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2021-03-19 07:00 pm
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Book meme (78/365)

Via [personal profile] naraht intially, but coming up all over.

Pick a number to get an answer from me. Or give your own answer to someone else's question. Or just borrow the meme – it would be amazing to see this one get some traction!

1. A book that haunts you

2. A book that was an interesting failure

3. A book where you really wanted to be reading the "shadow" version of the book (as in, there are traces of a different book in the work and you would have much preferred to read that one)

4. A book with a worldbuilding detail that has stuck with you

5. A book where you loved the premise but the execution left you cold

6. A book where you were dubious about the premise but loved the work

7. The most imaginative book you've seen lately

8. A book that feels like it was written just for you

9. A book that reminds you of someone

10. A book that belongs to a specific time in your mind, caught in amber

11. A book that came to you at exactly the right time

12. A book that came to you at the wrong time

13. A book with a premise you'd never seen before quite like that

14. A book balanced on a knife edge

15. A snuffed candle of a book

16. The one you'd take with you while you were being ferried on dark underground rivers

17. The one that taught you something about yourself

18. A book that went after its premise like an explosion

19. A book that started a pilgrimage

20. A frigid ice bath of a book

21. A book written into your psyche

22. A warm blanket of a book

23. A book that made you bleed

24. A book that asked a question you've never had an answer to

25. A book that answered a question you never asked

26. A book you recommend but cannot love

27. A book you love but cannot recommend

28. A book you adore that people are surprised by

29. A book that led you home

30. A book you detest that people are surprised by
white_hart: (Default)
2019-08-05 07:18 pm
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Brush up your Shakespeare

My reading list is full of Shakespeare, and who am I to see a bandwagon and not jump?

All's Well That Ends Well - neither seen nor read

Antony and Cleopatra
- studied for A-level. Saw the Talawa Theatre Company's all-black production at the Bloomsbury Theatre in 1991, which seemed to go on for several years.

As You Like It - studied at university, saw an RSC production a few years ago.

The Comedy of Errors - this was the play some friends of mine took to the Fringe in 1995, just after we'd graduated from university. I saw the original production in Warwick Arts Centre and went up to Edinburgh to lend moral support, hang out, drink too much, smoke too much and eat junk food. Possibly the only production of Shakespeare ever to include a character saying "And your little dog too!" in the style of the Wicked Witch of the West, though I wouldn't place bets on that.

Coriolanus - studied at university; RSC in 1994 with Toby Stephens, and Ralph Fiennes's film version.

Cymbeline - RSC production a couple of years ago with a female Cymbeline and a definite eye to Brexit in the interpretation.

Hamlet - studied at university; RSC productions with David Tennant and Paapa Essiedu, Olivier's film and a very gory production with a tiny cast at (IIRC) Basingstoke Technical College in the 1980s, which was the first Shakespeare I ever saw. I also stage-managed an all-female production when I was at university, my one and only venture into theatricals.

Henry IV, Parts I and II - RSC with Antony Sher as Falstaff

Henry V - RSC, following on from the Henry IV plays; also the Olivier and Branagh films

Henry VI, Parts I, II and III - neither seen nor read

Henry VIII - neither seen nor read

Julius Caesar - pretty sure I studied it at university, and saw an RSC production a few years ago.

King John - neither seen nor read

King Lear - studied at university; RSC production in 2010

Love's Labour's Lost - neither seen nor read

Macbeth - studied for GCSE and at university. Have seen the Roman Polanski film and the recent version with Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, the livestream of the recent RSC production with Christoper Eccleston and a touring production with James Bolam in Farnham, Surrey in 1989.

Measure for Measure - neither seen nor read

The Merchant of Venice - saw an RSC production with Patrick Stewart as Shylock a few years ago

The Merry Wives of Windsor - neither seen nor read

A Midsummer Night's Dream - studied pre-GCSE and at university; saw a (very good) amateur production at my sixth form college and a 1994 RSC production with Alex Jennings and Hadyn Gwynne, among others,

Much Ado about Nothing - studied at university, I think; I've never managed to see a live production but have seen the Kenneth Branagh and Joss Whedon films.

Othello - studied at university; have seen livestreams of the National Theatre production with Adrian Lester and Rory Kinnear (except that the cinema's power went during Act 5, Scene 1, leaving us all on tenterhooks about whether or not Othello and Desdemona would be able to work things out) and the 2015 RSC production which had the first black Iago.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre - neither seen nor read

Richard II - saw the RSC production with David Tennant

Richard III - have seen the Ian McKellan film

Romeo and Juliet - fell asleep while attempting to watch the Baz Luhrmann film while off work sick in about 1999, never seen another production or read.

The Taming of the Shrew - studied for A-level and at university, saw an RSC production a few years ago which I wasn't particularly impressed with.

The Tempest - studied at university; saw the 2009 RSC production with Antony Sher and the livestream of the more recent one with Simon Russell Beale.

Timon of Athens - neither seen nor read.

Titus Andronicus - studied at university; never seen.

Troilus and Cressida - studied at university; never seen.

Twelfth Night - studied for GCSE and at university; saw a 2007 RSC production with John Lithgow as Malvolio and the livestream of the National Theatre production with Tamsin Greig. We also watched a BBC Shakespeare for Schools version with Joan Bakewell, not normally known as a Shakespearean actor, doubling Viola and Sebastian, when I was at school.

Two Gentlemen of Verona - neither seen nor read.

