We be light. We be life. We be fire.
Apologies for the recent downer posts and lack of replies to most things. I suspect that, given my first real break in months, all my stress and exhaustion finally caught up with me. But I've been chugging books and tea and will be back at full whenever my cat recovers from whatever illness he's picked up.
Until then! I've been meaning to post about books.
Late June 2012, nomadmwe recommended people read "Feed," the first book in Mira Grant's Newsflesh trilogy. Assured that I would enjoy the main character's competence, I purchased the book for my tablet and consumed it in one tense, fraught, emotional sitting. That pretty much defined my reading for the year: A few mostly excellent books, spurred by recommendations, purchased electronically, and leading immediately to the consumption of an entire series. I haven't had the time and wherewithal to wander through bookstores and check out new authors, but I'm enjoying this communal media-recommending culture, so I figured I'd walk through my (sadly limited) past year's reading list to spread some recommendations of my own:
The Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant
Feed, Deadline, and Blackout. This trilogy takes place in a world where zombies attacked, the world adapted, and life moved on. It's a science-fiction political thriller and I loved every minute of it. I could talk to you about world-building, competent and grumpy protagonists, twists both startlingly unexpected and elegantly predictable, but ignore me and go read these books. You won't regret it.
The October Daye series by Seanan McGuire
londo dropped a stack of these off at my house sometime last year. They're a light, faerie twist on the current urban fantasy/mystery trend, staring a changeling woman named October Daye, or Toby for short. As always, likable characters and a rich world draw me in every time. I found out only later that Mira Grant is a pseudonym of Seanan McGuire and I almost couldn't believe it, the two series have such different tones. I now follow her on tumblr, where she reblogs snakes, Disney princesses, and horror. She's kind of amazing. I reread half the series during my San Francisco trip (that's where they take place), and the next one comes out in September.
The Incryptid series by Seanan McGuire
Having enjoyed two series by the author and learning of a third, I of course had to try it. This is by far my least favorite of the three: pulpy urban fantasy without the depth of the other two, but fun nonetheless. Verity Price, the main character, is a cryptozoologist and ballroom dancer trying to make her way in NYC. There's a shady monster-hunting organization, an extensive Price clan, a predictable series of characters and twists, and a blood-thirsty, shapeshifting Gothic lolita who is easily my favorite character.
The Matthew Swift series by Kate Griffin
I passed this series on the shelves time and time again in the past, but eventually something made me download the first book, A Madness of Angels. This time, urban fantasy takes place in London, and the city itself is a source of magic. The codes and regulations of the subway system can be used as spells, gods and spirits are formed from expectations and history, and, of course, some murders need to be avenged and solved. It took me a bit to get into it, because the first book begins with mystique over coherence, dropping you into an action movie with no explanation of the backstory or rules, (and thus no immediate reason for fickle me to care), but once the story catches up with itself everything shines. I recently downed three of these in as many days, and will snap up the next as soon as it exists.
The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch
More London! More urban fantasy/mystery! More spot-on recommendations from friends of mine! The Matthew Swift series, at times, reads like a fever dream, and I've heard its magic system described as "people literally getting drunk on the city." The Rivers of London series, by contrast, feels grounded, down to earth, and real in a sense that's difficult for urban fantasy to manage. Peter Grant is a cop, after all, and no matter what ghosts and beasties he may have to deal with, he still has to follow proper procedure. He doesn't know what's going on, he doesn't have all the answers or omnipotent power, he's just trying to do his job with the revelation that magic exists. It's refreshing, and although the latest one came out nearly a week ago in the UK, B&N claims it won't be out in the US until February. I may incur international shipping costs to get it sooner.
The Rook by Daniel O'Malley
Even more of all of the above! But instead of mundane murder mysteries, lets add espionage and amnesia! To steal from Amazon's description: "Myfanwy Thomas awakes in a London park surrounded by dead bodies. With her memory gone, her only hope of survival is to trust the instructions left in her pocket by her former self." I cannot explain my love of this protagonist. Not in text. In person perhaps my flailing arms would communicate enthusiasm that mere font keeps to itself. Plus I don't want to spoil anything. Suffice to say that she is the epitome of realistic, delightful competence (SHE WROTE HER AMNESIAC SELF A HELPFUL NOTE I LOVE HER), and, and I can't stress enough how amazing this is, she's a female protagonist in this genre who, get this, notices whether or not men are attractive without slotting male characters into specific love interest roles. There's no bad boy vs. boy next door subplot! (I love you, Toby Daye, but you suffer from this cliche, and it was old before the Anita Blake series became porn.) Romance is, in fact, in no way the point of the book! She's simply a protagonist who happens to be female! And competent! She is unlikely to ever pose sexily on the cover in leather! I might even reread this book now simply to flail excitedly at it. Apparently the author finished the rough draft of the second book of the series, but finishing a draft is a far cry from finishing a book, and I hungrily update his blog more often than I'd care to say.
Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente
Deathless is something of a conundrum for me. I'm not sure how I heard about it. Some combination of LJ and Tumblr, most likely. And it's nothing like any other book on this list. Pretty much every other book on this list is a mystery: The protagonist wants to know something. They investigate. Someone else doesn't want them to know something. Physical conflict. People may or may not die. Either way, the secret gets out. Deathless is, instead, a fairy tale and painting of Russian history. It's lush, haunting, and cruel, and I expect that people who know more about Russian folklore and history than me will get more out of it. (I had not heard of Koschei the Deathless before.) If you enjoy dark folktales, historical references, or Persephone plots (I'm lookin' at you, rigel.) I think I recommend it? I'm still a bit dazed.
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
I purchased this years ago on a typical grazing expedition, but it sat unread on my shelf until recently. I heard people raving about the Gentlemen Bastards online, and dug it out of my stacks. I'm glad I did. I had a few complaints, all of which are spoilers, but really, if you give me a book about plucky, honorable conartists following an outcast/trickster god of thieves? I'm going to eat it up. I really, really want Brothers Bloom/Gentlemen Bastards crossover fic, like woah.
The Bone Key by Sarah Monette
The Bone Key, subtitled "The Necromantic Adventures of Kyle Murchison Booth", is a series of short stories starring the aforementioned Booth, the only protagonist on this list I love more than Myfanwy Thomas, and that's a tall order given how much I love Georgia Mason from Feed, let alone the little conartists in Locke Lamora or Swift's blue electric angels. (I get attached.) Booth is a librarian with serious social anxiety who keeps accidentally involving himself in necromantic mysteries. Mate of my soul aside, the stories are exactly the kind of eerily delicious ghost story I grew up with, and there's a quiet thread of queerness that occurs with a freeing lack of fireworks or commentary. I initially encountered this book through fanart on tumblr, of all places, and like so many others on this list I purchased it in a digital format. The heft and style of this book, however, is such that I won't be satisfied until I own a paper copy and the spine is creased with love and wear. I intend to loan this out frequently, but do acquire it for yourself if you're able!
Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed
Another Twitter recommendation, and of appropriate flavor for upcoming Middle Eastern adventures in Shadows of Amun. The main character is a grumpy tea lover who wants nothing more than to go the Heroic Neutral route, one of my favorite tropes, and thus he is predictably my favorite part of this book. Unfortunately, I enjoyed the first half of this book far more than the second, where too much plot resolution created serious pacing issues, and both character and world development took a hit because of it. Starting out, it felt, oddly, like Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner series, possibly simply due to type of antagonist, and I expected a similarly long payoff for certain problems. That...didn't happen. This claims to be the beginning of a series, though, so perhaps upcoming sequels will build on everything left somewhat shallow in the first book.
The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix
Although the Abhorsen trilogy was technically recommended to me electronically, that was many years ago. But one of my TBC apps was Mogget and I tried to describe Charter Magic to someone, and the combined dredged up memories encouraged me to pull it out again. If you haven't read this trilogy, I recommend you do. If you enjoy intricate magic systems, new takes on necromancy, strong female protagonists, cohesive world-building, magic/science divides, irritating cat creatures, irritating dog creatures, or all of the above, seriously, check it out.
Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
I reread Small Gods this year for RP reasons, and loved it just as much as I did the first few times I read it. It's a stand alone novel in the Discworld series (which includes a number of sub-series and standalones, all set in the same world) that discusses gods and religion in that universe. It includes a version of the Inquisition, commentary on worship of systems versus worship of gods, philosophy, the nature of heroism, rebellion, power, etc. etc. etc. And it does all of this, mostly, while following a grumpy tortoise. Outside of the Night Watch series, this is probably my favorite Discworld novel, and while I don't recommend it as a start to the series, I do recommend it to anyone who's enjoyed other Pratchett novels before.
