Book Recommendations Needed!

[qos]

Help!

I'm a bibliophile facing two cross-country flights and hours on a tropical beach and I have no book(s) to take with me!

My current preferences lean toward historical fiction and fantasy/SF.

I love character-driven stories I can sink my teeth into.

Please make recommendations! Make lots of them!

Comments

[strandsofchaos.livejournal.com]

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susannah Clarke.

800 pages of pure magic, that reads like 600 pages and leaves readers invariably asking for more...

[qos.livejournal.com]

I read 100 or so pages of it and just couldn't go any further. :-(

[strandsofchaos.livejournal.com]

It's intentionally rough and terribly dry for the first 150 pages or so. By the time you hit the 200-225 mark, you'll realize that you're just flying through the pages.

She does that on purpose; showing the dry, monochrome, banal world, and becoming more flowing and beautiful as magic begins to permeate the story. Well worth picking up again, if you're looking for a fun adventure.

[qos.livejournal.com]

I hadn't heard that before -- although I know lots of people just rave about it. Thanks!

How are things, btw?

[strandsofchaos.livejournal.com]

Interesting--very interesting. Probably something best discussed out of LJ, though. A lot of it's my whiny emo stuff, and I don't want to load up your journal with my quasiwoes. =D

E-mail coming up in the next few minutes.