It Lives! IT LIVES!

I shall call it - Smith's monster! Ok, not quite the same ring to it. Btw, we need to read Frankenstein sometime. Maybe October?

Peter has requested that we raise this blog from the dead, and Jennie and I are cautiously optimistic. We have determined that it is my turn to pick, and I am planning on doing either Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird or Stephen King's On Writing. Peter, I think I remember that you have Bird by Bird and have not read On Writing. Is that true? Although I'll pick a book I've already read, I don't want it to be something two of us have read. My goal is to pick something somewhat episodic so that we can post while we read without destroying the content of the plot (although the above books have narrative components, there is no plot per se, which I think could be good). Another I idea I had was Saul Williams She which is fun modern poetry, and quite short. That or something similar might be a good pick for the holiday months. :-)

Jennie, is Amanda interested in joining us on this? I need to think if anyone else might like to join the group - possibly my roommates, although I'm not sure they have enough time to commit to it. Perhaps I could open it up to Facebook friends and you could create an entrance exam? Hahaha - I like it.

Ok, that's all for now! And check out my rarely updated reviews blog, Passage of Swallows. I'm posting tonight and will post ASAP once I've gotten my pretty little hands on a copy of Catching Fire, the sequel to The Hunger Games. Peter, read it ASAP, it rocks. And you love angry-people-suck-humankind-is-lamepants stories.

Ms. Secretary, tag away, I don't know what to do. ;-)

BTW, what is Frankie doing to Susan from the Discworld series???

Current Situations Evaluated

So... Have you both read Three Men already? It's cool if you have, though I haven't. I'll start immediately however. And if you guys want to move ahead, that's cool. Let's discuss To Say Nothing though.

Anyway, tell me what you kidlets want to do.

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Similarities to Watchmen

Now, I know that we're actually comparing HSWT with TSNOTD and TMIAB, but Have Spacesuit wraps up with a potential doomsday scenario, and that made me think of Watchmen. I love that even in a YA book, Heinlein gets in the creepiness of "Their planet shall be rotated." A whole planet instantly separated from its sun - now that's scary.

Another similarity lay in the undeniable baseness and evil possible in humanity, and the need for some greater force (Ozymandius, the war crimes tribunal) to deal with the possible fallout of human choices. I love how clear my images of Iunio were, standing in the middle of some vast amphitheater, surrounded by aliens, in full Roman legionairre costume, and shouting "Witchcraft and making horns when the translation pipes in. So wonderful. I think that's something that was missing for me in Watchmen - the silliness and wonderfulness of people, even as they're awful.

Anyway . . . I need to NaNoWriMo. What are others wrap up thoughts in Heinlein?

Moving Right Along

Hello friends!

I just talked to Peter on the phone, and even though he's been busy with school, he has still been reading. :) He said he's almost finished with To Say Nothing of the Dog. I'm sure he'll come weigh in on Spacesuit when he has a moment, but until then, looks like we can move along to our second book!

More Heinlein Love

Where oh where is Peter? PEEEEETTTTEEERR!!!! I don't feel like we can move onto to discussing TSNOTD until we all get to weigh in a few times on HSWT, so . . . Peter come in, this is Junebug. This is Junebug, over. Do you copy? Alpha, Bravo, Charlie . . .

Ok. Here are some more quotes I loved:

Chapter 8: "Of course I'm right!" she retorted. "I'm always right."
"Goodness me! The handy-dandy pocket encyclopedia."
She blushed. "I can't help being a genius."
Which left her wide opena nd I was about the rub her nose in it-when I saw how unahppy she looked.
I remembered hearing Dad say: "Some people insist that 'mediocre' is better than 'best.' They delight in clipping wings because they can't fly. The despise brains because they have none."

As someone who was dubbed a 'wallking talking dictionary' in elementary school and regularly annoyed professors by asking questions they couldn't answer, as well as pretty much constantly self-editing what I reference, I liked this bit.

Chapter 9 "Not even in yourself, because that's what you are - wavicles." Hahahaha - ahh, the particle/wave paradox. So great.

Further on in 9, the descriptions of the viewer and the library sounds just like technology we have now - internet anyone? Wikipedia?

And towards the ends, regarding the Vegans, "I guess their worst vice was that they didn't have any. This can be tiresome."

And then, of course, I loved the end. Quoting Shakespeare, a crazed Roman legionary, a threat to ourselves, the nervous tic, a professor who looked like "an excited Iunio" - fantastic. And, I want a happy thing.

Welcome, Amanda!

After much nagging and convincing on my part*, Amanda has decided to join the ranks of the Hack 'n Slashers! I'm very glad she has decided to join us, and I'm sure she'll fit right in.

*OK, so it wasn't so much my nagging and convincing that brought her here. She just hasn't been able to get a hold of our selections from the library until now. She got her hands on a copy of HSWT, though, and she's a quick reader, so I'm sure she'll dive right in.

Goodreads

I really love Goodreads. I think you should post more books on your profile, Lisa. And I think you should join, Peter. It's a great way to review books and recommend books to your friends. I really like to see what my friends think of different books. It's nice to keep track of books you want to read. You can have as many "shelves" as you want. You know you want to be part of it. Do it.