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Dorothy Dunnette, X-Men, and a movie...
Finished the Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett today. The last book in the series, Checkmate may be my favorite and the tightest. Dunnett is a difficult read. To get through her books you have to be able to ignore certain things or know the classical languages. She inserts lots of French, Russian, Turkish, Spainish, Latin, Gaelic, and Greek verse in her books - understanding the verse is not crucial to understanding the plot or characters but it can be distracting.
The characters are worth the effort, well-drawn, complicated, multi-faceted. She never repeats characterization. She evolves pretty much every one over a series of six books that take place in a ten year period. The history is also fascinating and detailed - it chronicles the period of time between Henry the VII's death and Queen Elizabeth's succession to the throne.
Fascinating period.
Checkmate, the last in the series, focuses on the romance between Phillipa Somerville and Francis Crawford. Two evenly matched witty well-educated souls. They start out enemies of a sort in the first novel and I have to admit, if someone had told me upon finishing Game of Kings that Phillip would be the love of Francis' life, I'd have been shocked. She goes from being a somewhat caustic/self-righteous/judgmental child of ten to a well-versed, practical and very sensible woman of twenty. The journey is fascinating and well-detailed.
To Dunnett's credit - her women characters are not weaklings or saints. In far too many romances the writer falls into the trap of making the strong woman unsympathetic and the weak one saintly and a damsel. Strong women are often portrayed as "shrews" in romantic fiction. "Why aren't you putting me first? Why aren't you focusing on me?" (Sigh.) In fact, Dunnett in Checkmate makes fun of this tendency with a really good line, her hero states to the heroine "every woman since Eve has asked her lover to put them first. Except you." Phillipa never really does ask this of Francis. Except once and she's ashamed. Nor does she ask Francis to save her. Instead she goes out of her way to save him, outwitting his efforts to stop her on more than one occassion. In her depiction of Phillipa, Dunnett remains consistent - each of Francis' female love interests - from Christian Stewart through Kiaya Khatun are strong women who save him or sacrifice themselves for him as opposed to the other way around.
Another plus is her lead protagonist - who remains throughout a complicated man. Larger than life in some respects. But also quite ambiguous. She keeps him at arms length in the first three novels, it's really not until Pawns in Frankinscense that we get inside his head. And Checkpoint, that we spend much time there. Actually in Checkpoint Dunnett rewards her readers and gives us background on Francis' childhood and his feelings towards his family, friends, and lovers. Information we only get bits and pieces of in the prior books.
The supporting characters are equally well-drawn. By the time I finished Checkpoint, I felt as if I knew them well and they were my friends. When this happens in a book it is truly magical and it is a rare thing. I will miss these people. I will miss these books. Part of me wishes I could just continue dipping into them forever and a day. Which makes it a bit hard to figure out what to read next. Yet at the same time, I know these characters will remain intact between the thin pages of these books for me to reread and reacquaint myself with at my leisure. So much is packed into these stories that each new reading does bring with it, new information.
Dorothy Dunnett died not so long ago, so there will not be any sequels to her Lymond Chronicles nor did she intend for there to be any. Checkpoint is the conclusion and it is a satisfying one. In it you learn all the author set out to tell. I do not require additional chapters after it. That too, in of itself is a rare thing. How often are we satisfied by the ending to a book, a play, a tv series or movie? Very rarely. In most cases the creator strives to leave us wanting more. Dunnett, instead, lets us be sated as if we just finished a very rich rewarding meal with good friends.
Pumpkinpuss gave me the first two of the Whedon Astonishing X-Men series. I read them upon finishing Checkmate. Enjoyable read. Whedon remains the master of the one-liner. He may be the most amusing X-Men writer since Chris Claremont's hey-day.
Not a huge fan of Cassaday, but he does do a marvelous job with facial expressions - there's a scene in X-Men 2, between Kitty and the White Queen that is like watching a movie. You can sense the emotions of the characters on the page. I do wish he drew Scott Summers a bit better.
