Mod Reintroduction and Quote Questionnaire

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

Hello everyone, and welcome to sounis!

My name is Jade, and I am one of the proud mods of this fabulous community. The other mod is the fabulous checkers65477, librarian extraordinaire. (rowana, the third listed mod, is also extraordinary, in that she went to Oxford, but sadly there she lost all free time.) If you ever have any questions, concerns, or ideas for the comm, you are always free to send us a message/drop a comment on our personal LJs/eat cookies/etc. We've both been busy for the past few months, but we would just like to remind you that we are here to help make sure this community is a fun, safe, book-discussion-driven place for everyone! (Y'all really don't need much help from us, which is awesome.)

To celebrate what an intelligent, caring, insightful, and generally fun group of people we have in our tiny corner of fandom, I thought I would resurrect an old set of discussion questions about people's favorite quotes.

So please! Comment away! Consider the question "and why" is attached to the end of all the questions! (It's just like high school English!) Ask questions of your own! EAT COOKIES. :-)



1) What's your favorite line from the books?
(I know, I know, it's difficult. Think hard!)

2) Is/are there any particular line(s) you find yourself repeating to yourself, or that you automatically think of in certain situations?

3) Think of your favorite line by your least favorite character.

4) Is there a line that struck you differently on subsequent rereads than it did the first time you read it?
(That one's kind of hard, too. Did it change the way you viewed a character? Was it in a broader, more life-lesson-y-type sense? Did you breeze right by it the first time, and find it later and wonder how you could have possibly missed it 'cause it's the best line ever? Etc.)

5) If you could, for half a second, channel MWT's brilliance, which line would you have like to have written yourself?



I'm looking forward to seeing how ACoK has changed people's answers. Have fun! :-)

Comments

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

I guess I'll go first!

4) Is there a line that struck you differently on subsequent rereads than it did the first time you read it?

I have to say, the entirety of aCoK. I was one of those lucky people who had just finished KoA for the first time when CoK came out. The downside of that however, was that I was expecting CoK to be like KoA. So, while I enjoyed CoK, I was mildly disappointed. A few weeks ago I re-read it, and was amazed by everything I missed the first time. Did anyone else feel this way??

*thinks hard about other questions*

[willow-41z.livejournal.com]

I felt this way about KoA! (Still haven't read ACoK, so can't compare.) I read it the first time and was kind of disappointed because it seemed like so much of the story was behind walls. Then I reread it and was really impressed.
'
It probably didn't help that I read it really fast the first time in a rush to devour it, and was also cranky and sick.

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

Icon!

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

Well, this doesn't specifically answer any question, but I had to share that MWT can be classy! When Gen is sparing with Costis at the end of KoA, and knocks the sword out of Costis' hand, and Cosis goes diving for it, Gen wacks Costis "on his undefended posterior." :) (Some authors would have had no problem using a 3 letter word there, but posterior is not only classy, but fun because it is so little used!)

*tries to come up with answers to other questions and gets brain freeze*

[willow-41z.livejournal.com]

... did you let Em make the cookies? *suspicious*

[heiros-acumen.livejournal.com]

*least favorite character*

You mean there are characters in the stories that some people don't LOVE!??!

Whenever I lie down with a headache (which is kind of frequently because I have something called Dysautonomia-see my youtube page at Hannah's Acumen if you're interested)
I think of the line in QoA "His grandfather would heap scorn on him like coals."

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

I love that line!

[chubbyleng.livejournal.com]

Heeeeyaaaa!!!! I really should be doing Linear Algebra homework. (Guess what? My algebra prof looks exactly like how I picture Relius!)

Alrighty.

1) Haha, the quotation on your icon!

2) "Airing your arm hair?" Lol, I know it's totally random, but ever since I started school again, I keep thinking about that. Especially during my one hour subway rides. A few people can use Old Spice.

