Here is the compiled list of all the books I read on my trip and my thoughts on them (in brief, obviously). Or else this post would be astronomical. So here you are, everyone:
1. The Invisible Ring, Anne Bishop. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this one. Not nearly as good as BJT, but still enjoyable. Set in the same world but with different characters. It made me happy every time Lucivar and Daemon were mentioned. And the reference to Jaenelle very nearly made me squee.
Yes, I know.
2. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Thank you thank you thank you to![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
zorpisuttle for recommending this one. Seriously. I think I laughed more during this book than I have in a long time. So damn good. I want to write fanfiction, but I don't think I could manage it without butchering canon. *chews fingernails*
And besides, there's not much I wouldn't give for some mad hot Crowley sex.
3. Silence of the Lambs, Thomas Harris. This one was my second favorite of the triad of Lecter novels. And I have to echo Mimi here: Ooooh, Dr. Lecter! Secksy, in a psychopathic sort of way. Grisly, but good reading. And I liked it, anyway.
4. Red Dragon, Thomas Harris. Mmmmph. I didn't like this one so much. There was very little Lecter, and Will Graham was annoying. And the Dragon dude was just...weird. Grisly, but without the quality of Silence of the Lambs.
5. Nightlife, Bob Thurman. Been planning on reading this one for a while, finally got around to it, loved it. The narration has a snappiness to it that I like, and the voice is uniquely modern and thoroughly enjoyable. I'm looking forward to reading the next one, and will be sure to give people updates, if they want them.
6. The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath. Sweet and sad. I sort of love Esther. Parts of this one felt eerily real to me, personally. That was a little scary.
7. Revelation, Carol Berg. Read this as a follow up to Transformation in the same series. I enjoyed it immensely, but not nearly so much as the first one. I wanted more Aleksander/Seyonne interaction. (You know, the slashpurtunities just occurred to me there. Must write that down.) I also felt like it had a little too much information in it. I got a little lost about halfway through: took me a while to find my way again. The emotional ending was the best part. No, I'm serious. Really.
8. Restoration, Carol Berg. I liked this one a lot. This may be my favorite. It effectively showed the dark sides of power, even power for good reasons, and it made me think more than other books have. I enjoyed it. I didn't really like the romantic angle, though. It just sort of showed up, and it felt a little tacked on.
9. Grania, Morgan Llewellyn. There was one character in this book who really got on my nerves: Evleen, the Druid woman. I realised why halfway through - she was clearly, obviously, and unashamedly a mouthpiece for the writer's views on Christianity. I hate it when people do that in fanfiction, let alone published works. She also used third person omniscient, which I don't like and is really hard to do without seeming clunky. She didn't manage it. The story was good, though, and I love Grania's character.
10. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson. Oh, this one was good. One of the best mysteries I've read in a while. Can't say much without giving stuff away: suffice it to say that the ending of one mystery in particular had me very, very surprised.
11. Sebastian, Anne Bishop. Am definitely reading Belladonna. Duuuuude. Sebastian. Yum. Anyway, I loved this one too. It was excellent, flowed along well, no awkward third person omniscient. I like. I like very much. And Sebastian is terribly sexy. *actually thinks about snagging him for DF*
*and probably will*
12. The Last Templar, Raymond Khoury. A Da Vinci Code rip off. There are better thrillers. There are better ripoffs, too. Don't read it.
13. The Dancers at the End of Time, Michael Moorcock. OMG. So good. It was bizarre and delicious. Picked up this one off my book list I got for Christmas at W.H. Smith, a UK bookstore (and omgwtf all the covers were so purdddddyyy I want purdy covers!!! squee) and read it in about a day.
I can't decide who I heart more: Jherek or Amelia? The best part, hands down, is Jherek in London.
14. The Time Traveller's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger. You've heard of this one, I'm sure. Trust the hype. It's weird, it's a little hard to wrap your mind around, but it's good. And the ending is a little heartbreaking. Beautifully written, besides. Not Charles Dickens, but still beautiful.
Books Left to Read:
Holy Fools, Joanne Harris
Hannibal Rising, Thomas Harris
Airs Beneath the Moon, Toby Bishop
Ship of Magic, Robin Hobb (and the rest, if I like it)
The Lady and the Unicorn, Tracy Chevalier
Moon Called, Patricia Briggs
Belladonna, Anne Bishop
Moonshine, Bob Thurman
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel, Susanna Clarke
The Hidden Stars, Madeleine Howard
A Game of Thrones, George RR Martin
Bone Doll's Twin, Kate Flewylling or something like that.