While reading - it occurred to me for the first time where Whedon came up with Buffy's last name - Summers. Duh. Whedon is
a long-time X-men fan and if you were a fan of both X-men and BTVS, you'll catch some interesting influences in Whedon's storytelling. Nothing too obvious or direct. More subtextual.
The Scott/Wolverine relationship for instance is very similar to the Jayne/Mal and Angel/Spike relationship. Not exact, but there is some overlay.
Confession time - yes, I am a long-time fan of the X-men. Have all the books up to Fall 2001. Gave up the habit in 2001, when I realized I had to scale back on expenses. Comic book collecting is not a cheap habit. So I switched to a cheaper obsession - bTvs, this just required by a tape to tape episodes, that was it. Cheap. No money. Easy.
So I gave up X-men switched to Buffy/ATS, and guess what happens, two-three years later? Buffy/Angel ends and the writer/creator of the two series starts writing X-men. Sigh.
Yep, in case you haven't figured it out yet, I got my online name from Kitty Pride, just changed the spelling slightly.
In other news, watched the movie Songcatcher on IFC
channel tonight. What I adore about IFC is no commercial interruptions. Fascinating film. It's about a musciologist or music folklorist who goes to the Applachian Mountains to record folksongs. They reproduce all the songs. In fact over half the movie is people singing these songs to each other.
There's an amazing scene where several different characters sing different stanza's of the folk song "Conversations with Death". We also get two versions of Barbara Allen. The plot of the movie is a bit haphazard and rambling. But the music is amazing. Particularly if you like old English ballads and have a background in folklore. It takes place in the early 1900s.
Deals with themes of homosexuality, displacement, the struggle between people wanting to buy up the mountain property and develop it and those who want things to remain the same. And at the center of it all is music. Not exactly a musical in the traditional sense of the word, but it does come close at times.
Speaking of music, also heard a CD of Common Rotation today, courtesy of pumpkinpuss. Yep, without a question, much better than GiTR. Nice blend of voices.
PS: regarding the Neil Young Tribute last weekend, I did enjoy bits and pieces of it quite a bit. Iron and Wine - with Kay Scrapetta on the cello, was quite good. As were pieces done by Cat Power and Jane Siberry. I also enjoyed a song performed by someone in a black dress, and glasses called Someday You'll Find Everything Your Looking For (at least I think that was the title).
The characters are worth the effort, well-drawn, complicated, multi-faceted. She never repeats characterization. She evolves pretty much every one over a series of six books that take place in a ten year period. The history is also fascinating and detailed - it chronicles the period of time between Henry the VII's death and Queen Elizabeth's succession to the throne.
Fascinating period.
Checkmate, the last in the series, focuses on the romance between Phillipa Somerville and Francis Crawford. Two evenly matched witty well-educated souls. They start out enemies of a sort in the first novel and I have to admit, if someone had told me upon finishing Game of Kings that Phillip would be the love of Francis' life, I'd have been shocked. She goes from being a somewhat caustic/self-righteous/judgmental child of ten to a well-versed, practical and very sensible woman of twenty. The journey is fascinating and well-detailed.
To Dunnett's credit - her women characters are not weaklings or saints. In far too many romances the writer falls into the trap of making the strong woman unsympathetic and the weak one saintly and a damsel. Strong women are often portrayed as "shrews" in romantic fiction. "Why aren't you putting me first? Why aren't you focusing on me?" (Sigh.) In fact, Dunnett in Checkmate makes fun of this tendency with a really good line, her hero states to the heroine "every woman since Eve has asked her lover to put them first. Except you." Phillipa never really does ask this of Francis. Except once and she's ashamed. Nor does she ask Francis to save her. Instead she goes out of her way to save him, outwitting his efforts to stop her on more than one occassion. In her depiction of Phillipa, Dunnett remains consistent - each of Francis' female love interests - from Christian Stewart through Kiaya Khatun are strong women who save him or sacrifice themselves for him as opposed to the other way around.
