the first set of Yuletide recs

[lotesse]

Back at home at last, so first:

To My Yuletide Santa, thank you so much. I adore my story, I really don't have the words to tell you how much. Every image that pings me, that makes my breath come short--you wrote them all in. The blue dress, the blue dress! and the names with the dragon, and young Tenar trying to build herself around Arha, and my Ged. I want to be able to string words together so badly, but I find myself undone. So thank you.

Here's the link. You must all go read the most wonderful piece of Ged/Tenar ever written: Lighting the Lamps

And for my own use and that of others, here are recs for

I would not be you
A beautiful turning-on-the-head of Charlotte Bronte's "Villette," focusing most delightfully on the vaudeville. Femslashly and devious.

Persephone: Redux Beautiful retelling of the legend, a mix of modern idiom and character with archaic/mythical narrative reminiscent of Margaret Atwood.

Kingdoms Come
Caspian falling in love. Makes the books every so much...bigger, I guess, spreading them out like an ocean or a world. And a beautiful characterizatioon of Susan in the shadows.

Once Upon a Time in Ingary
Howl/Sophie; delightful tone, sweet and silly and romantic and spot-on.

In a Dark Wood
Beauty and the Beast, with Darwin and definitions and metatextual cinema. Gorgeous and textural.

Looking On
Secret Garden, redolent with things not quite begun and the Magic.

The Secret Lives of the Galaxy Quest Stars
Oddly attractive and wonderful Galaxy Quest glimpses.

Buy You A Looking Glass
To Kill a Mockingbird. Perfect Scout-voice narration, with memories and growing up.

Cooking Lasts
into the woods. The Wife, growing up, and the Witch helping. Like a fairy tale or a dream. Beautiful.

Of Mice and Myths
When Douglas Adams universes collide. Hilarious.

Five Times
Five times that Diana was jealous of Anne. Oh, Diana. Oh, Anne.

Talk of the Town
Anne and Gilbert stirring things up. This is one of the other stories that I asked for, I swear to god.

A Stitch in Time
Little Women, growing up.

Comments

[lotesse]

Oh my God no. I've never even seen the miniseries; my boyfriend screened the first part for me and told me that it was just as gagsome as I thought it would be. Whiteboy!Ged plus Kristin Keuk as Tenar equals ick ick ick.

(If you haven't read LeGuin's fabulous rants about the series' clumsy handling of the racial dynamics in particular and the storytelling in gneneral, you should. Woman can really rip when she wants to. They're all linked on her website, and google would probably still turn them up.

[shiinabambi.livejournal.com]

I'm a huge LeGuin fan, and wandered over to her site a while ago to lap up everything she said. I recall that at first she refused to comment on the miniseries, and was like, well, I sold it to them, they can do what they want with it, I'm not involved, but then she had a rant on it because they pushed her too far. I don't remember it that well since I read it a while ago, and it's possible she's said more on it since. (yay!) I'll be visiting her site to check.

Hey, I remember hearing rumors that they were doing a Left Hand of Darkness miniseries too, and was just pulling my hair out with the OH GOD NO. Did she manage to stop that from happening when she saw what Scifi did to her beloved Earthsea, or did they mangle one of the best books she's ever written?

[lotesse]

I've not heard anything about that, but there was a lovely production of Lathe of Heaven that the good lady herself was directly involved in.

[shiinabambi.livejournal.com]

I've seen that one, it was made by PBS. There was another Lathe of Heaven made for USA network, which is affiliated with SciFi.

[lotesse]

Rly? Ack.