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lizbeeThis morning at the train station I was given a free recyclable shopping bag. It is black with a pink high-heeled sparkly shoe on it, and is allegedly to raise awareness of breast cancer.
Breast cancer: it exists. Let's all take a moment to think about that.
Entirely unrelated except in that it made me discontent with the universe, I finished the first Sano Ichiro mystery by Laura Joh Rowland, and I was heartily disappointed. A series about a samurai in Edo Japan who FIGHTS CRIME? SIGN ME UP!
I was kind of secretly hoping for something like the Benjamin January mysteries, with rich characters and setting that opens a window into a culture I don't know much about, while also being a jolly good whodunnit. Unfortunately, this book was kind of badly written, with lots of simplistic telling not showing, and a lead character who is frankly too stupid to live. And, to be honest, a lot of dead, imprisoned or demoted-from-courtesan-into-common-prostitute ladies.
The worst bit is that I'll probably keep reading the books in those times when I have nothing better, just because the setting does seem well-researched and interesting. BUT I WON'T BE HAPPY ABOUT IT. Unless they improve, which would be pretty great, especially as this first one was Rowland's first published novel and she's written about a bazillion since then.
Breast cancer: it exists. Let's all take a moment to think about that.
Entirely unrelated except in that it made me discontent with the universe, I finished the first Sano Ichiro mystery by Laura Joh Rowland, and I was heartily disappointed. A series about a samurai in Edo Japan who FIGHTS CRIME? SIGN ME UP!
I was kind of secretly hoping for something like the Benjamin January mysteries, with rich characters and setting that opens a window into a culture I don't know much about, while also being a jolly good whodunnit. Unfortunately, this book was kind of badly written, with lots of simplistic telling not showing, and a lead character who is frankly too stupid to live. And, to be honest, a lot of dead, imprisoned or demoted-from-courtesan-into-common-prostitute ladies.
The worst bit is that I'll probably keep reading the books in those times when I have nothing better, just because the setting does seem well-researched and interesting. BUT I WON'T BE HAPPY ABOUT IT. Unless they improve, which would be pretty great, especially as this first one was Rowland's first published novel and she's written about a bazillion since then.
