2019 books: 15-20
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
I first read this when Fiona loaned it to me. It still has her name written on the inside cover, along with the text "And I want this back!" so I think I wasn't the only person she loaned this to. I was just lucky I arrived just in time to swoop in and scoop it away from my dad when he was all pants on fire to get her books to the charity shop.
Anyway, I reread the book because I was so charmed by the TV show. There are some differences between the two - the vignettes in the show that recount the history between the two characters isn't in the book, neither is the sequence where Heaven and Hell try to get their revenge. I'm really saddened that Fiona never got to see the show, she would have adored it.
Dracula by Bram stoker
I'm going through Darrell's old books and reading them before giving them away. This one was a gift from one of his ex-gf's, so I returned it to her along with some other gifts she gave him.
I think I first read this in high school and I had forgotten just how hilariously dramatic it all is. People are constantly swearing their fealty and love for each other and everybody is handsome and brave and noble and manly.
Also one of the characters is inexplicably a cowboy. I mean, you can't get much better than that.
A Dream of Eagles by Jack Whyte
There are nine books in this bloody series. So far I have finished three and I'm about half-way through the forth. They are, in order, The Skystone, The Singing Sword, The Eagle's Brood, and The Saxon Shore.
These are more of Darrell's books. It's a retelling of the Arthur legend as written by a historian, so lots of authenticity and period-appropriate technology and without the fantasy and magic. The first two books are written from the perspective of a retired Roman soldier who helps to found "Camalud" as a place where he and his friends can survive the coming crisis when Rome fucks off from England and everybody who is left is fighting over control. Kinda like how my friends and I talk about what we're going to do when the climate collapse happens. The second two books are written from the perspective of Merlyn, who is the original soldier's grand-nephew. At the point I've reached Arthur has been born but is still a baby. That's correct, three books go by before the main character even shows up.
Did I say this guy is wordy? Cause this guy is wordy.
I subscribe to the idea that if a man can't write women as if he's ever actually met one, then he's not a good writer. Whyte fails that metric by a long shot, but then he doesn't write men all that well either. The point of the story is very much the "if it happened, this is probably how" exercise.
I get why Darrell liked the books enough to buy the entire series, it's an interesting read if you're either a fan of the legend or interested in the history of the time period. But man, could he ever have used a more aggressive editor. This entry was originally posted at https://the-siobhan.dreamwidth.org/521724.html. There are
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