A final parenthesis you may find interesting

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

chavelaque.blogspot.com/2010/09/genius-of-taylor-swift-and-ramble-about.html

Actually the whole thing's pretty interesting.

Comments

[emerald-happy.livejournal.com]

It gets bonus points for mention of Gaudy Night lol :-)

[beth-shulman.livejournal.com]

I saw this last night and almost left a comment based on the final line :) And I just read Gaudy Night and liked it, so points to that as well!

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Very cool. I haven't listened to much of Taylor Swift's music, but have to agree with "The "You Belong to Me" video is a practically perfect YA novel in three minutes and forty-eight seconds."

[ricardienne.livejournal.com]

V. cool -- not to start anything, but one of the things I LOVE about the QoA-KoA arc is that it gender-inverts so many old old tropes about romance: the forbidding more experienced man/lord whom the heroine is attracted to and brave enough to verbally spar with but whom she is also afraid of; the young bride in a political marriage trying to navigate a new household/court where she isn't trusted and has very few friends (heck -- the fact that it's GEN who moves to his wife's country and not vice versa is pretty significant, however well he and Attolia choreographed their wedding night); the woman who has to use wit and secrecy to achieve her ends because she isn't powerful enough to use open force.

It's particularly wonderful in that that MWT's books take place in a world that is basically male-dominated!

[queens-thief.livejournal.com]

Completely true and one of plethora of reasons why I love these books. They are refreshing on so many levels, one of which is gender and gender tropes as you say.
Rarely is power sexy (i.e., desirable),or at least made to purposefully be sexy, on a woman. I mean that if Attolia, and to an extent, Eddis, were to walk into our world they would be labled a "ballbuster" and "b*tch". And Gen, despite his powress in sword fighting and cunning would be a "sissy", "whipped" or worse. This is a man that doesn't want power and would rather leave it to his wife, especially the public display of it. And he is fussy about clothes, which we know is part of his disguise but also he revels in fashion and being clean.
And yet, MWT sends these characters to our hearts and despite our society (Specifically American mainstream. Sorry for excluding many,many societies and people but I can only speak on what I know)and time we admire them and the "rules" they turn topsy-turny. A woman can hold power and lead. She can be "feminine" and lead, or choose to be a different kind of "feminine" and still be desirable. A man can support his wife and not be "whipped". A man can be small of stature and still be strong. And so on....
And the wonderful fact is that it is clear that these characters face similar, if not the same, barriers, "rules" and assumptions. They are exceptions, not the rule. Think of Nahuseresh assumptions on Attolia.
Anyway, I will stop. :) Thanks for opening this discussion. I am certain there is so much more to be said.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

SQUUUEEE!

Someone managed to connect two things I love - QT and TS - in a intellectually stimulating manner.

AWESOME!

But one error... The name of TS's hit song is You Belong With Me not You Belong to Me. The latter sounds like the inner musing of some creepy, possessive weird dude.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah... And it is actually the exact words of a repeating line in the song Snow White Queen by Evanescence, which is about a creepy, possessive weird dude.

It's still a very beautiful song, though.

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

I really like Snow White Queen. But it is (deliberately) a creepy song.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

You belong to me,
My snow white queen.
There's nowhere to run, so let's just get it over.
Soon I know you'll see,
You're just like me.
Don't scream anymore my love, 'cause all I want is you.

Yes, I believe we can all agree that it is a (deliberately) creepy song; but for some reason, I can't stop listening to it. That's Evanescence for ya...

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Justine Larbalestier once did a post on Stalker Love Songs, and you wouldn't believe the number she and her readers came up with. It almost makes you think ALL love songs are stalker songs. Probably only some of them on purpose, though. :)

Cheryl Klein, my heroine

[queens-thief.livejournal.com]

If I could give you karma (or any other treat) right now I would. This woman is a heroine of mine--not the least for loving MWT and The Thief series. ;)
I love Gen and Attolia because they are both strong, vivid characters who are flawed and their flaws compliment each other--they need each other and moreover, are stronger together. (Plus their both not very nice ;) No sappy, mush for them, thank goodness!) I think this is why I also love Elizabeth and Darcy; Lois and Clark; Howl and Sophie; Ramases and Nefret.
They meet their full potential as an individual, or at least grow into it, by being together. Interdependece.

Re: Cheryl Klein, my heroine

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Cheryl is indeed a lovely (and very smart) person.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

SHE PICKED OUT MY FAVORITE LINE and broke down why it is such an awesome line (the rest of the chorus is a bit awkward, at least the first line, and so that makes the transitions awkward, and the melody awkward, but it is basically worth it for that line).

also that breakdown was yummilicious, and I should probably just go comment on that post, but my mind is too busy being blown away by awesomeness to do so. :-D

thanks for the link!