Star Wars Rolling Remix

No progress on finding a colour match for the book chain, but I've got other reading done:


January: Title containing "Before" or "After"

Before Dorothy, Hazel Gaynor. A historical novel telling a version of the life of Dorothy Gale's Auntie Em.

It's a straight historical, with no fantasy elements; one of the things it takes from the 1939 movie is the idea that Dorothy's trip to Oz was a dream inspired by things and people encountered in the waking world. Consequently, the cast of characters includes real-world analogues for the Wicked Witch (very similar to the movie's version), the Wizard (signficantly different), Glinda, and so on. Another thing it takes from the movie is that Tornado Day happens in the 1930s, allowing the author to make use of the Dust Bowl and the Depression; I was mostly able to roll with it but did occasionally blink at the inclusion of things that my head considers definitely post-Oz. (There's just something weird about the idea of Dorothy Gale sitting in Kansas reading Anne of Green Gables.)

I'm not sure how it would read as a straight historical for someone who wasn't familiar with The Wizard of Oz and didn't notice the references; I was initially rather distracted going "that's from that bit in the movie" and "that's from the book", and more interested in collecting clues about how the author was planning to deal with Tornado Day than in the characters for their own sake, but I did start getting involved in it once I'd settled to my satisfaction what kind of story to expect. My initial reaction when I realised what the driving question of the climax was going to be was "oh, this again?", but in the event I was sincerely invested in how it would play out.

I do think it could have done with another editing pass specifically to assess which of the references were actually contributing something worth keeping in; not every mention of circus animals need to include "lions and tigers and bears" (four separate times, I counted), and it felt like every red thing was ruby and just about every green thing was "emerald" -- though, having said that, I was struck by a moment near the end when one of the things I would have expected to be emerald was merely "green", which effectively undercut the moment in a way that I would like to think was deliberate.


Miscellaneous

Fiasco by Jason Morningstar. The source-book for a narrative role-playing game/long-form improvisational exercise for creating stories of "powerful ambition and poor impulse control", inspired by films like Fargo and Blood Simple. This was a re-read; I've owned the book for years, since I saw a demonstration game, but have never had any success at rounding up some people to play it with (nor the requisite impressively-large number of dice required).


You Say Potato: The Story of English Accents by Ben & David Crystal. Ben is an actor, David is a linguist, both have a professional interest in accents and how they develop and what they signify. The book includes a section about their work in the Shakespeare in Original Pronunciation project, which is where I first encountered them. I'm about halfway through, and have not yet reached the section promised on the back cover which addresses the vital question: "Has anybody ever actually said 'po-TAH-to'?"

The style is very conversational, and I have a feeling the audio book version would be a lot of fun to listen to.

. The group from the board game club that sometimes meets on Sunday afternoons to play longer games met on Sunday afternoon to have another shot at Tainted Grail, a long-form game (the kind where there's a mechanism to save your progress because you're definitely not finishing in one session) that involves exploring and learning the stories of a land being overwhelmed by chaotic magic. ( Read more... )


. We had another long session on the regular board game day, because it was a public holiday so we started in the early afternoon instead of being restricted to the evening.

We took advantage of the extra time to play Nemesis: Retaliation, ( Read more... )

Afterward, to finish off on a lighter note, we played a game of Jamaica, a game in which each player is a pirate competing to sail back to port with the most gold and best treasures. ( Read more... )


. I spent much of the week reading Sansûkh, and ended up being happy I'd put in the time. The ending is pretty satisfying, as long as you're able to take it on its own terms and not worry about how much or little it has to do with Tolkien's Middle-Earth.


. I had another go at Zombies Run; I took a water bottle with me, which contributed to having a significantly better experience than last time I tried it.


. I'm currently running a few episodes behind on Natural Six, but the advantage is that when I hit a big cliffhanger like the one at the end of episode 43 I don't have to wait a fortnight to find out what happens next. I might be able to catch up again soon; part of why I've been lagging is that the last few episodes had been making me uncomfortable waiting for a plot shoe to drop, and Episode 44 dropped it good and proper.


. Speaking of an absence of shoes, my week came to an unhappy conclusion when I was getting ready for bed and banged a toe against a piece of furniture I was too sleepy to successfully navigate past. I think it's just bruised, but it complained loudly and at length. It seems to have mostly settled down now.

Fiction books
Terry Pratchett, Stephen Briggs. Monstrous Regiment (stage adaptation)
Lewis Carroll, Martin Gardner. The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition (re-read) (ish)
Andrew Cartmel, Ben Aaronovitch, Lee Sullivan. Cry Fox (e)
Andrew Cartmel, Ben Aaronovitch, Lee Sullivan. Water Weed (e)
Brian Daley. Han Solo at Stars' End
Mark Dunn. Ella Minnow Pea (e)
Dashiell Hammett. Red Harvest (e)
CS Lewis. Till We Have Faces
Jean Webster. Daddy-Long-Legs (e) (re-read)
Jean Webster. Dear Enemy (e)

In progress
EW Hornung. The Amateur Cracksman (e)

Abandoned
Arthur W Ryder. Twenty-Two Goblins (e)

Non-fiction books
James Randi. James Randi: Psychic Investigator

In progress
Jason Morningstar. Fiasco (re-read)
Keri Smith. Wreck This Journal Everywhere

In hiatus
James W Loewen. Lies My Teacher Told Me (e)

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Hazel Gaynor. Before Dorothy (e)