Cranky McPissy Pants

[nilchance]

I'm feeling misanthropic today.

Read any good books lately, y'all? I'm particularly interested in books with a strong sense of place, be it memoir or fiction or whatever. Examples I've read and enjoyed include Lies of Locke Lamora, the Kushiel series, In the Company of Wolves, and Under a Tuscan Sun. But really, any good books = WIN.

Comments

[topaz119.livejournal.com]

Rosamunde Pilcher's books always wrap me up in their time and place--usually Scotland or Cornwall. I tend to re-read them whenever I'm in need of distraction from the life around me. My copies of September and Coming Home are literally falling apart on me--and they're hardbacks. (There's a character from an earlier novel, The Shell Seekers, in September but you don't have to have read that one for the second one. And while I liked TSS, September is seriously a favorite.)

[tabaqui]

I'm just starting the Patrick O'Brian 'Jack Aubrey' novels, the first of which is 'Master and Commander'. Yes, they based the Russel Crowe movie on them. Really just amazingly fun. Full of historically accurate details and the characters are fun and funny and very vivid.

Also, Isak Dinesen's 'Out of Africa' and Elspeth Huxley's 'The Flame Trees of Thika', 'The Flambards' by K.M. Peyton and that most wonderful of 'place' books - 'Brideshead Revisited' by Evelyn Waugh.

Of course, any of the Austen or Bronte novels, and if you want history without any kind of 'romanticizing', Alison Weir has some wonderful stuff out there.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=pd_sc_1?ie=UTF8&search-alias=stripbooks&field-keywords=alison%20weir

Enjoy!

[eponin10.livejournal.com]

I've been reading an urban fantasy series by Mark del Franco. Unshapely Things and Unquiet Dreams. They're good. :)

[justsonya.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I'm just getting ready to start those!!

nilchance, I'll leave the first one at the house for you guys next week.

[bayleaf.livejournal.com]

I just finished reading Poppy Z. Brite's restauranteur series Liquor, Prime, and Soul Kitchen. Extremely quick reads, simple and somewhat predictable plots. Major drawback = they make me effing hungry. Why doesn't the food come with the books, dude? Would that *really* be so hard? ;)

[technosage.livejournal.com]

I really loved Ellen Steiber's A Rumor of Gems. Place was probably the most vivid thing about it. Vibrant with life and detail and magical realism, and a fantastic story too.

[ishafel.livejournal.com]

If you haven't read Sarah Monette's other books--The Doctrine of Labyrinths series, in particular--definitely try them, starting with Melusine. I just finished KJ Parker's Engineer Trilogy, and it was both original in a way fantasy rarely is, and interesting. It didn't quite work for me, mostly because I need to really love at least one of the characters in order to love a book/series--but it impressed the hell out of me, which is much more difficult to do.

[realpestilence.livejournal.com]

Have you ever read 'Pembroke Park', by Michelle Martin? It's a Regency romance, with f/f, m/m, and m/f characters, and very true to the Regency style, imo. Funny and angsty, both, with likeable protagonists and some real snots you just want to see get egg on their faces; it's very firmly rooted in Englad and the manners of the aristocracy.

I don't know if that's the kind of thing you're looking for, but I was gonna rec it to you sometime, anyways, so there ya go.



Um. If you wouldn't mind a little pre-occupation in the early chapters with a young boy's distress over being hazed in school 'cause he's uncircumcised (he's an English boy in an Afrikaaner school), Bryce Courtenay's 'The Power of One' is an amazing book about South Africa. The movie made from it was well-intentioned and the acting pretty good, but in no way did it approach the love and pain that the author feels for his homeland, and the fascinating characters he created. Very strong sense of place in this.

[realpestilence.livejournal.com]

Also, I just thought of some upbeat, fun, and interesting books by Gerald Durrell, the naturalist. He wrote 3 volumes on his family's years living in Greece.

