mindo (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} sasorion) wrote,@ 2009-07-01 01:38:00 |
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Among other things I've been doing are:
1) recovering from yet another car accident (this one was bad, too. At least I only have some superficial injuries and no scarring, and no one else was hurt. RIP, Regina my love)
2) family reunion-ing
3) learning mah-jong (most addictive game everrrrr)
4) filling cavities (I have 3 down, 5 to go. I haven't seen a dentist since summer of freshman year okay!)
5) shopping for Amy's bday present (lol I have perfect gift... which I won't be revealing since she actually follows this journal.)
6) attempting macarons for Patricia's bday (oh my god. Worst idea ever. I fail as a macaron maker. Never again.)
8) finished reading The Zookeeper's Wife which I liked, but was a bit suspect about the style its written (very novel like. Minimal footnoting. But I guess it's more popular, novelized history, so oh well.) Overall a very interesting look at the Polish Resistance during WWII
7) following the addictive book reviews at Book Smugglers which specializes in fantasy, sci-fi, and romance. Which is where I got the idea to read Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series.
I find great guilty pleasure in reading cheesy romance novels. In a bookstore, I inevitably drift to the history section after much wandering, but I think after Harlequin offered free ebooks and coupled with my high school love for Georgette Heyer, I've started looking more for romance novels that don't totally put me off. Nalini Singh's writing is pretty solid, and I love her universe, especially the Psy population.
Basically, there are three types of people in this world: regular humans, Changelings (who are were, meaning they can change into animals), and Psy, who have psychic abilities and apparently had a big crime rate until the Silence.
In the 70s, the leaders of the Psy, fed up with scandals and murders and etc. instituted a program called Silence which trained feelings out of the Psy. So basically, they are emotionless people. Kind of robotic. Excellent politicians and businessmen, and totally arrogant. I love them.
I'm not much of a fan of the age-old paranormal trope of werepeople, who are in touch with their animal side blah blah freakin' blah, but the Psy are fun and awesome. That said, I've got a couple bones about the current book I'm reading book 2.
Basically, I like Psy. I like their strange off-centeredness and their complete control over themselves. I feel like that's an awesome premise in a romance series, especially since as a writer you can explore a variety of ways in which that emotionless state can change. In both books so far however there are Psy women who struggle with their Psy training which are slowly broken down through persistent changeling male aggression.
It was less grating in the first book, since Sascha, the title character, was already feeling and yearning for affection and feeling and etc. But it is totally off-putting in the second, where the woman Faith continuously requests the dude Vaughn to stop touching her because she grew up in isolation and really cannot physically process touch and he STILL DOES. So, she's already like, gone into seizure three times because he ignored her warnings. And everytime Sascha tries to interject on her behalf, freakin Vaughn insists he knows better and I'm like "wtf!" because he doesn't. The Psy are incredibly secretive about the details of their society, as are the changelings. Just because what Vaughn thinks is normal and healthy is NOT SO when applicable to a DIFFERENT SPECIES of people. Self-centered insistence is entirely too limited and problematic approach to solving the dilemma of Faith's non-existent emotions.
Okay, maybe this trope appeals to those readers who like seeing icy woman being melted by persistent lover, but with the universe Singh has set up, it really really disturbs me. I have a tendency to really sink into sympathizing with certain characters, and I'm continuously feeling claustrophobic when reading scenes with Faith and Vaughn. I mean, blah blah this is romance so obvs she's like, submitting or whatever, but I'm going "CANNOT COMPUTE CANNOT COMPUTE ERROR ERROR ERROR" for her. And the fact that he just does not follow her requests to stay away, to insist that everything she's known is totally fake and that he knows better drives me insane. Honestly? Honestly. I hope this is building up for a big fat reality check for him, that while the Psy are kind of dicks about how they treat her and use her, there are some issues that um, they know best how to deal with.
Maybe I just don't like his character-- too aggressive, and too blinded by ugh, lust. At least Lucas in the previous book, his attraction was tempered by concerns about Sascha's loyalties and submotives. In here, you get a couple throwaway comments to Vaughn's concern before he becomes obsessed with touching her and making her seize. That's really bad case of perversion there, sir.
Also, the way Faith just UGH sort of awkwardly roundaboutly accepts his treatment of her really bothers me. I don't know why she suddenly develops humor and desire for him, when he makes her uncomfortable. I DON'T KNOW.
Maybe I like the long, slow process of romance, not the immediate firework sparks. And animal attraction via changeling instincts is NOT a shortcut!
That's why I a) dislike the wereanimal trope and b) am really picky about what I read.
Oh well. Maybe the third book will be better-- apparently it features a male Psy so hopefully it'll contain less of:
The beast wanted her NOW. The male did too. He took her by the waist and KISSED HER. She STRUGGLED and cried "Let me go!" but he only chuckled sensually and said "No, my darling. You shall be MINE." And then she SUBMITTED to his MANLY ANIMALISTIC pheromones and his lean body. He overwhelmed her with his MASCULINITY of PANTHERness. Because he was a panther inside. And the panther liked his female overwhelmed.
As much as I know that reading romance novels means that you really must set aside some political correctness, I can't help but dislike all this talk of the man being so forceful as to make the woman submit gladly to his charms. It really irritates me, because I feel like the Psy especially, are so much more rational and logical than that. I mean, I'm not against them falling in love, I just would like to see the man work a lot more to earn that love, rather than flex a bit of muscle and prance around as a big fat animal.
I'll probably finish the book anyways. After this, I'm going back to my classics and history. I've started rereading Tom Holland's Persian Fire which I think has some problems of its own, and also Orlando Furioso.
