Randomness

[brigdh]

I was at a used book store a few weeks ago, and picked up a book I'd been meaning to read for a while. I got around to starting it yesterday, when it looked like the most interesting thing in my to-be-read pile.

I open it up, and the first paragraph is, "Monkey never dies. He keeps coming back to help us in times of trouble, just as he helped Tripitaka through the dangers of the first journey to the west, to bring Buddhism to China."

And the main character is, apparently, a reincarnation of Monkey.

You guys, Saiyuki is stalking me!

Comments

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

God, it is. This is getting either scary or funny. Or both.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I'm still amused by it.

And I had no idea it would be in the book! I'm sure I made all kinds of funny faces as I went, "Really? Nooo. This is so weird!"

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

Hey! No fair! What's the book?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

"The Years of Rice and Salt" by Kim Stanley Robinson.

Of all the books I have lying around in which I might have expected to find references to Journey to the West, this was probably the least likely.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

Ah. I even have that one, although I haven't read it -- I am three or four novels behind on KSR now.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

It's the first one I've read by him. I thought the premise of the novel sounded neat, but it's even more interesting now.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed it, but got 3/4 of the way through, put it down somewhere, and enver got around to picking it up again. It's still on my shelves, waiting to be finished. Maybe one day.

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

Aha! I've been hoarding that one, and now I'll have to move it up my own TBR queue.

I'm less surprised now, though. As far as I can tell, Stan Robinson's gone everywhere and read everything; it's uncanny.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

So far it's even being told in the style of Journey to the West: a section of prose, a little bit of poetry, another section of prose, and each chapter ending in something like, "Well, to see what happened to him then, you'll have to read the next chapter".

I'm liking it a lot; I'll have to read more by him. I remember you recommended one of his novels a little while ago.

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to read that since before I discovered Saiyuki.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

It is awesome. The other main character is really angry and has a tendency to kill people to hurt Monkey. I'm in love.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hee!

[sl-rogue.livejournal.com]

That is so cool. Don't you just love it when it feels like a fandom is stalking you? =)

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's always neat when that happens.

[aoyagi.livejournal.com]

Succumb to us! We shall rule the world and you shall be our minion!!! :P

::coughcough::

Sorry, that was my random Saiyuki!boys moment there :P Anyway, I think it's quite amusing that you see those things everywhere. For the longest time I kept seeing YnM references and I couldn't help but laugh. After all, it *is* funny ;) Enjoy the book! ^^

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

*laughs*

Oh, that's neat! I never stumbled across as many YnM references as I do Saiyuki; what sorts of places have you found them?

[aoyagi.livejournal.com]

Well, it's kind of hard for me to account for all of them, but at the height of my YnM fever my brother decide to go for CPA, become a notary and all that stuff. Then there's Mother and all the references to computers being all powerful. Yes, my life revolved around Yami, that's for sure. Currently I'm being held captive by Hakkai >.<;;; No, I'm not complaining. He's really hot :P And has a hot scar on his abdomen ::melts:: Okay, I'm stopping right about... NOW.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hee.

It seems like everyone falls in love with Hakkai! Or maybe it's just the people I know, but he certainly seems like the most popular.

[aoyagi.livejournal.com]

I couldn't help it!!! I pretty much came straight from the Yami fandom where I'm a rabid Tatsumi shipper (with Watari, of course). Hakkai does remind me of my fave secretary, even if he's a tad different. I like writing him, too. He has that nice mix of angst/coolness/facade about him that makes him so appealing. It's like a mix of Tatsumi and Watari in one, with that bit about being a murderer and having my all-time fave looks (dark hair / green eyes = me in a puddle).

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

*nods* Yeah, I can see why you'd pick up on similarities in character type between Tatsumi and Hakkai. They are alike in a lot of ways.

[aoyagi.livejournal.com]

I think Hakkai fascinates me more, though. He's more of a bad boy than Tatsumi is ^^ And I like bad boys ;)

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

*grins* Tatsumi's got some darkness too, but you're right: I doubt he's a mass murderer.

[aoyagi.livejournal.com]

I doubt he's a mass murderer.

Weeee~ll... I wrote this fic in which Tatsumi shows his 'other' side ;) And yes, I wrote it way before I got into Saiyuki, so the imagery is totally accidental. You can read the fic over here (http://omoikiri.livejournal.com/11683.html). Sorry for the shameless plug >.<;;;