Book recs!

[brigdh]

I'm going on a cruise in January! Wheeeeeee! It's for ten days in the Caribbean. I find this to be pretty totally exciting; I've been on one cruise before, but this time I get to go in winter (escaping the cold!), with rm, for longer, and it's all just pretty awesome. But what I am coming to you for, O LJ, is book recs. Because, hey, it's a cruise! I need appropriate lounge-type books to read while lying in the sun. I'm looking for any kind of book (novel, short story, non-fiction, travel, poetry, whatever), as long as it makes for interesting, easy reading. Rec me cruise-type books! However, bonus points if:

- the book is set in or about the Caribbean, especially: the Bahamas, Grand Turks, Dominican Republic, Bonaire, Curacao, or Aruba.

- the author is from the Caribbean.

Comments

[rm.livejournal.com]

This post makes me happy.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I hope you have a wonderful time!

Not about the Caribbean, but I've been recommending Jim Hines to anyone who will listen-- I read The Stepsister Scheme this summer and just got The Mermaid's Madness. They're clever, respectful to women, and tweak fairy tales in interesting ways. And they're pretty breezy.

If you haven't read poetry by Derek Walcott before, now is the time. He was born in St. Lucia and is super awesome.

Alexandre Dumas, père, had a Caribbean creole grandmother, as you may remember from 50books_poc. I've been meaning to read something by him again ever since I learned.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oo, I have not heard of Jim Hines before, but he looks totally fun! Thanks for the rec. Derek Walcott also sounds awesome.

I'd been avoiding Dumas because the most recent thing I read by him was not so good, but I really should go and read some of the classics I never have, The Count of Monte Cristo particularly.

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

It's set by the sea? I really loved one of Patricia McKillip's newer books, The Bell at Sealy Head (her stuff can be hit and miss for me, which I feel is worth noting in case you, too, have mixed feelings about McKillip). Have you read FAVORITE BOOK EVER, aka Sunshine by Robin McKinley? It rules, as does The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart.

Hmm. I have mostly been reading academic texts and fanfic this quarter, so my brain is a little fried, but if I think of anything else TOTALLY AWESOME, I will rec further. ;)

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I have bounced off the McKillip I've read before, so it's good to know that I should try again.

[rezendi.livejournal.com]

Far Tortuga< (http://www.amazon.com/Far-Tortuga-Novel-Peter-Matthiessen/dp/0394756673) by Peter Matthiessen.

A House for Mr. Biswas (http://www.amazon.com/House-Mr-Biswas-V-S-Naipaul/dp/0375707166/) by VS Naipaul.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Ooo, thank you! Both of these look excellent.

[sunnysky.livejournal.com]

how i live now by meg rosoff. it features none of the above criteria, but is a FABULOUS read nonetheless. your library should have more than one copy! (2005?) winner of the printz award. :)

[sunnysky.livejournal.com]

oh, or MADAPPLE by christina meldrum. i love that book to pieces. :)

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've heard great things about Madapple. Thanks for both the recs!

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Hi! rm sent me over. Have you read any Tobias Buckell? He's a multiracial author from the Caribbean, and his novels so far are in a space-opera setting with a bit of an island feel. I liked Ragamuffin, which reads a bit like an action movie and seems like a great beach/cruise book. (Crystal Rain has a different feel and I wasn't as into it.)

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

Heh, I had the opposite experience--Crystal Rain was fascinating but Ragamuffin was too grim for me, and I disliked everyone by the end. But either way, Buckell's your best bet for island-inflected sf!

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I had seen Buckell's name around, but hadn't decided which I wanted to read first.

[(Anonymous)]

Nalo Hopkinson's The New Moon's Arms. Amazing, amazing book; I discussed at http://www.rixosous.com/2008/02/the-new-moons-a.html. The author is Caribbean-Canadian (and a wonderful person!)

Also Gene Wolfe's Pirate Freedom (http://www.rixosous.com/2008/03/pirate-freedom.html), which feels more like a historical novel despite being a time-traveling-skiffy-pirates story.

Susan de Guardiola
http://www.rixosous.com

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the recs! You write excellent reviews.

[shipchan.livejournal.com]

Denton Welch's In Youth Is Pleasure and Maiden Voyage are great books, and are, especially Maiden Voyage, about travel. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett is also a lovely, short book about how the queen learns to love reading.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recs!

[shipchan.livejournal.com]

No worries.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. She sounds like an awesome writer. I don't know how I never heard of her before. What's your favorite of hers? Looking at her wikipedia page, I think 'A Small Place' sounds particularly good.

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

Kage Baker's Or Else My Lady Keeps the Key is an interesting take on pirates.

I haven't read them yet myself, but I hear very good things about Tobias Bucknell's Crystal Rain/Ragamuffin/Sly Mongoose series, which are Carribean-inspired science fiction.

Nalo Hopkinson's Midnight Robber (or a lot of other books by Nalo Hopkinson).

Then there's Avram Davidson's Limekiller stories, which I didn't actually groove on but a lot of other people seem to like them and they're definitely Carribean if you count Belize. It's on the Carribean, it counts, right? Anyway you can have my book of those if you want. And i could loan you Hopkinson's Skin Folk and/or the Baker, but those I want back.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Yay, pirates.

I was definitely thinking about bringing some Hopkinson, but since I haven't read anything by her before, I wasn't sure where to start. Midnight Robber sounds fascinating; someone else recced The New Moon's Arms, which also sounds wonderful; and I've heard a lot about The Salt Roads. Do you have any favorites of hers?

I haven't heard of the Limekiller stories before, but reading some descriptions on Amazon, I think I might bounce off of them, too.

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

Alas, no, I haven't read a lot of Hopkinson yet, but if you get other recs, pass them along?