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swan_bite* awesome conversation with ![[personal profile]](https://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lettered (who knows ALL THE THINGS about magical realism and is really impressive --but not annoying-- about it) on the subject of magical realism and urban fantasy (NOT THE SAME PEOPLE, NOT THE SAME) here. if you guys want to write me/rec me some magical realism, i would not be opposed.
i think magical realism was born in Latin America because in Latin cultures in informal settings you're kind of expected to hyperbolize and make really expressive hand gestures to make whatever story you're telling interesting and convey ALL THE FEELINGS and not just the happenings while you do it. the listener will then just sift through the figurative language to get to whatever actually happened, but in an instinctive way. so nobody thinks "lies, lies, exaggeration" they just know that when you tell a story, you're always editing and adding and taking away, and factual retelling of events would lack the feelings and they'd have to extrapolate anyway, to get at the psychology and the relationships. because objectivity is a mental state and like all mental states, it's subjective and influenced by perception. so yeah. magical realism is REALLY different from urban fantasy (which depends on worldsplaining and building). not better. different.
* End of the Year Book Flail: Gone with the Wind (yay), The Lincoln Lawyer (boo!), Push (yay), Pope Joan (meh), Silver Phoenix (first it was yay then meh then boo!), Jane Eyre (yay), The Wet Nurse's Tale (yay), Whisling in the Dark (boo!), The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (first I was zzzzz then I was yay! capricious, i know, it happens), Blood Brothers (not my cuppa), The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks (meh), Wes and Toreth (meh), Zero at the Bone (boo!), Dead until Dark (double boo!), Mockingjay (meh), The Road (yay), The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas (yay), The Panda's Thumb (yay), Catching Fire (yay), The Graveyard Book (yay), Havemercy (yay), Shadowmagic (yay), Liquor: A Novel (yay), Swordspoint (yay), The Mismeasure of Man (yay), The Hunger Games (yay), Kushiel's dart (yay), Dragon Soul (yay), The Master and Margarita (yay), Slaughterhouse Five (yay), Return of the Black Death (yay), Heist Society (yay), Uncommon Criminals (yay), Maybe this Time (yay), Welcome to Temptation (meh), Demon's Surrender (yay), Practical Magic (yay), The Living Dead (yay), The Living Dead 2 (yay), Red Glove (yay), The Witching Hour (meh), The Grand Sophy (mostly yay with some boo!), As Meat Loves Salt (double yay), Feed (double yay), Gaia: a new look at life on earth (yay), The Forrest of Hands and Teeth (yay), An Assembly such as this (Fitzwilliam Darcy Gentleman) (cool), Just one of the Guys (cute), Coundown (a novella| cool), uglies (yay), pretties (yay), specials(yay), The Fall of Kings (meh), Neptune Noir (a collection of essays on Veronica Mars| cool), White Cat (yay), Skinned (yay), Crashed (yay), All I ever Wanted (cute), Blood and Chocolate (yay), Deadline (cool), Conquistadora (cool), Island Beneath the Sea (yay), Lovely Bones (disturbingly yay), American Gods (yay), The Bell Jar (surprisingly easy read, a lovely yay), The Count of Monte Christo (yay).
in conclusion: i like most of what i read, though sometimes i change my mind about whether i've liked or hated a book the more i think about it. i seem to hate professional slash and find it badfic'ish, i like zombies a lot, i don't hate the romance genre (or at least some permutations of it) and i really enjoy YA dystopias.
lettered (who knows ALL THE THINGS about magical realism and is really impressive --but not annoying-- about it) on the subject of magical realism and urban fantasy (NOT THE SAME PEOPLE, NOT THE SAME) here. if you guys want to write me/rec me some magical realism, i would not be opposed. i think magical realism was born in Latin America because in Latin cultures in informal settings you're kind of expected to hyperbolize and make really expressive hand gestures to make whatever story you're telling interesting and convey ALL THE FEELINGS and not just the happenings while you do it. the listener will then just sift through the figurative language to get to whatever actually happened, but in an instinctive way. so nobody thinks "lies, lies, exaggeration" they just know that when you tell a story, you're always editing and adding and taking away, and factual retelling of events would lack the feelings and they'd have to extrapolate anyway, to get at the psychology and the relationships. because objectivity is a mental state and like all mental states, it's subjective and influenced by perception. so yeah. magical realism is REALLY different from urban fantasy (which depends on worldsplaining and building). not better. different.
* End of the Year Book Flail: Gone with the Wind (yay), The Lincoln Lawyer (boo!), Push (yay), Pope Joan (meh), Silver Phoenix (first it was yay then meh then boo!), Jane Eyre (yay), The Wet Nurse's Tale (yay), Whisling in the Dark (boo!), The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (first I was zzzzz then I was yay! capricious, i know, it happens), Blood Brothers (not my cuppa), The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks (meh), Wes and Toreth (meh), Zero at the Bone (boo!), Dead until Dark (double boo!), Mockingjay (meh), The Road (yay), The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas (yay), The Panda's Thumb (yay), Catching Fire (yay), The Graveyard Book (yay), Havemercy (yay), Shadowmagic (yay), Liquor: A Novel (yay), Swordspoint (yay), The Mismeasure of Man (yay), The Hunger Games (yay), Kushiel's dart (yay), Dragon Soul (yay), The Master and Margarita (yay), Slaughterhouse Five (yay), Return of the Black Death (yay), Heist Society (yay), Uncommon Criminals (yay), Maybe this Time (yay), Welcome to Temptation (meh), Demon's Surrender (yay), Practical Magic (yay), The Living Dead (yay), The Living Dead 2 (yay), Red Glove (yay), The Witching Hour (meh), The Grand Sophy (mostly yay with some boo!), As Meat Loves Salt (double yay), Feed (double yay), Gaia: a new look at life on earth (yay), The Forrest of Hands and Teeth (yay), An Assembly such as this (Fitzwilliam Darcy Gentleman) (cool), Just one of the Guys (cute), Coundown (a novella| cool), uglies (yay), pretties (yay), specials(yay), The Fall of Kings (meh), Neptune Noir (a collection of essays on Veronica Mars| cool), White Cat (yay), Skinned (yay), Crashed (yay), All I ever Wanted (cute), Blood and Chocolate (yay), Deadline (cool), Conquistadora (cool), Island Beneath the Sea (yay), Lovely Bones (disturbingly yay), American Gods (yay), The Bell Jar (surprisingly easy read, a lovely yay), The Count of Monte Christo (yay).
in conclusion: i like most of what i read, though sometimes i change my mind about whether i've liked or hated a book the more i think about it. i seem to hate professional slash and find it badfic'ish, i like zombies a lot, i don't hate the romance genre (or at least some permutations of it) and i really enjoy YA dystopias.
