Aug. 18th, 2008

jmc_bks: (meninas)
Check out this news story from Madrid:  purported "heirs" to the Knights Templar are suing the Catholic Church.  I haven't read the complaint or petition (how are charging docs styled in Spanish courts?), but the article indicates that they are asking for the pope to "recognize the seizure of assets worth 100 billion euros".  I'm wondering if that is the first step in asking the church to cough up the value of those assets.  Is that artful language from the prayer for relief indicating damages sought or what?

Heh, prayer...no pun intended originally, but I'm entertained by the one that occured naturally. 
 
jmc_bks: (title2)
 It's Monday, which means that it's time for SBD.  Got anything that you want to share?  

I ran into another Mary Sue today.  She's a graduate of Harvard and Harvard Law who prefers wedding planning to the practice of law; she makes everyone feel comfortable with themselves; she can solve everyone's problems; she's uber-organized; she's the perfect cook and housekeeper; everyone adores her.  Except people who are racist and stuck up.  They must be racist and stuck up, because there's no other reason for everyone in the world not to love her, since she's so freaking perfect.

I abandoned this book for a variety of reasons:  the constant telling rather than showing; the terrible euphemisms used during love scenes (she reached her Venus point?  he revealed his "secret"?  jeez, she came and when he was naked she saw that he had a nice package -- there was that so hard?); the lame baby situation I could see coming a mile away; and worst of all was the constant shift in POV without a marker.  I'd be reading about the heroine at work and suddenly the hero would be talking to his brother, without any transition or signal of scene change.  Hate that.  HATE it.  Plus, the experiences and timeline for the heroine didn't work...unless, of course, she was a wunderkind who graduated early and managed to take the bar early and become the head of M&A for a Fortune 500 company before she was 30, while also having a child at age 25 (despite fertility problems).  Which would just make her more of a Mary Sue.

The thing that made the book hit the wall?  The casual mention that as a high school tennis player she served 130 mph, and in the 120s as a collegiate player.  Okay, some of the men on the ATP tour serve in the 120s and 130s regularly.  Only the Williams sisters serve anywhere in or near the 120s.  And the heroine served in the 130s as a teenager twenty years ago?  Uh, okay, whatever. 

I'm looking for a more interesting heroine.  One who is human.  Who doesn't embody every perfect virtue while living a flawless life.  Anybody got any suggestions?

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