Cold Days by Jim Butcher
I like the Dresden Files. I know a lot of people don't, for reasons of "Harry is a classic film noir protagonist and is thus a chauvinist 'white knight' type," and Jim Butcher should never write romance plots/scenes as far as I'm concerned, but he's good at the two things that matter most to me: world-building and character development. Cold Days was...disappointing. Without getting into spoilers: Toot Toot and associated are the absolute best, more information on the metaplot is addicting but...off somehow, a stupid thing happened to a character I liked for reasons which did not actually make sense, and seriously Jim people avoid your series because of feminism concerns, did you really have to make such a sketchtastic plot device? Really? Are you sure? If the "I don't know if I can control myself" aura doesn't vanish, decrease, or change focus in the next book, I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up my enthusiasm.
Doubletake by Rob Thurman
A few years back, my quest for new authors brought me to Rob Thurman's Cal Leandros novels. They're not life changing or read all in one night next to tissues or revolutionary in any way, but they're solid, pulpy fun with good characters. Essentially, Cal (short for Caliban) is half Auphe, a terrifying race of beings that every magical creature in the world, good or evil, is rationally freaked the fuck out about. They're mostly extinct, fortunately, but they made Cal for some reason and his life's been shit because of it. Fortunately he has his big brother Niko! Niko is all human, as well as being a modern day smirking paladin, and devotes himself utterly to looking out for and protecting his grumpy, self-deprecating, lazy, half-monster of a brother. If you don't like co-dependent sibling relationships, look elsewhere. But if you like horror, snarky and sarcastic humor, sword fights with monsters in Central Park, existential angst, and pretty interesting meta-plot, this is a really fun series.
The Phoenix Guards by Steven Brust
Unfortunately, while sometimes I start and finish a book in one evening, sometimes I read in drips and drabs that slowly trickle down to nothing. I've read some of Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series, and picked up Pheonix Guards primarily as research for captain_ecchi's LARP in the same universe. My character was even a canon character! And I do like the book. I already enjoyed the universe and Brust's writing style, and combining all of the above with the Three Musketeers is mixing two great tastes together, but somehow I never managed to get on track with it. Likely it's just not a style I've been inclined toward lately, but I'll keep trying.
The Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov
A science fiction classic, it seems, and one of Baron Hyde's favorites. Given the number of books I've added to his queue, reading an old trilogy he loved seemed like a no brainer. But it's so difficult to care about it. I'm halfway through the second book, and I would have been perfectly fine stopping with one. The premise is neat, I like a few of the short stories, but dear gods the sexism is difficult to stand. Even Starship Troopers gave women a purpose beyond influencing the economy by pouting at their husbands. And even if it weren't hideously misogynistic, it's not really the type of book I care about. The people are, by definition, irrelevant in the grand scheme of the plot. That's...kinda the entire point or the plot, in fact. And if the people are irrelevant and sexist, and the admittedly interesting premise has already been explained and shown in action in book one, I'm not sure what else I'm supposed to be doing any more. Apparently a legit conflict is about to come up, but ...so what? *sigh* I'll keep at it.
In addition to everything above, I've increased my collection of reference books on myths, tea, and cooking, but I rarely read those end to end. That said, if you enjoy taking a less reverent approach to mythology, Zeus Grants Stupid Wishes is a fun collection of myths from Greek to Native American to Christian to the Big Bang. And if you like both tea and cooking, I've been eyeing the recipes in Cynthia Gold's Culinary Tea book for a few weeks now. (Cynthia Gold is the tea somellier at L'Espalier. She once told me the history of Russian Caravan blends while I attempted not to geek out at her. Whenever I get my budget sorted and purchase less punkishly tattered formalwear, I intend to attend one of her $50 sunday tea tastings.)
The internet, in particular Tumblr, has also been helpful in recommending non-literary media. I stumbled across the news about Hannibal on Tumblr, a show that, as far as I can tell, was made specifically for me, as well as encountering references to Orphan Black, a down-the-rabbit-hole scifi show with phenomenal characterization and brilliant acting, and Welcome to Nightvale (recently much beloved among my Twitter friends, as well), a podcast that is best described as Lovecraft and the Twilight Zone meet NPR.
tl;dr - Friends and the internet are making media shopping easier these days, and if you're looking for a new book to read, make it the Newsflesh trilogy or the Abhorsen trilogy or The Bone Book or The Rook. And then come talk to me about them.
