Bookworm

[allana]

The postman brought goodies today!

Lately I've been Jones-ing for some Batman/Joker stories (in the most innocent sense, I'm not quite ready to read that pairing), but alas the big two are out of print. Dave--bless him--managed to win an auction for The Killing Joke; I've just curled up in bed and read it for the first time and all I can say is, "Wow!". Great story, perfect art, and yeah... those two have a very twisted relationship. We should all gang up and make Alan Moore write more Batman arcs.

Also in the post came Batman: Gothic which I haven't cracked open yet, a hefty pile of graphic novels for Dave which I was too sleepy to investigate, and Lynn Flewelling's "The Bone Doll's Twin" which is really rather fabulous. Which reminds me, I meant to pass on this link at the time, but I forgot. Shame on me.

oracne had a discussion in her LJ back in July about Big Gay Fantasy books--her words, not mine--which is chock-full of recommendations and thoughts on why it's mainly women writing queer characters into fantasy and other genres. Slash writers are taking over the world, it seems.

While I snagged The Bone Doll's Twin from the above discussion, it isn't a gay novel. It does have it's own special quirks which I shan't spoil for you--be warned, the first review at Amazon does contain spoilers. Can't Amazon put less spoilery reviews at the top?--and somewhat amazingly, it's epic. But not in that horrible waffly Tolkein-esque way. It's all the best bits of fantasy and world-building without huge detailed meta description. It's tight. (Which is a relief to me as I was getting rather fed-up and jaded. Who wants to read pages of description about how they discovered the perfect reeds to make faux-medieval toilet-paper with? That's the sort of detailed description that makes so many fantasy novels stagnate until the reader hurls the tome against the wall.)

So far it's a fairly emotional read without being angst-ridden. It's more a churned up confusion that I'm getting from it. (Can you tell that I don't review books often, huh?) Anyway, highly enjoyable and assuming that it doesn't go downhill in the next 250 pages, I'll be ordering the rest of the trilogy this afternoon.

I love books.

Comments

[madandy.livejournal.com]

Killing Joke! KILLING JOKE! Somebody else that's read it and loves it! *Snogs Ang senseless*

I love that graphic novel. I think I've got it somewhere... must dig it out...

[glam-ang.livejournal.com]

You should! It'll save you anywhere between a tenner and £75 quid for a used copy--I can't believe that it tops so many 'Must-Have' Batman lists and yet it's out of print.

It's a fantastic book, from the silent beginning to the not-so-silent ending. And the colour palette!! (After listening to the new Comic Geek Speak podcasts, I'm so much more interested in the detail and work put into the colouring.)

*snogs back*

[nikki-tikki.livejournal.com]

Lynn Flewelling ROCKS!!! I have her Nightrunner Trilogy and dude, that's one of my favorite books ever - and I usually distaste fantasy written by female authors. :)

[glam-ang.livejournal.com]

I'll probably buy the Nightrunner Trilogy too. I am loving the Tamir Trilogy thus far. I ordered the second book when I was less than two hundred pages into the first :P And I'm gutted to discover that the third book is due out in May 06!

She's a gem of a find :D

[nikki-tikki.livejournal.com]

She's just such a good writer, IMHO. I say so because (A) I can imagine myself in the world she describes, (B) I totally believe in her characters.

Tamir books weren't translated into Russian. :( And there's no way I can get them in English around here. However, the Nightrunner Trilogy was very decently translated.

I even sent my fanart to the woman. And you know what, she responded saying she liked it. And it's now on her site. In the gallery. :)

[bella-cheval.livejournal.com]

I love, love, love books and I'll have to check out the one you just recommended. Hublet is scared when I go into a bookstore as I can come out with an entire car load of books, drooling the whole time. I tell him not to worry, they'll all get read and he usually says, "You need to donate some of them to the library or something; we're running out of space."

The HORROR!!

I haven't read anything good lately, other than the new MOTHER EARTH and the latest AQHA Journal. Meh. I really need to get lost in a couple of good novels and soon.

[glam-ang.livejournal.com]

With the price of books these days, I'm trying to minimise my buying. I find it hard to justify paying £6.99 for a rather thin book when a couple of rows along, there's a Tom Clancy with about 900 pages for the same price.

These days I'm just buying books that I know the library won't stock. Which is pretty much anything edgy, speculative or interesting.