(no subject)

[cahn]

I keep meaning to use this lj to post on books I've read. However, lately I seem to be out of books I'm really interested in, and furthermore have entered a period of regression where all I really want to read are warm fuzzy books (I imagine I'll come out of it after Christmas or so). But anyway, here are some lists:

-Books I really really do want to read but am waiting on my silly D to buy (he's got this Problem that once he's bought a book in a series in paperback, he will only ever buy the rest of the series in paperback): Dzur, Brust. The Sharing Knife, Bujold (hmm, since this is the first in a series maybe I can sneak the hardback in as a Christmas gift for him?...)

-Mindless fuzzy stuff I've read recently: Far and away the best was Liane Moriarty's The Last Anniversary, which is fluffy and cute and chick-lit-ish, but better than chick lit, with awesome characters, and doesn't really deserve the "mindless" bit. Emily Giffen, Something Borrowed and the sequel Something Blue, which are mindless, and not nearly as good, but entertaining and better than most chick lit I've read, despite the annoying premise of the first book. Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Scion, which doesn't really belong in this list-- the first three books in this series, especially the third, were marvelous epic-fantasy works with interesting world-building and characters, but I found this one much less riveting, so here it goes in fuzzy category.

-Stuff I've reread lately that I really like: Emma Bull's "Silver or Gold" in After the King -- I've tried to read other stuff by Bull, I forget what now, and haven't been much impressed, but this story I absolutely adore. So presumably there is other stuff by her that I would like?? Great Expectations, which I read in high school and was like, enh, whatever, but recently reread and loved-- he gets being a kid who kind of doesn't really have a clue, and knows it, and is miserable about it, exactly right. It's almost painful to read.

-Books I keep trying to read: The Time Traveller's Wife, which I've heard from about fifty sources is good, but I keep putting it down after about two pages. Tale of Two Cities, after my other Dickens experience. Some great lines, but I haven't really gotten into it yet. Seems more potboiler than Great Expectations, at least so far.

-Stuff which the local libraries do not have because they are TOTALLY LAME: The first book of any series by Robin Hobb. They have ALL THE REST, just to tick me off. The last two books of the Emily sequence by L.M. Montgomery. WHAT?? Come on, guys, last time I checked SB was, you know, rich. Are you all completely uncivilized?

-What I read that just flipping electrified me, one of those things that there's a "before" and "after" you read it:
here. I've got to get this book, even though I have no interest in Yugoslavia in general. I may ask for it for Christmas.

-What I've actually been reading lately: Photoshop books, for the beginner-to-advanced-amateur. I'm more interested in photograph post-processing and less in Cool Photoshopped Effects. The Hidden Power of Photoshop Elements just completely rocks for me; I can see why other people might not like it (it's awfully dense, for one thing, and lacking in the way of pretty pictures) but it's like it was written for me. I also love Photoshop Wow! - I borrowed v. 6 from the library but am thinking about buying v. 7.

Comments

[joyce.livejournal.com]

I'll add myself to the chorus about The Time Traveller's Wife; I was way skeptical, but if you can force yourself to get far enough into it to get hooked, it's fantastic.

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

Okay! I'll give it another try. It's good to know that it's slow at the beginning, since lately I've been kind of impatient with books-- if it doesn't grab me immediately, I put it down. I know, it's horrible :)

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Tale of Two Cities is currently my least favorite Dickens. I didn't think it got interesting until maybe 2/3 of the way through. My favorite is probably Our Mutual Friend, or maybe Oliver Twist.

For books that look like chick-lit, but are really good, I've liked everything I've read so far by Lorna Landvik, and I found myself surprisingly engrossed by The Ivy Chronicles, by an author whose last name is Quinn and whose first name might be Karen, but I'm not positive just now.

My favorite Emma is Bone Dance, but War for the Oaks is very popular, too.

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

Ooh, book recs, yay! I'll check them out.

Will have to look at Bone Dance. I think War for the Oaks was one of the ones that I put down after a bit, but maybe I should've given it more of a shot. Oh, I also liked Freedom and Necessity, though not in the adoration sort of way I loved "Silver and Gold."

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Oh! I liked that one, too, yes. Have you read Wrede and Stevermer's Sorcery and Cecilia books?

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

Oh, I *loved* Sorcery and Cecilia, which I bought off of a book sale a very long time ago, read, and promptly lost, and was kicking myself about it for years until the reprint came out. I liked The Grand Tour, though not as much -- I think I'm just a sucker for the epistolary form. I haven't read the Mislaid Magician yet. That's on my list, though!

Have you read Stevemer's College of Magic books? Are they any good? I keep meaning to pick them up but haven't.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

I haven't read those yet, either; not enough time to read everything I want to! (Nor have I read Mislaid Magician yet, though I have a copy.)

I just finished Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and on a rather different note, I'm almost through Florence King's Southern Ladies and Gentlemen, which I highly recommend. I've started the first English-language anthology of Japanese SF, which was published in 1989. I'm also slogging through Asimov's Guide to the Bible, but I don't recommend it.

Alexander McCall Smith, on the other hand, I do recommend, except I didn't really like the first Isabel Dalhousie book, so I've not read the others yet, and the ones about the German linguists aren't for everyone, but I think you'd like them. I'm reading Espresso Tales, which is the second volume in the 44 Scotland Street series, as my book-what-lives-in-the-car.

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

I really liked Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which Kathy recommended to me. Clarke's got a book of short stories out which I read recently and enjoyed.

Kathy also recommended The Carpet Makers by Eschbach (sp?) which was really interesting... hmm... I can't say I adored it (that's usually reserved for more cuddly books, which this is not) but it was very enjoyable, in a way very vaguely reminiscent of Clarke.

On the religion-book frontier: have you read any Charles WIlliams? I think you'd like his stuff a lot. The last thing I read by him was a history of the Christian church, The Descent of the Dove. He's also done some interesting fiction which I can only describe as theological thriller. Very weird but cool too-- Descent Into Hell and All Hallows' Eve, particularly the latter, are the best. Way better than C.S. Lewis trying to do SF. Also this reminds me of Raymond Brown's Introduction to the New Testament above Asimov -- I really liked Brown and I think I tried Asimov once but didn't like it enough to stick with it.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

I haven't read Williams yet; you recommended Descent back when I was looking for history books, and I wishlisted it, but have neither stumbled across a copy nor been given one, and my to-be-read shelves are just too full to go hunting, you know? I didn't know about the fiction, though.

I'm finding the NT half of the Asimov a bit more palatable than the OT half, so far, but I haven't gotten to the epistles yet. I'll almost certainly release it to a new home when I've finished it, though.