Top Ten Tuesday, “Top Ten Favorite Book Covers Of Books I’ve Read”

Haven’t done a Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and the Bookish in a while, since I felt like I was going to get too repetitive soon. There are some favorites that I tend to keep going back to. But this one’s different, and I’m also limiting myself to one per author. Fair warning, I’m not a very visual person.

I spent an hour or so, rifling through all the old books in my room, for this one. I’m really glad this topic is letting me look at books I read too long ago to do a review for, but still remember how I felt about when I was younger. So, “Top Ten Favorite Book Covers Of Books I’ve Read”.

Borrowed from mariavsnyder.com

1. Poison Study, by Maria V. Snyder: I like the color contrast and the brightness here. I love the background, with the castle-esque spiral staircase, though that might be my history background bleeding through. That bit of mystery, where you can see there’s a person there but can’t see anything about her, is also attention getting. And the fact that all of that is background to the title and drawing makes it stand out more to me, for some reason.

Borrowed from nkjemisin.com

3. The Broken Kingdoms, by N. K. Jemisin: This one kind of speaks for itself. It’s a city in a giant tree, and it’s gorgeous. The cover for her first book was also beautiful, in a very different way.

Borrowed from 3.bp.blogspot.com

3. Naamah’s Curse, by Jacqueline Carey: I almost went with another Carey book, Santa Olivia, but decided to go with a book I hadn’t talked about yet, instead. This cover is really simple, and it’s the simplicity that I like. The spider design is just elegant.

Borrowed from marytrimblebooks.com

4. The Birth of Venus, by Sarah Dunant: This may be cheating a little, since the cover artist is Raphael (it’s a historical, set during the Renaissance). But the cover is beautiful, the writing is beautiful, and I don’t have the heart to keep it off this list.

Borrowed from brightweavings.com

5. Under Heaven, by Guy Gavriel Kay: This author’s books have some beautiful covers, and choosing just one was really hard (especially with all the different editions and foreign versions). But I decided to go with this version of Under Heaven.

Borrowed from elmhurst.edu

6. Cleopatra VII, by Kristiana Gregory, from the Royal Diaries series: These books were my childhood–I’m specifically choosing this one, because it was the first I’d ever read and the cover is emblazoned upon my memroy. I can’t remember what I was reading before I started this series (making this the first book I remember reading, ever). This is where my life long interest in history comes from, and might possibly explain my partiality towards dynamic female protagonists.

Borrowed from sfreviews.net

7. The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch: The setting, a fantasy world based on Venice, is bound to be stunning in both description and imagery. (Well, maybe not bound to be, but Lynch excels at evoking the wonder of his setting, and the cover art is very pretty.)

Borrowed from d.gr-assets.com

8. Warlord, by Jennifer Fallon: Damin Wolfblade, standing in the forefront after now having become a man capable of being a great political/military leader. His mother, who’d pretty much single handedly gotten him there, stands and looks on in the background, congratulating herself on a job well done. Or that’s my interpretation. I like my interpretation, because it lends a bit of humor to the picture. I want to chuckle every time I look at it.

Borrowed from barnesandnoble.com

9. Acacia, by David Anthony Durham: This is a setting picture, and it makes me feel like rather than trying to catch my interest by handing out pieces of the story, it’s trying not to give anything away. If that makes sense. Of course, that might just be my knowledge of the story coloring my impression.

Borrowed from risingshadow.net

10. Fire Logic, by Laurie J. Marks: I really need to go back and finish this series, now that I found this book lying around my house. Only two books were out when I first read it, and I never got back to it, but I remember it being a very good read. With a more…maybe philosophical tone, than most fantasy novels. I can’t really pin down what about this cover I like, but I found it in a bookstore by browsing covers, and that was the basis for my getting it.

Any favorite covers you guys want to mention? Which of mine do you like best?

Magic versus science, references to in fantasy fiction

I sometimes feel like I’m nitpicking with some of the science comments I make about shows, but this is probably a good way to point out the problems with perceptions about science. So, onward.

Once Upon a Time has been fantastic this season, by the way. In one episode, “The Evil Queen”, it did briefly misuse the word science. The Queen gets a magic nullifying bracelet put on her by an enemy. The enemy, in response to her calling it magic: “It’s not magic. It’s science.”

