no wonder i'm half blind

...and no, it isn't what you think. XD

after having shotgunned all the Kushiel's Legacy books one after the other, am now at the beginning of Banewreaker, which is Jacqueline Carey's newest offering to the world of the fantastic.

i purposely avoided reading the dustjacket, after mention of its awfulness (and quotes of its awfulness) were brought up by acquaintances; i'd forgotten exactly what awfulness was involved, and didn't wish to be reminded right before reading. didn't want to taint whatever conclusions i'd come to on my own. so far, i haven't come to any with particular regard to this book, but that's mostly because i'm only about 30 pages or so in. i will say, however, that it doesn't start out with nearly as sure a tone as the Kushiel books did.

[ETA: something else i'll note, upon a bit of further reflection? of course, the more one reads of any one particular author's work, the more one is going to notice certain tropes that author seems to be saddled with. mileage will of course vary by author and fondness the one reading has for a particular author, but it seems everyone has some. it is, of course, even more evident if one reads a bunch of books by the same author in a very short time span.

my point? Ms. Carey loves the phrase "When all was said and done." also "_____ cursed with the fluency of a _______." there are others, i'm sure, but those immediately come to mind. when i come upon those phrases, it's a bit like playing Mad Libs to me. XD]

also recently picked up at the library on a whim:

The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, by Ann Brashares. i mean, it involves pants. it has rules about these pants. and it reminded me way too much of both Mariam and Fi simultaneously. so i really had no choice but to pick it up, you see? XD

it was okay...i would've been much more entertained by it were i in junior high; in fact, i think i'd remember it with greater fondness and less amused chagrine than i remember many things i did read at the time, if i'd read this then. ah, memories. i see there are two more books out in this series, and perhaps at some point i'll read them to see where the pants go. not high on my list, but amusing and fluffy enough. ONE PANTS TO RULE THEM ALL, AND WITHOUT PANTS TO BIND THEM.

Tangled Threads: a Hmong Girl's Story, by Pegi Deitz Shea. (yes, the new books are located right next to the junior books in my local library, why do you ask? XD) picked this up because...who writes fiction about refugees in Thailand, anyway, Hmong or otherwise? it intrigued me. and while whoever wrote the blurb on the inside of the book jacket needs to be shot, it was not bad. a bit more simplistic than i'd have liked (yes, i know it's aimed at a certain age group, but still), but overall quite interesting, and probably enough to get some who read it more interested in reading about all topics involved. a fine gateway book into history and research, says i. XD

while reading the latter, i mused aloud about how Thailand alone amongst the southeast asian countries escaped invasion and remained a sovereign nation, and why that might be. Spaz' response? IT'S THE ELEPHANTS.

you don't want to mess with Thai elephants, yo. apart from dooming yourself to bad luck forever, they'll eat all your tapioca right off your truck, too. (can you really blame them? it's TAPIOCA, man! =9)