colleen the convivial curmudgeon > Recent Status Updates

"Not that we have a plank, you understand! We just keep a good solid board below and tell folks it's a plank to scare them into giving us some peace! If we wanted to kill them, we'd be proper about it and put a blade in their guts like any civilized crew."

"Each of us believes what seems true enough to him, and allows others the same luxury. Who can know what happened in the dim dawn of the world? We can barely decide what to have for breakfast without a theological debate - the Nurian law is polite disagreement. We do our best with how the world appears to our own eyes."

Damn. I mean, I saw it coming but, still...

I have found that if I am favorable towards the first book in a series, I am often less critical of subsequent books.

Conversely, if I am less than enamored with the first, I tend to be harsher with future installments.

Back in the saddle after a brief hiatus for floating custards...

I've been reading too much pseudo-Victorian lit. A claim handler asked me if I could "put my hands on" some paperwork, and internally I was shocked - (shocked, I say!) - at the appalling wording of his request, thinking to myself "I shan't put my hands on anything of yours, good sir!".

*gigglesnort*

I'm struggling with this. The elements are there for a good story, but the writing isn't working for me, and the pacing is killing me.

I procrastinate about picking it up, read a few chapters and then fall asleep. Last night I mentally groaned at the thought of starting to read it. It's not that bad while I'm reading it... but it feels like a chore.

I should bail, but I feel bad about it. Urgh.

"Bird said Summer was being stupid, that their mother obviously talked in poems, and poems were always true."

I'm getting through this very slowly. It's partially 'cause I've been busy... but partially because the story isn't exactly riveting. It's all very standard so far.

I do like the character of Gar... but I'm not really invested in the characters/world thus far.

I'm also a bit saddened to do the math and realize I still have so much further to go...

"I do wonder if life is catching somehow..."

"Vetinari gave him a look that did not actually employ a raised eyebrow but which implied that one might be forthcoming if the recipient of the look pushed his luck."

Story's picking up after a slowish set-up. I'd like to see more out of Gilan, though, who seems a bit superfluous to the story at this point.

It might be a case of "it's not you, it's me", but this isn't really grabbing my attention.

It has its moments, as captured in prior updates... but I'm just not feeling it, overall...

Haven't decided what to do yet.

“…this is normal in what is called politics, which is essentially the business of countries and big groups and people trying to make everyone see things their way. Since no one ever does, very little is achieved and practitioners are voted out and others voted in who reverse the process, so government… is not so much a journey as a series of emergency stops and arguments over which way to hold the map."

"An ellipsis is like a haymaker punch you throw with your mouth, and the only tricks more low rent than that are making fun of your opponent's ugly puss and *bringing up something by saying you won't mention it.*"

"Step off the path, and maybe you'd get back and maybe you wouldn't, but you would be changed. Which sounds like strange and awful until you realise that that's actually pretty much how it's always been, and if you think any different, it's because you've never left that little stretch of comfort and gone someplace where what you know gets a bit thin on the ground."

I'm hoping we finally take down Zavac in this story!

Moving along well enough...

Crossed the 1,000 Books Marked Read threshold over the weekend...

Things seem to be picking up now - heading to something bigger.

We're *finally* off to actually *do* something!

I'm a little less than halfway through, and I don't know how I feel about it. I keep wishing Alyssa would be more proactive, and actually let her madness out, 'cause I thought that shit was resolved at the end of last book. But dad keeps holding her back. (Dad's kinda annoying, all around.) Plus there's the continuing "I love him... but I love him, too". Yes, yes, we know... Bigger fish, kiddo...

In other news, WoW had ruined me. Everytime he says, "the Horde girl," my brain supplies, "For the Horde." I don't even play the damn game. Stupid osmosis. Stupid book with stupid names. Now we have a dude called Leprosy. I shit you not.

"I close my eyes tight and feel my pupils expand in response to the lack of light." You feel your pupils expand? Is that a vampire thing? Sorry - Vampyre.

Toenails? TOENAILS?! Ew. Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew! Gods, I hate feet. Ewwwwwww!!!

What am I even reading? It's time like these when I really wish we had spoiler tags in status updates...