Oh, Once Upon a Time. No, it’s probably not science. Or are you trying to tell me that the magic that the Queen uses has known mechanisms/properties, such that someone could even come up with an idea about how to go about nullifying it? Because if so, then hey, her magic is kind of science too. Science countering magic in a story would make more sense if science was countering known effects of magic, rather than trying to block it from happening. The entire point of magic is that we don’t know how it works. (Magic could also be defined as something that exists in fantasy fiction but not real life, but you can’t apply a meta definition like that in-story without doing crazy stuff to the Fourth Wall).

Borrowed from girlgeniusonline.com

Amazingly enough, I’ve come across a magic/science reference that I actually liked before, from the ever amazing Girl Genius. The webcomic did a side alternate world pseudo-Cinderella story. Agatha, the protagonist, fixes her fairy godmother’s broken wand, and the fairy godmother doesn’t understand. Agatha responds, “Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science.” Much better.

In fact, I’ve heard scientists refer to processes we don’t yet understand as magic. So this statement fits in much better with what I know and what I’ve heard.

Anyone come across any other such references to science in media lately? Or any references you have any questions about?

Comedic Music, “Yo Mama Battle (of compliments)”

I decided that this video deserved its own post. This is the kind of stuff I love most from Rhett and Link. It’s funny, and it takes a concept and spins it around on its head. And of course, takes it to ridiculous levels.

Granted, some of the compliments are…well, most of the compliments lean towards crazy awesomeness. But some of them are just crazy. Not for lack of good intentions, I’m sure.

Anyway, it’s hilarious, and kinda catchy. And references X-Men.

Iron Man 3, because it had to happen eventually

Saw the latest Iron Man last Friday, in 2D–I heard the 3D wasn’t really worth it from some trusted sources. This made getting the ticket interesting, because the regular 2D version was noted as “Iron Man 3 D”. Apparently the “D” stands for digital. I think I can be forgiven for being confused, though.

Borrowed from marvel.com/ironman3

Overall verdict: The movie was pretty good, but flawed.

Pros:

- I can’t talk about the part that I liked best, because it’s too spoilery. People who saw the movie (which by now might be half of America, for all I know) should be able to get it from this: the villain’s reveal. Because we have expectations, and it’s about time a movie used them to play us, just to let us know how silly we are.

- Almost all of the (many, many) jokes were genuinely funny, even to me. There was a lot of laughter in that theater.

- War Machine. No idea why, but for some reason, I really liked him in this movie.

- There were a couple of inventive action scenes that caught my eye. They weren’t necessarily realistic, but who goes into an action movie expecting that?

Cons:

- There was a little too much focus on substance over style. I wasn’t getting enough emotion or characterization from the story.

- The jokes were all individually funny, but together, they were too many too often. It was overkill. Moreover, they were prioritized above pretty much any other part of the story. Some jokes that they made were funny, but didn’t belong in the story. They weren’t glaringly out of character, or anything, but they were just off enough to mess with my suspension of disbelief. I laughed, but while I was laughing, I knew that this joke was made at the expense of realism. Because in a realistic situation, it should never have been made and was an inappropriate thing to say to a kid like that (yes, even for Tony Stark). Okay, yeah, I’m thinking of one in particular. Tony met a kid who’s dad had walked out on him, and subjected the boy to his own personal brand of comfort.

While Tony Stark isn’t my favorite character by any means, he wouldn’t make such a good hero if his characterization was that he was just an asshole. He plays up his own personal brand of douchiness because that’s how he wants to come off, but he’s out to annoy people rather than to seriously hurt anyone. And that’s a distinction that didn’t come across in this scene, or anywhere else in this movie, for that matter.

- One of the characters had no place being in the movie. She literally did nothing significant. Yes, there were a couple of nice scenes I really did like with her. But playing up a character like that, making her seem like she’s going to have any impact on the plot at all–maybe some follow through would have been nice. It wouldn’t even be that hard. They had a perfect opportunity for her to actually do something that was more than talk that never amounted anything. I was sitting there expecting it. I’d have preferred it if they kept the character and just changed that scene to make her matter, but if she had to be insignificant, I’d rather her not be in the movie at all.

