Books that Shake It Up

I just finished reading Lolita. Reading Nabakov's afterword really gives the books some perspective because, like, I really found it a total headfuck. It was so damn pretty to read, but... ZOMG DUNTALKABOUTLITTLEGIRLSTHATWAY. And there's the whole them of imposing adult sexuality on children that really comes through. However the thing that really got me (besides y'know, the raping a child thing) was the metatext. On the front and back covers the book is lauded as a 'dark comedy' : 'Comedy, subversive yet divine' - Martin Amis, 'laugh-aloud black humour' - Daily Telegraph, 'endlessly comic' - John Updike, 'There's no funnier monster in modern literature' - Independant...

I didn't get the funny. I got the amazing poetry, the wordplay, the sheer brilliance of semiotic artistry, and given t was written in English, rather than Russian, it is phenomenal. I could never hope to evoke such feelings, such beauty, in English let alone in some tongue I was less familiar with.

But it wasn't funny. Not side splitting.  Maybe some chortle.

Maybe I've seen too many Steve Martin movies.

Twilight II: Vampire Boogaloo

Jailbait Werewolves - Shirts = Epic Win.

That is all.

Things I read when I get in from work after midnight.

New Text! New Text! Wheee Cleolinda, thank you for making my Phd fun. I can't believe I'm going to work M15M and the Secret Life of Dolls into a thesis.

Zounding Like Ze Bad German Accent.

I was just reading this article (gods, I love Jezebel) and was taken by the ze/zir gender neutral pronoun issue. One commentor makes a reference to Margaret Piercy using 'per' (short for Person) in Woman on the Edge of Time. I'm curious about how academic writing would respond to the introduction of a neutral pronoun. I think it's clearly a political choice  that is expressed in text, however I'm curious as to how it would play with and balance out other words. Would it highlight exactly where we see gender? and what about those pronouns like 'I', 'we' and 'you'? I wrote a paper a few years ago on the masculinity of I. do we need a neutered I? (a -?) thinking. thinking.

Move over Sparklepire...

The next big thing, I'm calling it now - Urban Fantasy, Faerie Romance. And pushing it are Holly Black, Cassandra Clare and Melissa Marr. This also seems to be a genre that is particularly open to feminist readings (seriously, I squee every few pages in Marr's books) and, holy shit, it's AWESOME.

The chicks are all "Sugar, this is all about my choices, I get them, welcome to the Future". Epic. Love. The texts are edgy, explicit without being gratuitous, and most importantly are written by young women for young readers (seriously, more boys need to get in on this shit, they're missing out).  So I think I'm going to read and review these books on here for the next little while. Not today, too much to do. But some review love wouldn't be all bad at all.

And I'll do it wearing these:

(found through Love Lorn Unicorn, told about by the Delightful Catie last night via Facespace, Visiting Peter Alexander before work today.)

Rattling Windows

They creep me the fuck out. I'm just saying, like, when Ms L isn't here and it's all night and I know I need to get me sweet arse off to bed because, like, urgh, early morning, and the windows are rattling, it's creepy.

Upside is I totally have Faerie porn to read (yay!). Downside is if I read it tonight I'll be tired tomorrow (boo!). But I got my Academic CV finished (yay!). But I need to redraft my Textual Intercourse essay as an example of my academic writing (boo!). And I totally need to print off Passionate Trousers and seriously re-write it (boo!). And I went to the gym (yay!) but I ate 2 bars of chocolate (boo!) and the were Nestle (boo!). And it'll take me 7 hours a day at the gym to get the body I want for summer (boo!). Heh. Unless I just get someone else's body (Heh). That is clearly only funny in my head (boo!).

Stupid rattly, creepy windows.

Making Time with Alice

She's done it to me again.