The Winter's Tale - studied at university; saw the livestream of Kenneth Branagh's 2015 production which I didn't think much of (a bit twee, really)

That is actually more than I thought. We managed quite a lot of RSC productions over the years, until they bumped the prices up to the level where a Saturday matinee would set us back over £100 once we'd factored in the parking (without even the petrol) and we switched to livestreams instead.

white_hart: (Default)
2019-01-25 08:13 pm
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Question meme, from everyone

It feels like LJ ten years ago...

Qustions )
white_hart: (Default)
2018-12-28 03:04 pm
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Book meme, via [personal profile] oursin

James Nicoll's list of 100 SF/F books You Should Consider Reading In the New Year:

Italic = read it. Underlined = not this, but something by the same author. Strikethrough = did not finish. Starred = in the To-Read Pile of Doom

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (2014)
The Stolen Lake by Joan Aiken (1981)

Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa (2001-2010)
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō by Hitoshi Ashinano (1994-2006)
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)
Stinz: Charger: The War Stories by Donna Barr (1987)
The Sword and the Satchel by Elizabeth Boyer (1980)
Galactic Sibyl Sue Blue by Rosel George Brown (1968)
The Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold (1989)
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull (1987)
Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler (1980)
Naamah’s Curse by Jacqueline Carey (2010)
The Fortunate Fall by Raphael Carter (1996)
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (2015)
Red Moon and Black Mountain by Joy Chant (1970)
*The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas (1980)
Gate of Ivrel by C.J. Cherryh (1976)
Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho (2015)
Diadem from the Stars by Jo Clayton (1977)
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper (1973)
Genpei by Kara Dalkey (2000)
*Servant of the Underworld by Aliette de Bodard (2010)
The Secret Country by Pamela Dean (1985)
Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany (1975)

The Door into Fire by Diane Duane (1979)
On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis (2016)
Spirit Gate by Kate Elliott (2006)
Enchantress From the Stars by Sylvia Louise Engdahl (1970)
Golden Witchbreed by Mary Gentle (1983)
The Dazzle of Day by Molly Gloss (1997)
A Mask for the General by Lisa Goldstein (1987)
Slow River by Nicola Griffith (1995)
Those Who Hunt the Night by Barbara Hambly (1988)
Winterlong by Elizabeth Hand (1990)
Ingathering by Zenna Henderson (1995) (possibly not under this title)
The Interior Life by Dorothy Heydt (writing as Katherine Blake, 1990)
God Stalk by P. C. Hodgell (1982)
Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson (1998)
Zero Sum Game by S.L. Huang (2014)
Blood Price by Tanya Huff (1991)
The Keeper of the Isis Light by Monica Hughes (1980)
*God’s War by Kameron Hurley (2011)
Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta (2014)
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin (2015)
Cart and Cwidder by Diane Wynne Jones (1975)

Daughter of Mystery by Heather Rose Jones (2014)
Hellspark by Janet Kagan (1988)
A Voice Out of Ramah by Lee Killough (1979)
St Ailbe’s Hall by Naomi Kritzer (2004)
Deryni Rising by Katherine Kurtz (1970)
Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner (1987)
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (1962)

Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier (2005)
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (1974)
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (2013)

*Biting the Sun by Tanith Lee (Also titled Drinking Sapphire Wine, 1979)
Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee (2016)
Wizard of the Pigeons by Megan Lindholm (1986)

Adaptation by Malinda Lo (2012)
Watchtower by Elizabeth A. Lynn (1979)
Tea with the Black Dragon by R. A. MacAvoy (1983)
The Outback Stars by Sandra McDonald (2007)
China Mountain Zhang by Maureen McHugh (1992)
Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre (1978)
The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia A. McKillip (1976)
Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees (1926)

Pennterra by Judith Moffett (1987)
The ArchAndroid by Janelle Monáe (2010)
Jirel of Joiry by C. L. Moore (1969)
Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (2016)
The City, Not Long After by Pat Murphy (1989)
Vast by Linda Nagata (1998)
Galactic Derelict by Andre Norton (1959)
His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik (2006)
Dragon Sword and Wind Child by Noriko Ogiwara (1993)
Outlaw School by Rebecca Ore (2000)
Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor (2014)
Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce (1983)
Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy (1976)

*Godmother Night by Rachel Pollack (1996)
Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti (1859)
My Life as a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland (2011)
The Female Man by Joanna Russ (1975)
Stay Crazy by Erika L. Satifka (2016)
*The Healer’s War by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (1988)
Five-Twelfths of Heaven by Melissa Scott (1985)
*Everfair by Nisi Shawl (2016)
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)
*A Door Into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski (1986)
*The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart (1970)
Up the Walls of the World by James Tiptree, Jr. (1978)
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (1996)
The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge (1980)
All Systems Red by Martha Wells (2017)
The Well-Favored Man by Elizabeth Willey (1993)
Banner of Souls by Liz Williams (2004)
*Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson (2012)
Ariosto by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (1980)
Ooku by Fumi Yoshinaga (2005-present)

So, 28 read, 9 in the to-read pile, 12 authors I've read other works by; just under 50% familiarity and lots more books to add to the list. (It's possible I read a few others in my teens and have forgotten the names, too.)
white_hart: (Default)
2016-03-15 07:34 pm

Meme from [personal profile] tree_and_leaf

Something I hate: Gum. Seriously, what is the point? It tastes lovely and minty for about three minutes and then you just have this nasty tasteless blob that you have to dispose of. Why not just eat peppermints?

Something I love: Goats' cheese. Well, all cheese really, but goats' cheese (and sheep's cheese) particularly.

Somewhere I've been: Glasgow. Though I haven't been there for 18 months and that's far too long.

Somewhere I'd like to go: Greece.

Someone I know: [livejournal.com profile] ar_gemlad

A film I like: Grosse Pointe Blank

If anyone else would like a letter, leave a comment!