The Inside Reader: Astrid Amara
Show me the books he loves and I shall know the man far better than through mortal friends - Silas Weir Mitchell
Since her name means "star" in italian (Astro is a fashionable way to say "Stella" = "Star") and since her recent release is a seasonal story, who better than Astrid Amara could be my "Christmas" Inside Reader? So, welcome Astrid, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and my friends!
Thanks Elisa for inviting me!
I will read pretty much anything other than vampire/werewolf stories and so it´s hard to pick out just the m/m titles since I spend more time reading science fiction, mystery, and yes, even literary fiction (although I often throw those across the wall going WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THAT???).
I therefore put my highlights of gay fiction that I have read and then stuck in a few that aren´t because I couldn´t let them go without a mention.
The LGBT titles:
1) Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale. Okay, yes, she´s a friend, and yes, a co-writer of our Hell Cop series, but I still can´t help but recommend this book, because it´s so good. The world-building, the subtlety of the romance, the action, the emotion that is kept so in check... it has all the elements I want in a good story.
Perfect Paperback: 222 pages
Publisher: Blind Eye Books (May 14, 2007)
Publisher Link: http://www.blindeyebooks.com/wicked.html
ISBN-10: 0978986113
ISBN-13: 978-0978986117
Amazon: Wicked Gentlemen
Belimai Sykes is many things: a Prodigal, the descendant of ancient demons, a creature of dark temptations and rare powers. He is also a man with a brutal past and a dangerous addiction. And Belimai Sykes is the only man Captain William Harper can turn to when faced with a series of grisly murders. But Mr. Sykes does not work for free and the price of Belimai’s company will cost Captain Harper far more than his reputation. From the ornate mansions of noblemen, where vivisection and sorcery are hidden beneath a veneer of gold, to the steaming slums of Hells Below, Captain Harper must fight for justice and for his life. His enemies are many and his only ally is a devil he knows too well. Such are the dangers of dealing with the wicked.
2) Turnskin by Nicole Kimbering. And if I´m going to rec one fellow writer I have to do one more, which is Turnskin, which not only is wildly creative and unlike any other novel I´ve read, but it also made me laugh out loud.
Paperback: 259 pages
Publisher: Blind Eye Books; 1st edition (January 1, 2008)
Publisher Link: http://www.blindeyebooks.com/turnskin.html
ISBN-10: 0978986121
ISBN-13: 978-0978986124
Amazon: Turnskin
Raised in a remote farming community, Tom Fletcher knows little of his Shifter heritage and less about the dangerous lives that others of his kind lead in the city of Riverside. For Tom the big city is a daydream of opening nights and bright theater lights. But when Tom meets Cloud Coldmoon-infamous and handsome heir to a criminal syndicate- everything changes. Suddenly suspected of murder, Tom must flee to the only city where his kind are common. Filled with shapeshifters, con men, mobsters and ruled by the vengeful Coldmoon Family, Riverside is as perilous as it is alluring. Tom seeks refuge in the Turnskin Theartre, where his shape-changing skills can be put to good use on and off the stage. Here he has a chance to fulfill his dreams of stardom and romance, but only if he can stay one step ahead of police and criminals alike, otherwise the next shape he takes could be his last.
3) My Dearest Holmes by Rohase Piercy. This is a classic and if you are like me and question Sherlock Holmes´ orientation, then you will love this book. It is so subtle, sweet, and rewarding, dealing with the complexities of affection in Victorian England between Watson and Holmes.
Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (November 1, 2007)
Publisher Link: http://www.booksurge.com/My-Dearest-Holmes/A/1419676326.htm
ISBN-10: 1419676326
ISBN-13: 978-1419676321
Amazon: My Dearest Holmes
'My Dearest Holmes' is a celebration of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's world-renowned detective and his ever-loyal sidekick. Set securely and masterfully in the world created by Conan Doyle, Rohase Piercy writes the characters as beautifully as if they were her own, telling the hitherto untold story behind their friendship as they solve the case of the Queen Bee, and finally revealing the truth behind Holmes' faked death and his return, through the eyes of Watson, Holmes' own Boswell.
