Coral's comments (member since Apr 29, 2008)

Coral's comments from the Brentwood Library group.

Best-selling author Tamora Pierce will be appearing at Brentwood Library on July 22 at 7 p.m. Come, and bring your friends, too!

Tamora Pierce is the author of more than twenty fantasy books for young adults, including the Song of the Lioness quartet, the Protector of the Small quartet, and the Circle of Magic quartet. She is known for her strong female heroes and is currently working on a new comic series with her husband, Tim Liebe.

Car troubles again. Not kidding. But it's the "new" car this time. *grumble*

I wish we did craft club bi-weekly! Or maybe I don't, since it seems like my car troubles happen at the same time... :/

I have kind of put off replying to this, because I just didn't know what to say. For nearly every book I've really deeply enjoyed, there's been a character I fell temporarily (and usually very deeply) in love with. Some more than others, I guess, but that's how it goes.

Like most of you, I loved Mark Darcy and Bridget. I loved them in Pride & Prejudice, too. :)

I actually loved Frodo best in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, although Eowyn, Faramir, and Gandalf came in close behind. In that order. Eowyn almost overtook Frodo, because man is she badass. ("You look upon a woman, Eowyn I am, Eomund's daughter!" or "I'm no man," for book vs. movie.)

I loved-loved-loved the optometrist's wife in Blindness, by Jose Saramago. But I think that was the point of the book.

I admit it: I loved Harry Potter. After the first book or two, I also loved Hermione. And, obviously, Dumbledore. (I always fall for Gandalf. Giles was my favorite Buffy character, too.)

I can't remember her name, but I loved the main character in Snow Crash--of course, who doesn't? She's basically the same archetype as Blue Van Meer (Special Topics in Calamity Physics), Scout Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird), the female character in Bridge to Terabithia, and Mick Kelly (The Heart is a Lonely Hunter), and how could anyone not love any of these characters?

The Hitchhiker's Guide "trilogy" is the only real exception I can think of--I loved it, but didn't love any of the characters. Except maybe Tricia McMillan. So maybe it isn't an exception, just an example of one where it was a calm feeling, rather than a big crush...

Oh, and in the Pern series, I actually loved the dragons the most. Except maybe for Salla (I think that was her name).

Oh, oh! And ohmygod I love Bean, from Ender's Game, SO MUCH. I like the Shadow books (Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets...) so much better than the Ender books. You still have to read Ender's Game first.

And now I'm done. There might be others. But those are the ones I'm going to bother to list today. :)

Darn it, my car has no brakes. I might have been able to make other arrangements, but I forgot craft club was today.

For really big groups of people, here are my two suggestions:

A bunch of people I know (late-twenties/early-thirties people) had a most excellent New Year's Eve party at the Harris Grill, in Shadyside, a couple of years ago (before it burned down and got rebuilt). That was a fun time; we rented it out for the evening. Not sure if it'd be up your mom's alley, necessarily, but maybe? And I could definitely see them going along with a Hawaiian theme.

On the more expensive side, Mallorca does a fantastic job (if you set it up with them ahead of time) dealing with large groups of people, for dinner parties. Awesome food. Unless you're a vegetarian. That's much more Spanish-themed than Hawaiian, of course.

For a smaller, much more low-key thing, I know Joe Mama's has an upstairs that they'll rent out for parties. Some friends had a co-ed baby shower there, not long ago. Not Hawaiian themed at all, sadly.

Sometimes I hurry up and read the book, but more often I just stall and don't watch the movie right away. I still haven't seen The Golden Compass, because I'd kind of like to read the books first.

If I watch the movie, I don't usually get around to reading the book. Princess Bride was an obvious exception, as was Fight Club. But it really changes the experience of the book for me, a lot, to see the movie first. I don't get to come up with my own mental images.

The Colin Firth thing was because Colin Firth played the character that Bridget Jones was saying "is no Colin Firth," as I recall. It amused me endlessly. :) I reallyreally liked him in Pride & Prejudice.

I saw Bladerunner and didn't really get it. I wasn't sure why people insisted it was all that great. Then, years later, I read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? I liked that and decided to give Bladerunner another try. I liked it--give or take some overdone eightiesness--the second time. :)

Also, loved Bridget Jones ("He's no Colin Firth!"), loved Princess Bride, both book and movie versions. They were all great.

It's not quite answering the question (still!), but I read Pride and Prejudice because I liked Bridget Jones so much. Then, because I liked P&P so much, I watched that really long miniseries, which I also loved.