Sunday, March 28, 2010

The Echo Read Has Begun!

SPOILER ALERT: Dinna read unless you have read chapter 2 (yikes or is it 3?) in AN ECHO IN THE BONE (yessss babyyyyyy - I'm finally here!!!) 

OK! So I've read a little bit of Echo! Wheeee!!!  Isn't this fun? I think I am going to blog a lot with this last book. I'd rather savor it and read it slowly and do lots of surmising and pondering with you good people whilst doing so....than fly though it and feel my insides gripe over the wait for Book 8...

So Percy Wainwright. Meh. I have zero love for this guy. I putzed around in Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade last week... and Tracey filled me in a bit, too... so I know who he is and what he means (or doesna mean) to Lord John. I don't like him at all. He reminds me of one of those poofy dressers from the French portion of Dragonfly. He's more taken with his ruffles and his obnoxious sex romps than he is with most other things in this world. And poor John has to deal with him and his inquiries as to who and where is Jamie Fraser. Sigh. John suffers almost as much as Jamie. Almost. (If you haven't seen our latest videos, Tracey had a FANTASTIC ponderance that maybe Lord John will go through the stones, into the future. LORDDDD can't you just SEE him all giddy in NYC? Gettin' dates left and right in the Village? I wish this for him, I truly do. The man is way too bound up. He needs a) more parritch and b) a damn vacation!!!)

Died when I read Claire's FULL letter to Bree. I cried all over again. LOVED that the smaller, earlier portion was Jamie's directness... but then Claire took over and is just frolicking along verbally about losing her surgery.... hell, her house, for that matter.

OK so here's my question: Why are they all stuffed into Bree's cabin like sardines? Aren't there like 8 million empty cabins at this point? The Christie's.... the Bug's... hell...even Amy McCallum Higgins has a shitty little cabin built into the side of the mountain. (And WHEN did Amy marry Bobby? Did that happen in A Breath of Snow and Ashes? How in god's name do it forget that if so??) The whole Ridge must look like a shut down resort in the Adirondacks by now! NOBODY PUTS BABY IN THE CORNER!!!

OH - and speaking of Arch Bug... um... is he trying to scare them, what with leaving chunks of pig hide in a trail? Or merely to lure them away like Bobby Brady and his popcorn?

And didn't Arch take the gold? What does he need with Jamie? Vengeance? Mmmppphhhmmm! Vengeance is highly overrated when you can afford a big house of your own (and all the sausage Mrs. Bug can cook for a lifetime.)

Ohhhhh - dinna fash yourself with that last question. I am seeing now that Jamie thinks he's coming back for the gold. Hmmm...so it might be hidden on the Ridge??? Well now we're talking! It's like one of those challenges on Survivor where they let them loose in the massive jungle and say "OK! Find the bonus letter!" If they can find that gold, they can build themselves a new big house - right on the spot where Jamie showed Claire Book 6. OK - everyone say "Awwwwww". All together now!

Off to read... and oh, yeah... feed my family. Have to do that once in a while...

18 comments:

  1. Verra interesting stuff re: Percy Wainwright. He seems to have changed quite a bit and become something of a doosh over the past 20 years. I actually rather liked him in "Brotherhood"--he was kind of weak in character, but I felt like he really did care about LJ--now he's waaaaay more foppish and annoying. (Good call on the French guy analogy, Carol.) BTW, am VERRA glad I read Brotherhood before Echo--I filled Carol in prior to her getting to the Percy part, but I'm curious as to whether or not people were confused by his appearance if they had never read Brotherhood....

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  2. *holds breath expectantly until Carol posts again* Love the post (and the Dirty Dancing reference!)

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  3. Carol, that is a good observation about why someone isn't using the Bug's cabin, even if it may be further from away from the big house than Bree and Roger's cabin (which was originally Jamie and Claire's). The Bug's cabin couldn't have been all that far away since they worked at the big house every day.

    Tracy R., many people were confused by Percy's appearance because most people have not read the LJG books. I think there are a lot of readers who don't even like LJG in the books because they are more interested in Jamie and Claire's story than anything else. I follow several series and I have noticed there are a far amount of readers who do not like it when the author writes a short story that has something in it that turns out to be an important part of the main series. I am not one of those bothered by that, but I admit it is because I usually read the short stories of my favorite authors.