4) Comfort & Joy by Jim Grimsley. A story of a couple struggling through their past, through family relations, and through each other over the holidays. Expertly written, evocative and with real, painful characters that pull you through to the end.
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Algonquin Books (October 16, 2003)
Publisher Link: http://www.workman.com/products/9781565123960/
ISBN-10: 1565123964
ISBN-13: 978-1565123960
Amazon: Comfort and Joy
Ford McKinney is a devastatingly handsome, successful doctor, raised in an old Savannah family among good breeding and money. His longtime boyfriend, Dan Krell, is a shy hospital administrator with a painful childhood past. When the holidays arrive, they decide it's time to go home together. But the depth of their commitment is tested when Ford's parents cannot reconcile themselves to their son's choices, and Dan's secrets are exposed. Comfort and Joy is a poetic and finely-wrought novel that explores the difficult journey two men make toward love.
5) The Adrien English Series by Josh Lanyon. Okay, everyone knows this one so it´s sort of like recommending "Star Wars" to sci-fi fans, but seriously, it has to be on my "top 10" list.
Paperback: 232 pages
Publisher: MLR Press; 2nd edition (May 9, 2007)
Publisher Link: http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=FATL0001
ISBN-10: 0979311047
ISBN-13: 978-0979311048
Amazon: Fatal Shadows
Someone's out to get Los Angeles bookseller Adrien English. His best friend has been viciously murdered, now he's getting weird phone calls and sinister gifts from a mysterious "admirer." The cops think he's trying to divert suspicion from himself-with the exception of sexy and homophobic homicide detective Jake Riordan. Is Riordan really such a great detective--or does he have a few secrets of his own? Is his offer to help Adrien on the level or is he out to nail his favorite suspect -- to the wall?
6) The Lord John books by Diana Gabaldon. There are several Lord John Grey books including Lord John and the Private Matter, Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade, and Lord John and the Hand of Devils. This is a mixed recommendation because there´s a lot about these books that makes me insanely furious (like why doesn´t John just GET OVER his stupid love of Jamie Fraser and move on already and why oh why won´t the author just let him get what he deserves for once). That said, I still recommend them because the writing is really well done. The historic details are engrossing, and I DO like the character a great deal. So it´s a GRR! recommendation because I think it could be so much more.
Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Dell; Reprint edition (October 28, 2008)
Publisher Link: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780440241485
ISBN-10: 0440241480
ISBN-13: 978-0440241485
Amazon: Lord John and the Private Matter
The year is 1757. On a clear morning in mid-June, Lord John Grey emerges from London’s Beefsteak Club, his mind in turmoil. A nobleman and a high-ranking officer in His Majesty’s army, Grey has just witnessed something shocking. But his efforts to avoid a scandal that might destroy his family are interrupted by something still more urgent: The Crown appoints him to investigate the brutal murder of a comrade-in-arms who may have been a traitor. Obliged to pursue two inquiries at once, Major Grey finds himself ensnared in a web of treachery and betrayal that touches every stratum of English society-and threatens all he holds dear. From the bawdy houses of London’s night world to the stately drawing rooms of the nobility, Lord John pursues the elusive trails of a vanishing footman and a woman in green velvet, who may hold the key to everything-or nothing.
Other (non-romance) Titles
7) Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. This is a fantasy novel that is so vivid and well written I adored it. It´s big. But I can´t bash big books since one of mine is 800 pgs long. A story of magicians during the Napoleonic wars, and fairies, and weapons, and war. I loved it.
