Books & gardening (RL)

[thistlechaser]

Book 6 of 2012: Oboroten by loupnoir. Non-spoiler details behind the cut.

I have a rule when it comes to books. Well, two rules. Rule #1 is that I don't stop reading a book to start a new book. Rule #2 is I don't knowingly buy self-published books.

For Oboroten I broke both rules, and I'm happy I did.

The reason for rule #1 is that if I stop a book to start something else, I never want to go back to the original book. I have no idea why, but it's kind of like leftovers -- I'd always rather have something new. But once I realized that the main character of Oboroten didn't just share the name with the main character of loupnoir's fanfiction, it actually was basically him just transported to the real world, I couldn't wait to read it.

Rule #2 is because I have never yet once read a good self-published book. Heck, I've never read anything but god-awful self-published stuff. This was a big, big exception. Oboroten was well written, full of great characters, and had a fast moving plot. Does that mean rule #2 is going out the window? No. But it will become "No buying self-published books, unless you already know and like the author's work".

Anyway, the book itself! Technically, loosely, the characters come from the Harry Potter world. Sort of. loupnoir's fanfiction was set in Durmstrang, that other school that the canon books barely even mentioned. All the characters were original and the setting was made by her, only the Harry Potter magic was held over through the fanfiction.

Oboroten took it a step further: The same characters (basically, adjusted for the new setting and timeline), but with original magic instead of Harry Potter-style.

It worked really, really well. I flew through this book. It's the first one in too long that I stepped away from WoW so I could read. It's the first one in too long that I read until I gave myself eye strain.

Magic, werewolves, interesting social interactions, you don't have to have read the fanfiction to enjoy the book. I'm already dying for the next one.



Now I'm back to reading Elizabeth Moon's Engaging the Enemy (third book in the Vatta's War series) and unfortunately it's putting me to sleep. It's just sooooo boring. The characters spend whole scenes just standing around talking. I've liked the other books in the series, so I don't know why I'm suddenly slogging through this one. I'm barely reading a couple pages a day, and at that rate I'll never get through it. Sigh. I don't want to give up on it though, because I already own the rest of the books in the series.

Gardening! I'm still lacking a bench or table, and it's driving me up a wall. You would think it would be easy to get something to put pots on. I went to Big Lot (a discount store), I went to OSH (an outdoor/hardware store), and I went to the local nursery, all with no results. A guy at the last place recommended I get cinder blocks and put boards across them, but I don't want to do that. Tomorrow I'm going to try Target. I'd love a bench (like used with picnic tables), but I'd take any sort of a long outdoor table-type thing.

While at the nursery, I bought more plants. I didn't mean to! But yesterday I went to the farmer's market (in the rain!) to buy potted herbs, because I thought that would be the best place to get them. The ones at the nursery blew them away! So big and healthy compared to the poor little sickly looking things from the farmer's market. So I bought a couple of them. Thyme from the farmer's market, rosemary and basil from the nursery, plus more pots and soil.

Everything's planted and looking good! The seeds aren't doing anything yet, even though I feel like I'm checking them hourly. (A watched seed never grows?) The only thing I have left to plant is the strawberry seed, though now I feel silly for having seeds of them; the nursery is full of big, healthy looking strawberry plants.

Once I have a bench or a table or something, I'll post pictures. For now, the pots are all balanced on an old TV cart that I'll throw away once I have something better. Hopefully I'll find something at Target, because I worry the cart is one strong wind away from falling apart.

Comments

[awhisperofdusk.livejournal.com]

I'm now imagining the Amazon jungle in your house. Those strawberry plants sound amazing, though. o: I'm not sure why places like OSH or the nursery didn't have a bench/table thing, but here's hoping Target does.

I took a gander at the amazon page for Oboroten, and it looks pretty interesting. Classes end in the next two weeks, so I'll have free time soon to read! Sounds like it's worth checking into her fanfic, at least.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Here is the main page with her fics (http://www.albionworks.com/fiction/TheDurmstrangChronicles.htm). Last time I read them, a few stories were missing, which made me sad. Hopefully you'll like the ones you read! If so, hopefully you can try out her book as well. :)

And ha ha! Everything's outside, except the pots with the seeds. Our weather is nice here, so it's safe for them to all be outside.

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

Just remember Thistle, plants have performance anxiety so you have to give them their space! Otherwise they will grow up and be like "God you're smothering me! Why can't you just let me be myself? You just don't understand me, what with your mobility and god like powers!" Or something like that.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I'm such a bad plant-parent! Smothering the little seedlings.

*snickers* :)

[vorrick.livejournal.com]

The seeds may seem silly now, but it'll be really awesome when they come up to have raised it from that!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

For sure! They're just starting to sprout, which is surprisingly cool to see!

[ani-mama.livejournal.com]

You should keep your strawberry plants indoors, or at least cover it with netting. Evil squirrels stole most of mine. :(

I want a garden, but it would have to have a really sturdy fence to keep all the critters away. Otherwise there could be a herd of elk walking through the zucchini...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

That's a good point. We have a lot of squirrels here, too. :/ I may have to invest in a net.

[loup_noir]

Thanks! Would it be too much to ask that you leave a review on the page? I'd really appreciate it.

On a different note entirely i.e. plants! The poor little guys you got at the farmers' market are undoubtedly pretty stressed. If you've got any fish or kelp emulsion, you might give them a little drink of that to perk them up.

I'm not sure what kind of table you're looking for, but we've been using one with plastic deer fencing or emergency fencing on the top, so you can water through it and not have to worry about the top rotting. If you're mostly looking for something to display plants on, hit flea markets and then look for broken pieces of tile to lift the pots up enough to drain.

I grew alpine strawberries from seed two years ago and had to dig most of them out, they were so invasive. They didn't go to waste. I've edged some pathways with them and they're doing just fine. You might need to dig up and divide your regular strawberries. Ours did best the first two years and then turned puny. If you feed the birds or have a lot of birds in your area, you might need to put some kind of mesh over the fruits, because the birds are really fast on harvesting nearly-ripe fruit.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

For sure! I want to leave a review, I just haven't had time (hopefully today!).

Yeah, I think the little farmer's market sprouts are starting to perk up. I hope they do well, I'm keeping an eye on them.

Thanks for all the info!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I just finished the review, but I noticed something odd on the page:

This title is not available for customers from:
United States

I'm from the US and I got it a few days back, so I'm not sure what's up. It also says "Pricing information not available."

http://www.amazon.com/Oboroten-ebook/dp/B007JD3GCK/ref=cm_cr-mr-title is the link I saw this on.