Note: Copy-editing and formatting to come when I am again on a computer.
Until then! I've been meaning to post about books.
Late June 2012, nomadmwe recommended people read "Feed," the first book in Mira Grant's Newsflesh trilogy. Assured that I would enjoy the main character's competence, I purchased the book for my tablet and consumed it in one tense, fraught, emotional sitting. That pretty much defined my reading for the year: A few mostly excellent books, spurred by recommendations, purchased electronically, and leading immediately to the consumption of an entire series. I haven't had the time and wherewithal to wander through bookstores and check out new authors, but I'm enjoying this communal media-recommending culture, so I figured I'd walk through my (sadly limited) past year's reading list to spread some recommendations of my own:
The Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant
Feed, Deadline, and Blackout. This trilogy takes place in a world where zombies attacked, the world adapted, and life moved on. It's a science-fiction political thriller and I loved every minute of it. I could talk to you about world-building, competent and grumpy protagonists, twists both startlingly unexpected and elegantly predictable, but ignore me and go read these books. You won't regret it.
The October Daye series by Seanan McGuire
londo dropped a stack of these off at my house sometime last year. They're a light, faerie twist on the current urban fantasy/mystery trend, staring a changeling woman named October Daye, or Toby for short. As always, likable characters and a rich world draw me in every time. I found out only later that Mira Grant is a pseudonym of Seanan McGuire and I almost couldn't believe it, the two series have such different tones. I now follow her on tumblr, where she reblogs snakes, Disney princesses, and horror. She's kind of amazing. I reread half the series during my San Francisco trip (that's where they take place), and the next one comes out in September.
The Incryptid series by Seanan McGuire
Having enjoyed two series by the author and learning of a third, I of course had to try it. This is by far my least favorite of the three: pulpy urban fantasy without the depth of the other two, but fun nonetheless. Verity Price, the main character, is a cryptozoologist and ballroom dancer trying to make her way in NYC. There's a shady monster-hunting organization, an extensive Price clan, a predictable series of characters and twists, and a blood-thirsty, shapeshifting Gothic lolita who is easily my favorite character.
The Matthew Swift series by Kate Griffin
I passed this series on the shelves time and time again in the past, but eventually something made me download the first book, A Madness of Angels. This time, urban fantasy takes place in London, and the city itself is a source of magic. The codes and regulations of the subway system can be used as spells, gods and spirits are formed from expectations and history, and, of course, some murders need to be avenged and solved. It took me a bit to get into it, because the first book begins with mystique over coherence, dropping you into an action movie with no explanation of the backstory or rules, (and thus no immediate reason for fickle me to care), but once the story catches up with itself everything shines. I recently downed three of these in as many days, and will snap up the next as soon as it exists.
The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch
More London! More urban fantasy/mystery! More spot-on recommendations from friends of mine! The Matthew Swift series, at times, reads like a fever dream, and I've heard its magic system described as "people literally getting drunk on the city." The Rivers of London series, by contrast, feels grounded, down to earth, and real in a sense that's difficult for urban fantasy to manage. Peter Grant is a cop, after all, and no matter what ghosts and beasties he may have to deal with, he still has to follow proper procedure. He doesn't know what's going on, he doesn't have all the answers or omnipotent power, he's just trying to do his job with the revelation that magic exists. It's refreshing, and although the latest one came out nearly a week ago in the UK, B&N claims it won't be out in the US until February. I may incur international shipping costs to get it sooner.
The Rook by Daniel O'Malley
Even more of all of the above! But instead of mundane murder mysteries, lets add espionage and amnesia! To steal from Amazon's description: "Myfanwy Thomas awakes in a London park surrounded by dead bodies. With her memory gone, her only hope of survival is to trust the instructions left in her pocket by her former self." I cannot explain my love of this protagonist. Not in text. In person perhaps my flailing arms would communicate enthusiasm that mere font keeps to itself. Plus I don't want to spoil anything. Suffice to say that she is the epitome of realistic, delightful competence (SHE WROTE HER AMNESIAC SELF A HELPFUL NOTE I LOVE HER), and, and I can't stress enough how amazing this is, she's a female protagonist in this genre who, get this, notices whether or not men are attractive without slotting male characters into specific love interest roles. There's no bad boy vs. boy next door subplot! (I love you, Toby Daye, but you suffer from this cliche, and it was old before the Anita Blake series became porn.) Romance is, in fact, in no way the point of the book! She's simply a protagonist who happens to be female! And competent! She is unlikely to ever pose sexily on the cover in leather! I might even reread this book now simply to flail excitedly at it. Apparently the author finished the rough draft of the second book of the series, but finishing a draft is a far cry from finishing a book, and I hungrily update his blog more often than I'd care to say.
Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente
Deathless is something of a conundrum for me. I'm not sure how I heard about it. Some combination of LJ and Tumblr, most likely. And it's nothing like any other book on this list. Pretty much every other book on this list is a mystery: The protagonist wants to know something. They investigate. Someone else doesn't want them to know something. Physical conflict. People may or may not die. Either way, the secret gets out. Deathless is, instead, a fairy tale and painting of Russian history. It's lush, haunting, and cruel, and I expect that people who know more about Russian folklore and history than me will get more out of it. (I had not heard of Koschei the Deathless before.) If you enjoy dark folktales, historical references, or Persephone plots (I'm lookin' at you, rigel.) I think I recommend it? I'm still a bit dazed.
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
I purchased this years ago on a typical grazing expedition, but it sat unread on my shelf until recently. I heard people raving about the Gentlemen Bastards online, and dug it out of my stacks. I'm glad I did. I had a few complaints, all of which are spoilers, but really, if you give me a book about plucky, honorable conartists following an outcast/trickster god of thieves? I'm going to eat it up. I really, really want Brothers Bloom/Gentlemen Bastards crossover fic, like woah.
The Bone Key by Sarah Monette
The Bone Key, subtitled "The Necromantic Adventures of Kyle Murchison Booth", is a series of short stories starring the aforementioned Booth, the only protagonist on this list I love more than Myfanwy Thomas, and that's a tall order given how much I love Georgia Mason from Feed, let alone the little conartists in Locke Lamora or Swift's blue electric angels. (I get attached.) Booth is a librarian with serious social anxiety who keeps accidentally involving himself in necromantic mysteries. Mate of my soul aside, the stories are exactly the kind of eerily delicious ghost story I grew up with, and there's a quiet thread of queerness that occurs with a freeing lack of fireworks or commentary. I initially encountered this book through fanart on tumblr, of all places, and like so many others on this list I purchased it in a digital format. The heft and style of this book, however, is such that I won't be satisfied until I own a paper copy and the spine is creased with love and wear. I intend to loan this out frequently, but do acquire it for yourself if you're able!
Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed
Another Twitter recommendation, and of appropriate flavor for upcoming Middle Eastern adventures in Shadows of Amun. The main character is a grumpy tea lover who wants nothing more than to go the Heroic Neutral route, one of my favorite tropes, and thus he is predictably my favorite part of this book. Unfortunately, I enjoyed the first half of this book far more than the second, where too much plot resolution created serious pacing issues, and both character and world development took a hit because of it. Starting out, it felt, oddly, like Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner series, possibly simply due to type of antagonist, and I expected a similarly long payoff for certain problems. That...didn't happen. This claims to be the beginning of a series, though, so perhaps upcoming sequels will build on everything left somewhat shallow in the first book.
The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix
Although the Abhorsen trilogy was technically recommended to me electronically, that was many years ago. But one of my TBC apps was Mogget and I tried to describe Charter Magic to someone, and the combined dredged up memories encouraged me to pull it out again. If you haven't read this trilogy, I recommend you do. If you enjoy intricate magic systems, new takes on necromancy, strong female protagonists, cohesive world-building, magic/science divides, irritating cat creatures, irritating dog creatures, or all of the above, seriously, check it out.
Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
I reread Small Gods this year for RP reasons, and loved it just as much as I did the first few times I read it. It's a stand alone novel in the Discworld series (which includes a number of sub-series and standalones, all set in the same world) that discusses gods and religion in that universe. It includes a version of the Inquisition, commentary on worship of systems versus worship of gods, philosophy, the nature of heroism, rebellion, power, etc. etc. etc. And it does all of this, mostly, while following a grumpy tortoise. Outside of the Night Watch series, this is probably my favorite Discworld novel, and while I don't recommend it as a start to the series, I do recommend it to anyone who's enjoyed other Pratchett novels before.
