April 24, 2006 at 1:24 am · Filed under Miscellanea
Last year, in an interview on the CBC (Radio One), I heard Etienne Drapeau sing a very catchy ballad, which I didn’t manage to get the name of. I’d never heard of him before (or since), but I loved what I heard, and two lines stuck in my head: Si je n’ai jamais dit tous ces mots/C’est que l’amour me brûle un peu trop.
I’ve been checking M. Drapeau’s website every couple of months, hoping he’d put out an album with that song on it. My persistence has been rewarded! The song is Je l’ai jamais dit à personne, from the album of the same title. It’s as good as I remember. I have to buy the CD, and I hope it’s available at a music store in Toronto. I wonder if there’s a particular neighbourhood where I’d be more likely to find French music? If I can’t find it here, I’ll have to look for it during my trip to Montreal in May or June - but I don’t want to wait that long.
Anyone who speaks French, or doesn’t mind music in a language she can’t understand, should check out this song.
April 23, 2006 at 10:19 pm · Filed under Books Etc
I’m just about finished re-reading Dorothy L. Sayers’ Busman’s Honeymoon. I’ve been wanting to read it for a while, but it’s been buried under the pile of about sixty books on my bedroom floor, which I put away yesterday. Now if I can just get out the ones under the bed, I might be able to find and read Gaudy Night, as well.
One hour later . . .
I’ve cleaned under the bed, but Gaudy Night has not turned up. I did, however, find about twenty other books (including Thrones, Dominations, G.K. Chesterton’s The Complete Father Brown, and Agatha Christie Death in the Air,) two hairbrushes (which is good luck, since my only other brush broke three days ago), three boxes of kleenex (one empty), and a spoon. I have now vowed to sweep under the bed at least twice a week . . . .
Tags: Dorothy L. Sayers
April 16, 2006 at 11:47 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
Just after Christmas, I read Lois McMaster Bujold’s Paladin of Souls. I enjoyed it, but not nearly as much as her Miles Vorkosigan books. When I found the next in the series, The Hallowed Hunt, at my favourite discount bookstore, I did buy it, even though I didn’t think I would like it any better than its prequel, and I was proved right.
Earlier this week, I found the first book in the series, The Curse of Chalion (in hardcover), for $4 in a used bookstore. Since I already had the next two in hardcover, and it was so cheap, I bought it. I am so glad I did. CoC is so much better than either of its sequels. It had an exciting and interesting plot with that special LMB spark to it, just like the Vorkosigan novels. Why couldn’t PoS and HH be as good?
Meanwhile, I also found copies of some Guy Gavriel Kay books I’ve been looking for: Tigana and The Last Light of the Sun. I’d already read, and loved, Sailing to Sarantium, Lord of Emperors, and A Song for Arbonne, so I was eager to read more of his work. I read Tigana in a single day, and loved it. I kind of want to save LLotS until I can find a copy of The Lions of Al-Rassan, which is the only one of GGK’s historical fantasies that I don’t own, but I’m not having any luck with it. Still, I feel like I should savour the last two of his books, because who knows how long it will be until he publishes a new one?
Sometimes I wonder why I like GGK’s historical fantasies so much (besides the entertaining plot and great writing, that is.) They’re inevitably bittersweet and somewhat angsty, which I don’t always enjoy. I tend to avoid stories that might make me cry, or that include character death or tragedy of some kind, especially if there’s no happy ending. Books, fanfic, even movies - for me, it’s all about escapism. GGK’s books tend to affect me emotionally in a way that a lot of stuff that I read doesn’t.
Tags: Chalion, Guy Gavriel Kay, Lois McMaster Bujold
