One book a day keeps the doctor away.

[ofstarstuff]

Okay, folks. Here's the deal: after consideration, I've decided to give away whatever books people want from that giant lot I pulled from my shelf. The full list is here. The books are in varying condition, some more scruffy than others, others rather old, but none with pages falling off. I take good care of my dears. Pay attention to what says on

Comments

[ofstarstuff]

I bought 10+ books when I went to England, I still have a few to go over. Second-hand stores are a gift from the gods.

Amazon US tends to be quite expensive, especially considering shipping, when compared to Amazon UK, in my experience. I buy most of my online books from The Book Depository, which has no shipping fees! The company sells inside Amazon UK too, but it's a tad more expensive there.

If you saw the photos from my previous entry, you know what I mean when I say I ought to have enough books to only read them once xD I've taken to doorstoppers/treekillers. If a book has less than 400 pages it's hardly worth the price, I read it too quickly ._.

Alright, then. Anything by Neil Gaiman. And I seriously mean anything. The man has yet to produce a book I don't love, and if you haven't read anything by him yet, you'll see just what I mean in Good Omens. He manages to create characters and situations so poetic with such few words. One of my favorite books, American Gods, was written by him. He also wrote The Sandman series, which are absolutely stunning graphic novels.

George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire series. He is a very slow writer; the fifth book was supposed to have been out several years back and he still hasn't finished writing it. The world building, however, is utterly amazing, and there are so. many. characters. This isn't your classic fantasy writer; think a medieval world with very little, very hidden magic. It's more about the political intrigue and game of houses than anything else.

Dan Simmons isn't so much about fantasy overall, but his books have some elements that would apply to fantasy literature. If you are into mythology, he is also a good bet. His books are loooong and probably more complex than need be, but I love them anyway. He writes several different genres, ofttimes intertwined in the same book. The Hyperion series is a bit of The Canterbury Tales meets horror meets science fiction; Ilium/Olympos is space opera meets the Trojan War meets The Tempest; Song of Kali is horror meets Kali (heck, aren't they the same thing?); Carrion Comfort, which I'm currently reading, is horror simple and true.

Nick Sagan's the Idlewild trilogy, is more cyber noir and sci-fi than actual fantasy, but I recommend them nevertheless. The first book in particular has its share of Lovecraftian imagery.

Speaking of Lovecraft! Thomas Wheeler's Arcanum (Clube Arcanum in Portuguese). It takes several famous people from the late 19th/early 20th century and has them stumble on something much bigger than them. Amazing read.

These I recommend reading the English translation of, for obvious reasons: the World of Watches saga, by Sergei Lukyanenko (Russian). There were movies made of the two first books (The Night Watch and The Day Watch), but they differ greatly from the books, and personally I hated them. It deals with supernatural creatures, but not your typical westernized version of them; these are Russian vampires and guardians and werewolves and other creatures. In the meantime, it gives a few insights into what it is to like in Russia in the 20th century. They are rather impressive books, though far from the mainstream.

I... think that's all for now. I wrote you a freaking book.

[shatters]

kljdkas I bought Carrion Comfort like two months ago and still haven't been able to get to it, but your review makes me want to. Like nao. BLOOD DEATH DESTRUCTION /shot

[ofstarstuff]

I found it in FNAC and nearly pounced on it. It's so awesome, in a very complicated, spanning-the-century way. (At least it's not like Ilium/Olympos, spanning thousands of years.) And, well.

[shatters]

It is a good buy! Go for Drood next time, you'll love that one. alskjda I enjoyed it! Ahahah, god ilium why you so long.

ORLY.

[shadowpiranha]

I had never heard of bookdepository.co.uk! Thank you! I bought some books from amazon.com and they weren't very expensive, especially second hand and/or from private sellers, but it's a lucky break, I guess. Plus, I usually like to read books in their original language, so when they're in English it's easier/cheaper to get them from abroad. Even if fnac has some (all my Terry Pratchett books safe for 1 or 2 are in English and I got them there).

I've heard of Neil Gaiman and have been meaning to read his stuff for ages now, American Gods sounds very interesting, so maybe I'll start now! I'm saving this comment for the next time I go book shopping!

Dan Simmons sounds very, very interesting. And I looove noir as much as I love fantasy, so cyber-noir/sci-fi sounds right up my alley. It's my fiction staples: sci-fi and fantasy in first, noir in second place.

Ohhh the Watches books! I saw the first movie and it seemed to me more like an experimental cinema piece than anything else, therefore it didn't convey any type of story properly, so I didn't really get it, but it looked like whatever was behind it had potential. I''m gonna give those a shot too. I used to looove vampires, and then Twilight happened.

Thank you so much!

