Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion
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All She Wrote
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October 2012, week 3: All She Wrote
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Chapter 16 ended dramatically when Victoria fainted. In the beginning of chapter 17 J.X. hurries to catch her fall. I found the following lines highly amusing (page 181):
He scooped up Victoria practically before she hit the ground, well within the five-second rule. If she'd been a potato chip, he could have still eaten her.
LOL. The five-second rule is something that even MythBusters have tested (one of hubby's favorite shows).
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Very true. "God yes."on page 176 is a line any of us could have sighed in a moment like that. Just like you said, it makes the character very human, one of us, one of our friends.
And when those two words are preceded with Kit's long pondering on younger, cuter rivals and his attempts to hide how his muscles and lungs are actually killing him, it's even more funny and sweet when all the struggling ends with J.X. suggesting a brief rest. He'd known it all! What a relief. And when J.X. laughs after Kit's response, his laugh was not unkind. He is not laughing at Kit, but with him. Another relief!
Kit keeps doubting his chances with J.X. and J.X. keeps proving all Kit's doubts to be unnecessary, one by one.
I am way behind with the reading, having been travelling and all, but am working to catch up. One thing I have noticed though, both in the chapters I have read after J.X. is back in the picture and from your comments, is the way J.X. is described several times, as a mix of tough, young ex-cop and kindness and tenderness. I have seen this mix in other of Josh's charachters, and they get to me every time. It is part of the charm of the books, that he manage to give his men such a lovable mix of traits and manage them to come along as thoroughly believable and real. And hot, too! :)
Chapter 18 has one of the greatest love scenes I have read. It shows Kit and J.X. in all their human glory, vulnerable and sweet, funny and tender, rough and kind, and most important of all, it is the absolutely right vehicle to show how far Kit has come, how he opens up, literally and figuratively to the love and care J.X. has to offer. And I love that there is laughter as well as deep emotion and poetry in the description of the act.And J.X. gets to show his protective streak when Anna visits. :)
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I totally agree with you, Anne. I actually find myself quite speechless when I should be saying something smart about the last pages of chapter 17 and the chapter 18. I feel so small and clumsy with words and the worst part is that there is so much that I would like to say... and I don't even know where to start. *gulp* I'm glad that you said it all so well!
Like you said in your earlier post, Anne: It is part of the charm of the books, that he manage to give his men such a lovable mix of traits and manage them to come along as thoroughly believable and real.
There are so many different nuances in the actions and thoughts of these two men in this lovely scene! I adore the way it all kind of starts to build up when Kit halfheartedly notices how J.X. tosses his boots around the room in a territorial way. :) And the sweet way J.X. manages to seduce Kit to lay down "to take a nap". ;) And how Kit's annoyance doesn't offend him, but quite contrary — he thinks that Kit is cute when he's all worked up. Sweet. The way J.X.'s smile continues to get wider and whiter (!) is a fun detail. And I love this little exchange on page 187 after Kit has moved closer J.X. with a great deal of wincing and flinching:
J.X. watched the production, still smiling. "How's the shoulder?"
"Terrible. How's the stomach?"
"Much better."
Somehow those few, quite ordinary words describe so perfectly both of these men's view of life and their personalities. :) Anyway, I'll post this now and start another one — just to see, if you girls are still around to talk to. :)
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Johanna: To me it has felt like Kit has been solving two mysteries in this book: the mystery concerning Anna and the mystery of his relationship with J.X.
Yes, clever and skilled of Josh to weave the story that way.
Anne, such a lovely concise description of what makes this particular love scene so affecting and memorable. And I have to say that the segue between the ending of Chapter 17 and the first line of Chapter 18 is both funny and brilliant. Indeed "one hot whisper," Meep!
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I raised my head, cleared my throat. "Come again?"
J.X. smiled at me, a lazy smile. His eyes were dark and tender. "And again and again and again." His voice was soft. It seemed to raise every hair on my body, like the drifting ripple of static electricity. (page 189)
There is such a rich scale of emotions in this one single chapter that it always amazes me. To me that is one of the main reasons why I keep coming back to read it again and again and again *grin*. All those sexy vibes, but also the vulnerability. All the love, but also a tiny flicker of sadness:
"I love you," he said, and his mouth covered mine.
There was a lump in my throat. I wasn't used to someone...caring so much. It got to me in a way I'd never have expected. I made another of those freaky sounds—uncomfortably close to whimper—and thrust against him. (page 191)
Did we hear the word love for the first time? We did, didn't we?!