The Gunslinger, Stephen King (and maybe more)
Shapechanger's Song, Jennifer Roberson (and the rest of the series.)
Kushiel's Scion, Jacqueline Carey
The Chanur Saga, CH Cherryh
New Spring, Robert Jordan
Chocolat, Joanne Harris
A Probably Future, Alice Hoffman
Dragon Prince, Melanie Rawn
Interview with A Vampire, Anne Rice
And maybe I'll finally get around to finishing Les Miserables, Victor Hugo.
And probably a reread of BJT in there somewhere.
And now, a meme.
1. The Invisible Ring, Anne Bishop. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this one. Not nearly as good as BJT, but still enjoyable. Set in the same world but with different characters. It made me happy every time Lucivar and Daemon were mentioned. And the reference to Jaenelle very nearly made me squee.
Yes, I know.
2. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Thank you thank you thank you to
zorpisuttle for recommending this one. Seriously. I think I laughed more during this book than I have in a long time. So damn good. I want to write fanfiction, but I don't think I could manage it without butchering canon. *chews fingernails* 3. Silence of the Lambs, Thomas Harris. This one was my second favorite of the triad of Lecter novels. And I have to echo Mimi here: Ooooh, Dr. Lecter! Secksy, in a psychopathic sort of way. Grisly, but good reading. And I liked it, anyway.
4. Red Dragon, Thomas Harris. Mmmmph. I didn't like this one so much. There was very little Lecter, and Will Graham was annoying. And the Dragon dude was just...weird. Grisly, but without the quality of Silence of the Lambs.
5. Nightlife, Bob Thurman. Been planning on reading this one for a while, finally got around to it, loved it. The narration has a snappiness to it that I like, and the voice is uniquely modern and thoroughly enjoyable. I'm looking forward to reading the next one, and will be sure to give people updates, if they want them.
6. The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath. Sweet and sad. I sort of love Esther. Parts of this one felt eerily real to me, personally. That was a little scary.
7. Revelation, Carol Berg. Read this as a follow up to Transformation in the same series. I enjoyed it immensely, but not nearly so much as the first one. I wanted more Aleksander/Seyonne interaction. (You know, the slashpurtunities just occurred to me there. Must write that down.) I also felt like it had a little too much information in it. I got a little lost about halfway through: took me a while to find my way again. The emotional ending was the best part. No, I'm serious. Really.
8. Restoration, Carol Berg. I liked this one a lot. This may be my favorite. It effectively showed the dark sides of power, even power for good reasons, and it made me think more than other books have. I enjoyed it. I didn't really like the romantic angle, though. It just sort of showed up, and it felt a little tacked on.
9. Grania, Morgan Llewellyn. There was one character in this book who really got on my nerves: Evleen, the Druid woman. I realised why halfway through - she was clearly, obviously, and unashamedly a mouthpiece for the writer's views on Christianity. I hate it when people do that in fanfiction, let alone published works. She also used third person omniscient, which I don't like and is really hard to do without seeming clunky. She didn't manage it. The story was good, though, and I love Grania's character.
10. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson. Oh, this one was good. One of the best mysteries I've read in a while. Can't say much without giving stuff away: suffice it to say that the ending of one mystery in particular had me very, very surprised.
11. Sebastian, Anne Bishop. Am definitely reading Belladonna. Duuuuude. Sebastian. Yum. Anyway, I loved this one too. It was excellent, flowed along well, no awkward third person omniscient. I like. I like very much. And Sebastian is terribly sexy. *actually thinks about snagging him for DF*
*and probably will*
12. The Last Templar, Raymond Khoury. A Da Vinci Code rip off. There are better thrillers. There are better ripoffs, too. Don't read it.
13. The Dancers at the End of Time, Michael Moorcock. OMG. So good. It was bizarre and delicious. Picked up this one off my book list I got for Christmas at W.H. Smith, a UK bookstore (and omgwtf all the covers were so purdddddyyy I want purdy covers!!! squee) and read it in about a day.
I can't decide who I heart more: Jherek or Amelia? The best part, hands down, is Jherek in London.
