or you might hate the narrative voice, which is a bit... unique.) And the cliffhangers are much steeper. And at one point I put Knife of Never Letting Go down and whimpered "I don't like this book any moooore" and picked it up again half an hour later because I had to know what happened.

I've just started the sequel, The Ask and the Answer, in preparation for the final book coming out in a few weeks. I'm pretty sure I'll have to re-read something ridiculously fluffy, like Eyes Like Stars, afterward. XD