the part with the twins not wanting to grow up WAS the saddest

I finished Mary Poppins by PL Travers today. You know what words are most often used in the book to describe Mary's reactions? Scornfully and disgust.

This is what I was trying to talk about in my last post, before my brains tried to leak out of my ears. The Mary Poppins in the book is not very sweet, is possibly some form of god (while the movie Poppins is clearly just a Time Lord) and it's hard to imagine this one being as soft as Julie Andrews' Poppins. I'm actually picturing some sort of arena battle. If I were the person (PL Travers) who'd created Poppins, I would be pretty pissed at the movie version, which is what happened.

However, since I'm not I love them both so dearly. The songs in the movie? Amazing. And book Poppins? Hilarious.

And intriguing. I'm not sure how much I want to spoil for this to explain why I make the god figure remarks, but I'll give you some other details, like how she talks to animals and her cousin (first cousin, once removed) is a snake. A hamadryad, specifically. I didn't realize that was a snake type at first and spent that part very very confused why a dryad was speaking with a hood.

My favourite part of the whole story, though, was the bit with the panda. If I may quote:

Jane and Michael gazed at each other. Was it a dream from which they would wake? Or were they seeing, of all things, a Panda! And a Panda in its own home and not behind bars in a zoo.

The dream, if it was a dream, drew a long breath.

"Whoever it is, please go away, I rest in the afternoon."

The voice was as furry as the rest of him.

"Very well, then, we will go away. And then perhaps" — Mary Poppins's voice was at its most priggish — "you'll be sorry you missed us."

The Panda opened one black eye. "Oh, it's you, my dear girl," he said sleepily. "Why not have let me know you were coming? Difficult though it would have been, for you I would have stayed awake." The furry shape yawned and stretched itself. "Ah well, I'll have to make a home for you all. There wouldn't be enough room in mine." He nodded at a neat shelter made of leaves and bamboo sticks.

It's just that sentence right there. 'The voice was as furry as the rest of him'. It gives me good mental picturing.

I like this book. It was awkward and felt kind of skeletal at the start, but as it went on it started filling itself out. So aces, aces all over. If I can find an ebook version of the next in the series, I'll read those too.

Other book highlights: Andrew the dog and his bro Willoughby, Jane and Michael picking out Christmas presents for their family, the other corners of the world.
Horrors: Mrs. Corry feeding the twins, the scene with the people who were left behind in the zoo.

PS: I watched The Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'hoole and I have no idea if the movie was actually good or not, because I was just so delighted by all the owls. Owls owls owls.

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Two quick Lovecraft bits!

Just read Call of Cthulhu, and Herbert West: Reanimator, both by HP Lovecraft.
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Call of Cthulhu: New platform for reading didn't help, still doesn't wow me. It does, however, have some awesome lines. While The Tomb had 'darkest of the hillside thickets' (which probably stood out to me because I love the band. Check them out, they sing Cthulhu rock), Call of Cthulhu had these lines:

"In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming"

"Only poetry or madness could do justice to the noises heard"

That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die. (Cthulhu! *jazz hands*)

I do like how the narrator of Call of Cthulhu spends most of the book doing a dead on Scully impression.

Herbert West: Reanimator: Hilarious, for Lovecraft. Not sure if it was on purpose. It's a zombie story! Herbert West, (the story was published in parts, I think, so each part starts with how Herbert is small, blond, softspoken and probably pretty) is determined to raise the dead. But unfortunately it's just one long line of fuck-ups for him and his life partner/assistant.

Notable for them running screaming into town the first time they succeed in raising a corpse.

This story features: Zombies, really unfortunate scene with a black boxer, a 'little tow-head fiend', and a Canadian badass.

Herbert West: Reanimator is now fighting with The Thing On The Doorstep and Rats In The Walls for my favourite Lovecraft story.

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I need to name a French town. Unfortunately I can't even name my *Animal Crossing* towns (I eventually panicked and named it after a scotch, Speyside which is a town I know) so I'm asking y'all for help.

Here are possible words I want to incorporate, only needs one of them in the town name:

Ombre - Shadow
Bouche - Mouth (Bouche can also be substituted with something that approximates meaning at the opening of the river into the ocean)
Auberge - Inn

Help?