Paperback: 864 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (September 29, 2009)
Publisher Link: http://www.bloomsburyusa.com/books/catalog/jonathan_strange_and_mr_norrell_hc_164
ISBN-10: 1608190862
ISBN-13: 978-1608190867
Amazon: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
English magicians were once the wonder of the known world, with fairy servants at their beck and call; they could command winds, mountains, and woods. But by the early 1800s they have long since lost the ability to perform magic. They can only write long, dull papers about it, while fairy servants are nothing but a fading memory. But at Hurtfew Abbey in Yorkshire, the rich, reclusive Mr. Norrell has assembled a wonderful library of lost and forgotten books from England's magical past and regained some of the powers of England's magicians. He goes to London and raises a beautiful young woman from the dead. Soon he is lending his help to the government in the war against Napoleon Buonaparte, creating ghostly fleets of rain-ships to confuse and alarm the French. All goes well until a rival magician appears. Jonathan Strange is handsome, charming, and talkative-the very opposite of Mr Norrell. Strange thinks nothing of enduring the rigors of campaigning with Wellington's army and doing magic on battlefields. Astonished to find another practicing magician, Mr. Norrell accepts Strange as a pupil. But it soon becomes clear that their ideas of what English magic ought to be are very different. For Mr. Norrell, their power is something to be cautiously controlled, while Jonathan Strange will always be attracted to the wildest, most perilous forms of magic. He becomes fascinated by the ancient, shadowy figure of the Raven King, a child taken by fairies who became king of both.
8) The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Klay by Michael Chabon. The characters in this novel are so real, so touching, and so heartbreaking. I get all verklempt just thinking about it.
Hardcover: 639 pages
Publisher: Random House; First Edition edition (September 19, 2000)
Publisher Link: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780679450047
ISBN-10: 0679450041
ISBN-13: 978-0679450047
Amazon: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay: A Novel
With this brilliant novel, the bestselling author of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Wonder Boys gives us an exhilarating triumph of language and invention, a stunning novel in which the tragicomic adventures of a couple of boy geniuses reveal much about what happened to America in the middle of the twentieth century. Like Phillip Roth's American Pastoral or Don DeLillo's Underworld, Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is a superb novel with epic sweep, spanning continents and eras, a masterwork by one of America's finest writers. It is New York City in 1939. Joe Kavalier, a young artist who has also been trained in the art of Houdini-esque escape, has just pulled off his greatest feat to date: smuggling himself out of Nazi-occupied Prague. He is looking to make big money, fast, so that he can bring his family to freedom. His cousin, Brooklyn's own Sammy Clay, is looking for a collaborator to create the heroes, stories, and art for the latest novelty to hit the American dreamscape: the comic book. Out of their fantasies, fears, and dreams, Joe and Sammy weave the legend of that unforgettable champion the Escapist. And inspired by the beautiful and elusive Rosa Saks, a woman who will be linked to both men by powerful ties of desire, love, and shame, they create the otherworldly mistress of the night, Luna Moth. As the shadow of Hitler falls across Europe and the world, the Golden Age of comic books has begun. The brilliant writing that has led critics to compare Michael Chabon to John Cheever and Vladimir Nabokov is everywhere apparent in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Chabon writes "like a magical spider, effortlessly spinning out elaborate webs of words that ensnare the reader," wrote Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times about Wonder Boys-and here he has created, in Joe Kavalier, a hero for the century.
9) The City & the City by China Mieville. If you like speculative fiction, you may love this book as much as I did. It is a police procedural set in a strange city where two nations are woven together and both have to "unsee" each other. The writing is tight, the characters aren´t superbly developed but are real enough that I found myself sucked in from the first chapter and couldn´t put it down.
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Del Rey (May 26, 2009)
Publisher Link: http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780345497512
ISBN-10: 0345497511
ISBN-13: 978-0345497512
Amazon: The City & The City
New York Times bestselling author China Miéville delivers his most accomplished novel yet, an existential thriller set in a city unlike any other-real or imagined. When a murdered woman is found in the city of Beszel, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks to be a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. But as he investigates, the evidence points to conspiracies far stranger and more deadly than anything he could have imagined. Borlú must travel from the decaying Beszel to the only metropolis on Earth as strange as his own. This is a border crossing like no other, a journey as psychic as it is physical, a shift in perception, a seeing of the unseen. His destination is Beszel’s equal, rival, and intimate neighbor, the rich and vibrant city of Ul Qoma. With Ul Qoman detective Qussim Dhatt, and struggling with his own transition, Borlú is enmeshed in a sordid underworld of rabid nationalists intent on destroying their neighboring city, and unificationists who dream of dissolving the two into one. As the detectives uncover the dead woman’s secrets, they begin to suspect a truth that could cost them and those they care about more than their lives. What stands against them are murderous powers in Beszel and in Ul Qoma: and, most terrifying of all, that which lies between these two cities. Casting shades of Kafka and Philip K. Dick, Raymond Chandler and 1984, The City & the City is a murder mystery taken to dazzling metaphysical and artistic heights.
