and when i knew better, i did better

[heathershaped]

You know what's really not a good feeling?

When you find out that you've been ignorant about something. It's better than choosing to remain ignorant about it, so I'm glad I know -- but it's weird; I feel like I've grown as a person, and at the same time I feel all squicky about not having known in the first place.

And I spent money on those books.

/cryptic

One day soon I'll post about the author's fail, and my fail for buying into it for even a little while. Seriously. Ugh.

Comments

[kendas.livejournal.com]

Okay, now you've just made me want to ask 'what?' hee. Very cryptic.

[heather11483.livejournal.com]

lol. You know what it is? I'm still slightly embarrassed. Sorry for being cryptic. :P I'll illuminate things soon, because I think I need to get it off my chest.

[florahart]

*dies of curious*

[purelush.livejournal.com]

Cassandra Clare?

[heather11483.livejournal.com]

LOL!! No, oh my god no, but you're actually really close.

[purelush.livejournal.com]

Really?

You realize this is going to drive me NUTS until I find out, right?

[heather11483.livejournal.com]

Heee. Now I have to post a little meta. I'll find some time on Sunday. Sorry! XP

[kendas.livejournal.com]

Is is something to do with Twilight? Or did you buy scientology books thinking they were actually self help?

[heather11483.livejournal.com]

NO, if you know me at all, you know that me and Twilight are Not Friends.

And no, no scientology. You're going to be so underwhelmed when I post about it. ;)

[kendas.livejournal.com]

I know. I didn't think there was anything else left about Twilight to disenchant you, bt the Cassandra Clare comment - it was the only thing I could think of, not having read any of them.

[heather11483.livejournal.com]

Haha, it was a good guess, though. I seriously didn't mean to turn this post into an annoying meme. LOL! I was just still embarrassed, and I don't have time to get my thoughts out properly.

...And your icon, it wins.

[kendas.livejournal.com]

No, it's like a mystery now. We must hunt down and find the culprit for you crypic-ness, then force a long explanation from it just like any good detective show - okay it's late. My brain is officially off on a path of it own.

(Bowie for the win)*grins*

[heather11483.livejournal.com]

God, where's Inspector Lynley when we need him?

[purelush.livejournal.com]

*NOM NOM NOM*

sorry. Lynley. I've loved him since I was like 12.

[heather11483.livejournal.com]

*g* He needs to come and solve the mystery....in my pants.

[superioritea.livejournal.com]

lmao this comment is win

[the_rainbow_jen]

Cryptic post is cryptic. :P

[heather11483.livejournal.com]

I know, right? I'll have to find time this weekend to elaborate.

[bewarethesmirk.livejournal.com]

tease. :D

eta: and obviously i'm kidding. i know realizations like that suck.

[heather11483.livejournal.com]

Hee! No bb, I knew you were! ♥

Still, yes, cryptic post is cryptic. :P

[mariamme.livejournal.com]

I don't like that feeling either. *makesface*

♥

[heather11483.livejournal.com]

♥

*hugs* Thanks, honey.

[birdseyeview.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

I'm intrigued though!

[heather11483.livejournal.com]

Aw, your icon is perfect.

Thanks. ♥ *hugs back*

[shantirosa.livejournal.com]

*hugs* I am curious, but basically all I can say to this is: *more hugs*

[heather11483.livejournal.com]

*hugs tight* Thanks, bb. ♥

[sweet-lemmon.livejournal.com]

JK Rowling (sorry couldnt help myself:P), Libba Bray...Darwin...???

*is so curious*


*hugs*

[heather11483.livejournal.com]

*hugs back* Nooo, not JKR. I'll never be able to quit her. :P

♥ I'm not saying anything else about the other two. >_>

[adamanteve19.livejournal.com]

It's Libba Bray, isn't it? Your comment about Cassandra Clare--they're friends. What's Bray done?

I'm curious and afraid now, because I liked the Gemma Doyle series, but I just know that if it's that and you reveal why, I know I'm never going to look at the series the same way again!

[sweet-lemmon.livejournal.com]

I liked the GD series too! :( Maybe it is about 'Going Bovine'...

*Heather is evil*

[heather11483.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's her. (I knew you'd get it. *g*)

And ... she hasn't done anything, I suppose -- it's escapist fluff and that's fine, but at the time I really enjoyed the series, without realising how badly she mishandled the representation of the 'exotic' cultures in the book (seriously, a LITTLE bit of research into Indian culture would have fixed it, and the fact that no one in the whole editing process made her change it because obviously it doesn't matter is the upsetting thing). Also, Bray's take on female empowerment is (in my opinion) really skeevy on a couple different levels.

[savepureness.livejournal.com]

And I thought I was the only weird one.

I admit, I didn't spend money for the books - you can't find them here, so my cousin ordered them for me. I paid him in kind, translation services, w/e.

I read the first book so far, and I'm halfway through the second. And though the cover graphics is really pretty(!), I'm not happy. I mean, there's so much fuss about her works, and all, and then, this. Hm? It's witty, yes, and it has nice imagery, yes, but, um, I think I'm just glad to see there are other people thinking the same.