3) "Basileus" by Sejanus. I think it just marked the 180 degree revision of his opinion towards Eugenides. It's a sign of acceptance.... finally. After half the book, haha.

I'm going to have to go back to 4) and 5). I gotta do homework right now, and they take a bit of time to think about. ^__^

[theorangethief.livejournal.com]

Is is sad that I have actually used the "You are drunk. I am, what's your excuse?" line before?

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

I love that line, too.

[ricardienne.livejournal.com]

2)

Eugenides' line about "I should have specified a story with a happy ending. I don't like this one. Tell me another one." It's become my habitual complaint, often paraphrased as "I don't like this story. Tell me a different one/I want a story with a happy ending." Sadly, because I am not a king, people are not going to make sure that things have happy endings when I demand that they do!

[brandy-painter.livejournal.com]

Wow Jade, breaking out the hard questions. Do you know how long it's been since some of us (me) were in high school English?

1. "Diplomacy in my own name."
If I had my hands free the first time I read it I would have clapped. That whole scene is awesome but this was the perfect finish for it. I still smile every time. Irene is the best.

2. I say "Don't be ridiculous." a lot I think I did that before so it probably doesn't count.

3. This one is beyond me after the day I've had.

4. My inability to answer this is making me realize it is time for a reread.

5. All of them but that would take more than half a second's channeling.

I totally fail and don't deserve any cookies.

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

1. "Diplomacy in my own name."

I love that scene. I couldn't stand Attolia at all until that scene, but after that, I completely revised my opinion of her. Now, she is my FAVORITE charachter, most ly thanks to that scene :)

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

#2. I have a really random one. It's the one in Thief after Ambiades and Sophos tie Gen's hands, then Pol gives him the berries. Gen thinks "...I had no grievance against Sophos, and Ambiades' hash I could settle on my own." When someone annoys me, I think, "I can settle his hash on my own." Also love the "hierarchy of one" line.

[tenar-padmire.livejournal.com]

1) "I am Eddis. The gods have told me so." It's just so prophetic, and makes one think that this girl is destined for great things.

2)"May you be blessed in your endeavors." I write it in greeting cards sometimes.

3)Will think on this one...

4)Don't remember the exact line, but there was a part in TT where Gen thinks "no war will be waged for me" or something like that. I never remembered it, even after reading QoA, but when I finally did rereads, I hated myself for not seeing the foreshadowing.

5)Ooh tough one. But I'd think that pretty quote in your icon.

[elle-winters.livejournal.com]

Yay, looking at you mod-ing

/is impressed

/will have to think abt questions =D

[elle-winters.livejournal.com]

it should be "look" not "looking" which would just be creepy

xD

[pigrescuer.livejournal.com]

1. Split between the one in my icon and 'we eat the chicken now!'

2) Lol, i actually thought of the chicken one this evening when I was cooking dinner and my flatmates wouldn't sit down for their dinner (lemon chicken and sweet potato)

3) Not exactly a line, but Ambiades is probably my least favourite and the bit where he and Gen have an argument about swords makes me laugh. I can't quote it exactly, but it's like 'he pointed out that I wasn't much help, I pointed out that I didn't have a sword, he offered to give me his, point first.

4) Well, the one in my icon. Also any obscure references Gen makes to his being Eddisian/the Thief/in love with Attolia.

The bit where Eddis and Attolia discuss their real names makes me think more than it used to, because - especially after CoK - I've been picking up on the significance of names in the books.

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

The one in your icon is one of my absolute favorites, ever ever ever.

[styromgalleries.livejournal.com]

There are so many great ones to choose from, but I've always been partial to, "Calf love doesn't usually survive amputation, Your Majesty."

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

my gosh yes

[styromgalleries.livejournal.com]

As for # 2, I would have to say that when I think of the series, I often find myself coming back to that line Eddis says (and this won't be quite exact) about the gods, that if she is their pawn, it's not because they make her choices for her but because they know her so well they know what her choices will be. Basically, foreknowledge does not equal predestination. I think that's beautiful because it resonates with me and my personal religious faith.