[ofstarstuff]

I rarely buy books in Portugal. Too expensive, both in Portuguese and English! I prefer the originals too (so the fact that many of the books I have to give away are in Portuguese shows how long ago I bought them), and Amazon UK and Book depository are my happy happy places where my wallet weeps.

I adore vampires. (Sparklepires need not apply, kthx.) I've played White Wolf's Vampire: the Masquerade and Vampire: the Requiem RPGs, but sadly it's not easy to get time to run roleplaying campaigns with a set group of people. So I play Vampire: the Eternal Struggle, the corresponding cardgame (going to Paris at the end of the month to participate on the European championship), and read the source novels. Somewhat corny, yes. Bubble gum books, most definitely. But I love them.

[shadowpiranha]

Same here, screw this over here, it's no wonder people are getting stupider and less capable of writing in ways we can actually understand. (I'M LOOKING AT YOU, TEXT-SPEAKING TWEENS)

I never played the actual RPGs but I played the videogames, Masquerade remains one of my favourite to this day. And I never read the novels, but I used to devour Anne Rice (before she went all Lord Christ Is Our Saviour and ruined Lestat in the process) and the likes, Bram Stoker's dracula is one of my favourite vampire novels (go classics!). Then I read Twilight - waaay before the hype, I had no idea how it was - and wanted to kill myself of boredom a few pages in, and after the hype happened, it sort of killed it for me.

[ofstarstuff]

Don't get me started in chatspeak. And second-language skills - I've lost count of how many of my classmates look completely lost when in a conference with English speakers. It's not rocket science, people; you can't expect to go through life with an Engineering degree if you are not at least somewhat fluent in English. (And we are both Portuguese speakers going at it in English. Screw it, I write better in English anyway.) As if that wasn't bad enough, most of my classmates can't write a simple engaging text to save their lives. It's so sad.

Bloodlines or Redemption? I've played Redemption, and Christof actually features in the novels. He is quite the adorable emo kid in the midst of a Brujah coterie.

I loved Dracula. I watched the movie after reading the book, and I really liked how the first part was faithful to the events described in the novel. Very graphic! I bought Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire in England, still have to get into it without other books and things to do distracting me. Twilight... vampires in high school. IT MAKES NO SENSE.

Dan Simmon's Carrion Comfort has a very loose interpretation of vampires. Mind vampires, so to say, that "feed" on the violence and mind-rapes they impose on others, but are otherwise human. It's different from the mainstream, yet beautifully handled. None of that Sparkle in Daylight bullshit; vampires are meant to be Scary Shit(TM).

[shadowpiranha]

Oh Lordy I know right?! Like English is some sort of monster language only the best and brightest can possibly understand. You reach higher education, sincerely I find it shameless that you can't speak the most widely spoken language in Europe (if not the world). (I think in English, it's no biggie.)

I played both, but Bloodlines was my favourite, and I hardly remember Redemption because I played it a good while ago.

I know, right?! Why oh why would you want to keep going to High School when you have all that power and the ability to do anything? It doesn't make you evil to live up to your powers, ffs.

I love that concept, I do! Don't get me started on the sparkling, I remember vividly shaking the book and going "WHAAAT" a la Bernard Black when I read that. I like my vampires scary, ambiguous and not very trustworthy just by their nature. Even if they're good people, they need an edge.

[ofstarstuff]

Considering Portuguese is a tough cookie to crack, I'd venture English is actually really easy to learn - but the people around us prove me wrong, sadly. It's just... they are losing so much by not knowing English. It's all around us, more by the day, and most of my classmates have never read a book in English other than for school. What a waste.

Because high school has all the pretty girls with hormones jumping around, didn't you know? And of course they are the best thing that beings who are hundreds of years old can hope for. Tender. Yeees.

Also, if I remember correctly, there are at least three instances in which Edward is described as being more beautiful than Adonis. I hooted with laughter when I learned that.

[shadowpiranha]

It IS very easy to learn in my opinion. I already spoke fluent English when I was around 11/12, so I don't see the problem, I guess it may be just laziness.

Yeah, but then they don't mix up with the rest, and walk around smelling them like the perverts that they ARE because "Oh God oh God I can't bite that pretty little neck of yours woe is me". One of these days I'll finally write my vampire novel, and it'll have a vampire who preys on High School girls - except they all end up dead and drained. Booyah.

Yeah, I lost count of the overly purple descriptions of Edward's beauty in that book. It was ridiculous, at one point I legit thought he was using glamour on her. And then they get this dude whose face from certain angles looks like a foot to play him in the movie.

[ofstarstuff]

Alright, getting the missing book tomorrow afternoon, so your package will be on its way on Wednesday.

[shadowpiranha]

Yay! Thank you so much! <3