Sunny day, and chirping budgies...

[fajrdrako]

Today has to be an improvement on yesterday. I walked to work in pouring rain. Arrived wet, cold, late and discovered when I got to the theatre that I'd forgotten my keys, so I had to ring the doorbell to get my supervisor to let me in. How demoralizing!

Add to that, the current air pressure (or pollution? or something?) has my sinuses in an uproar, and has made me horrendously dizzy. So I keep staggering against walls, and the room rotates when I move quickly. It discourages me from doing my exercises, too.

Then I went with maaseru and maaboroshi to exchange my modem for an updated version, as the Rogers people tell me I must. We went at 7.30 pm, turns out they close at 6.

Makes me want to go back to bed. But I just got up.

Okay, off to work now. New start.

I have been listening to The game of Kings on homemade audiotape. Wonderful! On the bus last night I was at the Don Luis scene, with Don Huile del Escocia. Couldn't help laughing out loud.

Comments

[widget-alley.livejournal.com]

The Don Luis scene is excellent read on the tape versions. "Madre Dios-- MIRAME!" ("Mother of God-- LOOK!") ;)

Don Luis

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'd love to hear the professional tape of it! Maybe someday.

I think the clincher is in the coda:

Will Scott: "How did you know that the commander of the convoy was Spanish?"

Lymond: "He wasn't."

Re: Don Luis

[widget-alley.livejournal.com]

Excellently^. Please ignore my utter slaughter of the English language.

Ah, yes. Gaaaaah. Lymond. Excuse me, I seem to have drool all down my front.

Re: Don Luis

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Please ignore my utter slaughter of the English language.

Don't worry, I'm not the Language Police and I'm not Henry Higgins. And I can and do come out with atrocities myself.

One of the things I love to do is to notice and make note of the many different descriptions of Lymond. In the section I was listening to this morning, Sir George Douglas refers to him as a cormorant. I like that - a wild sea bird, graceful and fast. Especially when you think of the owl metaphor for Philippa. I tend to think of Lymond as an eagle image (because of Slata Baba, I suppose) but a cormorant seems just as suitable, especially when is is so elusive.

Another nice moment is when Don Luis' cornflower eyes are mentioned, when Will Scott comes into the room.

Re: Don Luis

[widget-alley.livejournal.com]

Another nice moment is when Don Luis' cornflower eyes are mentioned, when Will Scott comes into the room.

Also known as the "AHA" moment. Because that's when everyone twigs.

Lymond descriptions are always, always fun. I get the cat-like image most often: neat movements, oiled joints, flexibility of features and a general, diffuse air of supreme self-possesion and smugness.

Re: Don Luis

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Because that's when everyone twigs.

Such a prefect revelation.

But there's a whole series of revelations, each one worse than the last - first, Scott being dragged in and seeing Don Luis; then learning that Lymond had set him up; then realizing he can't even say anything without making himself seem ridiculous rather than brave. Scott had been trying so hard to outdo Lymond and he's left lying in the dust behind him.

I like the cat-like Lymond images too - anything that emphasizs his graceful, acrobatic qualities. ("Drama entered, mincing like a cat.") Then there's the classic "with a face like a Della Robia angel". My favourite: "a drunken amateur who makes music and love comme une ange," which leads with a train of thought to the Sieur d'Enghien's "un bel, mais pas frigide."

Re: Don Luis

[widget-alley.livejournal.com]

I love the Della Robbia one too, not least because I have actually been told that I look like a Della Robbia angel. By someone who has never read the Lymond Chronicles. They couldn't figure out why I burst out laughing and then thanked them profusely. Man, that made my day.

I like the one about how he worships two things only: power and music. And any time Scott is left in the dust by Lymond is a-okay by me. I still dislike Will Scott, even after all these reads (and by "all these reads", I mean, three.)

Re: Don Luis

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Woo - I would think that any Dunnett fan would be thrilled to be told they looked like a Della Robbia angel. Even more amazing that it was from someone who had no idea what that would mean to you!

Power and music - I'd forgotten that line. Do you remember where it is?

I love Will Scott, for a lot of reasons - it's Jerott Blyth I have a grudge against and dislike, though I have a sort of eye-rolling tolerance of him for Lymond's sake, because Lymond appears to love and need him, though I can't imagine what for. (He needs his quota of abuse, perhaps? Just to keep his guilt complex stoked?)

I'm noticing interesting parallels between Christian Stewart and Philippa this time round. (For instance, they both say, "I make terrible mistakes.")

I would be embarrassed to try to say how often I've read the Lymond books, particuarly "The Game of Kings" ('cause it's my favourite). But usually I reread favourite parts, not the whole thing.

Re: Don Luis

[widget-alley.livejournal.com]

Jerott, I like. I don't know why, I don't understand why he doesn't annoy me like Will Scott does, but, hey. To each his own. And yes, Lymond is such a masochist. And a guilt addict. Crazy bastard.

