19 September 2011

400th post

I guess I'm a slow worker, considering I've had this blog for four years next month and am just getting to my 400th post. On the other hand, look how consistent I am: still here, and apparently a pretty consistent blogger. Even if I don't post frequent updates, I haven't taken many long breaks, either, and the ones I do take usually happen because I'm traveling and don't have good access to the internet.

Anyway, happy 400th to me! I'd like to start off the week on a celebratory note, because I feel like I'm running way behind with a lot of things. I had a fun weekend (long walk on a beautiful day, with friends; dinner out; read The Magician King, which I liked better than The Magicians, though I still don't like Fillory and still think Quentin is a wanker), did a little laundry and a couple of other minor household tasks. Like, a normal person's weekend. Only I'm not really a normal worker, so I'm worried about starting the week with undone tasks I would like to have finished already, especially because I will spend most of today in meetings.

Things will get done because they have to. I'll manage. But I wish I could settle into a rhythm here. We're four weeks into the term, and I still can't get used to this teaching schedule. I thought it would be great, but never underestimate the disruptive power of change, even a good change. Teaching two days in a row at the beginning of the week is not something I have ever done, and so I keep being surprised that I have to go in on Tuesday, and that Wednesday isn't Friday or Saturday, and so on. When will I get used to this?

All right. On to the next thing. I hereby wish my readers a happy or at least decent Monday; good luck with your lists, your classes, and your writing!

9 comments:

Dr. Virago said...

Oof, I can't read the "below the fold" part on the old post because it keeps redirecting to tell me my log-in (my gmail/blogger ID) isn't valid -- neither my "real" one nor my "Dr. V" one works. Anyway, I really want to know what you though of The Magicians now, since I read it recently. Darn it!

But from what I could read, I think, yes, you're supposed to share a disenchantment with Fillory, so if you were no longer enchanted with Narnia, that experience might have been lost on you. I, on the other hand, was still enchanted -- even after discovering the Xtn "re-mythologizing" (which I think Lewis preferred to the term allegory) because I figured, what the hey, he's just borrowing a story just like so many other authors. Plus, if Jesus had been as soft, furry, and deep-throated sexy as Aslan (OK, sexy for a pre-pubescent girl), I might have stayed a Xtn. ;-) (I had a mad crush on Aslan as a kid. No, really.)

But seriously...and back to Grossman's books...My friend who really liked The Magicians (and turned me onto it) didn't like The Magician King as much. So I guess I better read it and find out which camp I fall into. My problem with The Magicians was its pacing -- I thought it had a big, soggy middle. But I generally liked it.

Dr. Virago said...

And congrats on the 400th post!

Bardiac said...

Happy four hundreth!

Dame Eleanor Hull said...

Dr V, I think if you hit the comments on the old post and then "show original post," all the middle part will show up there. I had the same problem, actually, but I was too lazy to go & take out the code that doesn't seem to be working properly anymore (surely by now the spoiler problem isn't so crucial, so I'm willing to do that, just . . . lazy).

Ooh: capcha = "crack." Uh-huh. What fantasy lit is for me!

Renaissance Girl said...

Congrats on the 400th post--and isn't consistency always preferable to quantity?

Kendra Leonard said...

I can't get to the below the fold part of the review, either. But I just finished The Magician King a few minutes ago, and while I liked it, I think I liked the first one better, because for me it did a better job of both sending up Narnia and other such worlds, and completely reversing them. TMK seemed less focused, although I did really enjoy learning Julia's story, and there were many other details I connected with. TMK is obviously set up for another installment, and it'll be interesting to see where LG takes it.

Dame Eleanor Hull said...

OK, I just took out the "hide" HTML. The original post is all there, now.

Anonymous said...

*clink*

Notorious Ph.D. said...

I had a similar reaction to The Magicians: it was like Hogwarts and Narnia as imagined and populated by a bunch of Holden Caufields. Not to my taste.