10) The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. Since this is one of my favorite books of all time it gets put on any of my recommendations lists. It covers faith, linguistics, culture, and music, all while thinly disguised as a science fiction story. This does not have a happy ending. Be warned. But it is such a powerful story I can recommend it for those days when you want to read something that is going to make you question everything.
Paperback: 408 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books (September 8, 1997)
Publisher Link: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780449912553
ISBN-10: 0449912558
ISBN-13: 978-0449912553
Amazon: The Sparrow
"A NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT . . . Russell shows herself to be a skillful storyteller who subtly and expertly builds suspense." --USA Today. "AN EXPERIENCE NOT TO BE MISSED . . . If you have to send a group of people to a newly discovered planet to contact a totally unknown species, whom would you choose? How about four Jesuit priests, a young astronomer, a physician, her engineer husband, and a child prostitute-turned-computer-expert? That's who Mary Doria Russell sends in her new novel, The Sparrow. This motley combination of agnostics, true believers, and misfits becomes the first to explore the Alpha Centuri world of Rakhat with both enlightening and disastrous results. . . . Vivid and engaging . . . An incredible novel." --Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "POWERFUL . . . Father Emilio Sandoz [is] the only survivor of a Jesuit mission to the planet Rakhat, 'a soul . . . looking for God.' We first meet him in Italy . . . sullen and bitter. . . . But he was not always this way, as we learn through flashbacks that tell the story of the ill-fated trip. . . . The Sparrow tackles a difficult subject with grace and intelligence." --San Francisco Chronicle. "SMOOTH STORYTELLING AND GORGEOUS CHARACTERIZATION . . . Important novels leave deep cracks in our beliefs, our prejudices, and our blinders. The Sparrow is one of them." --Entertainment Weekly
That´s it from me! Actually, I try to keep my Goodreads shelf up to date so check it out for more of what I like:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1204165.Astrid_Amara
And thanks Elisa for hosting... I´m developing a growing TBR pile thanks to your site!
Astrid
About Astrid Amara: Astrid Amara lives in Bellingham, Washington. She spends her days working as a civil servant, her nights sleeping, and the time in between either writing, riding horses, hiking around, or staring at the wall.
She has no unusual facial features.
Carol of the Bellskis by Astrid Amara
Publisher: Loose Id
Publisher Link: http://www.loose-id.com/Carol-of-the-Bellskis.aspx
ISBN: 978-1-60737-527-2
Blurb: Paralegal Seth Bellski is tired of being the secret lover of his boss, Lars Varga, founding partner of Finch & Varga Law. So when he asks Lars to spend Hanukah with Seth's family at their kosher B&B in Whistler, B.C., and Lars refuses, Seth realizes he will never get his self-conscious boss out of the closet. So Seth prepares to spend his Hanukah holiday alone in the B&B. Instead he finds himself running the place, as his aunt and uncle are missing, and seven demanding, peculiar, and danger-prone guests have arrived. To make matters worse, Lars shows up, begging forgiveness. Lars's touches remind Seth of why he put up with his boss's behavior in the first place. If only the words that came out of that beautiful mouth were as sweet as his kisses. But how can Seth find time to fix his broken relationship when the guests are demanding kosher, gluten-free diets, losing their pet terriers, and hitting their heads on the ice? Seth and Lars find themselves put through the paces of being a married couple, all while still broken up. But then again, if they can survive this Hanukah, surely their relationship can withstand anything?
