Eugenides the Well Born

[fragilistikal.livejournal.com]

I've been a fan of The Thief for ten years now, since I read it when I was nine. It's been (and still is) my favorite book, my pick-me-up and the book I pimp out to friends and strangers on a regular basis. I have been known to pimp hard enough to buy and send The Thief to a deprived friend in Japan.... It was just so nice to see "my baby" grow up and have its own LJ community after years of obscurity!

I recently saw the King of Attolia on a stand in the elementary school library where I tutor, and I got excited enough to attract the librarian; we chatted about "children's books" and she went out to order KoA's prequels. =) But you know, the thing I love about The Thief (and especially its subsequent books) is that they're only a "children's book"/YA by dint of their being short and not containing excessive sex. (Although KoA was plenty sexy! Rawrr!) I am still amazed and shocked and delighted by the beginning of Queen of Attolia, youknowwhat, and it's a delicious thing to talk about. I say, "It says it's children's/YA... DON'T BELIEVE THEM."

Some things I love: Gen.
It's not Gen unless he gets mortally wounded. And wisecracks about it.
(But seriously, I love when Gen gets hurt. He's so interesting to poke holes at...! I think MWT agrees with me....)
I love that he is a good person.

Also, Relius:
Relius is in love with Gen. Loves Attolia, but in love with Gen. However you may define "in love," their relationship is dark and uplifting and complex, and I think I will reserve further words for a fuller explanation later on why I love Relius, why I love Gen, and why I love their relationship with each other.

Attolia:
I still can't think of her as "Irene." Gen can, but he's special. She's the Queen, Attolia; she is still her function, and she is still as frightening as her function allows her to be. She is thawing, her humanity is beginning to show, but she is still a loosely leashed Fury. I love that. I love that Eugenides can stand to be so close; I love that he is as frightened of her as much as he loves her. I love that she is trying, too.

I lug MWT's books 3000 miles every year to college with me, and really, I'm completely unafraid to say that it's my favorite book to my profs. And really, try to get them to read it, too.

Chat notice

[rowana.livejournal.com]

New and existing members alike are welcome to come along to our regular fortnightly chat tomorrow. If you want to introduce yourself, ask a question, join in, or even just lurk, come along to The Conspiracy Room (password 'Sophos') tomorrow, at:

9-10pm UK Daylight time
4-5pm Eastern Daylight Time (US)
3-4pm Central Daylight Time (US)

If you live somewhere else in the world and you're trying to work out what time this is according to Greenwich Mean Time, it'll be at 8-9pm by that. If you're confused about exacly what time the chat will be held by your timezone, drop me a comment here, and I'll try to figure it out. And similarly, if the chat timing is awkward for your timezone, drop me a comment, because I'm trying to figure out other, more convenient times for chats.

The transcript of the chat will be recorded and posted afterwards. Old chat transcripts can be viewed here.

Question!

[rain-ing.livejournal.com]

Hello! I am new to this community! I just read King of Attolia and I had some questions, and MWT very kindly directed me here. btw this site is fabulous! i'll have to spend at least a few days reading all the backdated comments and entries :) It's rather late here, so i'll make my introductions another day :P

Anyway, here is my question. What is the significance of Gen pulling hair pins out of Irene's hair when they were square dancing? I read it several times over, but I did not quite understand the full meaning of it.

Any suggestions?