I get told I look like medieval statues all the time (round face, very centered features, very classically-shaped lips, not to mention ridiculously long hair), but that was the first time I'd been told Della Robbia specifically, and I nearly had a seizure.

I want to say the power and music quote is in The Ringed Castle but I'm not sure. And I've given up keeping track of the number of times I've read my favorite bits. A whole freakin' lot.

Christian and Philippa are quite similar in a lot of ways, but somehow Dunnett still manages to make them distinct enough that they do not, by any stretch of the imagination, feel like the same person, a pitfall I was rather afraid of.

Re: Don Luis

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I don't understand why he doesn't annoy me like Will Scott does, but, hey. To each his own.

Why I like Will Scott and not Jerott, I couldn't say myself - though I have some specific reasons for resenting Jerott (like beating Lymond up right after the whipping post incident), but similar acts by Will Scott (like stabbing Lymond in the back) don't phase me. So it goes! Jerott is more attractive - I prefer short, dark-haired men to large, red-haired ones. But that doesn't seem to make any difference! Maybe it's because I think Will Scott is more able to laugh at himself.


I get told I look like medieval statues all the time

I am impressed! My mental image of you now involves someone carved in old stone.

face, very centered features

Oddly, I picture Lymond with more of a lean, sharp-featured face. But still that angelic look - because of the fairness, or the beautiful eyes.

I'll just have to keep the music/power quote in mind and find it when I get to it. It isn't as if I'm going to stop reading any time soon.

Yes, Christian and Philippa are quite distinct - I think Christian's blindness sets her apart. Both are brave, honest and clever, though I think Christian is more sensible (like Kate) and Philippa more bold and foolhardy.

Re: Don Luis

[widget-alley.livejournal.com]

Oddly, I picture Lymond with more of a lean, sharp-featured face. But still that angelic look - because of the fairness, or the beautiful eyes.

I tend to imagine him more sharply featured as well-- "an overbred face, bone set to bone like the tang of a blade", I believe is a phrase used in QP, although I'm quoting off the top of my head here so it might not be right-- and certainly not looking much like me. I'm pretty, but I'm not strikingly gorgeous or anything, and I have completely the wrong colouring (brown/red/gold hair, mostly-brown eyes... pale face but pretty tan everywhere else. Nope, not Lymond at all.)

I like Philippa's boldness and her slightly crazy sense of fun; the two big things, I think, that set her apart from Kate and Christian. I love Christian's sensible, unshakeable outlook, and Kate's practicality, but I was very relieved when Lymond didn't end up with either of them.

Re: Don Luis

[widget-alley.livejournal.com]

This is me (http://www.deviantart.com/view/16077056/), about two months ago, mid-story, mid-gesture.

Re: Don Luis

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

What a cool picture! Yeah, you do have a nice medieval look, as if you should be at Eleanor of Acquitaine's court or something.

Re: Don Luis

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

As 'types' go, I think you're more of a Philippa in looks, with colouring and style. Yes, I agree about Philippa's sense of fun, and she can match Lymond's wit, which Kate and Christian ever even tried. I adore Kate and wish she'd been the fated one, but she wasn't, so I can live with it happily enough. Philippa had superlative moments.

Re: Don Luis

[widget-alley.livejournal.com]

For some reason my eyebrows look like punctuation in that picture. Freaky. Also, as you can see, quite often people around me are in danger of losing eyes, because of the excessive use of hand gestures.

Re: Don Luis

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Nothing wrong with hand gestures - I think people learn to be wary of such things. Drama is good.

Re: Don Luis

[widget-alley.livejournal.com]

I don't, however, mince like a cat. Or at least, not often.

Re: Don Luis

[widget-alley.livejournal.com]

As 'types' go, I think you're more of a Philippa in looks, with colouring and style.

You should see me in a beret. ;) And as much as I love Kate, the idea of Kate and Lymond just... hurts my brain. She's so very motherly, and I don't think it would have worked out well, mostly for that reason. Lymond's general reaction to coddling seems to be throwing it back in the handler's face.

Christian, I think, died for several reasons, the first being, because it hurts Francis, and as we all know, if it'll make Francis unhappy, it WILL happen. The second being, it heightens the drama of the duel, and finally motivates Francis to fight. And third, I suspect Dunnett had to clear the way for Oonagh, and Guzel, and eventually Philippa. I can't quite see things playing out the same way if Christian hadn't died.

Re: Don Luis

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Re Christian: yes, her death was... necessary for plot reasons. And gives Lymond motivation for being in Flaw Valleys, at the right time and place for Richard to find him (with Philippa's help). I have often wondered what would have happened if Christian would have died; I guess she's have married Tom still, but how would Lymond have been different? I'm not sure, but I think he would have been.

Re: Don Luis

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It's probably just as well.