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18th century wizards
Dec. 11th, 2004 06:02 pmToday was one of great luxury in idleness. We slept late, spent the early part of the day drinking coffee and playing cards outside of Texpresso, ate lunch at La Madeline's and then went tot Barnes and Noble. It felt nice to be doing all that hanging out and socializing. I appreciate it more because it's less frequent now, with so many of us scattered to the winds.
At Barnes and Noble, Susanna Clarke was there to read from her book Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I have a certain fondness for British women with silvery hair who speak lovingly of magic and stories, and of characters that just won't leave one alone. It was that comment about how Strange and Norrell wouldn't let her stop writing for more than a few days that instantly endeared her to me and gave me the nerve to ask a question later. She told me that Strange came to her first in a half waking, half sleeping dream, and years later she rescued the tragic Englishman from a pile of notes to pair him against the librarian Norrell. I was fortunate to have scored a high number in the tickets for the signing, and I said it made me happy to know I wasn't the only person with a great fondness for writing about 18th century magicians. She asked me who the other writers I knew were and I answered that I only spoke of my own beginning novel, Clarke was gracious and encouraged me to keep going, and even signed the book to me and my wizard Meier. I was quite touched, and left the store with that giddy excited feeling of speaking to someone who was full of fascinating ideas. It's given fresh inspiration to deal with my novel and to plunge back into shaping the characters and world.
Clarke also mentioned her love of Jane Austen, and Melynda was properly horrified to learn that I have never read a single one of her books. So on the way home I picked up some of her novels from Half Price and it will be the bulk of my winter reading. I will also be reading The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory, and watching Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban. Both were lovely Christmas presents from Melynda, and it was so nice to be gifted with a book from someone. We have a tradition of making the holidays very Potter-inspired. I am baking her a chocolate strawberry pie, and making peppermint bark tonight.
All is well and I've had quite a glorious day full of coffee and companionship. Now if I could only figure out why my kitchen counter was covered in water...
At Barnes and Noble, Susanna Clarke was there to read from her book Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I have a certain fondness for British women with silvery hair who speak lovingly of magic and stories, and of characters that just won't leave one alone. It was that comment about how Strange and Norrell wouldn't let her stop writing for more than a few days that instantly endeared her to me and gave me the nerve to ask a question later. She told me that Strange came to her first in a half waking, half sleeping dream, and years later she rescued the tragic Englishman from a pile of notes to pair him against the librarian Norrell. I was fortunate to have scored a high number in the tickets for the signing, and I said it made me happy to know I wasn't the only person with a great fondness for writing about 18th century magicians. She asked me who the other writers I knew were and I answered that I only spoke of my own beginning novel, Clarke was gracious and encouraged me to keep going, and even signed the book to me and my wizard Meier. I was quite touched, and left the store with that giddy excited feeling of speaking to someone who was full of fascinating ideas. It's given fresh inspiration to deal with my novel and to plunge back into shaping the characters and world.
Clarke also mentioned her love of Jane Austen, and Melynda was properly horrified to learn that I have never read a single one of her books. So on the way home I picked up some of her novels from Half Price and it will be the bulk of my winter reading. I will also be reading The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory, and watching Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban. Both were lovely Christmas presents from Melynda, and it was so nice to be gifted with a book from someone. We have a tradition of making the holidays very Potter-inspired. I am baking her a chocolate strawberry pie, and making peppermint bark tonight.
All is well and I've had quite a glorious day full of coffee and companionship. Now if I could only figure out why my kitchen counter was covered in water...