Books & gardening (RL)
Mar. 25th, 2012 09:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thistlechaserBook 6 of 2012: Oboroten by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
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 ofloupnoir'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.
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.
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Date: 2012-03-27 07:20 pm (UTC)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.