Since her name means "star" in italian (Astro is a fashionable way to say "Stella" = "Star") and since her recent release is a seasonal story, who better than Astrid Amara could be my "Christmas" Inside Reader? So, welcome Astrid, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and my friends!
Thanks Elisa for inviting me!
I will read pretty much anything other than vampire/werewolf stories and so it´s hard to pick out just the m/m titles since I spend more time reading science fiction, mystery, and yes, even literary fiction (although I often throw those across the wall going WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THAT???).
I therefore put my highlights of gay fiction that I have read and then stuck in a few that aren´t because I couldn´t let them go without a mention.
The LGBT titles:
1) Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale. Okay, yes, she´s a friend, and yes, a co-writer of our Hell Cop series, but I still can´t help but recommend this book, because it´s so good. The world-building, the subtlety of the romance, the action, the emotion that is kept so in check... it has all the elements I want in a good story.
Perfect Paperback: 222 pages
Publisher: Blind Eye Books (May 14, 2007)
Publisher Link: http://www.blindeyebooks.com/wicked.html
ISBN-10: 0978986113
ISBN-13: 978-0978986117
Amazon: Wicked Gentlemen
Belimai Sykes is many things: a Prodigal, the descendant of ancient demons, a creature of dark temptations and rare powers. He is also a man with a brutal past and a dangerous addiction. And Belimai Sykes is the only man Captain William Harper can turn to when faced with a series of grisly murders. But Mr. Sykes does not work for free and the price of Belimai’s company will cost Captain Harper far more than his reputation. From the ornate mansions of noblemen, where vivisection and sorcery are hidden beneath a veneer of gold, to the steaming slums of Hells Below, Captain Harper must fight for justice and for his life. His enemies are many and his only ally is a devil he knows too well. Such are the dangers of dealing with the wicked.
2) Turnskin by Nicole Kimbering. And if I´m going to rec one fellow writer I have to do one more, which is Turnskin, which not only is wildly creative and unlike any other novel I´ve read, but it also made me laugh out loud.
Paperback: 259 pages
Publisher: Blind Eye Books; 1st edition (January 1, 2008)
Publisher Link: http://www.blindeyebooks.com/turnskin.html
ISBN-10: 0978986121
ISBN-13: 978-0978986124
Amazon: Turnskin
Raised in a remote farming community, Tom Fletcher knows little of his Shifter heritage and less about the dangerous lives that others of his kind lead in the city of Riverside. For Tom the big city is a daydream of opening nights and bright theater lights. But when Tom meets Cloud Coldmoon-infamous and handsome heir to a criminal syndicate- everything changes. Suddenly suspected of murder, Tom must flee to the only city where his kind are common. Filled with shapeshifters, con men, mobsters and ruled by the vengeful Coldmoon Family, Riverside is as perilous as it is alluring. Tom seeks refuge in the Turnskin Theartre, where his shape-changing skills can be put to good use on and off the stage. Here he has a chance to fulfill his dreams of stardom and romance, but only if he can stay one step ahead of police and criminals alike, otherwise the next shape he takes could be his last.
3) My Dearest Holmes by Rohase Piercy. This is a classic and if you are like me and question Sherlock Holmes´ orientation, then you will love this book. It is so subtle, sweet, and rewarding, dealing with the complexities of affection in Victorian England between Watson and Holmes.
Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (November 1, 2007)
Publisher Link: http://www.booksurge.com/My-Dearest-Holmes/A/1419676326.htm
ISBN-10: 1419676326
ISBN-13: 978-1419676321
Amazon: My Dearest Holmes
'My Dearest Holmes' is a celebration of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's world-renowned detective and his ever-loyal sidekick. Set securely and masterfully in the world created by Conan Doyle, Rohase Piercy writes the characters as beautifully as if they were her own, telling the hitherto untold story behind their friendship as they solve the case of the Queen Bee, and finally revealing the truth behind Holmes' faked death and his return, through the eyes of Watson, Holmes' own Boswell.