[elle-winters.livejournal.com]

yes, me too!

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

Oh gosh. You ask hard questions!

(1) "Eugenides moved like a sleepwalker down a hallway he didn't see, remembering the sound of hammers as he had hidden in bushes near the city walls." It makes me shiver every time.

(2) I find myself thinking any number of lines throughout an average day, but can't for the life of me remember them. I think there are a good 5 or 6 that are familiar enough that I remember them verbatim and another couple dozen that I can remember well enough to paraphrase, more or less. Too many! But I do know that I can't see someone eating a chicken dinner without thinking "We eat the chicken now!", and cake, of course, results in " 'I don't want your cake, Dirnes.' I did, actually. I wanted it a lot." Hee hee. Food quotes are the best.

(3) Uch. When Teleus says "She might not be dead!" and Nahuseresh replies, "True . . . Please excuse me, guard. I have some dinner waiting for me in my rooms, I think," that's the line I just love to hate.

(4) When Sejanus asks Costis whose orders he's following and Costis replies, "My captain's, Lord Sejanus. From whom else would I take my orders?" The first time around, it went completely over my head, but some time during a reread I realized that Costis was being exceptionally clever. It was a perfectly honest answer to Sejanus's question, but Sejanus wanted to know which captain, Teleus or Enkelis, Costis was loyal too, and Costis gave him absolutely no useful information.

(5) No. Clue. Whatsoever. Um, but if I had to pick just one, I think it would be Attolia's "I'm sure I wouldn't be the first you drove to apoplexy!" That was the perfect comeback.

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

Ooh, or Sophos's lovely snide remark to Akretenesh when he says, "Did you not just days ago lecture me about the sacred truce?" and Sophos the Badass checks to see if lightning is going to strike him down, and it doesn't, and he's all smirking and says, "We will have to assume the gods are on my side." That was when I decided he was a bamf.

[elle-winters.livejournal.com]

1. I just saw your icon and realized that is DEFINITELY a favorite line; "I love your eyes..*kiss*.." i love that entire scene <3

1, b. Oh, and when Her Majesty Attolia faints, and Ornon or someone goes, "Oh, she fainted at the sight of blood"
And Gen goes, "Not my wife"
it's like he knows her and yet ..<3

2. I find myself saying "So, so, so" and

OH and this, it's from CoKs and it's a line I can't get over. "Does a good man let his circumstanstance determine his character?"
I find myself thinking about it all the time, in different situations.

And "We eat chicken, now!" haha I don't know why but I always think of that at resturants, and when i say it no one gets it! =/

4. Least favorite character...hm...I think the ending with Ion, when he asks Sounis not to forget him, I was like "JERK" and then "awe.."

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

Definetly agree about the good man (you have it right, I don't have a CoK near to hand) It certainly an interesting insight into all the machinations that go on in this series.

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

2) Is/are there any particular line(s) you find yourself repeating to yourself, or that you automatically think of in certain situations?

"Ouch."

I use it when I have a really bad hand when playing cards, or when I make a really stupid strategical mistake!

4) Is there a line that struck you differently on subsequent rereads than it did the first time you read it?

It's not really a line, just a passing comment in the beginning of KoA, when Aris is telling Costis that the men would follow Costis becasue he is modest, and the men would never follow Lt. Enkelis becasue he always takes all the credit.

Or the scene in a CoK when Gen and Sophos are discussing Ambiades. When Gen says (roughly) "Good men don't let their circumstances make them bad."

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

You do say "ouch" alot - I never made the connection!!
Um...Ouch?

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

2) Is/are there any particular line(s) you find yourself repeating to yourself, or that you automatically think of in certain situations?

"I'm not as stupid as you think I am, even if you are!"

