funny line, followed by an update

[swan_tower]

At dinner tonight, following on a discussion of writers whose work is so densely packed with quotation and allusion that you sometimes feel hopelessly out of the loop:

"Dorothy Dunnett is the Quentin Tarantino of the sixteenth century."

(And also possibly the fifteenth, but I still haven't read the Niccolo books.)

Anyway, arkessian and skirmish_of_wit asked recently about the Lymond book-blogging. The answer is that I do intend to return to it, but at the moment that's pending me setting up a separate Wordpress blog for the project. See, the problem with an LJ filter is that you have to be on LJ to read the posts, but I also don't want to intersperse the Lymond material with everything else I post here; I really feel it needs to be separate, so those who haven't read the series are less tempted to horribly spoil it for themselves. And I want to experiment with Wordpress anyway, so this seems like a good guinea-pig project. But that's waiting on my webhost migrating to new hardware, ergo it will be a little while yet. Hang in there, though, and I'll be sure to announce it when I start the project up again.

In the meantime, if you have no idea what I'm talking about, go read this post. And if you've both read the whole series and have an LJ account you'd like added to the filter so you can see the posts for The Game of Kings (the only book I've really blogged so far), please let me know.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Me, please.
I have never managed to finish the Niccolo books, sadly, They do have that density but there is a deliberate obfuscation there which is frustrating. I quite like King Hereafter, though -- which is a compliment, because that is precisely my specialist period and two of the subjects of my PhD appear as (minor) characters. She uses a lot of dodgy 12th c. sources, but its well-done of its kind.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Done.

Niccolo put me off because a) I don't like economics very well and b) it took me forever to figure out that Claes WAS Niccolo. (Do those names look remotely similar to you? I didn't think so.) But I keep meaning to try again.

Glad to hear that about KA; I've been meaning to give it a try.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

I think I eventually worked out it must be a diminutive for Niclaes or some such, but... And yes on the economics.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

There's a point in the first book where they finally explain that there are like five different ways to spell his name, and I went, "oh it is him." But jeez -- the pig in TGoK is nothing on that for confusing the newbie reader.

[strangemuses.livejournal.com]

Hi. You don't know me, but I would appreciate being added to your Lymond filter. I've just finished the Lymond books and am getting ready to start on the Niccolo books. I've love to see your insight into the Lymond series. Thank you.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Done! Feel free to comment on any of the old posts; I've got notification set up, so I'll see it.

[skirmish-of-wit.livejournal.com]

Oh, excellent! Wordpress is super-easy to work with, in my experience, so I hope your experiment goes well!

I'd love to be added to the filter to see the Game of Kings posts.

Thanks for the update!

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

You're on! Old posts are still open for comments, too.

[malsperanza.livejournal.com]

I bet Dunnett would have liked the comparison. Lord knows she had no problem tying people to chairs and doing nasty things to them. And she and Tarantino are both high stylists of prose.

I think I already asked to be on the filter list, but I can't remember.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Yep, you're on there.

[tchernabyelo.livejournal.com]

Likewise, I can't recall whether or not I have already asked, but I'm a huge Dunnett fan and would love to be added to the filter.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

You weren't on, but you are now. Click the "lymond" tag to see them all.

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

Oh, yet more incentive for me to actually read the Lymond series. (I started listening to the first book on audio some years ago, and quickly concluded that while I liked it, it was a book that I needed to *read* rather than hear. I'm pretty sure we even have the books around somewhere, so I really just ought to read them.)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

O_O I can't imagine trying to listen to Dunnett -- not as a first encounter, anyway. Her writing is very dense and opaque; trying to follow it by ear would be . . . rather difficult.

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

Tangent: Imagine a blurb by C J Cherryh or Dorothy Dunnett where they write "Pleasingly complex". I forget who suggested that idea. Anyway, what do you think your reaction would be? Run away in terror, or take a peek in awed fascination?

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Awed fascination, definitely.

[spring-dawn.livejournal.com]

Hi, I came across you in a mad insane hunt for Lymond meta on Google(seeing as how, like many other Dunnett readers, don't know anyone else who's read them!) and would love to have access to your blogging of the series! I'm Isabella, btw :) thanks!