more about Jordan...

...because yes, I'm still nigh-obsessed with Pagan's Scribe. I find it interesting because I can't come to a decision about the moral questions posed in the book. And, well, because I haven't started another good book since I finished re-reading Scribe. But then again - the twenty-year jump between Pagan's Vows and Pagan's Scribe allows for a lot of fascinating backstory that Jinks doesn't tell. How much time does Jordan spend in Carcassonne? Is his presence there unwelcome to Pagan? Is Jordan a better person for having known Pagan?
Is it better to let your soldiers plunder dead bodies, on the grounds that a lot of them are fighting for the plunder anyway, and better that they get the loot than that the enemy does?
The other day I did a mean thing: checked out a book that was bad, just so I could laugh at it. I read it with my husband, and we took turns: one of us would read a page, and the other would point out all the things wrong with it. It's a picture book, you see, so there was plenty to point out. This is the book in question; seriously, it's not good. No idea how SLJ came up with a positive review of this; I like the review in Publishers Weekly better (which suggests that the illustrations have a Twin Peaks quality). It's worth noting that this wasn't a whim; I had to put a hold on this book to get it. I'd feel bad - but then I think of the spread with the helpful people standing in a row, pointing Policeman Lou in the direction of the insouciant robber, and I just laugh, and laugh, and laugh.