Comments | bookblather: Happy Valentine's Day!

bookblather

Happy Valentine's Day!

Feb 14, 2010 17:07

Happy Valentine's Day, beloved readers! I am going to have dinner with friends, and then watch zombie movies and eat candy and marshmallows and chocolate icing with my Best Beloved Friend. I hope you have plans that are similarly awesome ( Read more... )

science fiction, magical realism, literary fiction, plays, classic, historical fiction, fairy tales, romance, book recommendation, fantasy

Comments 27

ringlass February 15 2010, 01:22:47 UTC

The Thorn Birds - I've read that fucker a bazillion times.

Sense & Sensibility - I can't help but love this one.

The English Patient - even if my Africana Studies teacher calls it "imperialist rubbish," there are few books in the universe more beautifully written.

I'm sure there are more, but these are the first two that spring to mind. If we're expanding the media, today would be good day to watch some XFiles :D

I've heard Tipping The Velvet is quite interesting, and the miniseries moreso.

bookblather February 20 2010, 08:14:50 UTC

Imperialist Rubbish can sometimes make for a good book. And Tipping the Velvet is very interesting. Never seen the miniseries, so I can't vouch for it, but I've heard some... uh... interesting comments about one of the sex scenes. So yeah. Take that comment as you will.

Remind me what the Thorn Birds is about?

ringlass February 20 2010, 16:17:25 UTC

Thorn Birds is the story of a family, really, as it follows 3 or 4 generations who live in the Australian outback as sheep farmers. So you one might argue it isn't a book "about" the the lovers Ralph and Meg at all. But they get the most air time. Ralph is a priest, and Meg is the daughter of a poor-backwoods-settler-turned-sheep-rancher. Meg pretty much loves Ralph from the day she meets him (when she's ... 8?) while Ralph spends a thousand or more pages trying to convince himself and the world that he "loves" her but isn't "in love with" her. Drama and tragedy ensue.

bookblather February 21 2010, 07:38:00 UTC

Ralph sounds like he's playing Cleopatra there. Anyway. That's by Colleen McCollough, isn't it? She's good with the multigenerational sagas.

(The comment has been removed)

bookblather February 20 2010, 08:15:21 UTC

Pride and Prejudice is another favorite! Though Romeo and Juliet and I Do Not Speak. I love the language (and Mercutio! <333) but I have issues with the plotline.

beckyh2112 February 15 2010, 01:36:40 UTC

Dragondoom by Dennis L. McKiernan - The love-story of a dwarven man and a human woman, the destruction of a dragon, the war between two peoples, and it's a non-linear story. It makes me cry every time.

In the Name of the Dragon by Susanna Kearsley - A complicated romance in a mostly-mundane world, which is a rare thing for me to read. Very lovely, very well-done. It's a slow, delicious build, and it's not entirely settled as "happily ever after" but it's strongly implied that they'll get there.

The Demon's Lexicon by Sara Rees Brennan - Filial love, and if I explain, it is a major, major spoiler. But it is some of the best damn filial love I have seen in a long while.

bookblather February 20 2010, 08:16:17 UTC

DEMON'S LEXICON \m/ I appreciate the lack of spoilers as I've not managed to carve out enough time to read all of it, yet, but what I have read fills my heart with joy and love. Nick and Alan = adorable. As do Jamie and Mae.

And those other two are going on my list! You make good book recs, m'dear.

beckyh2112 February 20 2010, 08:22:50 UTC

Carve out the time to read it, seriously. Well, after you read "A Local Habitation".

I do? Yee! I always worry about my ability to talk books up for people.

bookblather February 20 2010, 08:26:31 UTC

Don't worry. A Local Habitation is number one on my priorities list. A Local Habitation has displaced my thesis, which is probably a bad thing but I do not care. If there was a number higher than one, A Local Habitation would be it. *snuggles it to her bosom*

And Demon's Lexicon will be next! I got halfway through and then got distracted by RL, so I should really get back and finish it. The poor book is probably wondering what it did wrong and trying to send me flowers.

chris_smith_atr February 15 2010, 05:23:40 UTC

I keep coming back to a book I read last year -- The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. And worryingly London Fields by Martin Amis.

I'm thinking I've an odd idea of what a love story is.

bookblather February 20 2010, 08:16:47 UTC

I haven't read either... would you mind expanding on what they're about? You seem to have good taste in books as well so I am Intrigued.

chris_smith_atr February 20 2010, 09:25:14 UTC

Why thank you. I'm not very good at describing books so bear with me. It's why I don't review them -- can't say much other than "this worked" or "complete dissection of book ( ... )

bookblather February 21 2010, 07:40:20 UTC

Ooh. Yes, I think you might have weird taste in love stories, but they sound like fascinating books! I'll be sure to pick them up.

dejadrew February 15 2010, 07:43:16 UTC

Lessee... I think I've mentioned my deep and abiding love for The Barretts of Wimpole Street. All the elements of the best melodramas are there: heroine who is sickly in body but strong in spirit; wicked and overbearing guardian; dashing and passionate young hero. It's classic, but made all the more awesome by the fact that it actually happened ZOMG.My inner twelve year old still swoons over Ferio and Fuu from the graphic novel series "Magic Knight Rayearth." Partly because I love the fact that the first of the three girl heroes to get a love interest isn't the plucky lead girl, or the haughty aristocratic girl, but instead the bespectacled smart girl. Can't imagine why that would appeal to me, oh no... (polishes glasses and whistles innocently ( ... )

bookblather February 20 2010, 08:18:26 UTC

Barretts of Wimpole Street is made of WIN. It is also, incidentally, impossible to find. My university library has it, and my high school library did, but neither of the public library systems I'm familiar with had it at all. I wept sad and sorrowful tears. Must buy me a copy.

And I am totally reading all the rest of the books you recommended because they sound AWESOME. You should summarize books more often. *nods firmly*

dejadrew February 21 2010, 01:41:52 UTC

Hee. Thanks. I can't take credit for the conversation from Hothead Paisan, though. That one's actual dialogue from the book. I dearly love Hothead, BUT I WARN YOU: Violence! Dismemberment! Man-hating! I personally find it the perfect antidote to those long days of customers calling me "sweetie" and walking past me to ask my male co-workers where to find things, but it isn't for everyone. Just so you know!

As for Anait, if you want to read that then your best bet is to find a copy of this book: Fearless Girls, Wise Women & Beloved Sisters. It's a collection of female-centric folktales, and it's awesome. Anait is just one example of the awesome. There is so much more:

A little girl who outsmarts her wicked stepmom and the devil hisself!

A single mom who is getting her baby back from those #$^@ing Faeries no matter what it takes!

A girl who gosh darn it was hired to watch this corpse and she's going to do it even if it DOES start wandering off HEY WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING NOT WITHOUT ME YOU'RE NOT.

And so much more!

bookblather February 21 2010, 07:41:27 UTC

Fearless Girls, Wise Women, and Beloved Sisters! I think we actually have that in my college library! It will be mine. Muahahahahaha. ALL MINE. I am looking forward to reading that story about the corpse. :D

As for violence and dismemberment... eh, sometimes you just need a little catharsis, amirite? I used to read true crime stories, now it can be random bloodshed.