It's frustrating

[maderr]

Every time I pick up a fantasy book, after searching for ages, I still wind up disappointed. Bookstores are my favorite haunt, whatever that makes me, but damned if I can find much reason to go anymore so far as results go.

I just picked up The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller and about page 12 I just got fed up and closed it.

I'm hoping it's just that lately I haven't been in the mood to read fantasy. Stephen King is all I can stick with of late, which probably doesn't say much for my state of mind.

Still. So many books on my shelves are unfinished because I get so fucking disgusted with them. Mostly it's writing style. Often it's plot (or lack thereof, or uncreative redundancy thereof). I mean I took a chance with this one, yet another 'boy from humble origins will save the world'.

I dunno. We'll see.

In other, unrelated news, I officially give up on thinking yankees know how to make fucking iced tea. It's not that goddamn hard, how do they continue to fuck it up! Argh, I so want to go back to the south.

Comments

[tsaiko.livejournal.com]

We should get together and make real southern ice tea. The kind that's perfectly, super-saturated sweet and is made that way when it's hot. None of this adding sugar once it's cool shit.

[mailechan.livejournal.com]

I wonder if this means that I don't make good iced tea. Probably not, since I make it how I like it (heavily watered and iced). But then, I drink hot tea like an oriental--straight and strong.

So what is the southern way to make iced tea?

[maderr.livejournal.com]

Ah, someone who understands. It's so nice having you here to stand with me against the infidels.

[maderr.livejournal.com]

Dark and sweet (though some make it not as dark). Here they use instant tea and add the sugar after it's cold x_x and lots of lemon. bleh. You're supposed to add the sugar while it's still warm, then let it chill. And it should be fsking brewed, not that nasty ass instant crap. Every time my roommate does it I want to sob or make her perform that sacrilege outside.

[tsaiko.livejournal.com]

Sweet tea is a sign of a civilized society. We shall stand strong.

[tygati.livejournal.com]

It amuses the hell out of me every time you call us yankees. ^____^

Though I still don't see how you can drink tea cold. Bleah. x.x Maybe made the right way it's not so icky? >.> Hm. Note to self: Get M to prepare cold tea the right way and test hypothesis.

[tsaiko.livejournal.com]

I use to live in CA. Tea was an awful luke-warm beverage that I never drank. Southern ice tea is a WHOLE OTHER BEAST. There is absolutely NO COMPARISON.

Strangely enough, I actually like hot herbal tea.

[charisstoma.livejournal.com]

Soooo, sun tea where the tea is allowed to steep in a large glass jar in the sunshine isn't as good as southern tea? Sun tea is the original 'green tea' *laughs* done the solar energy way.

[maderr.livejournal.com]

Oh, sun tea works too. We used to make it that way pretty often.

[lisiche.livejournal.com]

Have you ever looked at Goblin Quest and Goblin Hero? I haven't read Goblin Quest, because I'm stupid and ended up reading the second book first (Oi.), but Goblin Hero is just loads of fun. Definitely picking up the first one, and I can't wait until the third book comes out.

[mailechan.livejournal.com]

Hmm...well, I tend to be a bit obsessive about tea. The way I make iced tea is brew for 3 minutes, add sugar and lemon, pour over ice.

Hot tea should be drunk strong and straight.

[amatsubu.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean. I stopped reading paperbacks a long time ago because I just got tired of reading the same plots over and over again with the only changes being names and places.

At least when I read a story online and I don't like it, I haven't wasted the money and I just close the link and move onto the next...

[sagesae.livejournal.com]

**sobs** I feel the exact same way. Maybe grammar and spelling suck a little more online but that's easily ignored if the story is good enough (or copied and pasted into a word processor and fixed for reading.)

It disturbs me how often I find crap writing in published books nowadays. Both plot and grammar. And let's not forget writing style. **cries some more**

[syko-chan.livejournal.com]

Have you read anything by Ellen Kushner? I was lucky the day I randomly picked up one of her books.

And on the point of tea, there should be a law against tea mix... *shudders* Typically when I make iced tea, I begin by making tea, then after it has brewed a bit, I add ice, and banish it to the refrigerator for a few hours.

Sorry, no sugar though. I suppose if I were to add sugar , I would do so while it was still hot, 'cause when it's cold it just sinks to the bottom, and I hate that. It just sits at the bottom, NOT sweetening my tea at all, which is a crime in and of itself.

In defense of CA, I must state that we are not the state of lukewarm tea! ^_~

[alice_montrose]

Urghl. Sweetening tea while it's cold is definitely tricky at best. Don't those people know that the sugar or honey are supposed to be melted by the time you drink it? Honestly, it's no wonder this made me give up on ice tea a long time ago. And mostly on sweetened tea, too.

*goes savour a cup of that Lipton Oriental she bough last week*

[anialove.livejournal.com]

I don't drink iced tea. I must admit, it is available brewed everywhere in the South in sweet or unsweet. However, yankees do many appalling things to perfectly easy foods. (The chili . . . it kills.)

[aggybird.livejournal.com]

That's "the South" with a capital "S," missy. ;)

I would recommend tons of YA stuff to you, if you're interested. I'm going to finish writing up reviews for the last few books I've read and post it to my journal sometime either tomorrow or Thursday. ^^

Book Crisis = No No!

[sixpence1323.livejournal.com]

... I like the way I make iced tea. Uber dark and uber sweet - near toxic in its sweetness! Mwaha! ... I tone it down for everyone else, though.

What section do you look in for books? I find that the 'adults' section is so full of utter crap that I want to projectile vomit everywhere... Ehem, that was extreme, I know, but I'm serious. Adults think of stupid unnecessary details. Now if only I could find a bottle o' youth. Anyway, young adult has some seriously awesome books. They put Lord of the Rings and Narnia there because they know it's the better section. Some great reads that I think you might like, though they're not slash or anything, are UN LUN DUN by China Mieville. The Dream Merchant by Isabel Hoving. (That's big and long but awesome) ... And...

Okay... My mind = blank. Oh! I don't know if you'd like this especially but Percy Jackson and the Olympians - the first one is called The Lightening Thief, then The Sea of Monsters, and finally The Titan's Curse. By Rick Riordan. (I think I spelled his name right and I think there are only three books) Honestly, it's a tad embarrasing at first to look at the younger sections, but it's not worth the wasted money on the crap in all the other sections.

You understand, right? Hope that solved some problems. I'm sorry if you don't like them... (At first I wasn't too excited about any of them, but then the stories start picking pace and I was a squealing puddle of happy goo by the end. The Dream Merchant is mildly sad by the way. It's a very... moral book? Sombre? I don't know. The rest are just fun!)