SDCC, a movie I want to see, and the first two of 50 in '14

[sakon76]

Yes! Wonderful Husband and I each waited on our computers in the SDCC prereg wait room for an hour and a quarter this morning until his purchase session opened and he was able to snag Saturday/Sunday registrations for us. Comic-Con, here we come! And this year, unlike last, I won't have pregnancy problems interfering with my attendance. (And, yes, we will be bringing Squiddle with us. But until he turns 12, he doesn't need to pre-reg.)

I sigh and remember the days when we used to just drive down and buy tickets at the door. Of course, I also remember when family/friends could accompany a traveller to the gate at the airport. These will be the "I went to school barefoot in the snow, uphill, both ways!" stories that I tell my kids and they never believe.

Granted, an advantage to buying the tickets ahead of time was that I could nurse Squiddle while doing so, which would be a bit harder while standing in a physical queue.

Meanwhile, under "things that have me excited," the trailer for Ernest and Celestine looks really, really good and has several moments that Wonderful Husband and I dubbed "Ghibli-esque":

And I've finally squeezed out some time to start reading books again!

Title: Battle Magic
Author: Tamora Pierce
Length: 440 pages


The story of what happened to Briar, Rosethorn, and Evumeimei between Street Magic and Melting Stones / The Will of the Empress. It pretty much boils down to Imperial China vs. Tibet, and tries to explain Briar's PTSD in TWOTE. I'm not 100% sure it succeeds in that, but it definitely explains where Luvo in Melting Stones came from! Then end is very (and very literally) a deus ex machina, but that was actually well built up to and I consider it one of the cleverer writing bits I've seen in a while, making a believable deus ex machina. The bit of the ending I don't as much care for is the, mm, let's call it Kyrptonian Saliva Causes Amnesia thing. It's too convenient. But I guess it was needed to fit these events into what the characters mention about them in the two books that came later.

Verdict: If you like the Circle'verse, definitely read this one. And, thanks, toothycat, for the Christmas present!

Title: The First 12 Months of Motherhood
Author: Susan Hassebrock
Length: 209 pages


Susan is one of my classmates in the writing course I take every Wednesday at the community college down the way. A couple weeks ago, she gave me a copy of this book she wrote in 1996. It reads very true for the first several months that I've already experienced, and she writes with a definite humorous touch. I ended up reading several funny bits and several "oh god, heads up, this is coming" bits to Wonderful Husband. Overall I enjoyed the read, though primarily it's a book geared toward telling first-time mothers "no, this is normal, what you're going through is completely normal." So the reassurance aspect of it was completely appreciated.

Verdict: Quite possibly a book that should be given to every first time mother-to-be at the baby shower. I'm going to hang on to my copy to reread, and give copies to others as warranted.

Comments

[fairegoddess.livejournal.com]

oo, I didn't know there was a new Circle book out. I just finally got around to reading Melting Stones (I tried doing the audio book the first time, and between the timeline jump and a personal difficulty following new audio books, I gave up rather quickly). Will definitely have to track that one down! Checking her website, looks like we're scheduled to get Tris at Lightsbridge next year, whee!

[sakon76.livejournal.com]

Heehee. There's actually a hint at Tris at Lightsbridge in Battle Magic, so I was thinking that one might be coming soon. It's been on her to-write list for a while.

[fairegoddess.livejournal.com]

Well, since she was threatening to do it in Will of the Empress, and Tris doesn't take no for an answer, I figured it was going to happen. I just want the details of when and how it goes down. :D

Oh man, it's been so many years since I could talk TP books with someone... awesome!

[sakon76.livejournal.com]

Do you have her friended here on LJ? She's got two blogs going and is usually pretty active on them.

[fairegoddess.livejournal.com]

I don't (I might have at one point, but...). I found her old journal through the TP Wikia, but didn't know she had other homes. Where she at?

[sakon76.livejournal.com]

tammy212 and tammypierce. The former she hasn't updated in a while; the latter she has.