furyofvissarion (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
furyofvissarion) wrote2008-05-12 09:36 pm
furyofvissarion) wrote2008-05-12 09:36 pm
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The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume I: Charmed Life and The Lives of Christopher Chant - Diana Wynne Jones. Re-read, because I finally got this back after loaning it out months ago. Yay! Um, what's to say? Good stuff. I am glad that there is more Janet Chant in future books, at last, b/c I love her.
Conrad's Fate - Diana Wynne Jones. Another re-read. Still very good, but the anti-fat comments throughout the narrative are tiresome. Also, this is one of the books where you can really tell that Diana Wynne Jones has issues w/strong women (I know, I know, her own mother was awful; still, it gets irksome to have this come up in virtually all her books). I wish Millie wasn't having to get rescued, & also I want to go find some Conrad/Christopher slash now, please.
From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai'i - Haunani-Kay Trask. This is a collection of Trask's essays & speeches about the Hawaiian nationalist movement. Prefacing several of them are notes about how various people and publications had tried to get her to moderate her tone, because obviously as a passionate native Hawaiian activist she was too threatening. Some of the essays themselves talk about Trask's experiences in this vein--for example, the horrifyingly racist practices of the University of Hawai'i when Trask was interviewing for a teaching position there. Trask makes the connections between the situation of Hawaiians & that of other native people throughout the South Pacific & the rest of the world. I didn't know much specifics about the situation of native Hawaiians, except for the basics of the US swooping in to dominate; Trask is very clear in spelling things out. She also doesn't shirk in criticizing Asians--both those who live in Hawai'i & tourists--for suppressing native culture in similar ways as the haoles do. Sometimes the essays were a bit redundant, a pitfall of collecting pieces that were published independently, I know. Anyway--a good primer.
Conrad's Fate - Diana Wynne Jones. Another re-read. Still very good, but the anti-fat comments throughout the narrative are tiresome. Also, this is one of the books where you can really tell that Diana Wynne Jones has issues w/strong women (I know, I know, her own mother was awful; still, it gets irksome to have this come up in virtually all her books). I wish Millie wasn't having to get rescued, & also I want to go find some Conrad/Christopher slash now, please.
From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai'i - Haunani-Kay Trask. This is a collection of Trask's essays & speeches about the Hawaiian nationalist movement. Prefacing several of them are notes about how various people and publications had tried to get her to moderate her tone, because obviously as a passionate native Hawaiian activist she was too threatening. Some of the essays themselves talk about Trask's experiences in this vein--for example, the horrifyingly racist practices of the University of Hawai'i when Trask was interviewing for a teaching position there. Trask makes the connections between the situation of Hawaiians & that of other native people throughout the South Pacific & the rest of the world. I didn't know much specifics about the situation of native Hawaiians, except for the basics of the US swooping in to dominate; Trask is very clear in spelling things out. She also doesn't shirk in criticizing Asians--both those who live in Hawai'i & tourists--for suppressing native culture in similar ways as the haoles do. Sometimes the essays were a bit redundant, a pitfall of collecting pieces that were published independently, I know. Anyway--a good primer.
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What did you think of Pinhoe Egg? I forget if we talked about this already. I think she does some really great things with Marianne, tho' there are still certainly BIG issues with women: Gammer is wretched (understandably so, but only to a certain point), Marianne's mother is ineffective, and Millie is just too ... womanish and domesticated for my tastes -- all comments i make off of my year-old recollection of the book, so please assume there's a margin of error. ;) Also, i both disliked and was inordinately charmed by Marianne discovering her powers because Cat points her in the right direction. I disliked it because i hated having the girl shown The Way by the boy, but i was kinda charmed by it 'cause i like Cat.
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We did talk about the book a little, but my recollection is probably as hazy as yours, if not hazier.
It's always kinda bothered me that Millie is sooooo nice & womanly & homemaker-ish, even though I like her as a character. Or as a person, I mean. Ha ha.
Also, I too like Cat!
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Yeah, i'm pretty disappointed in the difference between The Goddess and Millie. SIGH.
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