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Oh yes! It seems that I've been writing my comment about this at the same time that you've already pointed it out. And yes, brilliant is the word to describe it. :)
We did, Johanna, we did!:)
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How cool is that!? And the way J.X. prevents Kit for answering by starting to kiss him is very thoughtful and sweet too. He knows that Kit most likely isn't ready to say those words yet, because he hasn't even quite managed to wrap his head around their relationship yet.
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The atmosphere of the love scene is unique, exactly like Kit and J.X. blend together. Josh has so skillfully created the mood with all the mixed emotions (Kit) and the secure undertone (J.X.). And he lets us laugh with them too. There is excitement, playfulness and seriousness — all within only few lines. It's a wonderful mixture of hot sex and heartwarming lines like the one J.X. says on page 193:
"Sometimes I think the words get in the way with you and me, but I always listen to you. I always will."
And afterwards when J.X. asks Kit if the sex was all right, Kit decides that the question in fact deserves his full consideration. He stops his instinctive and automatic sarcastic distancing train of thought and he REALLY thinks how he feels. And he likes how he is feeling.
This chapter always leaves me with such satisfied feelings — with the kind of joy that follows a pleasant surprise. With serene and peaceful happiness.
Thank you all for those wonderful comments on the maybe most wonderful scene in the whole book! Like Johanna I feel clumsy when it comes to decribe what I thought about it, all the emotions... It creates a beautiful mood, emotional but not sappy. I want to bath in it and love to re-read.
Johanna wrote: "Here are just a couple of thoughts about the very beginning of the chapter 17 — I'll be back to comment on the rest of the chapter 17 and chapter 18 later today.Chapter 16 ended dramatically when..."
The Anna-Crisp made me laugh too. A funny comment and a great way of defusing Anna's drama.
Anne wrote: "I am way behind with the reading, having been travelling and all, but am working to catch up. One thing I have noticed though, both in the chapters I have read after J.X. is back in the picture and..."Kit keeps describing JX as larger than life but his actions show a tender heart with insight and caring. I like discovering more about him.
Josh does tend to keep a similar dynamic to his characters, but he does it well. Certainly keeps me reading :)
Anne wrote: "Chapter 18 has one of the greatest love scenes I have read. It shows Kit and J.X. in all their human glory, vulnerable and sweet, funny and tender, rough and kind, and most important of all, it is ..."Nicely put.
It's revealing and judged perfectly.
Johanna wrote: "The transition from chapter 17 to chapter 18 must be the most memorable one I've ever read. Very effective indeed. ;) And the lines that follow didn't make only Kit's hairs stand up, but mine too:..."
I liked the kiss to stop him speaking. JX knows Kit isn't ready for declarations. Also it shows vulnerability, as he's avoiding the hurt from not hearing it back.
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Well, to quote Calathea, I'm still bathing in chapter 18. I wanted to come back and say something about the end of the chapter too, because yesterday I was so caught up in one of my favorite, the most perfect love scenes ever that I forgot to mention some stuff I intended to say. :)
It's fascinating how the mood changes when Anna walks in the room. We (the two men and me) are still lulling in the afterglow of the amazing lovemaking — what would be a more harsh way to cut it short that to make Anna march in?! The reader definitely sympathizes with J.X. and feels the same way as he does about Anna. We all want to protect Kit and can't wait to shove Anna out the door.
Karen said it really well: But as noted in previous discussions, Kit's insecurities have often led him to "settle" or rationalize bad behavior. His self-unacknowledged empathetic tendencies come in to play as well. It's frustrating to readers as well, since we want better for Kit, but I'll bet most of us can recall a "high-maintenance" friend or two for whom we made all sorts of allowances... until one day we'd finally had enough.
Here is some info on corncockle:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_C...
We also get to add another Miss Butterwith title on our list: Sow Shall Ye Reap, Miss Butterwith. I had to google the saying, because I wasn't familiar with it (but I'm sure you all know the saying already). It seems to origin from the Bible, Galatians VI, where it says something like this: "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." These are the explanations I came up with:
Used to mean that the way you behave in life will affect the treatment you will receive from others.
and
Your deeds, good or bad, will repay you in kind.
