Grumble. . . Books. . . Grumble. . .

[qos]

I've been striking out with new books lately. Over the past few weeks I've picked up CJ Cherryh's The Book of Morgaine, a novel about China called The Middle Heart, and The Voyage of the Narwahl which is historical fiction about an arctic voyage. The first two I put down and literally forgot to pick up again. I've been plodding through the third without enthusiasm.

Between Middle Heart and Narwahl I pulled The Black Chalice, by Marie Jakober, off my shelf and read it for the second time. It's a fantasy set in a mythical Germany at the time of the Crusades, and very Pagan. One reviewer compared it to The Mists of Avalon, but I enjoy it much more. (That's not saying much, since I can't stand Mists, but it might put things in context for other folks.) I also recently re-read Parke Godwin's Beloved Exile, which I loved as much as ever, and had the fun of re-discovering since it's been years since I opened it to do more than scan a favorite scene or two.

Why is it so hard to find books I like these days? It may have something to do with where I am psychologically. It's not that there are no good books out there, it's that I'm not connecting with them. I tried to read Our Lady of the Forest by Gutterson, which like Heart and Narwhal got a lot of critical praise, but I was so depressed by the main characters I didn't even make it halfway through.

The last new books I really, truly enjoyed were the Kushiel series, and that was several months ago. I devoured those in just a few days and was sorry to see them end.

Anyone have any suggestions? Any classics (canon or personal) you love and return to again and again? shellefly mentioned Treasure Island a few days ago, and I might give that a try. I'm primarily interested in fiction at the moment. School starts next month, and I'll have more than enough non-fiction to tackle then.

I have dozens of my own old favorites on my shelves, but I'm in the mood for the pleasure of new discoveries.

Comments

[queenofhalves]

i forget, do you like robin mckinley?

[qos.livejournal.com]

I may have read her a long time ago, but not that I remember.

[queenofhalves]

try her new one, sunshine. my favorite of hers is the hero and the crown, but most people seem to prefer the other one written in that world, the blue sword.

strong female leads, hot romance, magic, swords (usually). :>

[qos.livejournal.com]

strong female leads, hot romance, magic, swords

*singing* "These are a few of my favorite things!"

[rocket-jockey.livejournal.com]

For pure boilerplate, the Anita Blake series by Laurel Hamilton has a strong (borderline psychotic? overcompensated?) central character, magic, sex, were-besats, vampires, voudun and violence.

The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett combines lowbrow humor with high satire. Three or four of his books involve a coven of hedge witches.

The icon queenofhalves used in her post is from a very good novel called The Blue Sword, by an author I do not recall; the central character, Harimad, is a captured-city-maiden-turned-heroic-Beduin-queen.

Ripping Time and The House that Jack Built by Robert Asprin and Linda Evans drop a team of time travelers into the middle of Whitechapel in the late summer and early fall of 1888. Well researched overall, though they have one scene involving The Pearl, an "underground" London literary sheet, that is anachronistic as its publication didn't coincide with the dates of the story, but overall the history is very well-researched and trhe story moves well.

[qos.livejournal.com]

Anita Blake
The Ex and Peter have been reading those and enjoying them. I've read her Princess Merrie series, and enjoyed that, so maybe I'll give Anita a try.

Haven't ever read Pratchett, since I don't usually look for low-brow humor in my reading material. But I'll take a look.

According to queenofhalves, The Blue Sword is by Robin McKinley, the author she was recommending. I like your description of the plot. With both of you voting for it, it goes to the top of my list.

The last one doesn't sound like my cup of tea, since I'm not particularly interested in time travel or the Ripper.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[rocket-jockey.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! I really do recommend The Blue Sword.

One author I forgot to mention is P. Elrod, and his (her?) Jack Fletcher vampire mystery series. The first volume, Bloodlist, starts with the main character waking up on a moonlit night in 1936, three days missing from his memory, and discovering that he's dead -- then setting out to solve the mystery of who killed him and why.

[rocket-jockey.livejournal.com]

A warning about Anita Blake: the violence and the sex are very graphic. Tjough if you've read her faerie courts series, you have a pretty good idea of what her style is.

[qos.livejournal.com]

Between the Princess Merrie series and the Kushiel books -- to simply name books already referenced in this thread -- I doubt Anita Blake has much to faze me.

It becomes obvious that there are certain shelves of my library that you've never seen. . .

[rocket-jockey.livejournal.com]

likely, as I've only skimmed through the shelves in your publicly viewable living space.

[justbeast.livejournal.com]

Recommending is easy. I would go straight for my two favorite books of all time.

The first is American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. Mind-bogglingly beautiful, well written, funny, insightful. It's about... well, I don't want to spoil the plot of course. But it involves America (as only a really insightful foreigner who loves it deeply can look at it), and all the old gods and heroes, and how they faire on american soil.

The other is The Master and Margarita (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679760806/) (btw, feel free to ignore the Editor's Review on the Amazon page -- it just gets into the minute details of the plot, and is needlessly confusing). It's about... hehee, once again, it's tough to explain. But a very elegant, mysterious and beastly Satan arrives in Moscow, with his trusted lieutenants in tow, to cause havoc and to choose a mistress for his Ball that happens every hundred years. Meanwhile, there's a mad and talented writer (The Master) locked in an asylum, who keeps having these absolutely vivid flashbacks/visions of Pontius Pilate at the trial of Jesus Christ. And then there is The Master's true love, Margarita (who I have a feeling you'd really like), who's trying to get him out of there. It is considered one of the greatest works of Russian literature of all time, and the translation is quite excellent.

[qos.livejournal.com]

I read American Gods when it first came out. It was good, but it didn't grab me deeply. I do love Neverwhere, and enjoyed Stardust too. I remember wondering why I wasn't enjoying Gods more than I was.

I went to Amazon and ordered The Master and Margarita! Thanks!