This is it.
In the third chapter our worthy hero, St George, kills a pair of lions in a most unusual fashion: he first
rent the curled tresses from hys head, that was the colour of Amber [the hair, one supposes, not the head itself], the which hee wrapped about hys armes against the Assault of the Lyons, for he greatly suspected them to be the ministers of hys Tragedie, which indeede so fell out, for at that same instant they descended the dungeon, being brought thither by the Guards of Ianasaries, onely to make a ful period of the Champions life: But such was the inuincible fortitude of Saint George, and so polliticke hys defence, that when the starued Lyons came running on him with open Iawes, he valiantly thrust hys sinnewed Armes into their throats (being wrapped about with the haire of hys head) whereby they presently choaked, and so he pulled out their bloody harts.
Take that, you bad, bad Lyons, you!
Isn't it charming? Of course, after you've read the whole book, your English will probably be ruined forever. So naturally, I had to take preventive steps. I wouldn't want my English to be ruined forever, would I? No, of course not. So, ladies and gentlemen (and Lyons), here's preventive measure No. 1:
Kerry Greenwood's The Castlemaine Murders is my current fun read and my first Phryne Fisher mystery (bought it because the title and the cover are so intriguing). And so far, I'm loving it! It's got an unusual setting (1930s Australia), an unusual heroine (upper class, likes sex, has taken a Chinese lover), and an unusual murder (mummified murder victim). Nice!
As far as the romance reading goes, I'm very partial to Wild Rose Press at the moment, which has quite a lot to do with how their website is set up. I like how they have divided their books into different categories according to theme, setting and time. This makes it very easy for the eager reader to find a whole bunch of, say, contemporary westerns. Very nice if you like cowboys. Very, very nice indeed. 'cause cowboys certainly count as preventive measure #2. :-)
Last week I bought a couple of books by Cindy Spencer Pape, like this one:
The hero of Always a Cowboy isn't just a cowboy of sorts (well, you probably wouldn't call him a real cowboy as he doesn't do much cow-related stuff in the course of the novel) (actually, I don't think he does any cow-related stuff), but he's also a really nice guy. And he's got a bad leg. Poor thing. And the book is a from-friends-to-lovers story. What's not to like?
Crazy for the Cowboy. Who could've resisted this sweet cover? Not me. *g*
So happy, in fact, that they were surrounded by butterflies and flowers. (When I took the picture, the butterflies flew away, 'cause they're shy. This is why you get to see only the flowers.)
See how happy we were?
I had fled from the study because my desk was overflowing with my papers, books, more papers, cat hair, a dirty mug, and what not. In addition, working at the dining table provided me with a change of scenery! (When you spend your days shackled to your desk & 'puter, you welcome even the smallest change of scenery! Why, you even come to regard birds sitting on your neighbours' roof as major highlights of your day.)
Happy cat :-)
German Volkskunde, or German folklore as it is known outside the German-speaking world, has long been something of an obsession. It began quite innocently, with a course in folk narrative at the Gutenberg Universität in Mainz [...]
I hope I'll be able to squeeze in some time for a day trip (or at least half-a-day trip) to Oxford in order to visit the Pitt Rivers Museum, which is my all-time favourite museum. Besides, the frame story of the Novel That Has Finally Achieved WIP Status opens in the Pitt Rivers. And I can even show you the exact location: click here (you need QuickTime), then turn around 180° until you face the other display case. I believe the objects my heroine (Louise Murray, called Birdy) is looking at are in the showcase next to it on the left. (See? That's something I need to check out. And whether the museum is still as dimly lit as it was in 1998.)
And speaking of books: I'm still happily glomming Suzanne Brockmann. I'm currently reading THE DEFIANT HERO -- and I love it, love it, love it! :)
Now whosoever shall read this book whose faith is strong and heart pure, will find ere they close its pages the way to the land where the rainbow ends. There blooms the flower of happiness which grows in no other clime, and here all lost loved ones found. [...] Now all who would reach this fair land must first pass through the dread country of the Dragon, which bars the way - and herein many perils and dangers are encountered. Happy are they who early find Faith's Magic Carpet to bear then [sic] safely on their way [...]
Most critical efforts to handle such generic terms as "epic" and "novel" are chiefly interesting as examples of the psychology of rumor. Thanks to the Greeks [i.e. Aristotle], we can distinguish tragedy from comedy in drama, and so we still tend to assume that each is the half of drama that is not the other half. When we come to deal with such forms as the masque, opera, movie, ballet, puppet-play, mystery-play, morality, commedia dell'arte, and Zauberspiel, we find ourselves in the position of the Renaissance doctors who refused to treat syphilis because Galen said nothing about it.
