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toujours_nigel) wrote2009-12-13 08:06 pm
toujours_nigel) wrote2009-12-13 08:06 pm
My Exams Are OVER
and so I've been doing the thing where I laze around, forget to return my books on time (thereby accumulating a library fine it will be a bitch to pay off), and read my way through a ton of old books.
Have some observations:
1. In The King's General, is Dick Grenvile gay? "I begged him to let me stay in Italy, where I was content after my own fashion, but he would not let me. I found I could paint, Honor. I wished to make painting my trade. I had friends, too, fellows of my age, for whom I felt affection. But no. Painting was womanish, a pastime fit for foreigners. My friends were womanish too, and would degrade me. If I wished to live, if I hoped to have a penny to my name, I must follow him, do his bidding, ape his ways, grow like my Grenvile cousins." (pg. 282, Arrow Books, 1992) Thus Dick. Richard later tells him to "go search in the attics and fashion [Alice Courtney's daughters' dolls] new dresses" (pg. 302) IDK, but Dick does present as what we'd still rate as slightly left of straight, meh.
2. When does 'u' drop into English as spoken in England? I mean, "color", and "honor", etc are all older spellings, right? So, when does it change to "colour"?
3. One of the loveliest scenes regarding Hephaistion is, oddly, in Funeral Games. "Ptolemy felt almost choked with grief and anger. He remembered the wedding morning, when he and Hephaistion had gone to Alexander's room in the Susa palace to dress the bridegroom. They had exchanged the jokes which were traditional, along with private ones of their own. Alexander, who had been planning for weeks this great ceremony of racial concord, haf been almost incandescent; one could have taken him for a man in love. It was Hephaistion who had remembered the lion brooches and pinned them on the robe." (Pg. 53, Penguin Books 1982) I love seeing Hephaistion through Ptolemy's eyes, especially after the Bagoas-coloured lenses that are all we got throughout The Persian Boy.
4. And then we go back to Arridaios, and the whole horrific scene, and I feel physically sick. I feel sick throughout Funeral Games, more or less, actually, it's such a nightmarish book. Not that FFH and TPB are bereft of horror, of course, but, well, bildungsroman, love story, deathdeathdeath. The elephants. The babies. Stateira and Drypetis. Kynna. Sisygambis. Eurydike. Olympias. Alexander IV. Kassandros, gah.
5. This isn't to do with a book, but has anyone written the creepy bad Maham Anga-baby!Jalal fic? Because I watched Jodhaa-Akbar today, and, boss, that vibe is so there.
6. My copy of Maurice (third re-read, just about done) takes issue in the preface with Maurice's appearance in the film. And, yeah, a large dark-haired man has a very different impression than a large, fair man, esp. when, as in the film, he is more than awkward. Clive is the one who is small and fair. Incidentally, what does Alec look like? Do we ever know, other than the bright brown eyes?
7. I was planning on reading Forster, anyway, but have got sucked into reading A Room with a View solely because of
. Baby Bella! With that hair! awww.
ETA: 8. I was watching an old Friends episode, where Chandler says, "You're the one who kissed my mom!". The whole cafe turns around. Ross says, "We're rehearsing a Greek play." They all nod and look away. I found this funny for about two seconds. And since then, I've been wondering what play they're talking about. I embrace my geekery, yes, haha, but, is Ross simply misremembering Oedipus Rex? Or is it some other play?
Have some observations:
1. In The King's General, is Dick Grenvile gay? "I begged him to let me stay in Italy, where I was content after my own fashion, but he would not let me. I found I could paint, Honor. I wished to make painting my trade. I had friends, too, fellows of my age, for whom I felt affection. But no. Painting was womanish, a pastime fit for foreigners. My friends were womanish too, and would degrade me. If I wished to live, if I hoped to have a penny to my name, I must follow him, do his bidding, ape his ways, grow like my Grenvile cousins." (pg. 282, Arrow Books, 1992) Thus Dick. Richard later tells him to "go search in the attics and fashion [Alice Courtney's daughters' dolls] new dresses" (pg. 302) IDK, but Dick does present as what we'd still rate as slightly left of straight, meh.
2. When does 'u' drop into English as spoken in England? I mean, "color", and "honor", etc are all older spellings, right? So, when does it change to "colour"?
3. One of the loveliest scenes regarding Hephaistion is, oddly, in Funeral Games. "Ptolemy felt almost choked with grief and anger. He remembered the wedding morning, when he and Hephaistion had gone to Alexander's room in the Susa palace to dress the bridegroom. They had exchanged the jokes which were traditional, along with private ones of their own. Alexander, who had been planning for weeks this great ceremony of racial concord, haf been almost incandescent; one could have taken him for a man in love. It was Hephaistion who had remembered the lion brooches and pinned them on the robe." (Pg. 53, Penguin Books 1982) I love seeing Hephaistion through Ptolemy's eyes, especially after the Bagoas-coloured lenses that are all we got throughout The Persian Boy.
4. And then we go back to Arridaios, and the whole horrific scene, and I feel physically sick. I feel sick throughout Funeral Games, more or less, actually, it's such a nightmarish book. Not that FFH and TPB are bereft of horror, of course, but, well, bildungsroman, love story, deathdeathdeath. The elephants. The babies. Stateira and Drypetis. Kynna. Sisygambis. Eurydike. Olympias. Alexander IV. Kassandros, gah.
5. This isn't to do with a book, but has anyone written the creepy bad Maham Anga-baby!Jalal fic? Because I watched Jodhaa-Akbar today, and, boss, that vibe is so there.
6. My copy of Maurice (third re-read, just about done) takes issue in the preface with Maurice's appearance in the film. And, yeah, a large dark-haired man has a very different impression than a large, fair man, esp. when, as in the film, he is more than awkward. Clive is the one who is small and fair. Incidentally, what does Alec look like? Do we ever know, other than the bright brown eyes?
7. I was planning on reading Forster, anyway, but have got sucked into reading A Room with a View solely because of
. Baby Bella! With that hair! awww.ETA: 8. I was watching an old Friends episode, where Chandler says, "You're the one who kissed my mom!". The whole cafe turns around. Ross says, "We're rehearsing a Greek play." They all nod and look away. I found this funny for about two seconds. And since then, I've been wondering what play they're talking about. I embrace my geekery, yes, haha, but, is Ross simply misremembering Oedipus Rex? Or is it some other play?