Skip to main content

Outlander: The Neverending Scottish Highlands Love Story

So I started getting pretty into Outlander.

I know you're probably thinking 'Wait, weren't you reading The Sun Also Rises?' and yes, yes I was, but when choosing between Hemingway describing various Spanish bars, and a 1940s lady who totally looks like Alex Kingston (see below) on the brink of sexytimes with a hot 18th c. Scottish guy, give me some bagpipes because it's away to Scotland with me.

Back in ye olde ER days

I mean, what is this book? It's a historical time travelly romance novel. BUT the cover's classy as hell, and you can get away with reading it on the train. Also the author (whom I call Diana Gabalalabadon in my head because it's way more fun to say) is at least really TRYING with period detail and humor and all sorts of fun things that aren't just two characters finding each other IMMENSELY attractive.

We're gonna briefly talk about Jamie Fraser though, because hey now. Hey. I know this predates Twilight, but I think we're been through this with Edward Cullen. "He's super-strong and handsome and brave and smart and self-sacrificing and good with animals and has a dark mysterious past, but is still able to gather flowers for a lady and his eyes are the color of cornflowers."

Like...no. No. Jamie Fraser is not a person. And I'm used to fanfic dudes, who are basically girl creations of tv characters WHO ALREADY EXIST, but we take them and make them do things like soothingly smooth down hair and be open to long talks and think that the lady they're into fits them "like a matching puzzle piece."

And he's beyond even that. So every now and then I'm pulled out of the story because there'll either be a fanfic cliché or something where Jamie is TOO PERFECT. But you know what? Overall --


 And yeah, I'm only a third of the way through, and there are a BILLION MORE PAGES and then a billion more books in the series, but I will finish at least this one. If only because of occasional lines like this:

"I had time, watching him declaim, to reflect on the oddity of sitting on a rock in a Scottish pool, listening to Gaelic love songs, with a large dead fish in my lap."
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book Blogger Hop, Pt II

All right. The question for this week is:  "Do you read only one book at a time, or do you have several going at once?" Oh-ho my. I have an issue with book commitment. I start a new book, and it's exciting and fresh, and I get really jazzed about it, and then 20% of the way through, almost without fail, I start getting bored and want to start another book. I once had seven books going at the same time, because I kept getting bored and starting new ones. It's a sickness. Right now I'm being pretty good and working on The Monk , Northanger Abbey , Kissing the Witch , and I'm about to start Waiting for the Barbarians since my friend lent it to me. But The Monk and NA are basically books I only read when I'm at work, so I don't see it so much as working on four books, as having books in different locales. Yes. This entry wasn't as good as some of the others, but I shall rally on the morrow. Yes I shall.
22 comments
Read more

Fanfiction and Why It Doesn't Suck

Like most female 20somethings, I was at one point very into the fangirling scene. I wrote fanfiction, I made music videos, put together fanmixes, and created horrible graphics using a version of Photoshop I or someone bearing a resemblance to me possibly downloaded in my college dorm room off Limewire. I would here like to interrupt myself by stating that perhaps “most” was the wrong word, as I have met many normal female 20somethings who don’t have a fricking clue what I’m talking about when I use words like “fangirl” or “ship” as a verb involving the romantic involvement of two fictional people. So by “most” I mean “most of the people I met online in fangirl communities.” Or perhaps “all” in that case. Anyway. Fanfiction is probably always going to be controversial, in the dumbest way something can be controversial. Are we talking about climate change? Well, no, we’re talking about whether or not it’s at all okay for a 15-year-old to write a scene where Mulder and Scully get stuck ...
7 comments
Read more

Harry Potter 2013 Readalong Signup Post of Amazingness and Jollity

Okay, people. Here it is. Where you sign up to read the entire Harry Potter series (or to reminisce fondly), starting January 2013, assuming we all survive the Mayan apocalypse. I don't think I'm even going to get to Tina and Bette's reunion on The L Word until after Christmas, so here's hopin'. You guys know how this works. Sign up if you want to. If you're new to the blog, know that we are mostly not going to take this seriously. And when we do take it seriously, it's going to be all Monty Python quotes when we disagree on something like the other person's opinion on Draco Malfoy. So be prepared for your parents being likened to hamsters. If you want to write lengthy, heartfelt essays, that is SWELL. But this is maybe not the readalong for you. It's gonna be more posts with this sort of thing: We're starting Sorceror's/Philosopher's Stone January 4th. Posts will be on Fridays. The first post will be some sort of hilar...
1 comment
Read more