Another plus is her lead protagonist - who remains throughout a complicated man. Larger than life in some respects. But also quite ambiguous. She keeps him at arms length in the first three novels, it's really not until Pawns in Frankinscense that we get inside his head. And Checkpoint, that we spend much time there. Actually in Checkpoint Dunnett rewards her readers and gives us background on Francis' childhood and his feelings towards his family, friends, and lovers. Information we only get bits and pieces of in the prior books.
The supporting characters are equally well-drawn. By the time I finished Checkpoint, I felt as if I knew them well and they were my friends. When this happens in a book it is truly magical and it is a rare thing. I will miss these people. I will miss these books. Part of me wishes I could just continue dipping into them forever and a day. Which makes it a bit hard to figure out what to read next. Yet at the same time, I know these characters will remain intact between the thin pages of these books for me to reread and reacquaint myself with at my leisure. So much is packed into these stories that each new reading does bring with it, new information.
Dorothy Dunnett died not so long ago, so there will not be any sequels to her Lymond Chronicles nor did she intend for there to be any. Checkpoint is the conclusion and it is a satisfying one. In it you learn all the author set out to tell. I do not require additional chapters after it. That too, in of itself is a rare thing. How often are we satisfied by the ending to a book, a play, a tv series or movie? Very rarely. In most cases the creator strives to leave us wanting more. Dunnett, instead, lets us be sated as if we just finished a very rich rewarding meal with good friends.
Pumpkinpuss gave me the first two of the Whedon Astonishing X-Men series. I read them upon finishing Checkmate. Enjoyable read. Whedon remains the master of the one-liner. He may be the most amusing X-Men writer since Chris Claremont's hey-day.
Not a huge fan of Cassaday, but he does do a marvelous job with facial expressions - there's a scene in X-Men 2, between Kitty and the White Queen that is like watching a movie. You can sense the emotions of the characters on the page. I do wish he drew Scott Summers a bit better.
While reading - it occurred to me for the first time where Whedon came up with Buffy's last name - Summers. Duh. Whedon is
a long-time X-men fan and if you were a fan of both X-men and BTVS, you'll catch some interesting influences in Whedon's storytelling. Nothing too obvious or direct. More subtextual.
The Scott/Wolverine relationship for instance is very similar to the Jayne/Mal and Angel/Spike relationship. Not exact, but there is some overlay.
Confession time - yes, I am a long-time fan of the X-men. Have all the books up to Fall 2001. Gave up the habit in 2001, when I realized I had to scale back on expenses. Comic book collecting is not a cheap habit. So I switched to a cheaper obsession - bTvs, this just required by a tape to tape episodes, that was it. Cheap. No money. Easy.
So I gave up X-men switched to Buffy/ATS, and guess what happens, two-three years later? Buffy/Angel ends and the writer/creator of the two series starts writing X-men. Sigh.
Yep, in case you haven't figured it out yet, I got my online name from Kitty Pride, just changed the spelling slightly.
In other news, watched the movie Songcatcher on IFC
channel tonight. What I adore about IFC is no commercial interruptions. Fascinating film. It's about a musciologist or music folklorist who goes to the Applachian Mountains to record folksongs. They reproduce all the songs. In fact over half the movie is people singing these songs to each other.
There's an amazing scene where several different characters sing different stanza's of the folk song "Conversations with Death". We also get two versions of Barbara Allen. The plot of the movie is a bit haphazard and rambling. But the music is amazing. Particularly if you like old English ballads and have a background in folklore. It takes place in the early 1900s.
Deals with themes of homosexuality, displacement, the struggle between people wanting to buy up the mountain property and develop it and those who want things to remain the same. And at the center of it all is music. Not exactly a musical in the traditional sense of the word, but it does come close at times.
Speaking of music, also heard a CD of Common Rotation today, courtesy of pumpkinpuss. Yep, without a question, much better than GiTR. Nice blend of voices.
PS: regarding the Neil Young Tribute last weekend, I did enjoy bits and pieces of it quite a bit. Iron and Wine - with Kay Scrapetta on the cello, was quite good. As were pieces done by Cat Power and Jane Siberry. I also enjoyed a song performed by someone in a black dress, and glasses called Someday You'll Find Everything Your Looking For (at least I think that was the title).