Women Fandom Loves to Hate--Anna Grant, Day 4

Tori Amos's song, Cars and Guitars is a song I've claimed as an Anna re. Avon, and I'll admit it doesn't read straight out of "Rumours"; it's more based on my fanon, but I like the balance it presents between genuine attachment and a sense of unbridgeable distance. This perhaps best exemplified by the chorus line, "...what if I keep on driving?" This line can be interpreted in two diametrically opposed ways: 1) What if I drive on past you? 2) What if I keep driving along with you? If ever there was a relationship exemplified by this kind of ambiguity, it is Anna's "real feelings" about Avon.

Quickie Review: Howl's Moving Castle (book)

More of a response than a review, as I'm not really suited to review a book in a genre I fundamentally dislike (young adult fantasy).

However, that fact may give weight to my assertion that the book is mostly very good. While it's appropriate reading for a ten year old, it's perfectly enjoyable for me as a (rather exacting) adult. Its strengths are its light-hearted subversion of traditional fairytale tropes and its quirky, imperfect, very realistic characters.

Its weakness, in my view, is its classically kitschy ending. It earns a happy ending, but this overshoots "happy" and heads straight into contrived.

It's better than the movie. The strengths are stronger and the weaknesses less weak. The characters are sharper and more enjoyable. Extra points for the Welshness.