Family legend says this was deliberate timing

[xenokattz]

Back from another weekend in Seattle for Daddy & BabySister's birthdays. Yes, they've got the same birthday. They also look freakishly alike. We went down for a resort type trip so Dad could play with his camera & BabySister could spend a lot of her birthday money. I spent a lot of time at Borders, bewildered

Comments

[xenokattz]

I love Robin McKinley. Love, love, LOVE love lovelovelovelove. Sunshine is pretty much the standard against which I measure all vampire stories. I'll even forgive her all-white cast because she's old school and doesn't know any better & also because her heroines are AWESOME.

Majorie Liu is DEFO on the top of my list now. *L* Is she the same author who made Daken a boykisser? ;)

[baruchan]

Jonathan Norrell and Mr. Strange by Susanna Clarke. It's alternate historical fiction, based on the premise that magic is real, only it hasn't been practiced in England for centuries. It's set in the early 19th century, during the Napoleonic Wars. The writing is like a pastiche of Austen, Dickens, and other 19th century English novelists, and the footnotes are to die for.

[lithiumlaughter]

Seconding this recommendation like crazy. That was a beautiful book. If it tickles your fancy, follow it up with Clarke's "The Ladies of Grace Adieu". It's a collection of short stories, the titular one being set in the same universe as Norell and Strange, but all being very good.

I'll mull this over at work today and give you some more recommendations when I get home this afternoon/evening.

[xenokattz]

I have Jonatha Strange but I stared it around the same time I stared nursing so it got abandoned in the wake of pathophysiology & wound care. :P I've got 1/4 left and I'll have to start ALL OVER again to get that feel, y'know?

But yes, the footnotes are LOVELY.

[alexiel_neesan]

If you haven't read them yet, the Dresden Files are pretty fun (at least the first ones, I haven't read the lasts yet).
Someone was reccing 'Spiral Hunt' and it's sequel somewhere the other day, (urban fantasy heavy on the celtic) it sounds interesting.

just not the kind that sparkles or has co-dependent main characters snort. :) I hear you!

What have been your favorite/most re-read books so far?

[xenokattz]

LOVE the Dresden Files! The last book I have is #6 I think. Yes, it's totally time to revisit dear Harry.

Lately, I've been re-reading a lot of nonfics. *L* Before that, there was Mercedes Lackey's "Born to Run" series & her Elemental Magic series (although the later is slightly uneven at times for me). Highly enjoyed Harry Potter, of course, and Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl books. Also Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series, Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, anything by Neil Gaiman, almost anything by Robin McKinley (some of her books are so wonderfully & painfully written that I can only read them once). Teresa Meideros & Karen Marie Moning are fun light reads although I'd think the latter has occasional Twilight lapses into the ridiculous and/or Mary Sueness. I picked up a J.D. Robbs mystery at work & really liked it so I thought I'd grab more of those when I could.

I'm totally open for new genres.

[jlvsclrk]

I could rec for weeks but it doesn't look like we're into the same type of books. I've been reading a lot of science fiction lately. My favorite author, Connie Willis, just came out with her first book in nearly 10 years, and much to my surprise, it turns out to be part 1 in a series. So I'd rec her older works like Fire Watch, To Say Nothing of the Dog, and the Doomsday Book. I think you'd really enjoy her tales of time travel.

If you like historical fiction at all and haven't read them, I highly recommend Colleen McCollough's series of books on Rome, although the last of them was a disappointment. But especially the early ones with Marius, Sulla and young Caesar make for a satsifying read.

[xenokattz]

I'm totally open to new genres. I think part of the reason I started drifted towards non-fics is because I was getting a little bored with my "usual" but didn't know where to start with new ones. I do lot plotty/acitony things no matter the genre.

[jlvsclrk]

Connie Willis is a master of plot and she has a brilliant writing style. She's also the award-winningest sci-fi writer ever. If you start with Fire Watch, that's actually a collection of 12 short stories and shows you her range from the serious (Fire Watch) to the zany (Even the Queen).

For action, I also thoroughly recommend the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. To quote Entertainment Weekly, "this book is for anyone who's read one of Patrick O'Brien's 19th-century-set naval adventures and mused: You know what would make this better? Dragons.

[xenokattz]

The Stephanie Plum novels look interesting! And thank you so much for putting the Terry Pratchett titles in order; I've always meant to read his stuff but there's so much of it.