Cold Days by Jim Butcher
I like the Dresden Files. I know a lot of people don't, for reasons of "Harry is a classic film noir protagonist and is thus a chauvinist 'white knight' type," and Jim Butcher should never write romance plots/scenes as far as I'm concerned, but he's good at the two things that matter most to me: world-building and character development. Cold Days was...disappointing. Without getting into spoilers: Toot Toot and associated are the absolute best, more information on the metaplot is addicting but...off somehow, a stupid thing happened to a character I liked for reasons which did not actually make sense, and seriously Jim people avoid your series because of feminism concerns, did you really have to make such a sketchtastic plot device? Really? Are you sure? If the "I don't know if I can control myself" aura doesn't vanish, decrease, or change focus in the next book, I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up my enthusiasm.
Doubletake by Rob Thurman
A few years back, my quest for new authors brought me to Rob Thurman's Cal Leandros novels. They're not life changing or read all in one night next to tissues or revolutionary in any way, but they're solid, pulpy fun with good characters. Essentially, Cal (short for Caliban) is half Auphe, a terrifying race of beings that every magical creature in the world, good or evil, is rationally freaked the fuck out about. They're mostly extinct, fortunately, but they made Cal for some reason and his life's been shit because of it. Fortunately he has his big brother Niko! Niko is all human, as well as being a modern day smirking paladin, and devotes himself utterly to looking out for and protecting his grumpy, self-deprecating, lazy, half-monster of a brother. If you don't like co-dependent sibling relationships, look elsewhere. But if you like horror, snarky and sarcastic humor, sword fights with monsters in Central Park, existential angst, and pretty interesting meta-plot, this is a really fun series.
The Phoenix Guards by Steven Brust
Unfortunately, while sometimes I start and finish a book in one evening, sometimes I read in drips and drabs that slowly trickle down to nothing. I've read some of Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series, and picked up Pheonix Guards primarily as research for captain_ecchi's LARP in the same universe. My character was even a canon character! And I do like the book. I already enjoyed the universe and Brust's writing style, and combining all of the above with the Three Musketeers is mixing two great tastes together, but somehow I never managed to get on track with it. Likely it's just not a style I've been inclined toward lately, but I'll keep trying.
The Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov
A science fiction classic, it seems, and one of Baron Hyde's favorites. Given the number of books I've added to his queue, reading an old trilogy he loved seemed like a no brainer. But it's so difficult to care about it. I'm halfway through the second book, and I would have been perfectly fine stopping with one. The premise is neat, I like a few of the short stories, but dear gods the sexism is difficult to stand. Even Starship Troopers gave women a purpose beyond influencing the economy by pouting at their husbands. And even if it weren't hideously misogynistic, it's not really the type of book I care about. The people are, by definition, irrelevant in the grand scheme of the plot. That's...kinda the entire point or the plot, in fact. And if the people are irrelevant and sexist, and the admittedly interesting premise has already been explained and shown in action in book one, I'm not sure what else I'm supposed to be doing any more. Apparently a legit conflict is about to come up, but ...so what? *sigh* I'll keep at it.
In addition to everything above, I've increased my collection of reference books on myths, tea, and cooking, but I rarely read those end to end. That said, if you enjoy taking a less reverent approach to mythology, Zeus Grants Stupid Wishes is a fun collection of myths from Greek to Native American to Christian to the Big Bang. And if you like both tea and cooking, I've been eyeing the recipes in Cynthia Gold's Culinary Tea book for a few weeks now. (Cynthia Gold is the tea somellier at L'Espalier. She once told me the history of Russian Caravan blends while I attempted not to geek out at her. Whenever I get my budget sorted and purchase less punkishly tattered formalwear, I intend to attend one of her $50 sunday tea tastings.)
The internet, in particular Tumblr, has also been helpful in recommending non-literary media. I stumbled across the news about Hannibal on Tumblr, a show that, as far as I can tell, was made specifically for me, as well as encountering references to Orphan Black, a down-the-rabbit-hole scifi show with phenomenal characterization and brilliant acting, and Welcome to Nightvale (recently much beloved among my Twitter friends, as well), a podcast that is best described as Lovecraft and the Twilight Zone meet NPR.
tl;dr - Friends and the internet are making media shopping easier these days, and if you're looking for a new book to read, make it the Newsflesh trilogy or the Abhorsen trilogy or The Bone Book or The Rook. And then come talk to me about them.
Note: Copy-editing and formatting to come when I am again on a computer.