The Thief's guide to Life, the Universe, and everything

[merliquin.livejournal.com]

This morning, while pondering all the innumerable things I've yet to do before the new year and the best way to put off doing such things, A thought popped into my head of Gen in QoA saying something about not wanting to go to the otherworld and have to tell his grandfather he was sleeping off his last free moments ( alas! I'm at work right now and am bookless... so no direct quotes from me)
So I thought on this for a while and, feeling a bit guilty at my lack of constructiveness, I resolved to be a bit more productive in the future. ( so as not to have to explain my shortcomings to Gen's grandfather...)

Has this type of thing happened to anyone else? Has reading the Queen's thief series shaped your thinking or actions of late? you've developed a knack for pilfering ugly earrings from your relatives or perhaps you just view the world a little differently than before.
Thoughts? or am I just a trifle crazy?

Comments

[rosalui.livejournal.com]

It's changed my writing; I now have a love for plots within plots that don't get revealed until the end.

In terms of life, I suppose it's changed my view of love a bit; I resolved a long time ago never to act the way Attolia acts to Gen in QoA, just in terms of being cruel to a person who loves you. And hearing Gen talk about books, and how uneducated people were, made me really want to read classic scientific literature, so I wouldn't be one of those people who didn't know who Archimedes was. (I mean, I knew Archimedes, but not in depth.)

[elle-winters.livejournal.com]

No, you're not crazy

Gen has definitely influenced a few things in my life as well. I think mostly the part in QoA when Gen's in his room and everyone thinks he's sulking but he's really training again and getting back on his feet, practing his handwriting, researching and swordfighting. That's definitely something I always think about about being productive and nevering giving up!

Also being spontaneous. I think Gen has sort of inspired me to be a little more spontaneous and not let a terrible situation get the best of you.

And reading. I was a big reader, but when school rolls around the ONLY thing I'm reading is huge textbooks. So I've tried to read stories a bit more you know? Get a little more rounded besides just textbooks.

Oh, and I love the part when Gen says that! He's so adorable! I think I would just sit there and wait to die...haha

what about yourself?

[(Anonymous)]

It's sexy to be a reprobate.

period.

that's what Gen has taught me :]


~*velvetrose*~

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

I got my ears pierced after I read these books. Still searching for bee earrings, but I've got some silver leaves and I think Gen would approve. =D

[chachic.livejournal.com]

I'm searching for bee earrings too! I'm wearing flower earrings now, I don't know if Gen would like that.

Golden Bees

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

This might help.

http://community.livejournal.com/sounis/222398.html

[queens-thief.livejournal.com]

Does wishing your boyfriend was like Eugenides count?

[magicsandwiches.livejournal.com]

Lol.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

What about the prospect of being driven out of your mind?

[(Anonymous)]

*blushes*

Yes!
YES! YES!

[(Anonymous)]

You guys better watch out for yourself...a certain QUEEN may not be too happy about this... ;)

Vrose

[magicsandwiches.livejournal.com]

Just a few weeks ago, in_my_niteshirt and I had a conversation where she said she had been watching the snow and had thought to herself, "Oh, just like Eddis." I commented that I had just come back from California and had thought to myself, "It never gets very cold, even in the winter, just like Attolia." Then we laughed at how nerdy we are.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Ha, yesterday when I traveled from a cold place back home, I thought to myself, "I'll be glad to be back in my nice, warm country" even though I was only crossing state lines.

[tencups-i-swear.livejournal.com]

Reading the books made me want to study Greek, which is what I'm doing in 2010, and to learn a lot more history. Which I am also doing in 2010. It also made me try and write left handed every so often and to wish I had old fashioned pens with take-offable-nibs and little bottles of ink. I got those for Christmas so all I need to do now is learn how to write accurately with my left hand! :)

[tencups-i-swear.livejournal.com]

Oh. And now whenever I see earrings I get a strange urge to steal them. '-'
I RESIST, THOUGH.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes! Yes! Yes! Me too! (on the left-handed thing)
I've been practicing a lot lately, but not as much as I'd like. Sometimes I try to go for a little bit without using my right hand at all, but then stop so people don't notice. People who might not understand my wanting-to-be-gen-ish-ness.

