yati: An open book lying on a green grassy field. (grasp the horizons)
I've never been much of a reader of historical fiction. Most of the problem came from the fact that I didn't have much grounding in world history; it seemed like my education began with the ancient civilisations and skipped straight to World War II. (Well, the Renaissance was in there somewhere, I vaguely recall the pictures in the textbooks, but it went by very fast and didn't grab me much.)

Then came Dorothy Dunnett. I read her Lymond Chronicles and loved the books, and The Game of Kings, the first book in the series, is one of my favourite books ever. But that story (or the retelling of it) is for another time.

I started her House of Niccolò series this year. The series is a prequel to the Lymond Chronicles, following the adventures of one Nicholas de Fleury, an ancestor of Lymond in mid-fifteenth century Europe, who started as a lowly apprentice and rose to become a merchant trusted by kings. I spent almost ten months, on and off, reading these books. )

What can I say? The lady was a magnificent writer.


Below are some thoughts about the series, and some knee-jerk reactions especially to the last book, Gemini, since it's fresh in mind and I am somewhat boggled about a number of things. They are not in any particular sequence. None of them are very coherent.

spoilers for both House of Niccolò and the Lymond Chronicles )
yati: Sophie looking at Calcifer, from Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle (burn bright)
And it's a Sunday night!

This week I was supposed to do some sewing (curtains -- will have to explain in another post) and work on bug 1813. Not much progress on the bug; I was doing the fixes alphabetically and right now I am still at, uh, Bases. Yay progress? But I did Tabula Rasa first, honest! So that all the layouts based on it will have the icon placement thing fixed or partially fixed. Perhaps I should submit the ones I'm done with first.

I probably shouldn't have picked something so CSS-y, huh. Not my strongest suit, CSS.

As for the curtain, no progress on it at all! It's still on my floor, alas.

I worked on my own layout for a bit, based on some feedback I received, and ended up making some modifications of my own. I'm beginning to dislike the colours, which probably means I've been looking at it too long, XD.

Other things I've been up to: I've been reading the House of Nicolò books and have finished book seven, Caprice and Rondo. I started the last book, Gemini, but I have been rather slow at getting through it, mainly because Caprice and Rondo ended on a somewhat happy note and while there are tons of things unresolved, I'm just glad that the main characters are reconciled about a number of things. Also the writing in Gemini seems a bit more low key and toned down -- I don't feel like I need to rush through it as I did for the other books.

Re-watched Howl's Moving Castle (the Miyazaki movie) with my brother, who hasn't seen it, and now I feel like rereading the book. I love the movie -- it's so pretty! -- but I'll always love the book better.


I had also just realised, with dawning horror, that November is here and I have signed up for Nanowrimo and I have nothing to write! I don't know what foolishness makes me attempt to write 50,000 words year after year. We'll see where this will go. (My prediction is nowhere.)
yati: Ichigo, Ishida, Orihime, Chad and Yoruichi from the Bleach manga, looking exaggeratedly shocked. (we have no words)
I think I'm having an allergic reaction to the book I'm reading.

No, seriously. I got it from a used book store and it's dusty and looks slightly icky and if the microwave still worked I would've considered putting it in to kill germs and stuff, but it isn't so I can't, so now I am stuck reading a slightly icky looking book. I started sneezing the moment I started reading it -- you would've thought that the dust of centuries were upon it.

Now I have a sore throat and an itchy nose.

Dangerous hobby, reading. Who knew.




(For the curious, the book is Caprice and Rondo by Dorothy Dunnett, in which I spend a lot of time feeling like I'd like to throttle the main character, despite him being fascinating and clever and all. I have been doing this for six books, people! Someone should come join me.)
yati: Ichigo, Ishida, Orihime, Chad and Yoruichi from the Bleach manga, looking exaggeratedly shocked. (we have no words)
Hullo! I am back from internet-less lands! Not that anyone had noticed that I was gone, I suppose, XD. I was at my grandma's for three days, and while internet is accessible using my mobile phone, the phone itself is somewhere at the lower end of the phone spectrum and it is not much fun trying to view even pages made for mobile view using that thing.

But! I am back! And currently on leave, and will only be back at work on Monday.

What I am up to right now: searching for bills and paying for them before someone comes and cuts off the electricity, etc. Which wouldn't be a good thing, considering the whole family is here and everyone will give me disapproving looks if that happens.

Once that is done I'll have to update my Dreamhack and, uh, do stuff. Poor 'hack, left alone for such a long time. Hopefully this time I'll get things done and not lose momentum after a bit. Among things I think I would be able to help with is converting stuff in [site community profile] dreamscapes to S2, but I haven't really attempted that yet, so we'll see how it goes!

Speaking of [site community profile] dreamscapes, I've posted a layout there for comment, but there hasn't been any response -- either it's good enough or no one really wants to bother with it. XD Admittedly it's much easier (and fun, I bet) to check out new colour schemes to existing layouts that go through that hassle of installing and testing a new layout. But, if you're interested, the relevant post is here, and I'm willing to help if you get stuck trying to use it. Both layout and theme layers are public, layerids are 77089 (layout) and 77090 (theme). [personal profile] yati is using the same layout with a different theme, which I haven't submitted.

Aaaand speaking of Dreamwidth, I still have invite codes. (Though I suppose everyone who really wants an account probably already has one.) Ask if you need/want a code!

What I also need to do: compare book prices and get The Unicorn Hunt. The ending of Scales of Gold made me go asffdfghlhl;hh;;khg WHAT? I should have known that was going to happen. Both the ending and me going WHAT? That's Dorothy Dunnett for you. (Seriously, if I had found her books earlier, I bet I would've been more interested in history in general and the Renaissance in particular and would've wanted to get more grounding in the classics than what I had in school. I can't believe I'm looking things up for this lady.)

Maybe a reaction post later. I have notes for this book. Notes.

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yati: Flonne squishing Laharl (Disgaea) while waving one arm (Default)
Yati

September 2013

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