"My Family and Other Animals"-they wanted to throttle him for that title. *snickers* 'Birds, Beasts, and Relatives' and 'Fauna and Family'.

He interspersed anecdotes about his crazy family with tales of their Greek neighbors and the animal life of the island of Corfu. Durrell was a good writer and his prose is frequently beautiful; some of his family stores make me laugh out loud even though I've read the books several times.

He was the youngest brother of the novelist Laurence Durrell, btw; I've never read any of his works, but he seems to have been well-regarded, and his brother's oddball writer/artist friends play a major part in some of the stories.

Lots of fun to read and you can feel how much he loved living in Corfu.

[shotofjack.livejournal.com]

Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Loved it.

[narikalen.livejournal.com]

I totally second this. What an amazing book, and a very unusual perspective that we don't normally think about.

[shotofjack.livejournal.com]

Yes - I too loved the book's perspective and imaginative way it introduced us to an autistic young boy.
I just got another Haddon book and am looking forward to starting it.

[plratty.livejournal.com]

The book theif Markus Zusak
An utterly moving story of girl in germany during world war

American Gods Neil Gamian
In some ways your story Of Bastards Saints reminds me of this. How a man called Shadows feelings of home and religion affect his choices.

Stranger in a Strange land Robert A Heinlein
I would recommend anything by Heinlein but this is is a story showing how much perception colours
reality.

I loved all these books, and hope you will too

[hansbekhart.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I just finished Tom Robbins' Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates, which was excellent. The book is set in Seattle, the Amazon and Syria. Have you read The Poisonwood Bible? It's a bit obvious, but the location (it takes place mostly in the Congo) is incredibly vivid and authentic. When I was in Africa last year, it felt sometimes like I'd stepped into the book.

One of my favorite books of all time is Slaughterhouse-Five - the prison camp sections were based on Vonnegut's own experiences as a POW, and they're incredibly powerful.

[julorean.livejournal.com]

"Religion and Its Monsters" by Timothy K. Beal. Nonfiction. Yeah, it doesn't follow your rules, but I really enjoyed reading it. Made me think about some stuff in SPN too. It's quite interesting. It explores the relationship between the monstrous and divine, from the Bible into modern horror movies.

[axis2cluster-b.livejournal.com]

gods in Alabama, by Joshilyn Jackson *nods*

[realpestilence.livejournal.com]

Because I can't leave well enough alone...


'Charton', by David Telfair, is an extremely funny book about life in a small British village that's stuck in a rut of habits. Then the local lord's elderly mother arrives for a visit on the back of an attractive young man's motorbike and proceeds to bully everyone for their own good. There's romance, both m/m, m/m/m, and m/f, though nothing much explicit (alas! *snorts*)

Full of appealing, interesting characters-even the plodding, somewhat dim lord ends up winning sympathy-and it leaves a real "feel good" aftertaste, imo. *beams*


This is one that I have on my own amazon list. I read it years ago and once I realized how useful that wish list was, I put it on there to get asap. Hmm. You'd better not get *my* copy!

Again, one I would have eventually recc'd to y'all anyway. I've got such a looooong list for you two...

[1more-sickpuppy.livejournal.com]

How do you feel about cyberpunk?
William Gibson's 'Virtual Light' takes you into a future San Fransisco. The parts with the (formerly) Golden Gate, especially, are very "there", even if it's not the main thing about the book.

[khek.livejournal.com]

Archer Mayor's 'Joe Gunther Mysteries' take place in Vermont--actually, in the town I grew up in--and they're very true to the place. (Well, actually, I hope the seedy underbelly isn't really as bad as it sounds, but unfortunately, it sounds pretty true.) The places are all accurate though, and the story is very readable. Joe is based on the chief of police in town, a guy my mother grew up with and dated in high school. The character's apartment is across the street from the house I grew up in. It's pretty cool.
The first one is Open Season. If you like that one, there are currently thirteen other titles. He starts branching out to other Vermont communities, and Canada and NYC too in later books...mostly because, well, how much crime can there actually BE in a community of 10,000 people?

