Well, The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror: Eighth Edition just took a quick (but probably short) upswing, due to a very good poem by Jane Yolen, and a fairly good, but somewhat odd, retelling of "Rumpelstiltskin." I could have done without all the swearing in the latter, but the simple fact that the heroine contemplated using the spindle as a weapon against the evil prince made up for all that. Feisty fairy tale princesses FTW!

(I hope mara sees this. It made me think of her. )

Of course, why didn't I pick up on that?

Because you had someone else in mind as a candidate?

lys, the Inspector Felse books have been a mixed bag so far. I've read the first three, and then skipped to the one that looked interesting. They don't seem to be as character centric as Cadfael, and they are not as entwined in the politics or historic side of their settings. However, as a stand alone mystery, I'd recommend Mourning Raga. It's got lovely prose and the who-dun-it keeps one guessing.

You do an awful lot of rereading, Lady Haleth.

Last time I checked, re-reads counted for about half to two-thirds of my literary intake.

My sister and I both like Book of Hours by T. Davis Bunn. I'm not sure I've read much else by him...

I am currently re-reading Harpist of the Winds to finish up a re-read of the Riddlemaster trilogy. After that, I plot to read The Man Who Was Thursday (thanks again, flam! ), The Moonstone, and then I will stare at my shelves until something suggests itself to me. EDIT: Or, I suppose I might get something as a Christmas present.

shastas: I'm sure I'll read it one day. I'm always a fan of good characterizations, so it sounds good to me!

Ly: Prior to Alphabet, my only encounters with McKillip were The Bell at Sealy Head (a very positive one) and The Riddlemaster of Hed (less positive) and the first few pages of The Harpist in the Wind until I realized that I'd missed a book.

I finished Alphabet of Thorn and I enjoyed it very much. It had a very 'fairytale' feel to it and I was very impressed by the strength of McKillip's world. Raine is a beautiful setting for a very great story and coupled with McKillip's unique narration and beautiful prose, makes for a truly pleasurable read. I expect my explorations of McKillip to continue.

I've moved on to The Code of the Woosters (which I found on the "classics" shelf in my hometown's newly remodeled library ) and it's taking quite a while to get started, but this is certainly one of Bertie's biggest scrapes yet. It's also much less episodic than the other Wodehouse's I've read (excepting Leave it to Psmith)

I've been given the reading list for my upcoming "Novels of the last decade" class and since that sort of literature isn't often read by NarniaWeb bibliophiles, I doubt I'll get much of a response, but I'd love to get any impressions on the following: The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris, Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safron Foer, Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, and Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lihiri.

I received for Christmas from a well-meaning aunt an enourmous two-volume copy of the entire series entitled Belgariad by David Eddings. I'd never heard of it, but someone on Library Thing called it "high fantasy," which usually doesn't agree with me. Has anyone read it? I have low expectations, but I'll probably give it a shot.

I'm still rereading Percy Jackson. I'm on the third book now. But its probably going to take longer because I'm out of contact lenses.
This is the first time in years I haven't gotten any books for Christmas--at least, not yet.

Kate, the only one of those I have read is McCarthy's The Road. It's something I refer to as "the most depressing piece of literature I've ever read," and not a book I care to relive.

For Christmas, I was given the third and fourth Percy Jackson books, The Lost Hero, and The Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe.

I unfortunately have an extremely long to read list (including LotR, and Scream of the White Bears) Recently however I've been rereading the Chronicles in chronilogical order, and then I shall reread them again in publication order... I also may have very well cast myself in a pickle in that I just ordered The Space Trilogy from the library, and it has to come here, and I have to finish them before I go to college... (is not good at reading two books at the same time, at least I've read CoN before, maybe that will help)

Anyway I looovvveeee Sci Fi and Fantasy, and anything animal based. Has anyone ever read the Dragon Riders of Pern? I haven't read all of them, but I enjoyed the ones I did

(Hopes she's not intruding on any discussions- my apologies if I am)

I ended up getting through the Leviathan book before the audio even arrived for me! So now I've got to wait for my library to finish processing in Behemoth!
So yes, I did like it. I must agree with everyone else who said the illustrations are the best part; just beautiful! I'm looking forward to seeing the ones in the next book.
Other than that, I thought the world building was amazing! Quite well done. The characters are good, for the most part.

My other negative point was the extremely positive light in whichNot very nice if translated to today!

There was one plot point I found unbelievable - more so then the flying whale! That Alek and his men were able to

Once I forced my mind around that one I was able to enjoy the story. I thought there was just the right amount of action in the story, and a very nice variety of it.

wolfloversk, I've heard of the Dragonriders series, and even looked into it a little. I never got around to reading any of them, though, because I didn't want to get involved with such a huge series! I'd end up feeling like I have to read them allllll.

Oh, and my sister NarnianCricket gave me a copy of MWT's The Thief for Christmas!

Kate, I've read the Belgariad, and its sequel series the Mallorean as well as the two companion volumes... I'm prejudiced in the favour of the Mallorean because I read it first and I've reread it a few times. *coughthreetofivecough* As Belgarion points out, it's the same thing as the first set of books all over again. But being the second time around in that world, it had the advantage of being in an existing world with characters who actually had story to them... I like the Mallorean because it appeals to my sense of humor and as I recall there was plenty of the same in the Belgariad, it just wasn't as good as I expected from the hints at the backstory. Come to think of it, I had the same problem with the books expounding on Polgara and Belgareth...