4) Comfort & Joy by Jim Grimsley. A story of a couple struggling through their past, through family relations, and through each other over the holidays. Expertly written, evocative and with real, painful characters that pull you through to the end.
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Algonquin Books (October 16, 2003)
Publisher Link: http://www.workman.com/products/9781565123960/
ISBN-10: 1565123964
ISBN-13: 978-1565123960
Amazon: Comfort and Joy
Ford McKinney is a devastatingly handsome, successful doctor, raised in an old Savannah family among good breeding and money. His longtime boyfriend, Dan Krell, is a shy hospital administrator with a painful childhood past. When the holidays arrive, they decide it's time to go home together. But the depth of their commitment is tested when Ford's parents cannot reconcile themselves to their son's choices, and Dan's secrets are exposed. Comfort and Joy is a poetic and finely-wrought novel that explores the difficult journey two men make toward love.
5) The Adrien English Series by Josh Lanyon. Okay, everyone knows this one so it´s sort of like recommending "Star Wars" to sci-fi fans, but seriously, it has to be on my "top 10" list.
Paperback: 232 pages
Publisher: MLR Press; 2nd edition (May 9, 2007)
Publisher Link: http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=FATL0001
ISBN-10: 0979311047
ISBN-13: 978-0979311048
Amazon: Fatal Shadows
Someone's out to get Los Angeles bookseller Adrien English. His best friend has been viciously murdered, now he's getting weird phone calls and sinister gifts from a mysterious "admirer." The cops think he's trying to divert suspicion from himself-with the exception of sexy and homophobic homicide detective Jake Riordan. Is Riordan really such a great detective--or does he have a few secrets of his own? Is his offer to help Adrien on the level or is he out to nail his favorite suspect -- to the wall?
6) The Lord John books by Diana Gabaldon. There are several Lord John Grey books including Lord John and the Private Matter, Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade, and Lord John and the Hand of Devils. This is a mixed recommendation because there´s a lot about these books that makes me insanely furious (like why doesn´t John just GET OVER his stupid love of Jamie Fraser and move on already and why oh why won´t the author just let him get what he deserves for once). That said, I still recommend them because the writing is really well done. The historic details are engrossing, and I DO like the character a great deal. So it´s a GRR! recommendation because I think it could be so much more.
Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Dell; Reprint edition (October 28, 2008)
Publisher Link: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780440241485
ISBN-10: 0440241480
ISBN-13: 978-0440241485
Amazon: Lord John and the Private Matter
The year is 1757. On a clear morning in mid-June, Lord John Grey emerges from London’s Beefsteak Club, his mind in turmoil. A nobleman and a high-ranking officer in His Majesty’s army, Grey has just witnessed something shocking. But his efforts to avoid a scandal that might destroy his family are interrupted by something still more urgent: The Crown appoints him to investigate the brutal murder of a comrade-in-arms who may have been a traitor. Obliged to pursue two inquiries at once, Major Grey finds himself ensnared in a web of treachery and betrayal that touches every stratum of English society-and threatens all he holds dear. From the bawdy houses of London’s night world to the stately drawing rooms of the nobility, Lord John pursues the elusive trails of a vanishing footman and a woman in green velvet, who may hold the key to everything-or nothing.
Other (non-romance) Titles
7) Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. This is a fantasy novel that is so vivid and well written I adored it. It´s big. But I can´t bash big books since one of mine is 800 pgs long. A story of magicians during the Napoleonic wars, and fairies, and weapons, and war. I loved it.
