oyceter | Loot!

I have so much book loot!

First,

rachelmanija is here and brought along quite a few gifts/exchanges:

- Georgette Heyer, The Foundling (this will make it the fourth Heyer to sit unread on my shelf. I swear, I will get to them someday)
- Diana Wynne Jones, Dogsbody (read before, but like it. Also, cannot pass up a free book)
- Laura Kinsale, My Sweet Folly (one of the four (?) Kinsales I haven't read. I know it's supposed to be very flawed, but I am a sucker for the epistolary novel. Even partially)
- Victoria Abbott Riccardi, Untangling My Chopsticks: A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto (the gift. And a culinary Asian memoir! Whoo!)

Then we headed over to the used bookstore, in which I found a few things and Rachel found more, and I got a ton of recs. I feel rather bad because I felt like digging out a notebook and writing everything down so that I would remember!

- Barbara Michaels, Into the Darkness (because I haven't read a Gothic before)
- Teresa Edgerton, Goblin Moon and The Gnome's Engine (never even heard of them before, except possibly in passing, but highly recced)
- Mary Stolz, Cat in the Mirror (another recced book I've never heard of)
- John Marsden, Tomorrow, When the War Began (I've heard of it, and Rachel told me to get it. Sense a theme?)
- Tamora Pierce, Circle of Magic #3, Circle of Magic #4, The Circle Opens #1 (Rachel didn't overtly tell me to get them, but since her rec started me reading them in the first place, I shall blame her anyhow)
- Marya Hornbacher, Wasted (I've heard good things from... guess who? Yes, Rachel ;). Along with many other people)
- Joan Jacobs Brumberg, The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls (because I really liked her Fasting Girls)

And then! Rachel gave me Barbara Michaels' Black Rainbow.

Then after sending Rachel off to Bart, I came home to my Amazon package! So I finally have my own copy of All the Fishes Come Home to Roost! And I finally have Monica Furlong's Colman!

I'm just going to sit back now and pat all my books.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oooh, books. I didn't know Monica Furlong had done anything else! I've loved her first two books ever since my friend Sarah got Juniper for her twelfth birthday and I read a few chapters (you know how you never love a book like one that you only read a bit of, then couldn't find again for years...)

I know! I just found that out! It's a sequel to the Juniper/Wise Child books too, takes place right after Wise Child.

I liked The Foundling; it's a fun read once it gets going. (Heyer books always seem to take a few chapters to crank up to speed, it seems.)

It's hard not to elaborate on the flaws in My Sweet Folly, but I will say the opening letters are some of the greatest letters in a novel I've ever read - really sweet and fantastic.

Ooh, those are good bookspoils! I love Goblin Moon and The Gnome's Engine - must reread one of these days. I'm also generally fond of Barbara Michaels and especially fond of Into the Darkness, as it has lots of interesting gemology stuff.

That was the other Michaels book I recced that was in the store-- that's the one with the hero that I like a lot. The others were Someone in the House, which is best read if you've read other Gothics and can see what she's playing off of, and I think The Sea King's Daughter.

The Barbara Hambly recs are:

The Darwath trilogy: The Time of the Dark, The Walls of the Air, The Armies of Daylight. Excellent stuff, with a swordfighting medieval history grad student heroine. Sequels are Mother of Winter, which I like, and Icefalcon's Quest, which I don't because it has too much child-in-distress (though I like the Icefalcon stuff.)

The Windrose series: The Silent Tower, The Silicon Mage. Wonderful books, can't recommend them too highly. Sequel is Dog Wizard, not as steller but worth reading. Stranger at the Wedding is associational, also not as stellar but worth reading.

The vampire books, Those who Hunt the Night and Traveling with the Dead, are very good and must be read in order.

I can vouch for Edgerton's books, too--good stuff. If you find copies at the used book store, snap them up! It took me five years to find my own copy of _Goblin Moon_.

I finally picke dup Circle of Magic #4 when I was in NYC last week, and read it a few days ago. Nice to have closure on that story arc.

With Pierce's books, I've learned tohave IN HAND all 4 volumes before starting to read them. (I have 1 and 2 of her Protector of the Small series, but am holding off starting until I have the ohter two because she always writes as one big story cycle and I hate having to wait to finish them.)

The Foundling isn't a favorite Heyer of mine, but it's probably one of the better ones.

Ooh, I hadn't heard of Edgerton. Thanks for passing on the rec.

The Marsden is pretty good, and I think the series as a whole is quite good. I remember the Brumberg as very good too -- must reread.

Tomorrow When the War Began! I love those books, although I'm a post-col/post-apocalypse junkie, and those hit all my kinks. They aren't in any way happy, but I found them immensely satisfying, for the most part, and the action sequences! Holy cow, they kept me on the edge of my seat, because like Joss Whedon, Marsden isn't too proud to kill people off.

These are good, and they're hugely popular in Australia. They're a bit dark, but I keep forgetting how many kids really like dark.

They are one of my favorite series ever, but I've had mixed luck recommending them-- some people really love them, and some... don't. Personally, I find them dark and intense but not depressing.

wow I have never heard of any of those authors! truly, I have not been reading for a while... and that there are a lot of books around :P

I can imagine you surrounded by those books and just given them all good patting.

Give Rachel my love. I am madly recommending Fishes to all and sundry.

Thank you!

It's a fine book; I shall say so formally when I get sufficient brain cells. A nice combination of insightful reporting and of mercy.

Loot!

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