Very late memery

Rewatched "Serenity" (the ep, not the movie). Wah, miss that world so much!!

Anyhow, here's my Firefly quote:

Mal: We're still flying.
Simon: That's not much.
Mal: It's enough.

Gaiman, Neil - Anansi Boys

Fat Charlie's father would name things, and the names would stick. That's why Fat Charlie is Fat Charlie, and not Charles Nancy. But Fat Charlie's father has just died, leaving him to discover that his dad was a god -- not just any god, but Anansi the Trickster -- which may very well explain why he was so good at embarrassing Fat Charlie.

While discovering that he's the son of a god, Fat Charlie also finds a previously unknown brother, things about his employer that he probably didn't want to know, reasons why Hitchcock was right about birds, and the joys of karaoke. Or something of the sort.

I wasn't actually sure if I'd like this book to begin with, mostly because I wasn't too fond of American Gods (on the other hand, I may like American Gods better after a reread; I read it on an airplane, and that always messes up my reactions). But then I went to a Neil Gaiman signing, and he read bits out of chapter four, and it was really funny.

It feels a wee bit like Good Omens, where things keep going wrong for Fat Charlie, and then worse, and then even worse. And I found that I liked most of the characters, which I didn't in American Gods. I ended up really liking this book, although I didn't fall head-over-heels in love with it. It's wonderfully whimsical, and Gaiman weaves in Anansi stories and makes everything cohere.

I especially like how light it feels, which isn't something I'd think to say. It's frothy and fun and made me laugh a lot, and yet, there's a sense of underlying structure, so it's not just melt-away marshmallow fiction. Gaiman's spent time on the bones of the story; even under the humor and the fun, there are parallels and everything makes sense in the end in the cool "ah-ha!" way, not the ends-tied-up-much-too-neatly way.

And the best thing is that I suspect a reread will be even funnier.

Links:
- tenemet's review

I spam LJ!

Today I get to see rachelmanija! Whee!!

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Had dinner yesterday with masqthephlsphr and mamculuna at Gombei, a little homestyle Japanese restaurant around Menlo Park. Realized just as I got there that a) not everyone might like Japanese food b) the parking lot is impossible and c) it's a bit in the middle of nowhere. In my defense, I've been craving katsudon since reading coffee_and_ink's post on Kitchen. (Katsudon is donburi-mono, aka a giant rice dish. So anything with a "-don" appended to it is a giant rice dish. Katsudon has pork cutlets [that's the "katsu" part -- the shortened Japanese form of "cutlet"] that have been breaded and fried, egg, onion, and some sort of pork/egg/onion sauce, and it's really good homestyle food!)

Anyway, it was good, and I even had leftovers for lunch!

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In other news, my sister may be coming over here for Christmas! Joy!

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Fitz-rat continues to be very bad about taking his antibiotics. I switched kinds since the old one didn't seem to be working, and he eagerly ran up to lick the syringe, took a few licks, and then backed away in confusion, still tasting it on his tongue and realizing it wasn't the old kind. He then came up to try again, in the vain hope that this time would be different, backed away again in confusion, and then sort of circled around and looked at me like it was all my fault.

It's now almost impossible to make him eat it. I'd sneak the syringe into a grape and shoot stuff in his mouth when he reached for the grape, but now he's being cautious about grapes as well! Last night when I gave him a normal grape, he took it, sniffed at it, and then licked the skin a little bit to make sure that the thing wasn't loaded with medicine.

Also, when he eats some of the medicine, he'll go around on the sofa and sort of drag his chin against the sofa, like he's trying to scrape his tongue.

He won't even eat it when I mix it in with maple syrup or something. This is driving me insane.

Silly rat.

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Amazon has finally (finally!) shipped my order of Rachel's book, which means (*gasp*) I won't have it in my grubby little hands when she's here! Arrrrrrr. I usually adore Amazon, but this time I shall kick it.

*kicks Amazon*

In conclusion, my pants are too short.