Saturday, August 20, 2011
Aug. 20th, 2011 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bearshortyPapa and I went to Brooklyn this morning to visit my grandparent. My grandmother always likes going down to the building yard/common area so she can show us off. After we got back home we went to the beach and I went rollerblading. So I had a very nice morning. The rest of the day wasn’t very exciting. I watched some “Battlestar Galactica” for next week’s Mark Watches posts and read.
“Ghost Story” The book exists for one simple sentence that sets up the next book and I’m just not sure if there was a need for a whole book here. Harry can’t be Winter Knight without realizing that he is his own person and being Winter Knight won’t necessarily twist him. That is all. That is the purpose of this book. I’m not sure why Harry had to die, become a ghost for a while and go through all that just to come to this realization. Maybe this book was also a chance to see what other characters are like on their own – Molly and Murphy especially. And we meet new characters like Fitz and Sir Stuart who will play a role later, I’m sure. And this book is also about Harry realizing how much he underestimates people, both good and bad, Morty and the Corpsetaker. I loved where the story took a character like Mort – he has major mojo which Harry always dismissed before. And the ghost rules were interesting too. (The only open question this book leaves is Bob – now I have to worry for him). But the book ends in the same place as the last book really, with the exception of that one realization. Now, I actually like the development that Harry is now the Winter Knight and I’m glad Butcher is not using Harry’s death to get out of it. After the last book, I speculated that it was Kinkaid that pulled a shot on orders of someone who wanted Harry to get out of being a Winter Knight, maybe Ivy. It didn’t occur to me that it was Harry himself. So I had it half right. I’m glad that Harry’s plot failed other than now he can be the Knight and still remain himself. But his actions really affected Molly and Murphy, and Harry did realize that at least. So while I did like the book and enjoy reading it, this book is a filler and written just for the 7 words.
A few days ago Mama and my Aunt Vera, her sister, were talking on Skype (my Aunt lives in Minsk, Belarus where I was born). And my Aunt was telling us new information that she learned about Max, their grandfather. Max was first married to my great-grandmother and had one son, my grandfather. When my grandfather was young, before WWII, Max and my great-grandmother got divorced and then Max moved to Saratov in Russia while the rest of the family stayed in Minsk. In Saratov, he remarried and had another family with three other children. At the end of WWII, my grandfather went to Saratov to his father since all his family in Minsk was killed during the war. In Saratov, my grandfather met my grandmother Tanya who was evacuated there during the war and my Aunt and my mom were born there too. Only in 1960, did my grandparents and my Mom and my Aunt moved to Minsk where my grandfather always wanted to return. What my family didn’t really know was why Max moved to Saratov in the first place. It wasn’t easy to just pick up and move cities in Soviet Union. And why Saratov of all places? So it turns out that Max was a scribe and when someone from the synagogue in Minsk was moving to Saratov he needed to take a scribe with him and he offered Max a job as a scribe in a synagogue. I find this very interesting. My grandfather was a scribe during WWII too. I guess it runs in the family. Knowing languages too.
“Ghost Story” The book exists for one simple sentence that sets up the next book and I’m just not sure if there was a need for a whole book here. Harry can’t be Winter Knight without realizing that he is his own person and being Winter Knight won’t necessarily twist him. That is all. That is the purpose of this book. I’m not sure why Harry had to die, become a ghost for a while and go through all that just to come to this realization. Maybe this book was also a chance to see what other characters are like on their own – Molly and Murphy especially. And we meet new characters like Fitz and Sir Stuart who will play a role later, I’m sure. And this book is also about Harry realizing how much he underestimates people, both good and bad, Morty and the Corpsetaker. I loved where the story took a character like Mort – he has major mojo which Harry always dismissed before. And the ghost rules were interesting too. (The only open question this book leaves is Bob – now I have to worry for him). But the book ends in the same place as the last book really, with the exception of that one realization. Now, I actually like the development that Harry is now the Winter Knight and I’m glad Butcher is not using Harry’s death to get out of it. After the last book, I speculated that it was Kinkaid that pulled a shot on orders of someone who wanted Harry to get out of being a Winter Knight, maybe Ivy. It didn’t occur to me that it was Harry himself. So I had it half right. I’m glad that Harry’s plot failed other than now he can be the Knight and still remain himself. But his actions really affected Molly and Murphy, and Harry did realize that at least. So while I did like the book and enjoy reading it, this book is a filler and written just for the 7 words.
A few days ago Mama and my Aunt Vera, her sister, were talking on Skype (my Aunt lives in Minsk, Belarus where I was born). And my Aunt was telling us new information that she learned about Max, their grandfather. Max was first married to my great-grandmother and had one son, my grandfather. When my grandfather was young, before WWII, Max and my great-grandmother got divorced and then Max moved to Saratov in Russia while the rest of the family stayed in Minsk. In Saratov, he remarried and had another family with three other children. At the end of WWII, my grandfather went to Saratov to his father since all his family in Minsk was killed during the war. In Saratov, my grandfather met my grandmother Tanya who was evacuated there during the war and my Aunt and my mom were born there too. Only in 1960, did my grandparents and my Mom and my Aunt moved to Minsk where my grandfather always wanted to return. What my family didn’t really know was why Max moved to Saratov in the first place. It wasn’t easy to just pick up and move cities in Soviet Union. And why Saratov of all places? So it turns out that Max was a scribe and when someone from the synagogue in Minsk was moving to Saratov he needed to take a scribe with him and he offered Max a job as a scribe in a synagogue. I find this very interesting. My grandfather was a scribe during WWII too. I guess it runs in the family. Knowing languages too.