    I love LJG and hope DG keeps him in the story until the last book. I want to see John find someone who loves him as he loves Jamie, whether it is in the Outlander series or in the LJG series. But, I would like for Jamie to know John has found someone. I think that would make Jamie happy as John's good friend and an interesting conversation to read between the two. I am reading Custom of Army now, a short story about LJG.

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  4. I did not read the LJG books. I tried the 1st one and couldn't get through it. I was very confused throughout portions of Echo and had to constantly go back and re-read just to make sense of Percy's role. I still don't thoroughly understand it. Sounds like a run through of the LJ books are in order. I'm starting my 1st re-read of Echo, so maybe it will be clearer the second time around.

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  6. LOL!! GIRL YOU MAKE ME LAUGH SO HARD!!! Love the idea of LJ in New York! He does need a vacation. He would be like kid in a candy store or revolted. I don't know which. Love the reference too "Nobody puts baby in the corner!" I keep wanting to comment on things, but I better wait until you all catch up. I'm afraid I'm going to slip and spoil something. It all becomes a jumble after you have read some of it.

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  7. This is just an amateur intro, but it got way excited!

    http://vimeo.com/8862218

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  8. Hi All - I hope to blog again soon. I have to go read so I have some material. Angela - that video was cool - what was it??

    Don't forget the chat tomorrow lassie! 9PM Eastern!

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  9. It was posted on FB. I think it was just an amateur putting something together. But I thought it was done really well.

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  10. Carol and Tracey ~

    1. The cabin: Would _you_ stay in either the Bugs' cabin or the Christies' cabin after what they did? I wouldn't touch Malva's place with a 10-foot pole - probably further! Amy's place is too far away; I remember Roger mentioning it was like an hour's walk.

    2. Amy/Bobby marriage: DG probably thought including it in ABOSAA would take away from the flow/intensity of the last 6 months, keeping the focus on B/R leaving the Ridge and the fallout from Malva. The marriage might have distracted the reader's attention. I _love_ it. It's nice to see Bobby get some love.

    3. Did you catch the ECHO with Percy? In BOTB when LJ enters the room, he twists a white porcelain doorknob. In ECHO.... when he enters the room to find Percy inside, LJ twists .... a white porcelain doorknob.

    Looking forward to chat tonight!

    ~Laura

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  11. Laura--TOTALLY caught the doorknob!!!! I pretty much figured that it was Percy behind the door, but I LOVED the way the description of the doorknob dovetailed with that in BOTB. GREAT reference.

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  12. Laura - girllll - if it meant getting out of a teeny tiny cabin with 12 unwashed people and getting some alone-time with Jamie Fraser? Hell I'd sleep in Charles Manson's jail cell!! LOL Looking forward to tonight's chat! :)

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  13. OK, just watched that title sequence video? CHILLS. CHILLS!!!!

    Part of me has doubts about the feasibility of Outlander on film--and then I watch that shizz and just about pee in my pants at the prospect!!!!

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  14. Well... Claire and Jamie _do_ have the barn/stables. :) They do seem to have quite a habit of gettin' it on amongst the hay.

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  15. Carol ~ I found reference in ECHO to Amy/Bobby getting married - it took place only a few days before Claire is writing the letter in the cabin, thus not in ABOSAA. Top of p23.

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  16. Thanks Laura! Right! So no reference in ABOSAA! I just read it yesterdaySo and was like "uh... when did this happen??" Either way - I think it's an awesome match. They are both sweet people who got a raw deal. It's about time they both find some happiness. I hope we get to see more of them. I love Bobby and I loved seeing him interact with her kids.

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  17. Hi Carol, my sister and I LOVE your blog. I am in Echo and she is in Drums but we look at your blog daily to see what you have to say about what we just read. Thanks for this blog! It's awesome!

    I just found the reference to Bobby and Amy in ABOSAA. It's on page 1395 or chapter 119. When bobby comes back to the ridge and they are at Malva's grave and roger is talking to him about staying. He knew that bobby is looking for a wife and looks at Aidan and says to bobby "I think ye'll maybe not have met Aidan's mother, Amy McCallum....."

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  18. Elizabeth you are TOO KIND. That's why I'm restarting Outlander... because I NEED to keep blogging about Jamie Fraser! It's a sickness! I need it like... AIR! THANKS for the reference info. This damned Kindle. I love it but it doesn't show what page you're on. I just ordered The Fiery Cross and A Breath of Snow and Ashes so I can flip through and find things easily - and complete my set. I'm waiting for Echo to come out on paperback because I want them all to match!

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