14. The Time Traveller's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger. You've heard of this one, I'm sure. Trust the hype. It's weird, it's a little hard to wrap your mind around, but it's good. And the ending is a little heartbreaking. Beautifully written, besides. Not Charles Dickens, but still beautiful.
Books Left to Read:
Holy Fools, Joanne Harris
Hannibal Rising, Thomas Harris
Airs Beneath the Moon, Toby Bishop
Ship of Magic, Robin Hobb (and the rest, if I like it)
The Lady and the Unicorn, Tracy Chevalier
Moon Called, Patricia Briggs
Belladonna, Anne Bishop
Moonshine, Bob Thurman
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel, Susanna Clarke
The Hidden Stars, Madeleine Howard
A Game of Thrones, George RR Martin
Bone Doll's Twin, Kate Flewylling or something like that.
The Gunslinger, Stephen King (and maybe more)
Shapechanger's Song, Jennifer Roberson (and the rest of the series.)
Kushiel's Scion, Jacqueline Carey
The Chanur Saga, CH Cherryh
New Spring, Robert Jordan
Chocolat, Joanne Harris
A Probably Future, Alice Hoffman
Dragon Prince, Melanie Rawn
Interview with A Vampire, Anne Rice
And maybe I'll finally get around to finishing Les Miserables, Victor Hugo.
And probably a reread of BJT in there somewhere.
And now, a meme.
PICK An Artist: Nightwish (we'll see how this goes)
Now answer every question below with a title of a song by that artist. It doesn't have to make lots of sense.
1.) Are you a male or female? The Siren
2.) Describe yourself: Dead to the World
3.) How do you feel about yourself? Burning Flames Embrace
4.) Describe where you currently live: Lagoon
5.) If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Gethsemane
6.) Your best friend is: The Devil and the Deep Dark Ocean
7.) Your favorite color is: White Night Fantasy
8.) What's the weather like? Sleeping Sun
9.) If your life was a television show, what would it be called? Planet Hell
10.) What is life to you? A Return to the Sea
11.) What is the best advice you have to give? Bless the Child
12.) Your current love interest is? Crownless
13.) What's your favorite hobby? Slaying the Dreamer
14.) When you think of your friends you think? Nymphomaniac Fantasia (no, I'm kidding! Really!)
16.) What do your friends think of you? The Pharoah Sails to Orion
17.) What will you name your first child? Eclipse. Or maybe Mystera 2000.
18.) You always travel with? Witchdrums.
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From your list of stuff left to read, I've read New Spring, Shapechanger's Song, and Interview with a Vampire. I don't usually care much for vampire books, but Interview was one of the few exceptions. It's really good, and as usual better than the movie based on it. I never made it through the rest of the series though. New Spring is good too, but I think it's better to read it after reading at least some of the Wheel of Time series since it's a prequel. (Of course, I don't know if you've read WoT already so that might not be a problem.)
As for Shapechangers, it's even better than the other two. I've read that whole series 3 times already and I just started another re-read the other day. If you like the Cheysuli books, you might want to check out the Karavans series when you're done with it.
That meme is pretty sweet too. I think I'll do it on my journal too. :D
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*goes to read the Cheysuli series* Oooh. Yours is the second recommendation I've had - I'm excited!
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The Cheysuli one was another series I started without having a clue what it was about. My mom practically threw it at me when we were at the bookstore and had to leave in a hurry, because she had read one of Roberson's historical fiction books and figured that series would be good too. :D Jennifer Roberson has said that, after she finishes the Karavans series, she's going to be writing 3 new Cheysuli books. I can't wait.
I hope you like it too!
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I should read more of his stuff.
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And if you are worried that Crowley and Aziraphale having mad hot angry sex in the 13th century is uncanonical, I would agree, but I would also point out that it can be done fabulously so you shouldn't be afraid to try. I mean, I don't think they were that close before the whole averting-the-apocalypse thing, but I'll still read fic that doesn't work under that premise.I really think I need to read the Time Traveler's Wife, I keep hearing about it. And I'm totally going to try and find the Moorcock book, because I've read one of his short stories in a Best of the Year Science Fiction anthology, and I really liked the universe. Thanks for telling me a title I can look for. :D
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Mostly I was just worried about keeping them in character. That's also the reason I haven't written any Black Jewels fanfiction yet. *smacks self*
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And trust me, you shall adore Interview with the vampire. Actually, I don't really know if you will. I'm just trying to spread the love. XD