Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 45
January 11, 2012
"War Horse" – WWI Challenge
This review contains spoilers.
I've never read the novel War Horse by Michael Morpurgo; all of my comments are based on the Spielberg movie. I imagine the novel is a much different experience, because it allows for narration from the horse's point of view. In the movie, the horse is not given a voice.
As someone who's done a lot of reading about World War One, I really enjoyed the visuals of this movie, particularly the trenches and No Man's Land. Some of it looked so familiar, I...
January 9, 2012
A World War One Reading Challenge
For the first time ever, I've decided to participate in a reading challenge. War Through the Generations is hosting a 2012 challenge to read "fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, etc. with WWI as the primary or secondary theme.
Books can take place before, during, or after the war, so long as the conflicts that led to the war or the war itself are important to the story."
Challenge information and sign-up are here.
I signed up at the "wade" level, 4-10 books. Since I'm not very far...
January 8, 2012
"Headquarters," Gilbert Frankau
Headquarters
A league and a league from the trenches–from the traversed maze of the lines,
Where daylong the sniper watches and daylong the bullet whines,
And the cratered earth is in travail with mines and with countermines–
Here, where haply some woman dreamed (are those her roses that bloom
In the garden beyond the windows of my littered
working room?) We have decked the map for our masters as a bride is decked for the groom.
Fair, on each lettered numbered square–crossroad and...
January 6, 2012
My Arisia 2012 Schedule
Arisia 2012 is taking place January 13-16, 2012, at the Westin Boston Waterfront hotel. Here's where you can find me during the convention:
Schools for Magicians
Douglas, Friday 5:30 PM
Cecilia Tan (mod.), Mary Catelli, Frances K. Selkirk, Victoria Janssen, Ken Schneyer
A Hogwarts degree isn't the only path from mundanity to magehood. Let's consider how writers have portrayed schools, including Roke, Unseen University, Brakebills, and more. Why a school setting? Is it due to the innate...
January 4, 2012
A Collation of Guest Posts
I had a number of guest posts go live at Heroes and Heartbreakers and at The Criminal Element over the holiday season. I've collected the links in case you want to check them out!
Golden Age Sidekicks: The Heirs of John Watson.
Fresh Meat: R.A. MacAvoy's Death and Resurrection.
"I Behaved Abominably": Mary Balogh's Christmas Beau.
Fresh Meat: Marissa Meyer's Cinder.
Marjorie Liu's Dirk and Steele, or Why I'm a Dirk and Steele Fangirl.
Fresh Meat: Val McDermid's The Retribution, newest in a ...
January 2, 2012
"Optimism," A. Victor Ratcliffe
Optimism
At last there'll dawn the last of the long year,
Of the long year that seemed to dream no end,
Whose every dawn but turned the world more drear,
And slew some hope, or led away some friend.
Or be you dark, or buffeting, or blind,
We care not, day, but leave not death behind.
The hours that feed on war go heavy-hearted,
Death is no fare wherewith to make hearts fain.
Oh, we are sick to find that they who started
With glamour in their eyes came not again.
O day, be long and heavy i...
January 1, 2012
December 30, 2011
2011 Reading: Best Nonfiction
I went through all the nonfiction I read in 2011, and the books below are the volumes I enjoyed the most; they cover a range of topics.
London 1900: The Imperial Metropolis, by Jonathan Schneer, is pretty much what it says on the cover – it gives a detailed picture of the different ways British imperialism affected and interacted with London in 1900. I particularly liked chapters which gave me a lot of good information on anti-imperialists of the period.
December 25, 2011
December 23, 2011
Basic Gumbo
Here is a basic recipe for one of the best wintertime dishes ever.
Gumbo is or is related to an African word for okra, but not all gumbo has okra in it–sometimes file (pronounce with accent on the e) is added as a thickener. File is powdered sassafrass, that you can buy in a jar. The difference between the two is that you cook okra with the rest of the ingredients, but file is added in the bowls at the table–if you cook file, it gets stringy and gross.
This recipe is mostly from a book...
