Spent a couple of days reading Diana Gabaldon, in a snowstorm

[petronia]

(Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade, FTR)

(and yes I know I posted about this being in my pile of books in MARCH)

1) Pretty epic relaxation, yeah. XD;

2) I've not read the Outlander series, as I've mentioned, but sororial unit always claimed the earlier ones were badly written despite page-turner-ism, and this one (2007-8?) is MILES better than the first Lord John book which was 2003 and pretty credible in and of itself, meaning that Diana Gabaldon is still improving. That is kind of unnerving, isn't it? How many writers of massive populist best-sellers actually improve their prose? XD; It's usually the other way around, sadly.

3) BUT NOW I HAVE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT [SPOILERS] AUGHHH

4) Basically I called it here (only worse) but she nevertheless lulled me into a sense of security with massive applications of adorability, faugh. I mean there is something v. 10-15 years ago in her entire baseline treatment of the Gay Issue (not the historical baseline, Gabaldon's) but at the same time I recognize that she's employing the Bujold Method of triggering worst-case scenarios so yeah (a lot of Bujold in this, generally). STILL GONNA BITCH THOUGH

5) There's also the awkward aspect where Jamie Fraser is clearly Gabaldon's Kagetora, like I wasn't expecting her to go there? and AFTERWARD I remembered that sororial unit had, in fact, mentioned her going there. (This was a decade-old conversation, okay.) Actually Lord John Grey himself is unimpeded by his irrational obsessive Thing for Jamie Fraser, in the sense that he gets right on with the rest of his life and basically treats Fraser like a normal person when they interact (apart from the last bit, but they both had it coming). It's nice to have a model of sanity to point to in this sort of scenario.

6) But every time Jamie Fraser shows up in this I think about (fan designed) Hetalia Scotland. Like say what you like about Hetalia but isn't it weird how the part of the collective unconscious responsible for anthropomorphic personification works?!

Comments

[pere-chan.livejournal.com]

I know, I loved Lord John's...whatever he is, before SPOILERS. The short stories are even more frustrating, not gonna lie =_= If I knew anything about that period I would have liked to do...at least a brief ficlet with a meet cute? GOD, Gabaldon. I haven't read the things for years and she still manages to trigger a rant. It was SUCH a good story, but. BUT.

I still think reading so much Gabaldon before moving to London seriously impeded my ability to deal with actual Scottish people. I once made a Scot laugh so hard his legs couldn't hold him up; I am still too mortified to mention what I said.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

IDEK what it is about these books. Like for some reason I just find Lord John himself (and his family, etc.) really likeable and am invested in his in-story happiness way above my usual baseline for such things? AND HE IS SO CLEARLY DOOMED just because of the kind of writer Gabaldon is. I mean, Jamie is obviously her favouritest favourite, and look at his life. That being said, I've finally managed to discern that this side series is filling in a continuity blank in her main series, so I guess most readers are supposed to know how things started with these characters and how they eventually end up. XD;

She just published another one a month ago, by the by. (I think both author and publisher are easing their way into not maintaining the artificial separation between the series.) I am feeling doom-y about whether or not I should read this, I mean they are actually q. good but guaranteed to make me froth. XD;;

[meril.livejournal.com]

My mom is super-into both series; she just said the last one definitely ties both series together AND it actually revisits scenes from the main series. Which meant she couldn't talk about this one to me without major spoileration.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Thinking about it, it's like Gabaldon is worse on the Bujold scale than actual Bujold. (She is not worse than Dorothy Dunnett. Nobody could possibly score higher on that scale than Dunnett.) With Bujold - and I have trouble eg. rereading Memory, even, so I would never be able to employ these strategies personally, as a writer - crap tends to flow naturally from the plot, or is eventually inevitable, or Miles just had it coming to him karma-wise. Gabaldon is on the Dunnett side of elaborately setting up rug-pulls just to fuck with you. I hesitate to say this is a Scottish thing, but.

[pere-chan.livejournal.com]

Ahahahahaha thank God I finally read Bujold this year, yes the spinning plates always come to a satisfying resolution, even though during the process of spinning it's very hard not to scream 'Miles WTF are you doing' and shake the book like you could actually wring a character's neck. And Dorothy Dunnett is worse? I am a cowardly reader; I hesitate to pick up books that will make me angry, especially when I've become so invested in the characters. (This fails to explain my love for AS Byatt, except for English-major shenanigans and, y'know, amazing writing.)

they are actually q. good but guaranteed to make me froth.
YES THIS. Apparently the newest book is a road trip with Jamie? Holy UST Angst-bunnies, Batman.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

The thing about Dunnett is she is more-ish everything. XD; (Well, the Lymond Chronicles anyway. I have a suspicion the Niccolo books dial down the crack factor somewhat.) Lymond is basically Lord Peter Wimsey, Lawrence of Arabia, Griffiths out of Berserk, Sydney out of Vagrant Story and Leather Pants Draco all rolled into one protagonist, so you're usually reading in a state of acute schadenfreude hilarity or trainwreck fascination. She's also a master of misdirection. Like, if this Gabaldon book were a Dunnett book, you would have realized forty pages from the end that she told you outright in chapter two that Percy was a serial killer, she just caused your eyes to somehow pass over that piece of information.

(I would put down money that Griffiths and Sydney are actual Lymond homages. It's really weird to me that she doesn't seem to be in print in Japan. XD;)

But yeah, Dunnett is kind of like Mirage of Blaze for me, in that the reading experience was so intense and obsessive I hesitate to replicate it. XD; I'll probably try to read the Gabaldon when I have an hour to kill in the bookstore next. It kind of depends on how much Continuity it throws at me. XD But actually, a road trip(tm) with Jamie seems like it would be less inherently power-differential skeevy than him being this sexy brooding stablehand Lord John has to sneak off to talk to. (It's asking for a Kate Beaton comic, frankly.)

[meril.livejournal.com]

oh gosh Jamie. I have been putting off reading the series--as I said above, the mom is a Big Fan--because of course mom would have to say as we are watching a Brewers game on TV that my favorite player greatly resembles her internal conception of Jamie. (Oh did she have problems with the graphic novel btw.) I mean, I've MET Seth McClung, these are streams I seriously probably do not want to cross, you know?

[pere-chan.livejournal.com]

There's a graphic novel? Gulp. Massive fan of GNs in general (who isn't?) but probably don't want to pick up something that will mess up my mental picture of Jamie et al. Talk about streams crossing. XD

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Ha, yes, I would not want anyone in these to remind me of anyone I have met in person really. XD; (Though there's always that one second when Percy Wainwright shows up and I think the narration means Rufus Wainwright.)

I remember having a conversation about how Gabaldon was inspired to create her Jamie by Jamie** out of Doctor Who, which... !?!?

** whom the Second Doctor kidnapped from Culloden and - I have always felt DW fans to be much less horrified by this than they ought to be - was inserted right back INTO Culloden when the Time Lords decided playtime was over.