(no subject)

[erastes]

Aww! Standish is now available in THREE libraries in the USA. Topeka, Kansas; Emeryville, California and Santa Fe! It gives me goosebumps. I'm takin' over ur wurld, wun libri at a time. (plus Chesterfield in the UK, kthnx)

I think I've worked out why I don't like Heyer. It's because, as far as I'm concerned (please don't flame me if you like her, there's really no point) she's the Tellytubby speak of the Regency world. Rather than "Tinky Winky, Dipsy, La La, Po" (although I'm QUITE certain you could find all four of those names in her books) you get "Fimble-Famble, Mifty, 'pon rep, bosom-bow" - Slang aside (and I'd really like to find her sources for her extra-ordinary language, I've just finished "The Charity Girl" which not only was dull but the peculiar slang was universally spoken - that's what annoyed me so much. From an ingenue girl still in the schoolroom, to a refined lady of impeccable manners, to a man of the best society, to a reprobate card sharp, to an Earl, to a inn-keeper in Harrogate and various underlings such as staff. It's just not credible - life was particularly insular specially before railways and dialects are still very much a part of english life - look at the difference in Mary's speech in A Secret Garden to the servants who live on the moors. There's no variation in voice in Heyer, slang aside, and add in the slang, the stories are as incomprehensible as listening to idiot children's programmes going on about BIG HUGS and Tubby Custard.

/rant.