So I’m on a historical fiction binge apparently—paused in the middle of The Baroque Cycle (I have like 4 other books waiting for me untouched before I go out and buy The System of the World, as much as I’ve loved it so far), and I’ve just finished this really, really cool historical romance, Georgette Heyer’sAn Infamous Army. (Another Xmas gift, but the last of them—I was saving it for a reason but that’s another story for another time. From Neuroscientist Reenie!)

I’ve never read a lot of romance (except Austen, obviously), but I think I should start. My friend Megan once told me back in our college days that it was like cleansing the literary palate to prepare you for the next main course, and I think that’s accurate in general. But when it comes to this specific romance novel, it’s a little heavier than that because she, pretty much action-for-action, describes the battle of Waterloo. Like… the whole thing. The plot is twisted up around the preparations for battle in Brussels, though they don’t know when or where it’ll be, the Duke of Wellington’s habits and “family”, and this love story between a Colonel on his staff and this crazy “bad girl” type. Which, seeing as most of what I know of Regency comes from Jane Austen, is pretty amazing to me.

And it’s stupid engaging. It’s so weird to have a book I can relax with in the bathtub during a soak that isn’t totally insipid and pointless. It’s an odd phenomenon, and I intend to read more. Why no one introduced me to this before, I don’t know, but I have Reenie’s family to thank for this, I’m sure.

Also, the last description of Waterloo I read was in the killer Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Where Strange keeps foisting magic off on Wellington and he’s getting all aggravated. So you know, cool to see the real deal (even if everything is more fun with magic—replacing that point of interest with the romantic hero, his bitter and useless rival, and their families and friends makes up for it.)

Apparently I’m on an actual historical binge too. I have a bunch of nonfiction that wants my attention, some of it for research but most of it just for fun this time around. I bought McCullough’s John Adams while in Philadelphia last month, because I kept seeing the ads for the miniseries and getting all excited (I bought 1776 on a trip to Mt. Vernon last summer and literally couldn’t put it down. Nerd alert.) For good reason apparently, since the first two installments last weekend were so badass I’m impatient for the next one this week.

But I defy anyone to resist the awesome of Abigail Adams.

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Now playing: Arnold Schoenberg – Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4: II. Molto rallentando
via FoxyTunes

Here’s the part where my nerdy Art History degree does good by me.

I use this bloggy thing mostly for reviews of stuff I’m reading because I’m an unpublished author. As an unpublished author, there’s not a great deal I can say about myself that would ever be of any interest, unless someone really likes India and Tibet (places I’ve been), playing the guitar and swimming (stuff I do well), or the Beatles and their 1990s ripoffs (things I’ve spent way too much time listening to/thinking about.) And it’s all pretty irrelevant when it comes to me peddling my daydreams.

But it occurs to me that one of my passions is entirely relevant, and that it might stand up to some exposition here. That would be, of course, research.

I spent a lot of time in college and grad school doing a very pseudo Indiana Jones thing-going to far off places, discovering unmapped shiny things, documenting them and presenting them to a bunch of Americans a few months later. (Except no one ever tried to sacrifice me to Kali. I did see a few goats and a hundred buffalo get sacrificed to her, but that’s another story for another time.) Creating polished little gems of academia, effectively. For anyone who wasn’t sure, an Art History degree is like a specialized English degree. All you do is write-just that you only get to write about one thing. I was sort of good at this, for what it’s worth, because I love research.

This may have something to do with my ridiculous need to make lists and organize information when it’s in disarray, of course (and by “may”, I mean “definitely does”.) But the first part is fun too, the bit before the organization and polishing, the discovering of… stuff. Any stuff, really, so long as it’s something I’m into. For academic purposes it was Krishna temples and ancient royal baths, but when it comes to writing…

Dude. Really, that’s all there is to say here. Just, dude.

If it seems like I post reviews slowly, it’s not because I don’t read a lot. It’s because over half of what I read is nonfiction in preparation for something I’m thinking of or immediately planning to write. I’ve recently pored over several texts on Philadelphia history, grave robbing in early 19^th century America, and medical practice before the civil war for a particular pet project of mine. (I also got to use it as an excuse to go to Philly for a long weekend and eat at Morimoto. Hey, all work and no play makes… right. I’ll stop being quite so effing lame now. Or try, anyhow.)

And right now I’m holding off on starting another book while I read up on various senses and how neuroscience (and often art) have managed to decode them thus far, so I can better understand a certain kind of weird telepathy I want to use. (Clearly, I’m going urban fantasy on this.) That’s had me, most recently, reading This Is Your Brain On Music, by Daniel J. Levitin, and the fascinating Proust Was a Neuroscientist, by Jonah Lehrer. Both of which, if you’re an artist, musician, or writer, are beyond cool. (The latter was recommended Neuroscientist Reenie, who’s more of a help than any damn book in the world on this stuff. She’s the one who came up with my Vampire Science, I might add. Yeah, that was some research too, me on the alchemy, her on the actually cool and important stuff. Like blood.)

So now my desk is covered in post-its, or, in the case of the research that’s progressed to a certain stage of organization, covered in sheets of paper with a theme scrawled across the top, with post-its chock full of the appropriate information stuck all over them. (That’s a fun trick I picked up in grad school. Well, not fun… anyhow.) I love it, man. I love looking at all this information and thinking, I’m not just going to go and regurgitate this stuff; I’m going to make some crazy story come out of it.

I mean, I’m no Warren Ellis with the badass superhero science. But some day, right? I’m working on it.

And on a completely unrelated note: This new Flogging Molly album? It makes me very, very happy.

-Katey

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Now playing: Flogging Molly – Float
via FoxyTunes