Some instinct tells me this is the kind of character that usually gets cut before making it into books.

And there’s my run down. Anyone else see the movie? What did you like or dislike about it?

Video Roundup: Medieval Batman, Polio, and Water Tribe Noodles

I’ve got a few too many videos to share with you guys, so here’s a roundup post.

The plot for the Batman movies as pitched by a medieval writer to his king:

A 3 minute documentary on the difficulty of polio vaccination efforts in nomadic communities in Nigeria:

The cooking of Water Tribe Noodles, inspired by Legend of Korra:

Raven Duology, and a mini-rant on single versus multiple POVs

Patricia Briggs is most well known for her Mercy Thompson series, one of the most highly rated urban fantasy series out there. That was my introduction to her work as well. A while back, I discovered that she began publishing work in the fantasy genre, though, and have since been working my way through her backlog.

It’s interesting to go through a large amount of books by an author like this. You can kind of see what changes they made to their writing, and what themes the author likes to use.

Of the books that I’ve gotten through so far, the Raven series is my favorite.

Borrowed from patriciabriggs.com

Tier is a former soldier, current farmer, who lives a village with his wife, Seraph. Seraph is a Raven–a kind of magician for the outcast Traveler people–who’s given up her way of life to marry the man who saved her life years ago. As luck would have it, all three of their children have Traveler magic, and one of them can’t hide how strange it makes him. Still, they try to go about their lives, until someone takes a little too close of an interest in their family, leading to the disappearance of one of their own. Now they have to get back their family, and find out why they’re being targeted in the first place. And it turns out to be a whole lot bigger than their family.

As an aside, flipping though these books again made me realize that I kind of miss the multiple point of view writings that were way more common when I was younger. Even in straight up fantasy, a large amount of books are written from a single POV. It has its own advantages, but so do multiple POVs. And I missed reading about multiple characters with different personalities and goals. It gave me more freedom to root for characters I liked and agreed with.

In the first Raven book, the multiple POVs make it possible to see the action in multiple locations, which is important for the plot. The missing family member isn’t exactly helpless, after all, and makes quite a difference during captivity. Maybe it’s just me, or maybe it depends on the author, but I get the impression that generally other characters get to do more when their parts away from the main character are included in the narrative.

Anyway, my Patricia Briggs binge is good for realizing that she’s good at making interesting characters. In this duology, Jes stands out. He’s the oldest son of Tier and Seraph, and the one with trouble hiding that he’s a little different. He kind of has two modes, or personalities. One is called the Guardian, and is the more dangerous side of him (and shapeshifts). The other is just Jes, but part of him is always with the Guardian, making him seem simple to the villagers around him. Jes is also an empath, which makes it difficult to be near too many people or to touch people.

He’s absolutely my favorite character in this series. Despite the difficulties of living with his power set, he’s a very cheerful character. He cares deeply about the people around him, and the “Guardian” aspect of him is more a protector than a warrior.

The other characters are also interesting in their own rights–Seraph finds herself holding on to old prejudices against the people who’ve been prejudiced against her, despite living amongst them for decades. Tier may have once been a soldier, but his preference (and talent) lies in talking people around rather than fighting them. Hennea, not family but an ally that shows up to help them, is controlled and secretive, but puts her all into helping the family. Rinnie is young (Tier and Seraph’s youngerst daughter) but endearing.

This was definitely a refreshing story to go back to.

Tea ceremonies, rice paper, and flower arrangements; this year’s Sakura Matsuri experience at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens

Once again, I went to the Sakura Matsuri festival at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.

One of the first things we did was go to a traditional Japanese flower arrangement demonstration–there are different schools for this, and I think that the demonstration we saw was from the Sogetsu School.

This is the first arrangment we watched made.

We also saw a lecture/demonstration of a Japanese tea ceremony, which I just learned people need to study how to conduct for decades. The demonstration was done by the Urasenke Chanoyu Center, who give similar talks monthly in NYC. Just browing their site manages to convey a bit of how complicated and detailed it is.

Borrowed from urasenkeny.org

We also saw a display of rice paper collages in the harie style by Junko Yamada. The works are actually 3D, with some pictures utalizing it more than others. Unfortunetly, you can’t really see that in the 2D image.

Borrowed from junkoyamada.com