She is too fond of books and it has addled her brain...

[laliandra]

Hey m'dears!

I hope you had a Christmas as awesome as you are (so, VERY).

I had a most delightful time. I have Beedle the Bard to get reading and then discuss with SQ peeps. I have had the thremedon LJ spotlight week of sheer EPICNESS to enjoy. I will still have time to read some more and maybe write some.

Also, I have the present of BOOK. Let me explain. A few weeks ago I related the following conversation to my Dad.

Wren: I have no idea how you have the time or money to buy books from Amazon.
Me: I'm a freaky speed reader. And I've worked it out, I can afford it if I don't go out at all for a week or two.
Nat: Seriously my love, you fail at being a Young Person. Books over going out, honestly...
Wren: Oh no, Lal would prioritise food over books if we didn't stop her and make her buy groceries.
Nat: So what you're saying is that my girlfriend isn't old before her time, but actually crazy.

So my Dad gave me an Amazon voucher saying "buy books with this and eat!"

So, Amazon vouchers to spend, and about a thousand ideas what to spend them on. So, I'm recruiting you guys!

What would you recommend? What book would you say "this. You must read this, you will Fall In Love with it..

If you are feeling particularily delightful, I would like 3 recs - 1. Fantasy 2. Gen Fiction 3. Non fiction.

And I would be more than happy to recommend books to you, because I am a hopeless Bookworm, Bibliophile, Fanatic and Bookaholic.

Comments

[luchalibrarian.livejournal.com]

I'm not nearly as well read as you are, but I'm quite fond of Jasper Fforde and Christopher Moore.

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

Oh, I LOVE Jasper Fforde. He hits all my bibliophile buttons. And he mentions the Isle of Man! No one ever mentions the Isle of Man!

So (I overuse this word), why Christopher Moore?

xx

[luchalibrarian.livejournal.com]

Christopher Moore is just HILARIOUS. I rec Lamb, Fluke, and Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove. Those are the ones I've read so far. :D

[mcollinknight.livejournal.com]

Where there are book rec requests, there is Colline (don't starve! read!).

1:a- The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch. Wonderful characters, great imagination, and loads of twists (NO-ONE IS SAFE. NO-ONE). Honestly, there was at least something on every page to make me laugh or go "THAT. THAT IS AWESOME."
b- The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman (or, if you haven't read anything by him, start with Neverwhere). Really cool premise for a book.

2:a- The Pact, by Jodi Picoult. A girl dies; she either committed suicide as part of a suicide pact she made with her boyfriend, or was killed by her boyfriend. Very well-written, engrossing, and interesting.
b- A Complicated Kindness, by Miriam Toews. A Mennonite girl trying to come to terms with the disappearance of her mother and sister. Lots of cool symbolism, and a great book (though it may require two readings; everyone I've met who has read it hated it the first time, and loved it the second).

3:a- A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah. A heartwrenching account of how a regular boy becomes a child soldier. Very well-written (I haven't finished it yet... I hope there's a happy ending).
b- 28 Stories of AIDS in Africa, by Stephanie Nolen. It is what it sounds like: little windows into personal stories that also show the plights of larger demographics, like truckers or grandmothers, as well as how individual countries are faring and how we are failing and succeeding. It is honestly an amazing and incredible book, read it if you read none of the others.

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I have heard good things about Scott Lynch. I think he will have to go on my shortlist. The Graveyard Book was already on it, I listened to Neil Gaiman read the whole thing aloud on his book tour (at mousecircus.com) and Neverwhere is on there too, because we all need our own Marquis...

My mum really liked Jodi Picoult, some of her stuff frankly disturbed me as a younger person, but maybe I should give it a go now.

i need to read more non fiction and I was relying on you for recs. So thanks! Again!

Oh man, I do not think my vouchers will stretch far enough...

Today I am recommending la Fee Carabine by Daniel Pennac. Funny and French!

[cellophane_ria.livejournal.com]

Hallo! First comment:D And about books!
In the 1 or 2 category (I suppose it could be fantasy, as they did it in the olden days? ^.^):
The Manuscript Found in Saragossa by Jan Potocki. Story inside the story inside the story!
In 3:
ExLibris: Confessions of a common reader or At Large and at Small: Familiar essays by Anne Fadiman. About reading, and ice-cream, and being a night owl, among many others.

Is Beedle worth buying? I wasn't sure, don't want to be too dissapointed...

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

Hello! I talk about books a lot. And crazy conversations I have with my family and housemates. But yes, I have a Book Addiction.

Reading and ice cream and being a night owl? Sounds just about perfect.

I was given Beedle as a present, I'm not sure I would have bought it with my own money. I would say its about as good as the other spin offs, Quidditch through the ages and Fantastical Beasts.

[isil-helyanwe.livejournal.com]

Hokay, I'm going to list you a bunch of my favourite books, most of which you have probably read:

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess.
The Catcher in the Rye By J.D. Salinger.
Tithe by Holly Black.
Corbenic by Catherine Fisher.
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

You appear to have the same sort of attitude towards literature that I will have once I have to fend for myself.

[isil-helyanwe.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, also anything by Stephen Fry, though I would particularly recommend Moab is my Washpot.

[laliandra.livejournal.com]

I haven't read any Holly Black, and I have heard many excellent things about her from sarahtales, whose judgement I trust implicitly.

Nor have I read Corbenic. What's it about? Why will I love it?

I occasionally worry even myself, I just know that I will end up with a house full of books and little else...

And YES, Stephen Fry, I love him so much. I read Moab is my Washpot and as soon as I finished it started it again!

[isil-helyanwe.livejournal.com]

Corbenic is one of those books which people I've talked to either love or really don't get into. It's a sort of modern parallel of the Arhurian story about the search for the Holy Grail.