Gotta go. See you girls later today. Have a lovely Monday, everyone! :)
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In the 19th century, it was reported as a very common weed of wheat fields and its seeds were inadvertently included in harvested wheat seed and then re-sown the following season. It is very likely that until the 20th century, most wheat contained some corncockle seed.
Now that sounds scary. So do you suppose there were numerous incidents of corncockle poisoning from wheat contamination or were the quantities too small to be harmful?
Karen wrote: "Now that sounds scary. So do you suppose there were numerous incidents of corncockle poisoning from wheat contamination or were the quantities too small to be harmful? "I thought about that too after following the link (and translating the name of the plant and realising that I actually knew what it was...^^). There might have been corncockle seed in the grain but I think it would have been streched thin through production process, sifting, threshing, grinding into flower etc. The amount left would have been small enough to not make people drop dead left and right. Another thought: We don't know about the chemical properties of the poison in the seed. It might be that it looses potency when treated with heat, e.g. cooking or baking.
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In the 19th century, it was reported as a very common weed of wheat fields and its seeds were inadvertently included in harvest..."
I don't know, but I found this interesting too:
All parts of the plant are poisonous. It has been used in folk medicine despite the risk of fatal poisoning.
Calathea wrote: "I thought about that too after following the link (and translating the name of the plant and realising that I actually knew what it was...^^)."I went from English to German (because I had already a dictionary open) to Latin to Italian. I had never heard of the thing in none of these languages.
Antonella wrote: "Calathea wrote: "I thought about that too after following the link (and translating the name of the plant and realising that I actually knew what it was...^^)."I went from English to German (beca..."
I wish I could show you the drawing I made of it when I was ten or eleven and staying with my grandma during summer holidays. She worked at a botanical garden at that time and I went there with her for two weeks. There was a lot to be learned! :D I admit that I didn't know the plant was poisonous until now.
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Uh, actually it's my Fall Break and I've pledged to spend a hunk of this time off cleaning and re-organizing in preparation for a large family gathering over Thanksgiving, so naturally I'll find as many intriguing ideas as possible to distract me...
Karen wrote: "Uh, actually it's my Fall Break and I've pledged to spend a block of this time off cleaning and re-organizing in preparation for a large family gathering over Thanksgiving, so naturally I'll find as many intriguing ideas as possible to distract me... "I'm glad to hear that this distraction strategy is know world wide.
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Yes, sounds like a familiar (and functional) strategy to me too... ;)
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Josh has used this reference to a sense of place — sense of home — before, perhaps in the first H&M (or even in the AE series?), but I can't find it right now. There are the lines back in Chapter 9 about listening to Jack Johnson’s To the Sea as they leave the hospital and are about to pass by the accident site:
About as far from Connecticut as you could get. I focused on Johnson’s laid-back tunes of sand and sea.
And it tickles a recollection of Johnson's music being used before (now I'm really thinking AE) to describe this sense of us at home in California. It's such a lovely touch to personalize the triggers of sound and smell — of ours — in the way we all have those sensual triggers to emotional responses, to memories.
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Josh has used this reference to a sense of place — sense of home — before, perhaps in the first ..."
Yes, this was a lovely, lovely line. And your thoughts about it were equally lovely, Karen!
And when these kind of sunny feelings and scents are portrayed in the middle of snowy landscape it's even more precious. I just commented on October 2012, week 4 topic about J.X.'s laugh which was described like this (chapter 19, page 207):
J.X. laughed, a low rasp of sound like a warm, soft sand on bare skin. (page 207)
There seems to be the California theme again! The intimate us.
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Q&A with Josh Lanyon
Books mentioned in this topic
Storybook Treasury of Dick and Jane and Friends (other topics)All She Wrote (other topics)
and 'I need to say more nice things to you.'
Oh Kit :) (Kit not Chris this time ;) oopsie)
Feel sorry for Kit the way he describes taking turns and kissing, it makes his relationship sound sterile and a duty. JX is so much more and Kit talks about those 5yrs between them like it's a century.
More explicit than I'd expect in the traditional cosy-mystery, but well judged, it shows togetherness and Kit's need to trust without taking over the story as happens in too many m/m reads.
Miss Butterwith sounds like the kind of book I'd likely read, not too far from titles already on my shelf! and yeah JX how dare she snark Butterwith, you kind of agree with her, but how dare she LOL. I do hope as the series progresses Kit will move on to a write a more daring book, but part of me'll miss Butterwith.
It's interesting how differently JX seems to see Kit compared to Kit's self-perception.