I'll Just Leave This Here
Things I Want/Need To Read
A Game of Thrones*
Hunger Games
everything by China Miéville
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell*
*=Things I own
I am having trouble getting over the "Young Adult" monkier on the Hunger Games novels. I generally stay away from YA stuff because I find it patently unsatisfying and not ... deep(?) enough to really scratch my literary itches. But I've heard so many good things about the trilogy I really want to give it a try.
I started A Game of Thrones once years ago but I could not keep track of the characters and their relationships (this is actually a recurring problem with me, even in stories that have relatively few characters). I used to joke that I was going to make a crib sheet for people and their relationships. On one hand I don't want to because I feel like that will make my free time reading into a research project. On the other hand, I will never finish the book if I can't keep track of WHY all these people are scheming against all these other people. :\
My local B&N carries NOTHING by Miéville. I've gone several times and even asked at the desk. Everyone looks at me like my head is on backwards.
And Jonathan Strange... well, that's a book I have to read at home because it's large and in hardback and I cannot tote that sucker around in my purse. Unfortunately all my "home reading" spots are already occupied by other books (The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe -- thanks B&N leather bound editions for satisfying my completionist tendencies!
There are other things on my shelves I haven't read, and other stuff on my Amazon wishlist, but those four things are the ones that I keep wistfully wishing I had the time, attention span and means to read.
Unfortunately I do not have access to a lending library. The nearest one wants to charge an exorbitant fee for me to belong since I do not live in the borough it services. Never mind the township I live in does not have a library to which I can belong. Besides, I really like to own my books.
Also, I really feel OBLIGATED to read Half Blood Prince and ... whatever the 7th Harry Potter book is (I don't remember? How can I not remember? I'm a little sad...), but I am SO DONE with HP that I think it would be a chore rather than an enjoyment and HP books should not be a chore. I think I need to just wait however long it takes for me to stop being irritated with fandom and then enjoy them later on down the road when the universe regains its fun and playful nature for me.
I also want to give The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay a chance. I have a freaking autographed copy from when Michael Chabon spoke at my school... but while his speech left me energized and excited Wonder Boys left me a little cold and disillusioned, so I've been holding off. It keeps staring at me accusingly from the stack on the shelf. I dunno...
I'm also taking literary recs from those of you that read a lot more than I do. Considering the books that have me jazzed, is there anything else out there I should look into?
A Game of Thrones*
Hunger Games
everything by China Miéville
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell*
*=Things I own
I am having trouble getting over the "Young Adult" monkier on the Hunger Games novels. I generally stay away from YA stuff because I find it patently unsatisfying and not ... deep(?) enough to really scratch my literary itches. But I've heard so many good things about the trilogy I really want to give it a try.
I started A Game of Thrones once years ago but I could not keep track of the characters and their relationships (this is actually a recurring problem with me, even in stories that have relatively few characters). I used to joke that I was going to make a crib sheet for people and their relationships. On one hand I don't want to because I feel like that will make my free time reading into a research project. On the other hand, I will never finish the book if I can't keep track of WHY all these people are scheming against all these other people. :\
My local B&N carries NOTHING by Miéville. I've gone several times and even asked at the desk. Everyone looks at me like my head is on backwards.
And Jonathan Strange... well, that's a book I have to read at home because it's large and in hardback and I cannot tote that sucker around in my purse. Unfortunately all my "home reading" spots are already occupied by other books (The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe -- thanks B&N leather bound editions for satisfying my completionist tendencies!
There are other things on my shelves I haven't read, and other stuff on my Amazon wishlist, but those four things are the ones that I keep wistfully wishing I had the time, attention span and means to read.
Unfortunately I do not have access to a lending library. The nearest one wants to charge an exorbitant fee for me to belong since I do not live in the borough it services. Never mind the township I live in does not have a library to which I can belong. Besides, I really like to own my books.
Also, I really feel OBLIGATED to read Half Blood Prince and ... whatever the 7th Harry Potter book is (I don't remember? How can I not remember? I'm a little sad...), but I am SO DONE with HP that I think it would be a chore rather than an enjoyment and HP books should not be a chore. I think I need to just wait however long it takes for me to stop being irritated with fandom and then enjoy them later on down the road when the universe regains its fun and playful nature for me.
I also want to give The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay a chance. I have a freaking autographed copy from when Michael Chabon spoke at my school... but while his speech left me energized and excited Wonder Boys left me a little cold and disillusioned, so I've been holding off. It keeps staring at me accusingly from the stack on the shelf. I dunno...
I'm also taking literary recs from those of you that read a lot more than I do. Considering the books that have me jazzed, is there anything else out there I should look into?