Originally this next post was going to be about a) The Hunger Games or b) the females of urban fantasy book covers (URGH), but a recent conversation at the library (and the realization that I have WorldCat.org bookmarked) has led me to a somewhat obvious solution:
I LOVE finding books for people. (So it's a good thing I have my heart set on a career at the library, eh?)
Seriously, I really, truly enjoy finding books for people, whether it's recommendations that people have loved (though I rarely recommend books, given my own, er, "unique" tastes), or--and here's where I think I shine--finding that "lost" book that someone has always wanted to reread but has forgotten the title, author, character's names, setting, or even whether or not it was fiction. But it had a blue cover! And cats! Always cats...
Me, I got Google. And WorldCat. Not to mention a degree in history (which means I have mad skillz for research, lemme tell ya), and a tendency toward looking up weird stuff just in my own time. There is something just AWESOME about seeing someone online saying, "Yeah, been looking for this off and on for three years, here's the deets" and going "Is this it?" and having them say "YOU ARE MY HERO."
...though that may just be the praise. I'm a sucker for a good word and a pat on the head.
At any rate, I just wanted to let anybody (and everybody, potentially, seeing as this is the internet) know that if you need help finding a book, just ask: I can't guarantee that I'll find it, but I can guarantee that I'll do my damnedest.
Showing posts with label minute musing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label minute musing. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Monday, May 28, 2012
And Now...Something Completely Different!
Gonna take a quick break from talking about books, to talk about something that without which would make books impossible:
Words.
I love words. I'm a logophile! I'm not concerned with whether or not words are sesquipedalian, or requires a lexicographer's intuit to understand (sorry, I had to use some big words in a post about words!). I just love the way some words sound, and how choosing a synonym of a word can help you be more precise in what you say.
And while I was talking with my mother one day, I began listing off some of my favorite words (does that make me a nerd?), and realized as I did so that I apparently have a favorite letter of the alphabet: P. There's just something about the way that letter pops when you say it, especially at the beginning of a word.
Plethora. Palindrome. Perpendicular. Precipitate. Preposterous. Persistent. Penultimate. Pyrrhic. Prestidigitation. Pulchritude. Pusillanimous. Penchant. And possibly my favorite: percolate. There's just something about the "puh" and the "kuh" so close together, and it's a bit longer than perk and perky, which just makes the word sound bubbly, even though it basically means filtering something. Oh, and "pulchritude" up there? It sounds so putrid, but really it's quite beautiful.
And of course, there are other words I love that don't start with P, like lickspittle (it's a word!), syzygy, interdigitation, or magnanimous.
...okay, yeah, most of these are sesquipedalian words, but come on. Say them out loud! Aren't they awesome?
I even have preferred words for body parts (although a blog post about that may push this into NC-17 territory...). A SFW example: I was reading a love scene, when all of a sudden there was a line: "He kissed her tummy."
Wait, what? Tummy? Really? In this love scene (between adults, obviously), you decided to use a word that invokes an image of children? Because really, to me, "tummy" is what you say to children as you tease them with tickles. Not adults who are in the process of skoodilypooping. Even "belly" would've been better, although I think "ab/domen" or even a generic "stomach" would've been the best alternatives.
At any rate: words. Spread the love.
Words.
I love words. I'm a logophile! I'm not concerned with whether or not words are sesquipedalian, or requires a lexicographer's intuit to understand (sorry, I had to use some big words in a post about words!). I just love the way some words sound, and how choosing a synonym of a word can help you be more precise in what you say.
And while I was talking with my mother one day, I began listing off some of my favorite words (does that make me a nerd?), and realized as I did so that I apparently have a favorite letter of the alphabet: P. There's just something about the way that letter pops when you say it, especially at the beginning of a word.
Plethora. Palindrome. Perpendicular. Precipitate. Preposterous. Persistent. Penultimate. Pyrrhic. Prestidigitation. Pulchritude. Pusillanimous. Penchant. And possibly my favorite: percolate. There's just something about the "puh" and the "kuh" so close together, and it's a bit longer than perk and perky, which just makes the word sound bubbly, even though it basically means filtering something. Oh, and "pulchritude" up there? It sounds so putrid, but really it's quite beautiful.
And of course, there are other words I love that don't start with P, like lickspittle (it's a word!), syzygy, interdigitation, or magnanimous.
...okay, yeah, most of these are sesquipedalian words, but come on. Say them out loud! Aren't they awesome?
I even have preferred words for body parts (although a blog post about that may push this into NC-17 territory...). A SFW example: I was reading a love scene, when all of a sudden there was a line: "He kissed her tummy."