The other mystery series I like are Rick Riordan's Tres Navarre Mysteries. The first one is Big Red Tequilla. They take place in Texas (where I've never been) but it felt very true to the place...hot and dusty and colorful, with people drinking Shiner Bock and doing Tai Chi in their backyards. Some of the later books were uneven, and he killed off a character I really liked, but the rest of the series is pretty good too.

[narikalen.livejournal.com]

Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen, by Garth Nix. YA, but awesome books :) Classic fantasy.
Also, Perdido Street Station by China Mieville. Creates a dark fantasy realm that doesn't involve dragons, magic, or faeries of any sort. Beautifully written, and send chills up your spine :)

[frightened.livejournal.com]

Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori series. (Start with Across the Nightingale Floor and read according to date of publication; it goes main trilogy, then coda, then prequel.) They're set in a fictionalised feudal Japan, and the worldbuilding is awesome. She really sells this completely different world. They're teen/young adult, but don't let that put you off - it's one of those stories with proper crossover appeal.

Here's what I said about it in a meme a while back:

I'm going to cheat and pick a series. I'd make as many people as possible read Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori: Across the Nightingale Floor, Grass for his Pillow, Brilliance of the Moon, The Harsh Cry of the Heron, and Heaven's Net Is Wide. (Though if it's just one, Across the Nightingale Floor is enough to get a reader looking frantically for the others.) They occupy the Pullmanesque space of books that are often shelved as teen/young adult, but have proper, brilliant, crossover appeal. Amazing worldbuilding and sheer breathtaking ambition. Assuming that the reader can keep up just fine and needs no talking down to, and being right about that. I'm writing a short review of the series for the Education Library Service in Wolves, and it's going to go something like this:

Tomasu is raised in a forbidden religious sect, adopted by the aristocratic warrior caste, and pursued by a network of occult assassins. Set in feudal Japan, this is a strange, brilliant and breathtaking story of warring clans, harsh duty, honour, loyalty, betrayal, unforgiving consequences, religion, magic and young love.

The Daily Telegraph's list of books teenagers should read (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml;jsessionid=I4ODFMH3N1MSBQFIQMGCFF4AVCBQUIV0?xml=/arts/2008/01/19/bokidsbooks419.xml&page=3) was moronic. A huge disappointment after their selection of books for younger readers. It's like they gave up and reached for the classics, assuming teenagers didn't read anyway and if they did then they needed Improving. (Some token Gritty Realism from Melvin Burgess and Jacqueline Wilson - their most famous books, naturally.) You want teenagers to read, you'd better give them something more exciting and less Good For Them Like Brussels Sprouts than that. The Tales of the Otori fit that bill well. They're challenging, epic and ambitious - especially the last two, the coda and the prequel, which are more often shelved with the adults' books. They should be in every library and every school. I love them now, but I'd've loved them even more when I was fourteen or so.

I bought my brother the main trilogy for his nineteenth birthday. Don't know if he ever got around to reading it.

[noirbabalon.livejournal.com]

I'm a sucker for stories about women growing up among women. Apricots on the Nile by Collette Rossant is touching and takes you away to another place and time. For the win it includes recipes from the region.

[realpestilence.livejournal.com]

I just remembered-Bill Bryson's 'In A Sunburned Country', about his travels in Australia. He obviously loves the country and the people, and he's both amusing and thoughtful in his presentation. All of his books are interesting, but this one is my favorite.

[gnatmarie.livejournal.com]

I love Wise Child, Juniper, and Colman by Monica Furlong. I can re-read them fifty million times and I will never get sick of them...:)
I also really enjoy reading anything by Garth Nix, especially Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen.

I also really enjoyed the Tales of the Otori as well...
And I dunno if you'll enjoy it as much as I have, but I liked Misfortune by Wesley Stace.
BTW, just so you know, I friended you! ♥♥♥