Books: One of my favorite love stories anatomized

[nebroadwe]

Author sarahtales likes some of the same books I do, it seems, including Megan Whalen Turner's Thief and sequels (latest installment due out this spring, huzzah!). This, she writes, is why:

GEN: There goes the Queen of Attolia, that hateful hellbeast. Hi, Attolia, I'm in your kingdom stealing your miracle stone.
ATTOLIA: I poisoned my fiance, you know. Why do you think it is a good idea to cross me?
GEN: I broke into your bedroom just to leave earrings by your bed. Mocking earrings.
ATTOLIA: I have hatched a cunning plan to catch you. And now I'm going to cut off your hand.
GEN: No, you're not; I am the hero of the story, and a master thief. There's no way - ow. OW.
ATTOLIA: Told you.
GEN: I am off to plot my revenge. It will involve kidnapping you and taking you away in a boat and threatening your life.
ATTOLIA: Well, crap.
GEN: Or ... we could get married.
ATTOLIA: Wut?
GEN: I love you! DID YOU LIKE MY EARRINGS. PLEASE SAY YES.
ATTOLIA: I cut off your hand.
VILLAIN: I have rescued you, Attolia. Are you not GRATEFUL?
ATTOLIA: So grateful! He is short and younger than me and missing a hand and crazy. By the way, do you like my new earrings?
VILLAIN: Very fetching!
ATTOLIA: They're a sign I'm going to doublecross you and marry Gen.
GEN: I'm so happy, my brilliantly deceitful love. As a wedding present to ourselves, shall I defeat all the troublesome nobles in your country by means of trickery, fashion, and brilliant swordplay?
ATTOLIA: Assuredly you may, my husband. Come visit me through our secret passageways and we'll do pillowplotting.
EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD: But ... she cut off your hand.
GEN AND ATTOLIA: Every relationship has problems. Don't be a hater.

Oh, and she also likes Pride and Prejudice, Cotillion, and Howl's Moving Castle, which makes me think I should take her recommendation of Margaret Mahy's Changeover seriously. It's been on my "hmm, people seem to think this is worth reading" list for years, but I hadn't gotten round to it yet. Now, perhaps ...

Comments

[kanja177.livejournal.com]

Didn't know you were following sarahtales, too! I quite seriously considered sending you the link to that one this morning - it's delightful, yes? I knew you'd like it - but never had a minute.

And yes, I made a little margin note-to-self about Changeover as well.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Somebody quoted it on sounis, which is where I picked it up. I have Changeover ILLed now ...

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

I think I'm highly amused.

EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD: But ... she cut off your hand.
GEN AND ATTOLIA: Every relationship has problems. Don't be a hater.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

It does misrepresent the novels, in that they aren't actually this snarky (or this kind of snarky). On the other hand, [snicker, snicker], this is just too funny.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

If I didn't have such a stack of things to read right now (Hello, manga, sitting on my bed side antique traveling trunk for two-plus years, plus all the novels COM has mailed me), I'd be looking into this.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Once you've caught up, I heartily recommend this series. Turner can write: her dialogue crackles, but her narrative prose has an elegant simplicity, so that when she tosses a simile or metaphor at you, it's the gold frame around the cameo. And she can write a plausible naive narrator, which in this day and age is nearly a lost art. [sighs] I think I'm in love ...

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Well, that sounds cool...if I can make it out from under the stack, I'll see about looking that up.

[cotume.livejournal.com]

OH GOD I LOVE sarahtales TO DEATH. Her book and movie summaries are some of the funniest things I've read in a long time.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

I haven't been following her religiously, but I may dip in more often now. :-)

[cotume.livejournal.com]

She always makes me laugh, even when she's just writing about her everyday life. Her trip to Paris, for example. Hilarity. I keep sending the link to all my friends... she's definitely worth a read when you need something cheerful. ^^

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

That would be today, then -- barked my shin, forgot my lunch, got nothing completed at work because everything was an enormous problem ... [whines feebly in a futile attempt to garner sympathy, because it's that kind of day and things could be much, much worse ...]

[cotume.livejournal.com]

Awww. I'm sorry, bb. I know that kind of day... where you feel absolutely sucky but you feel bad for complaining because in the grand scheme of things it's not all that bad BUT STILL. WHY WON'T THINGS GO RIGHT? Yeah.

Yeah, def. read through some of Sarah's archives. Team Castle is always a good bet, if you can find the entries. ((HUG))