I've seen this meme floating around for a while. Nobody's tagged me (that's fine by me), but I wanted to post about it anyway.
Last book read: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, on audiobook. A wonderful, wonderful book.
Where it came from: Audible.com
Books read per year: Probably about 45 or 50. I was keeping a list last year, and I think I had about 59 or something.
Favorite genre: Science fiction and fantasy, no question. I've read books in this genre since I was in grade school. These days I tend to read a little more fantasy, but I think that's mostly because more good stuff is being written in fantasy than in SF. I particularly like books in which the fantastic realms are just around the corner from us (metaphorically or literally). Charles de Lint, Robert Holdstock and Neil Gaiman write this kind of thing very well. Susanna Clark did a lovely job of it in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell too.
The books I read have to be well-written and/or have a really good story. And I'm kinda picky and a little quirky about what I consider "well-written." Stephen King, for example, almost always tells good stories, but he doesn't always write well (IMHO). I'll even venture outside my genre ghetto for well-written stuff (see Patrick O'Brian novels, mentioned below.) I don't read much non-fiction; if I do, it's usually a popular science book, often on physics or astronomy. History bores me, alas. It's a personal failing.
Five favorite books:
The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle. This has been my favorite book almost since I first read it in 1968. I have lost track of how many times I've read it. I read it for heartsease. I read it for fun. I've read it so much I've thoroughly internalized lots of phrases and sentences in the book. Whenever I'm concentrating really hard and the tip of my tongue sticks out of my mouth, I think of Prince Lír. Whenever I see something that amazes me enough that I laugh out loud, I think of this passage, where two men see the unicorn (who they think is a white mare) leap over a fence:
But the men had not yet reached the pasture gate when the white mare jumped the fence and was gone into the night like a falling star. The two men stood where they were for a time, not heeding the Mayor's commands to come back; and neither ever said, even to the other, why he stared after the magician's mare so long. But now and then after that, they laughed with wonder in the middle of very serious events, and so came to be considered frivolous sorts.
Keeping alive a sense of wonder is really important to me. There's magic out there, people, if only we can see it.
Bridge of Birds, by Barry Hughart. Subtitled "A Novel of an Ancient China that Never Was," this book is a delight. Master Li (a sage with a slight flaw in his character) and Number Ten Ox go through lots of adventures to try to find the elixir that will save the children of Ox's village. I haven't read it as many times as The Last Unicorn, but I've read it a lot. Barry Hughart used bits and pieces from Chinese legends in his story. It's a lovely story, and I always cry at the end of it too.
After the first two, the choice gets a little trickier. Lemme see...
The Aubrey-Maturin novels of Patrick O'Brian. Ok, this is cheating. There are actually 20 (yes, 20) volumes in this series. And they're dense, 19th-century style novels full of obscure terms from the age of sail. (There are companion books that contain definitions, maps, and even recipes for things found in the books.) But most of all, there's the two characters Jack Aubrey* and Stephen Maturin. While some books are more engrossing than others, in 20 volumes, I was rarely weary of what was going on, and when Patrick O'Brian died, I grieved that I wouldn't see Jack and Stephen in their future lives.
Hogfather, by Terry Pratchett. This was my first exposure to Terry Pratchett, and it remains one of my absolute favorites. One of its themes is Myth and primal things, and how we tone them down just so we can look at them. It's also really funny. Terry P. is an absolutely amazing writer, and laugh-out-loud funny lots of the time.
Speaking of laugh-out-loud funny, I guess I should include my favorite P.G. Wodehouse book. The Code of the Woosters is a Bertie and Jeeves novel, and one of his funniest. It has all the usual Wodehouse trademark stuff -- cow creamers, soppy girls and not-so-soppy girls, Bertie getting pulled out of the soup by Jeeves, etc. P.G. Wodehouse is someone else who has greatly influenced my use of the English language. When I got married last year, I kept looking to see if someone would give me a fish-slice, but alas, no one did. :-)
Addendum: Favorite books sources
In these latter days, I find it hard just to sit down and read without doing anything else. I used to be able to knit and read at the same time, but the combined difficulties of keeping a print book open and out of the way of the knitting, and the sorry state of my bifocals have mitigated against doing much of that anymore. More and more I find that most of my reading is done on my PDA (a Palm Zire 71). I have two ebook programs: Mobipocket Reader and eReader. I get ebooks from both Mobipocket and eReader, as well as from Fictionwise. Lately, since money's been tight, I've been picking up some older stuff at Project Gutenberg. I've read the wonderful books by E. Nesbit they have available, as well as some vintage books by A. Merritt, Lord Dunsany, and William Morris. These texts are free for the download. And Mobipocket Pro has a utility that will convert .txt files to files that are readable on your Palm device. I go to bed with my Zire71 in my hand. I can turn off the light and read by the light of the Zire. Since I hold it close to my face, I don't need my glasses to read. If I fall asleep, 2 minutes later, the display turns off. I get a surprising amount of reading done this way. And if I wake up in the middle of the night (not uncommon), I just grab my Zire and read till I fall asleep again.
I bought my first PDA (a Handspring Visor) about a week after I found out that you could read books on PDAs. I can also listen to my Audible files on it as well. I heart my Zire.
And I have a Preferred Reader membership at Audible.com. It's much easier to use now that I have a fast internet connection, and I can download the audiobooks straight onto my own computer. You can listen to books and do other things at the same time. A win-win situation, in my book. (heh heh)
Of course, my husband is the manager of a bookstore, and he brings stuff home for me too. Sometimes I get to see advance reader copies of books and read them before they actually hit the stores. Woo hoo!
I won't pass this along to anyone in particular. I just like to read, and wanted to blab about books.
*You don't want to know what I think of Russell Crowe as the lead in the movie. Trust me on this.
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