Sunday, March 6, 2011

Expecting

I am growing up and learning new things all the time.

I went to my first babyshower two weeks ago. A lovely afternoon, but there was more smoking than I expected.

Last night I went to my first hens night. It was a great night, but there was more talking about death than I expected.

I'll know for next time.

I'm still listening to Undine by Penni Russon, a book about a girl discovering that she has nautically-inspired magical powers.

I'm enjoying listening to this story more than I expected, because I don't get into much fantasy. Perhaps because whenever I read a book like Undine I can't help thinking that poor Undies might be mentally ill rather than magical. This is clearly a failure of my imagination and I wish I was better at suspending disbelief. I keep telling myself that Harry Potter really did go to Hogwarts - he's not just a lonely boy in a basement who has lost his grip on reality.

At least when I read Liar by Justine Larbalestier, I didn't have any doubts or confusion about what "really" happened. I knew.

3 comments:

  1. Suspension of disbelief is a funny thing ... I always find myself suspecting that Hamlet is actually a poor disturbed schizophrenic young lad, and that his uncle Claudius is an innocent old guy who really never killed anyone.

    Speaking of Harry Potter vs reality, have you read/heard The Magicians, by Lev Grossman? Basically a modern-day-kid-discovers-magic-is-real story (riffing a lot on the Narnia books as well as J. K. Rowling), except that all the characters in it generally behave like real people (i.e. most of the time like selfish twits) instead of like heartwarmingly twee British storybook stereotypes. I found it *extremely* entertaining.

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  2. Selfish twits...now that sounds like something I can relate to.

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  3. Vanity searching.

    I LOVE the idea that Harry Potter is actually a lonely boy in a basement.

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