1) recovering from yet another car accident (this one was bad, too. At least I only have some superficial injuries and no scarring, and no one else was hurt. RIP, Regina my love)
2) family reunion-ing
3) learning mah-jong (most addictive game everrrrr)
4) filling cavities (I have 3 down, 5 to go. I haven't seen a dentist since summer of freshman year okay!)
5) shopping for Amy's bday present (lol I have perfect gift... which I won't be revealing since she actually follows this journal.)
6) attempting macarons for Patricia's bday (oh my god. Worst idea ever. I fail as a macaron maker. Never again.)
8) finished reading The Zookeeper's Wife which I liked, but was a bit suspect about the style its written (very novel like. Minimal footnoting. But I guess it's more popular, novelized history, so oh well.) Overall a very interesting look at the Polish Resistance during WWII
7) following the addictive book reviews at Book Smugglers which specializes in fantasy, sci-fi, and romance. Which is where I got the idea to read Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series.
I find great guilty pleasure in reading cheesy romance novels. In a bookstore, I inevitably drift to the history section after much wandering, but I think after Harlequin offered free ebooks and coupled with my high school love for Georgette Heyer, I've started looking more for romance novels that don't totally put me off. Nalini Singh's writing is pretty solid, and I love her universe, especially the Psy population.
Basically, there are three types of people in this world: regular humans, Changelings (who are were, meaning they can change into animals), and Psy, who have psychic abilities and apparently had a big crime rate until the Silence.
In the 70s, the leaders of the Psy, fed up with scandals and murders and etc. instituted a program called Silence which trained feelings out of the Psy. So basically, they are emotionless people. Kind of robotic. Excellent politicians and businessmen, and totally arrogant. I love them.
I'm not much of a fan of the age-old paranormal trope of werepeople, who are in touch with their animal side blah blah freakin' blah, but the Psy are fun and awesome. That said, I've got a couple bones about the current book I'm reading book 2.
Basically, I like Psy. I like their strange off-centeredness and their complete control over themselves. I feel like that's an awesome premise in a romance series, especially since as a writer you can explore a variety of ways in which that emotionless state can change. In both books so far however there are Psy women who struggle with their Psy training which are slowly broken down through persistent changeling male aggression.
It was less grating in the first book, since Sascha, the title character, was already feeling and yearning for affection and feeling and etc. But it is totally off-putting in the second, where the woman Faith continuously requests the dude Vaughn to stop touching her because she grew up in isolation and really cannot physically process touch and he STILL DOES. So, she's already like, gone into seizure three times because he ignored her warnings. And everytime Sascha tries to interject on her behalf, freakin Vaughn insists he knows better and I'm like "wtf!" because he doesn't. The Psy are incredibly secretive about the details of their society, as are the changelings. Just because what Vaughn thinks is normal and healthy is NOT SO when applicable to a DIFFERENT SPECIES of people. Self-centered insistence is entirely too limited and problematic approach to solving the dilemma of Faith's non-existent emotions.
Okay, maybe this trope appeals to those readers who like seeing icy woman being melted by persistent lover, but with the universe Singh has set up, it really really disturbs me. I have a tendency to really sink into sympathizing with certain characters, and I'm continuously feeling claustrophobic when reading scenes with Faith and Vaughn. I mean, blah blah this is romance so obvs she's like, submitting or whatever, but I'm going "CANNOT COMPUTE CANNOT COMPUTE ERROR ERROR ERROR" for her. And the fact that he just does not follow her requests to stay away, to insist that everything she's known is totally fake and that he knows better drives me insane. Honestly? Honestly. I hope this is building up for a big fat reality check for him, that while the Psy are kind of dicks about how they treat her and use her, there are some issues that um, they know best how to deal with.
Maybe I just don't like his character-- too aggressive, and too blinded by ugh, lust. At least Lucas in the previous book, his attraction was tempered by concerns about Sascha's loyalties and submotives. In here, you get a couple throwaway comments to Vaughn's concern before he becomes obsessed with touching her and making her seize. That's really bad case of perversion there, sir.
Also, the way Faith just UGH sort of awkwardly roundaboutly accepts his treatment of her really bothers me. I don't know why she suddenly develops humor and desire for him, when he makes her uncomfortable. I DON'T KNOW.
Maybe I like the long, slow process of romance, not the immediate firework sparks. And animal attraction via changeling instincts is NOT a shortcut!
That's why I a) dislike the wereanimal trope and b) am really picky about what I read.
Oh well. Maybe the third book will be better-- apparently it features a male Psy so hopefully it'll contain less of:
The beast wanted her NOW. The male did too. He took her by the waist and KISSED HER. She STRUGGLED and cried "Let me go!" but he only chuckled sensually and said "No, my darling. You shall be MINE." And then she SUBMITTED to his MANLY ANIMALISTIC pheromones and his lean body. He overwhelmed her with his MASCULINITY of PANTHERness. Because he was a panther inside. And the panther liked his female overwhelmed.
As much as I know that reading romance novels means that you really must set aside some political correctness, I can't help but dislike all this talk of the man being so forceful as to make the woman submit gladly to his charms. It really irritates me, because I feel like the Psy especially, are so much more rational and logical than that. I mean, I'm not against them falling in love, I just would like to see the man work a lot more to earn that love, rather than flex a bit of muscle and prance around as a big fat animal.
I'll probably finish the book anyways. After this, I'm going back to my classics and history. I've started rereading Tom Holland's Persian Fire which I think has some problems of its own, and also Orlando Furioso.