I'm probably not helping. But I suspect that it's better to start at the beginning than work your way backwards like I did.

*is thisclose to putting Leviathan on reserve at the library and has been reading Wodehouse all day*

For Christmas, I received a number of books

(The Unseen - T.L. Hines
Watcher in the Woods - Robert Liparulo
Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength - C.S. Lewis)

and a DVD boxset of Bill Bailey's comedy shows.

*files the title Mourning Raga away in his mind*

and The Riddlemaster of Hed (less positive)

Must be the high fantasy gettin' to you again, eh?

You might want to PM wisewoman about The Belgeriad. As I recall, there was some very objectionable content involved, such as prevented her from finishing it. But I could be wrong, and I could be confusing her with someone else (or The Belgeriad for another book/series).

I picked The Road up at a booksale a few months back, just because I felt I ought to read some McCarthy, but I can never manage to summon up the courage to read it. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on Everything is Illuminated, just because the movie always looked interesting to me.

Well, I finally finished The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror: Eighth Annual Collection. Some better entries appeared near the end of it, thank goodness. Judith Tarr's "Mending Souls" was a delightful reworking of Irish folktale, and reminded me strongly of something Susanna Clarke might have written. And, folks, it don't get much better than that. And Geoffrey A. Landis contributed an original fairy tale very much in the style of Hans Christian Anderson and the Brothers Grimm. It's the one tale in the collection I would feel comfortable reading to my seven-year-old sister. Of course, then there was Neil Gaiman's story, which was just nasty. Not as nasty as some of his other stuff that I've read, but still, pretty terrible. That man is a freakin' genius and yet he chooses to write such garbage. If he wasn't mind-bogglingly talented, I wouldn't care. But it's an awful waste.

[/rant]

So, what did everyone else receive for Christmas? I got a beautiful 50th Anniversary Edition of To Kill a Mockingbird (I had previously borrowed my parents' ratty old paperback), my own copy of Frank Capra's autobiography The Name Above the Title, and a first edition of Willa Cather's A Lost Lady. I started the last one as soon as I'd laid down my fantasy and horror anthology, and finished during a car ride today. It's a pretty good novella, with beautiful writing, and a fascinating (if morally questionable) main character. Not a favorite, but I'll be reading more Cather. In terms of American literature, she's definitely a higher priority for me than Hemingway or Faulkner, let me tell you!

Hmm... I really enjoy some of Gaiman's work but I agree with you that his work often has needless inappropriate elements. I'm particularly adverse to the sexual content and his treatment of witchcraft. Ick.

For Christmas, I received a number of books
Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength - C.S. Lewis)

1st I found very enjoyable. Currently reading 2nd and finding it better in many ways, though I have a soft spot for the first still. Haven't read 3rd yet.

It's a very good, if flawed trilogy. I didn't enjoy the first all that much (bar the last 50 or so pages), I loved the second (despite it being a bit flabby until the Green Lady arrives) and the third is probably my favourite but not an easy read. Maybe they'll improve on my third read through.

Regarding Gaiman, I'm still going to read his Instructions, and maybe The Graveyard Book, too. But I've pretty much sworn off his adult fiction. A fan of his had recommended Stardust to me as "clean," and while it certainly wasn't terrible, the sexual content really destroyed the fairy-tale tone for me. And now I've read two of his short stories that were completely disgusting ("The Problem of Susan," "Snow, Glass, Apples").

I'm a little over halfway through my first reading of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court right now, and am rather enjoying it. I've never been a big fan of Mark Twain's work (I didn't mind The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn though), and so I've been pleasantly surprised with this book. It's amusing so far.

Made another stop by my new favorite thrift store last Wednesday and found a book of two eyewitness accounts of the battle of Gettysburg for 50 cents, so I promptly bought it. I think someone with a collection of Civil War paperbacks must have recently made a donation because there was a cart full of various book on that subject, fiction and non. I was extremely tempted to buy The Killer Angels... and I would have if I didn't already own it. Also found a copy of Ella Enchanted for a quarter, and I gave it to Djaq for Christmas (no, that is not all that I gave her. I'm not a complete cheapskate. ).

I'm currently working on helping Djaq start up her own book collection because, well, everyone should have one, in my opinion. I bought her a lovely copy of Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott for Christmas, in addition to my thrift store find ( ). I helped her get all of her books arranged on her shelf last night, and gave her a couple of extra paperbacks that I had duplicates of (Sense and Sensibility and The Man Who Was Thursday). I'm hoping to maybe take her to the aforementioned thrift store soon and browse through the book section. Maybe in exchange I could let her take me clothes shopping. *strongly dislikes clothes shopping*

So, what did everyone else receive for Christmas?

I received a 1904 copy of The Virginian ( ), G.K. Chesterton's Autobiography ( ), and A Half Century of Views by Chesterton. Any guesses on what I'll be reading soon?

--- flambeau

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