Another thing I guess we can all see in the books is what makes a good friend. I'm thinking about Eddis and Gen here. They really trust, love, and understand each other, and they know when something's wrong and often exactly what it is (there's a very lovely and moving and ... perfect scene that shows this in aKoC, which I've been lucky enough to read).
So even if a handy roof isn't around, I try to listen and reason and support when my friends are having problems.
also, they can joke around each other!

[(Anonymous)]

hmm do you mean aCoKs?

very curious. a touching gen and helen scene?! Now I'm really excited because that's something I've been waiting for, for a while now..especially in KoA when Eddis is so MIA (for the most part) and she IS my favorite character

[(Anonymous)]

Whoops! A similar-sounding consonant reversal. Although there is someone we know who could be considered the King of Conspiracies...
PS. The magus, Costis, and Aris are good friends, too. (I mean, they are good at being friends. Not all with each other. What would the magus think of Costis?)

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Would you guys mind signing your comments, so we can keep straight who is who? Thanks!

[tencups-i-swear.livejournal.com]

Hah hah! I'm always using just my left hand! It's really stupid I just do it without thinking. :)

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

"Queen's Thief" taught me a lot about political espionage and that things are rarely as they seem. Now as I study history, I consider details that may seem minute and look more deeply at human motivations. It especially opened up new levels for my study of royalty.

Oh, and it improved my vocabulary in the form of an all consuming disease. The symptoms being that random words make me think of Gen.

When I see egregious...

Oh, Gen used that word to describe the behavior of his attendants.

When I see magnanimous...

Hey... Gen said that when he was ignoring the insults Costis was repeating to Aris.

And it goes on and on.

Consequentially, I don't think I will ever forget what these words mean.

[(Anonymous)]

Me too! And lachrymose and guileless and inkpot and amphora and orange tree and goat!

By the way, I was obsessively looking up names of QT characters (or words that start the same way) in the dictionary, and I found
IRENIC: progressing towards peace and reconciliation.
!!!
I'm gonna have to use it somehow.
--From mysterious person who also posted the thing about friendship and is going to make an account soon, when she actually has something to offer and start off as a post.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

And "Lithium" and "Lacrymosa" which are both "Evanescence" songs whose titles and lyrics both remind me of Gen.

It's an endless spiral.

[(Anonymous)]

Hm...I've been saying So, so, so a lot
does that count?

Missy

And YAY for bee earings, if anyone finds any let me know!!

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

I saw a pair at Macy's - Fossil brand, I think. Silver and white rhinestones.

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

Was I the only one to think of LTUE (http://ltue.org/LTUE2010.html) when I saw the title of this post?


As to love of these books coming out in my daily life... does having roommies who can quote from the books even though they haven't read them (yet!) count?

I already use my left-hand to write, and draw, and do practi-mostly everything. My right hand is pretty pathetic, actually. Maybe I should follow Gen's example and his grandfathers advice and remedy that situation...

[merliquin.livejournal.com]

I was thinking of "Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy" but that symposium looks awesome! Alas that I am so far away...

I also need to work on getting my right hand up to full capacity. Oh the plight of the left handed! never a nice scissor around when you need one.

[filkferengi]

I was there when it all began.

*is cute when smug*

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

I pondered this post some more, and thought of something else that these books helped me to realize: that people underestimating you isn't necessarily a bad thing. It doesn't mean you can't alter things in a big way, nor should it stop you from doing so. Actions don't have to be recognized in order to be effective.

Both Gen and Irene are good examples of this, and I think Sophos is jumping on the bandwagon in book 4.

[(Anonymous)]

Kudos to you. I definitely agree, and will try to realize this more often, instead of trying to show everyone how smart (...erm, about that...) I really am.

[filkferengi]

It's fascinating, all the changes and effects everyone is posting about. When we read and reread these books, the characters become real to us, people we actually know, who are part of our lives.

Y'all do realize, authors know these things, and they use them. There's a lovely moment in Bujold's _Ethan Of Athos_, where Elli is thinking about what Miles [the most Gen-like character] would do to solve a problem she has. Coming up with a solution, she gleefully exclaims, "You twisty little dwarf! I love you!" Long-delayed evidence suggests that, in the upcoming book, Gen may have had a similar effect on Sophos.

WE'RE ALL AUTHOR FODDER, PEOPLE.

Not that that's a bad thing; just sayin'.