(no subject)

[puddleshark]

Books

A re-read of Cuckoo Song, Frances Hardinge's Jazz Age fantasy. One of her double-edged books: on the surface a fairy tale about broken bargains and changelings, but containing a deeper tale, about not being able to be what your family want you to be.

Started re-reading Five Red Herrings by Dorothy L. Sayers, but can't seem to finish it: whenever I get to the bits with the railway timetables, I fall asleep.

Also reading some rather wonderful Untamed fan fiction. Special December treat. :)

Television

Watching Korean revenge fantasy Reborn Rich on Viki.com. Corporate minion, betrayed and murdered, is reborn as the youngest son of the conglomerate, with all his memories of his previous life intact. Not too dark or too heavy so far. Sympathetic protagonist, hideous Chaebol family dynamics, and some nicely complex plotting.

Also started watching the second series of Korean fantasy Alchemy of Souls on Netflix. Wasn't sure I would like this because a) Series One suddenly veered from lighthearted romance into much darker territory at the end, and b) the female lead from Series One, who was brilliant - so hilariously deadpan and ruthless - is not returning for the second series. But I ended up really enjoying the first two episodes anyway. And Lee Jae-wook's cheekbones are as splendid as ever.

Also watching She and Her Perfect Husband, Chinese contemporary romance on Viki.com/YouKu. It's rare for me to make it a whole thirty episodes into a Chinese romance. Even with romances that start strongly, after ten or twenty episodes the writing baton is so often passed onto a weaker writer, and the male and female lead are made to start behaving stupidly, or doing things out of character for reasons of Plot. But so far, I really like this series, and there's a convincing central romance between the ambitious, clever, older woman and the younger man who's had all worldly ambition knocked out of him by his bad experiences.

So far. It may yet nosedive into stupidity.

There's a new Daylight Entertainment series starting, Bright Future, starring Hu Ge, and many other NIF stars. The synopsis makes it sound terribly worthy and Party-approved, but I might give it a try anyway, if I can find it anywhere with English subtitles.

Comments

[larryhammer]

Those railway timetables have a soporific effect on a lot of people. I ended up just skimming those sections till I got to Peter's summary of what it all meant, the last time I reread it -- which was a goodly while ago. I think I've read it the fewest times of any Lord Peter book, except maybe the collection of stories.

[puddleshark]

I really like the setting of Five Red Herrings. I just wish there had been a bit more of Bunter in it, and a bit less of trickery with timetables.

[heleninwales]

I think I read all the Lord Peter books in my youth, but I don't remember railway timetables. Possibly it's not one of the more memorable stories?

[larryhammer]

It isn't, no. It's the one set in Scotland and has six artists/painters as suspects.

[heleninwales]

Now you mention artists, I do remember it, but though I must have read it in the past, more recently I listened to a BBC Radio 4 dramatisation. They obviously minimised the discussion of railway timetables.

[larryhammer]

I heard a radio dramatization in the 80s (possibly Radio 4 produced? not sure) where the timetables were definitely short-shrifted. I've no idea how you could present the full data in a drama, audio or visual.

[puddleshark]

I've got the Radio 4 dramatization of Gaudy Night on CD, and it's surprisingly good.

[heleninwales]

That could have been the same dramatisation. Radio 4 Extra broadcast a lot of repeats, some from as far back as the 1950s. We use the online BBC Sounds to choose what to listen to over dinner.