Books

[brigdh]

I bought a crazy amount of books in the last few weeks, and coffee_and_ink said she likes to see other people's lists, so here they are. A lot of these are from second-hand stores, so some of the reasoning has more to do with "Hey, it's fifteen cents!" rather than "Hey, it's a quality work of literature!"


Descendants of Darkness 4
Saiyuki 7
Sei Shonangon, The Pillow Book- I didn't notice that was abridged until after I bought it, and I'm not sure if I'm going to return it or not. Does anyone have any opinion on which version is better? This one was by Ivan Morris.
The Essential Rumi
Elizabeth E. Wein, The Winter Prince
John Dufresne, The Lie That Tells A Truth: A Guide to Writing Fiction
Mindy L. Klasky, The Glasswright's Apprentice- I'm pretty sure this is just cheap, mass-produced fantasy. But instead of being set in generic medieval Europe, it's in generic medieval India, which is a cool idea. Doesn't explain why the girl on the cover is a blue-eyed blonde, but maybe the inside'll be better.
Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
Chuck Palahniuk, Lullaby
Susan Vreeland, The Passion of Artemisia
Akira Yoshimura, Shipwrecks
Patrick Suskind, Perfume
Jeanette Winterson, Written on the Body
William Faulkner, Sanctuary
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera
Marco Polo, The Travels of Marco Polo
China Mieville, The Scar
Shakespeare, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear- I didn't own a copy of these already, but the best part is the back cover, which I just noticed:
HAMLET...
a young prince doomed by his father's
murder to plot a bloody revenge
MACBETH...
an ambitious nobleman driven by an evil
wife to murder his king
KING LEAR...
a tormented old man pushed into the abyss
of insanity by his daughters

Complete in one volume- three famous
tragedies by the world's greatest
dramatist. In these plays, Shakespeare
portrays madness and murder... reveals
the dark violent side of man's mind.
All it needs is "Together, they fight crime!"

Mark Murlansky, Salt: A World History

Comments

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Saiyuki 7

Woo-hoo! Although it's # 8 and 9 that really get to me.

Sei Shonangon, The Pillow Book- I didn't notice that was abridged until after I bought it, and I'm not sure if I'm going to return it or not. Does anyone have any opinion on which version is better? This one was by Ivan Morris.

Well, you could start reading it and see how it grabs you...

Elizabeth E. Wein, The Winter Prince

This is one of my favorite fantasy books ever. She has an lj as eegatland.

Mindy L. Klasky, The Glasswright's Apprentice- I'm pretty sure this is just cheap, mass-produced fantasy. But instead of being set in generic medieval Europe, it's in generic medieval India, which is a cool idea. Doesn't explain why the girl on the cover is a blue-eyed blonde, but maybe the inside'll be better.

Let me know if anything whatsoever has anything to do with India other than the caste system, which is generally all people use when they're vaguely basing something on India.

Patrick Suskind, Perfume

I remember really liking this, but it's been years since I re-read it. Great premise, for sure.

China Mieville, The Scar

Over the top and utterly wonderful.

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

I read Snow Crash over one vacation and just kept stopping and trying to read bits to people, who kept rolling their eyes at me. I still love the book though. Your Shakespeare cover cracks me up. XD

Saiyuki 7! Whee!

[redshoeson.livejournal.com]

Yay cheap books yay. ^^

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I've read other things by Neal Stephenson and liked them, plus yay for cyberpunk, so I'm thinking I'll probably adore Snow Crash. *grins*

I read it! And also the scanlations for 8 or 9! OMG theyhavesomanyissues.

Am I supposed to read Reload or Gaiden next? 'Cause I have the scanlations for both, but I forget which comes first.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

DUDE I KNOW. ^_^

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Saiyuki 7
Woo-hoo! Although it's # 8 and 9 that really get to me.

Yes, after I finished 7, I raced through the scanlations for 8 and 9. So good. I love them all, but Sanzo's my favorite.

Elizabeth E. Wein, The Winter Prince
This is one of my favorite fantasy books ever.

I adored this book. I read it overnight, and babbled wildly about it to anyone who would listen for days. Medraut is an amazing character, and the writing is wonderfully subtle.

I surprised it's being reprinted as a YA novel, though. There's so much incest in it.

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

Gaiden is the prequel, but it just sort of ends, though I've heard Minekura is working on it again. It depends on whether you want MORE STORY NOW or want more details on what happened 500 years ago, I guess. And yeah. Issues. And then Goku saves the day with mah-johng. XD

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I think Rachel already said everything I would have on particular books.

The Winter Prince was originally published as YA in hardcover, although the first US paperback edition was part of an adult fantasy line. There are two sequels, btw, although they aren't as good, and a few related short stories, including a rather explicit Medraut/Morgause story in Windling & Datlow's Sirens.