Paperback: 864 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (September 29, 2009)
Publisher Link: http://www.bloomsburyusa.com/books/catalog/jonathan_strange_and_mr_norrell_hc_164
ISBN-10: 1608190862
ISBN-13: 978-1608190867
Amazon: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
English magicians were once the wonder of the known world, with fairy servants at their beck and call; they could command winds, mountains, and woods. But by the early 1800s they have long since lost the ability to perform magic. They can only write long, dull papers about it, while fairy servants are nothing but a fading memory. But at Hurtfew Abbey in Yorkshire, the rich, reclusive Mr. Norrell has assembled a wonderful library of lost and forgotten books from England's magical past and regained some of the powers of England's magicians. He goes to London and raises a beautiful young woman from the dead. Soon he is lending his help to the government in the war against Napoleon Buonaparte, creating ghostly fleets of rain-ships to confuse and alarm the French. All goes well until a rival magician appears. Jonathan Strange is handsome, charming, and talkative-the very opposite of Mr Norrell. Strange thinks nothing of enduring the rigors of campaigning with Wellington's army and doing magic on battlefields. Astonished to find another practicing magician, Mr. Norrell accepts Strange as a pupil. But it soon becomes clear that their ideas of what English magic ought to be are very different. For Mr. Norrell, their power is something to be cautiously controlled, while Jonathan Strange will always be attracted to the wildest, most perilous forms of magic. He becomes fascinated by the ancient, shadowy figure of the Raven King, a child taken by fairies who became king of both.
8) The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Klay by Michael Chabon. The characters in this novel are so real, so touching, and so heartbreaking. I get all verklempt just thinking about it.
Hardcover: 639 pages
Publisher: Random House; First Edition edition (September 19, 2000)
Publisher Link: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780679450047
ISBN-10: 0679450041
ISBN-13: 978-0679450047
Amazon: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay: A Novel
With this brilliant novel, the bestselling author of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Wonder Boys gives us an exhilarating triumph of language and invention, a stunning novel in which the tragicomic adventures of a couple of boy geniuses reveal much about what happened to America in the middle of the twentieth century. Like Phillip Roth's American Pastoral or Don DeLillo's Underworld, Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is a superb novel with epic sweep, spanning continents and eras, a masterwork by one of America's finest writers. It is New York City in 1939. Joe Kavalier, a young artist who has also been trained in the art of Houdini-esque escape, has just pulled off his greatest feat to date: smuggling himself out of Nazi-occupied Prague. He is looking to make big money, fast, so that he can bring his family to freedom. His cousin, Brooklyn's own Sammy Clay, is looking for a collaborator to create the heroes, stories, and art for the latest novelty to hit the American dreamscape: the comic book. Out of their fantasies, fears, and dreams, Joe and Sammy weave the legend of that unforgettable champion the Escapist. And inspired by the beautiful and elusive Rosa Saks, a woman who will be linked to both men by powerful ties of desire, love, and shame, they create the otherworldly mistress of the night, Luna Moth. As the shadow of Hitler falls across Europe and the world, the Golden Age of comic books has begun. The brilliant writing that has led critics to compare Michael Chabon to John Cheever and Vladimir Nabokov is everywhere apparent in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Chabon writes "like a magical spider, effortlessly spinning out elaborate webs of words that ensnare the reader," wrote Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times about Wonder Boys-and here he has created, in Joe Kavalier, a hero for the century.
9) The City & the City by China Mieville. If you like speculative fiction, you may love this book as much as I did. It is a police procedural set in a strange city where two nations are woven together and both have to "unsee" each other. The writing is tight, the characters aren´t superbly developed but are real enough that I found myself sucked in from the first chapter and couldn´t put it down.
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Del Rey (May 26, 2009)
Publisher Link: http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780345497512
ISBN-10: 0345497511
ISBN-13: 978-0345497512
Amazon: The City & The City
New York Times bestselling author China Miéville delivers his most accomplished novel yet, an existential thriller set in a city unlike any other-real or imagined. When a murdered woman is found in the city of Beszel, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks to be a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. But as he investigates, the evidence points to conspiracies far stranger and more deadly than anything he could have imagined. Borlú must travel from the decaying Beszel to the only metropolis on Earth as strange as his own. This is a border crossing like no other, a journey as psychic as it is physical, a shift in perception, a seeing of the unseen. His destination is Beszel’s equal, rival, and intimate neighbor, the rich and vibrant city of Ul Qoma. With Ul Qoman detective Qussim Dhatt, and struggling with his own transition, Borlú is enmeshed in a sordid underworld of rabid nationalists intent on destroying their neighboring city, and unificationists who dream of dissolving the two into one. As the detectives uncover the dead woman’s secrets, they begin to suspect a truth that could cost them and those they care about more than their lives. What stands against them are murderous powers in Beszel and in Ul Qoma: and, most terrifying of all, that which lies between these two cities. Casting shades of Kafka and Philip K. Dick, Raymond Chandler and 1984, The City & the City is a murder mystery taken to dazzling metaphysical and artistic heights.
