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queensthiefToday I was given* a bookmark, which has on it a book I rather thought Eugenides might be interested in!
(Tove Janson’s ‘Moominmama’ reading How to build an empire)
This left me wondering, though...
1. What would Gen think of bookmarks?
(Yes, I know, they have scrolls. But bookmarks are small, precious, slip easily into pockets … perfect for Gen!)
2. What is MWT’s favourite bookmark?
(A big leather fob with ‘Not Telling’ embossed on it, I’m guessing ;P )
3. What are your favourite bookmarks? And why?
(Go on, photos...!)
*It’s my birthday.
(Tove Janson’s ‘Moominmama’ reading How to build an empire)
This left me wondering, though...
1. What would Gen think of bookmarks?
(Yes, I know, they have scrolls. But bookmarks are small, precious, slip easily into pockets … perfect for Gen!)
2. What is MWT’s favourite bookmark?
(A big leather fob with ‘Not Telling’ embossed on it, I’m guessing ;P )
3. What are your favourite bookmarks? And why?
(Go on, photos...!)
*It’s my birthday.
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no subject
Date: 1/27/20 01:44 am (UTC)1. You are absolutely right, but can I propose Gen's child choosing bookmarks as their trinket of choice? Imagine the little royal being brought up seriously to inherit their parents' position, studying economics and diplomacy, but also being an absolute terror none of their tutors can prove is stealing their fancy bookmarks. (Of course they will have a child and of course Gen will be wiping a tear of pride and joy from the corner of eye the first time the kid presents him with a stolen prize -- while Irene promises Gen bodily harm for his influence...)
2. Haha, your guess is better than mine! :P
3. My favorite bookmark is a golden image of a cat in a Victorian-ish ruff based on the image Mark Twain kept on his mantle to use in stories he told his children. (I think that's the story, anyway)
*Happy birthday!!
no subject
Date: 2/10/20 01:24 am (UTC)I love the idea of all the tutors wondering "Where's my bookmark ... er, well, your highness, where had we got to at the end of the last lesson?"
As for the next-gen ;) of the Attolian royal family, I'd imagined twins, so no-one feels sad about the previous child, and yes, one of them light-fingered and the joy of Gen's heart. You can find them here: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12857788/1/A-Royal-Steed
although there are more fics about them to follow :)
That's a lovely bookmark :)
[Costume nerd feels that's a Tudor-era ruff, not Victorian, but that's just being nerdy ... excuse me]
no subject
Date: 1/28/20 02:42 am (UTC)1. One of my headcanons for Gen is that, at any given time, he has more miscellaneous items hidden about his person than he even realizes or remembers (until he notices his robes getting heavy enough to be cumbersome during thiefy parkour exercises). Speaking of exercise, this is partly due to a now-subconscious habit of pocketing any small, random object left unguarded around the palace... It's how he keeps himself quick. Of course, he oftentimes remembers to put said objects back after a day or two. Attolia's attendants only think they've misplaced her comb or perfume bottle or what-have-you, until, "Ah, I don't know why I didn't see it there when I searched yesterday..." More often, however, he does forget, at which point he unloads a multifarious collection of items, the source of some a mystery even to him... :) All that to say: I bet there would be bookmarks (and paperweights for scrolls) in his pocketses! (Can you imagine him as a father, desperately trying to entertain a moody toddler, and retrieving things at random, like, "Here, chew on Teleus's keys... No? How about Relius's favorite ink blotter? I know! Costis's toy soldier...?)
2. If I were MWT I'd print and laminate the more absurd fan theories I'd seen posted here on Sounis, and use them as bookmarks. Nothing like a good chuckle as one settles in to read instead of write. ;P
3. I tend to leave bookmarks in books and then shelve those books, meaning I have no idea where most of them currently are, but I'll be glad to find them again when I go to quickly locate a favorite passage or reference. But I'm always amassing more bookmarks because I find them in the used books I buy. Here is a picture of three I found (yes, all at the same time, in a stack of ex-library purchases)! I thought they looked pretty together. (And yes, they've already disappeared into other books.)
no subject
Date: 2/10/20 01:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2/10/20 01:38 am (UTC)I love the idea of Gen having his (deep) pockets filled with random stuff -- and, of course, none of his attendants ever daring to empty the pockets when they take his coats away to the wardrobe :D A load of laundry would become agony: 'No, you can't take that one, the pockets are full!' 'This one?' 'Check the pockets...'
I'm reminded of the old Barbour jacket advert, which showed all the hundreds of things they'd found in people's jacket pockets when sent in for re-waxing -- I'll see if I can find a copy :)
no subject
Date: 1/31/20 12:55 am (UTC)1. I think Gen would think other people's bookmarks are a great source of fun -- slipping them a few pages forward or back when the reader was not paying attention.
2. I can't top you or freenarnian on that.
3. Sorry. I looked, but I don't have any great ones. I generally just use the hold slip from the library. Or, sometimes, little notes from my husband. (But all the ones I've kept are inappropriate to share publicly.)
no subject
Date: 1/31/20 12:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2/10/20 01:48 am (UTC)I was tempted to suggest that Frank Sinatra's "My way" might be Gen's theme tune ... but then I thought that one of the major themes in QoA, and really KoA too, is Gen learning that he's not doing things /his/ way, as much as the gods' way...
A theological sidetrack opens here, but I'll spare you all from a dose of happily undiluted Calvinism... ;)
no subject
Date: 2/10/20 02:05 am (UTC)"If I am the pawn of the gods, it is because they know me so
well, not because they make my mind up for me."
- Gen, in Megan Whalen Turner's _The Queen of Attolia_
So, I think MWT has set us up for theological sidetracks on Calvinism.
(In fact, that's the line I used to hook my pastor into reading the series. Now he's a huge fan and has even used MWT as a sermon illustration. Twice.)
no subject
Date: 2/10/20 01:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2/3/20 01:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2/10/20 01:44 am (UTC)And face it, where would we be without Gen in our minds and lives? Worse, /who/ might we be? ;P
no subject
Date: 2/10/20 03:16 am (UTC)Bookmarks
Date: 2/3/20 05:43 pm (UTC)Re: Bookmarks
Date: 2/3/20 11:32 pm (UTC)Re: Bookmarks
Date: 2/10/20 01:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2/3/20 11:34 pm (UTC)I love you all, my fellow nerdy bibliophiles. Look at us, dedicating a whole thread to the topic of bookmarks...
<3 :D
no subject
Date: 2/5/20 12:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2/9/20 10:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2/10/20 01:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2/11/20 12:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2/19/20 06:31 am (UTC)