I love this line! Poor Philologos, everyone talks down to him, but he put them all in their place with that line! Whenever I start feeling like Philo, I think of that line. It cheers me up even if I can't say anything!

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I love the next line, too, where they all have to take a minute to determine that yes, there was an insult in there.

[oxeyed.livejournal.com]

1) "He could tell her he loved her. He ached to shout it out loud for the gods and everyone to hear. Little good it would do. Better to trust in the moon's promises than the word of the Thief of Eddis. He was famous in three countries for his lies."

Just...everything about this scene is fantastic. Although the last scene in QoA is also a favorite of mine.

2) The whole "you shot the ambassador/you gave me the gun." exchange at the end of ACoK wins me every time.


5) "He threw himself against the leather straps of the chair, against the solid air all around him, against the obduracy of the queen of Attolia."

Obdurate might be my favorite word because of this passage. QoA was the first book in the series I ever read, and this scene was when I realized how great of a book it was.

[chubbyleng.livejournal.com]

Ah, now I'm back, and I've taken a bit of time to think about 4 and 5.

4) Attolia's whole talk with MoW at the end of QoA, where she sends him back to Eddis, but she's actually saying that they'll gang up against the Medes. To Nahuseresh, it seems like Gen would be doomed. The unfortunate thing is that I thought so too, even though the scene before that, it was implied that she decided to wear Gen's earrings.

5) "But not in your nightshirt". Hahahaha!!

I just marvel at how brilliantly MWT writes romance. It's not your typical puppy love, laced with confusion and doubts and sexual tension. KoA and ACoK are one of the most romantic books I've read, and all the romance is very subdued. Well, QoA too, but I didn't get the romantic feel first time around... and well, there's no second chances for first impressions. ^__~

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

I just marvel at how brilliantly MWT writes romance.

Completely agreed!!

[smills47.livejournal.com]

Well, #2-5 require more thought, but #1 is easy: "Go to bed."

Finally getting around to this...

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

1) What's your favorite line from the books?

I think - Ten men and a penknife. - is pretty high on the list at this point!

2) Is/are there any particular line(s) you find yourself repeating to yourself, or that you automatically think of in certain situations?

Yup. (insert random thought here) What's your excuse?

3) Think of your favorite line by your least favorite character.

Hmm... Nahuseresh's diplomacy line, mostly because I love Irene's response!

4) Is there a line that struck you differently on subsequent rereads than it did the first time you read it?
(That one's kind of hard, too. Did it change the way you viewed a character? Was it in a broader, more life-lesson-y-type sense? Did you breeze right by it the first time, and find it later and wonder how you could have possibly missed it 'cause it's the best line ever? Etc.)

Probably the whole boat scene in QoA. Not knowing how deep Gen's feelings for Irene run yet, the scene takes on whole new levels of chilling meaning and profound emotions upon rereads

5) If you could, for half a second, channel MWT's brilliance, which line would you have like to have written yourself?

The veil for him is always thin. I love to write chilling lines, and this one is brilliant!

De-Lurking...

[centuryhawk.livejournal.com]

1) What's your favorite line from the books?
Hmm... My favourite line changes often. Maybe "I can do anything I want!"

4) Is there a line that struck you differently on subsequent rereads than it did the first time you read it?
The thing I loved most about this series is that every time I re-read it something new hits me. Most recently is a part from the beginning of TT Where the Magus says, "We might someday attain a relationship of mutual respect" and Gen thinks "First I will see gods walking the earth"
Such great foreshadowing!

5) If you could, for half a second, channel MWT's brilliance, which line would you have like to have written yourself?
Hmm... Probably from CoK
“Muse of poetry, come to his aid, I thought. Could the man produce one more metaphor of husbandry? He seemed to be trying. "Green wood," I suggested, but even he sensed that there was something unfortunate about a metaphor for a king in which you dry out your royalty before you set fire to it.”
This made me laugh so hard.