Wait, what? Tummy? Really? In this love scene (between adults, obviously), you decided to use a word that invokes an image of children? Because really, to me, "tummy" is what you say to children as you tease them with tickles. Not adults who are in the process of skoodilypooping. Even "belly" would've been better, although I think "ab/domen" or even a generic "stomach" would've been the best alternatives.
At any rate: words. Spread the love.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
What Draws Me Into Stories
Normally I don't do horror: movie, book, TV, whatever, I'm not interested; I am a scaredy-cat, through and through. It's why I resisted so much, about four years ago now, when my friend tried to convince me to start watching this horror show called Supernatural. And I don't care what anyone says, it scared the bejeezus outta me at first (and still does, occasionally), especially the third and fifth episodes of the first season, "Dead in the Water" and "Bloody Mary." Ugh!
But then I caught an episode of the third season, "Bad Day at Black Rock," and I was hooked. Not only did that episode exemplify how flat-out hilarious the show can get, it also gave me a glimpse into the pure gold that is Sam and Dean, the two brothers and main characters on the show. And after reading many reviews of the show as the years have gone on--most happy, but several disgruntled--and looking at other shows, movies, and books that I love, I have finally come to realize why I love the ones that I do: it's all about the characters. It seems that I can, will, and do put up with all manners of silly writing, gaping plot holes, and a disappointing turn of storyline as long as there is at least one character whom I still love and am invested in.
In fact, I suspect that once I am hooked by a character I become a fangirl for life. For just over a decade now I have been reading R.A. Salvatore's Legend of Drizzt series, and I remain as excited about each new book as I was in the sixth grade, despite massive character, setting, and even time period changes, because I still love Drizzt Do'Urden, Artemis Entreri, Jarlaxle, and others. I know that Supernatural has lost several viewers over the past few seasons, and I know viewers who are apprehensive about the upcoming seventh season, but I am still anticipatory, as long as Sam, Dean, and Bobby aren't irrevocably destroyed. I am a recent fan of Leverage, because I love the entire main cast; I enjoy Alphas for just three of the characters, though: Gary, Hicks, and Rachel. And I promise that I will continue to watch the show as long as those three remain, even as I get annoyed with the others.
And the more I think about it, the more I think that this is the reason why I so love romances, and yet so many people mock/denigrate/look down on them. Romances, especially novels (and even more especially category romances, like Harlequin!) have a tendency to not exactly "strip away," but rather extremely pare down the plot--which we have been trained to accept as nearly the sole marker of "good" writing--to focus almost exclusively on the characters; and further, to focus almost exclusively on the interactions of two characters, which I find absolutely fascinating. Since it is because of the characters that I truly enjoy anything, it really only then makes sense that I'm an avid romance reader, doesn't it?
But then I caught an episode of the third season, "Bad Day at Black Rock," and I was hooked. Not only did that episode exemplify how flat-out hilarious the show can get, it also gave me a glimpse into the pure gold that is Sam and Dean, the two brothers and main characters on the show. And after reading many reviews of the show as the years have gone on--most happy, but several disgruntled--and looking at other shows, movies, and books that I love, I have finally come to realize why I love the ones that I do: it's all about the characters. It seems that I can, will, and do put up with all manners of silly writing, gaping plot holes, and a disappointing turn of storyline as long as there is at least one character whom I still love and am invested in.
In fact, I suspect that once I am hooked by a character I become a fangirl for life. For just over a decade now I have been reading R.A. Salvatore's Legend of Drizzt series, and I remain as excited about each new book as I was in the sixth grade, despite massive character, setting, and even time period changes, because I still love Drizzt Do'Urden, Artemis Entreri, Jarlaxle, and others. I know that Supernatural has lost several viewers over the past few seasons, and I know viewers who are apprehensive about the upcoming seventh season, but I am still anticipatory, as long as Sam, Dean, and Bobby aren't irrevocably destroyed. I am a recent fan of Leverage, because I love the entire main cast; I enjoy Alphas for just three of the characters, though: Gary, Hicks, and Rachel. And I promise that I will continue to watch the show as long as those three remain, even as I get annoyed with the others.
And the more I think about it, the more I think that this is the reason why I so love romances, and yet so many people mock/denigrate/look down on them. Romances, especially novels (and even more especially category romances, like Harlequin!) have a tendency to not exactly "strip away," but rather extremely pare down the plot--which we have been trained to accept as nearly the sole marker of "good" writing--to focus almost exclusively on the characters; and further, to focus almost exclusively on the interactions of two characters, which I find absolutely fascinating. Since it is because of the characters that I truly enjoy anything, it really only then makes sense that I'm an avid romance reader, doesn't it?
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