[heather11483.livejournal.com]

Hee! The covers are gorgeous; I've a not-so-small shallow streak that made me more intrigued by the books just from looking at them. ;)

But, yes, it's better written than, say, Twilight, by far -- but Bray just gets it wrong in SO many other ways. It's one of those things where at the time, there were a few things that rubbed me the wrong way, but I couldn't put my finger on why -- and it was entertaining enough that I just didn't pay much attention. Now that I know better what the problem was, I'm just all ... "ew."

[idea-of-sarcasm.livejournal.com]

I admit my guess had been Libba Bray based on the 'similar to' Cassandra Claire, even if it might still be totally off base.

All I'll say is cryptic post is not only cryptic, it is annoying in that it piques curiousity :-P

Then again if that guess is right that means I've been ignorant as well, and still am.... anyways,*sucks at guessing*

A feeling like that is of course no fun however - sorry that you've had to go through it. Then again on the continuum of things to feel it about at least it's rather low. Realizations like that do suck, but you know, you still are a tease ;)(and, off topic, but I love your Buffy staking Edward icon. Hee!)

[heather11483.livejournal.com]

LOL, seriously, I didn't mean to be annoying. I told Sirena a few comments ago that I'd accidentally turned this post into a meme, or something. :P But yeah, I was just reading some articles earlier, and it hit me like a ton of bricks and I had to say something because I had a bad taste in my mouth. :/

And yes, it's Libba Bray/AGATB. It's just one of those things, I guess ... I've talked/squeed about the series with you and a couple others on my flist, so that makes it weird as well (and it's part of why I was hesitating to spell it out).

Anyway, I've pretty much fallen out with Bray and that series, because of the messages I think Bray is sending when it comes to female empowerment -- not to mention the UTTER lack of fact-checking when it comes to representing different cultures. These are things I wasn't aware of when I first read the books, but now that I am, I don't know ... I feel disenchanted, and I'd even recced the series to people, so it's just -- bleargh.

Obviously it's not the first time I've read and enjoyed something knowing it was inaccurate or badly done -- but this time it stings because I actually thought it was good, at the time. Even as much as I hated the ending. I'm going to find some time to type out a full critique of it.

(And, I know -- it's nothing life-changing or anything. Just one of those things.)

[idea-of-sarcasm.livejournal.com]

Not really annoying, just to the people who don't deal well with not knowing things RIGHT AWAY :)

To be perfectly honest I can see some of the issues with 'female empowerment' just by going back to think on it, but so much of that series is a blur. It's been too long since I read it, and all I associate it with is lying on a beach in Florida last year when I read the last 2 in the series. So much of it I just don't remember well enough outside of the fact I did enjoy them (ending aside). I'd be interested in readig what you read about the books/thought now about the books, because I'm obviously not culturally diverse enough to have picked out the other issues, and obviously many of the basic ones as well. Sometimes it just takes being pointed to something to realize 'omg it should have been obvious'. Sometimes that's good, if it's really there, and sometimes it's bad if it just ruins the books when it's just a personal interpretation. I would say in this case it would be the former though.

I've been disenchanted before, it's not fun. And about books too. I'm not sure what's worse - becoming disechanted with books you adored when you were younger, or books you read only recently when you should have known better. I've had both happen. Sorry it's happening here :(

Here's to hoping there's never any...I dunno, interview where JK Rowling says things in Harry Potter were all just a metaphor for...uh, her anti-female views and anti-semitism. Or whatever. I'm making this up on the spot, lol. Or some series/book that was even more near and dear to our hearts.

[marenkp.livejournal.com]

I wasn't a big fan of her take on female empowerment either, but I always attributed it more to my personal interpretation of the characters than anything else. Whenever I pointed out something that didn't sit well with me about the books, I would get a lot of blank stares in return so I finally concluded it was likely just me and I should leave people to enjoy what they enjoy. It wouldn't be the first time, after all. I had to pretty much bite through my lower lip to keep my thoughts on Twilight to myself when I was surrounded by a gaggle of Twilight lovers. (And let's face, I have more than just a few guilty pleasures of my own; books that really have almost no literary merit at all, but I love them nonetheless. I couldn't say why either, except that I just enjoy them.) Still--there's always been that vague sense of "I really like this story, except..." hovering around the edges of my mind in connection to the GD series.

I'll be watching for your full critique. I'd like to hear your thoughts.

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

J.K. Rowling?

Sorry. Had to be said :P

[savepureness.livejournal.com]

And also, if it helps, I've read 5 books of the Cate Tiernan series Sweep/Wicca, and they're, like, 0. Null. Nada. No literary value, nothing to break at least apparently the veil of feign covering it all. But still, I enjoyed them; I ship ppl there; and I'd love to have the other, wait!, 10 books, because I want to know what happens next. LOL, guilty pleasures.

It might be the same with Charlaine Harris, just that her writing is more than 0, truly. She's witty, and she has a mind for plot. I like her. It's no biggie, but she does have this fluency in writing I've always been very fond of.

[heather11483.livejournal.com]

Hee, I know what you mean; I have plenty of guilty pleasures myself -- but usually I know that going in. ;)

And despite watching True Blood religiously, I've not read the Southern Vampire books yet. Good to know you'd recommend them. I've been hesitating because I didn't want to get spoiled for the show. LOL. I'm backwards like that. :P

[savepureness.livejournal.com]

To be quite honest while keeping you spoiler-free, the show is quite far from the books from the bits I've watched so far (up to episode 4, I think). I'd say it's 100% safe to start reading the books; IMO they >>> the show :D!