10) The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. Since this is one of my favorite books of all time it gets put on any of my recommendations lists. It covers faith, linguistics, culture, and music, all while thinly disguised as a science fiction story. This does not have a happy ending. Be warned. But it is such a powerful story I can recommend it for those days when you want to read something that is going to make you question everything.
Paperback: 408 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books (September 8, 1997)
Publisher Link: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780449912553
ISBN-10: 0449912558
ISBN-13: 978-0449912553
Amazon: The Sparrow
"A NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT . . . Russell shows herself to be a skillful storyteller who subtly and expertly builds suspense." --USA Today. "AN EXPERIENCE NOT TO BE MISSED . . . If you have to send a group of people to a newly discovered planet to contact a totally unknown species, whom would you choose? How about four Jesuit priests, a young astronomer, a physician, her engineer husband, and a child prostitute-turned-computer-expert? That's who Mary Doria Russell sends in her new novel, The Sparrow. This motley combination of agnostics, true believers, and misfits becomes the first to explore the Alpha Centuri world of Rakhat with both enlightening and disastrous results. . . . Vivid and engaging . . . An incredible novel." --Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "POWERFUL . . . Father Emilio Sandoz [is] the only survivor of a Jesuit mission to the planet Rakhat, 'a soul . . . looking for God.' We first meet him in Italy . . . sullen and bitter. . . . But he was not always this way, as we learn through flashbacks that tell the story of the ill-fated trip. . . . The Sparrow tackles a difficult subject with grace and intelligence." --San Francisco Chronicle. "SMOOTH STORYTELLING AND GORGEOUS CHARACTERIZATION . . . Important novels leave deep cracks in our beliefs, our prejudices, and our blinders. The Sparrow is one of them." --Entertainment Weekly
That´s it from me! Actually, I try to keep my Goodreads shelf up to date so check it out for more of what I like:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1204165.Astrid_Amara
And thanks Elisa for hosting... I´m developing a growing TBR pile thanks to your site!
Astrid
About Astrid Amara: Astrid Amara lives in Bellingham, Washington. She spends her days working as a civil servant, her nights sleeping, and the time in between either writing, riding horses, hiking around, or staring at the wall.
She has no unusual facial features.
Carol of the Bellskis by Astrid Amara
Publisher: Loose Id
Publisher Link: http://www.loose-id.com/Carol-of-the-Bellskis.aspx
ISBN: 978-1-60737-527-2
Blurb: Paralegal Seth Bellski is tired of being the secret lover of his boss, Lars Varga, founding partner of Finch & Varga Law. So when he asks Lars to spend Hanukah with Seth's family at their kosher B&B in Whistler, B.C., and Lars refuses, Seth realizes he will never get his self-conscious boss out of the closet. So Seth prepares to spend his Hanukah holiday alone in the B&B. Instead he finds himself running the place, as his aunt and uncle are missing, and seven demanding, peculiar, and danger-prone guests have arrived. To make matters worse, Lars shows up, begging forgiveness. Lars's touches remind Seth of why he put up with his boss's behavior in the first place. If only the words that came out of that beautiful mouth were as sweet as his kisses. But how can Seth find time to fix his broken relationship when the guests are demanding kosher, gluten-free diets, losing their pet terriers, and hitting their heads on the ice? Seth and Lars find themselves put through the paces of being a married couple, all while still broken up. But then again, if they can survive this Hanukah, surely their relationship can withstand anything?