Happy Birthday!!!!! (And a bit about Lymond chronicles)

[alexandral]

Happy birthday dear queenofthorns and jenlev!!! ** squishes and throws confetti ** I wish you happiest of birthdays! Two of most awesome ladies being born on the same day - this must be a very special day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wish I could teleport this to you!! Hungarian marzipan extravaganza:




London sitrep
It was a glorious trip and the Oracle User Group was very informative. I have many things to share, but I must save them for the time when I am less tired and brain-exhausted. Just a couple of things (that will not wait until tomorrow).

1) There was an earthquake in Yorkshire AND I WASN'T THERE! I have never have been in an earthquake and whilst I am not saying that I wish to experience a BIG earthquake (and neither I wish it upon anyone else) it could be interesting to experience a little tiny one?

2) I have properly started "The Game of Kings" by Dorothy Dunnett.

- ** sigh ** Well, I have been living in the UK a while and I have become better with my English over the years and people I meet for the first time don't ask me to repeat my phrases anymore. And I even read with a considerably good speed. But then a book comes along and whilst I LIKE IT and find it's style worthy of an immediate notice I don't seem to be familiar with a good half of the worlds on EVERY SINGLE PAGE of it. And this is intensified by the fact that I don't know English history well enough to recognize any of the historical names in the book. ** weeps ** OK, I like a challenge and I am sure if this doesn't kill me it will make my English better, but is it worthy of getting myself into 6 books 500 pages each? (I apologise for blurting this all out)

- Will Lymond get a nice OTP?

- I spoiled myself for the end of the book - Richard/Lymond and Richard/Mariotta, I just love it.

Comments

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you! ::::smoochy twirly hugs:::

And marzipan is one of my favorite things. I wish we could all teleport you know. ;)

Ixnay on earthquakes, be safe out there. Meep.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

I tried to read the first Lymond book and got about 120 pages into it and also didn't understand half the words! In fact, some of the more obscure words that I understood were being used in a very odd way. I'm afraid I gave up when the Latin made no sense in context unless Lymond was thinking even odder things than I think he was. You are a brave, brave woman.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Lymond Chronicles are my favorite books ever, and probably my favorite fictional thing in any medium.

So much angst, h/c and self-loathing suicidalness is very good. The language does get more lucid in later books :)

Lymond does get an OTP and they are my favorite OTP ever. There is so much self-sacrificing and gorgeousness and angst and his thinking he is totally unworthy of her and trying to push her away but not being able to bear to be without her.

I did some musings/meta on Lymond which are spoilery which might further convince you:

http://dangermousie.livejournal.com/tag/lymond

And here is my favorite scene ever, typed up. It's very shippy and quite spoilery:

http://dangermousie.livejournal.com/429787.html#cutid1

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

1) OMG, I LOVE marzipan and that's gorgeous! I too wish you could teleport it to me. Thanks so much for the birthday wishes :)

2) I love Dunnett and I'm a native English-speaker, and I still find the beginning of Game of Kings VERY difficult - I think she was sort of finding her voice at the beginning of that book and the rest of the novels are a lot less with the verbal pyrotechnics. (As for the history, there are some wonderful companion books so if you have specific questions, I will look up stuff for you :)

Yes, Lymond has an amazing OTP. It just takes a long time.

Oh, and one of the books is set in the court of Tsar Ivan Grozny!

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

The cakes look fantastic! And about the earthquake. A similar thing happened to me once. I lived in Yogyakarta with my family until I moved to Jakarta for work. Last year a huge earthquake happened in Yogyakarta. My family, like any other, was pretty shocked. I wasn't there, and I didn't really mind not experiencing the earthquake, but I think I know how you feel. I've experienced a couple of earthquakes though over the years, and trust me, it's not something that one would long for :D

[wistfulmemory.livejournal.com]

During the first month that I lived here in Japan, Yokohama had a pretty big earthquake. However, it occurred during the middle of the night, and I didn't even realize that we'd had one until I went to work the next day and my director asked me if I had noticed it.

[vierran45.livejournal.com]

It took me two tries to get into The Game of Kings since I found the language very hard at first, but I ended up loving the books. Though I wouldn't call them "easy reading", they do get a bit easier later on. And the OTP is very angsty and lovely!

There are two companion books that might help: The Dorothy Dunnett Companion, parts I and II written by Elspeth Morrison (there is also another book called The Lymond Poetry edited by Dunnett).

[himmapaan.livejournal.com]

I'm intrigued by The Game of Kings now...

The earthquake was of course relatively weak by the time it 'reached' London, but it was enough to make my tall bookcases sway. I had to go and steady them!