I need a "BOOKS!" icon...

[tzikeh]

Books I'm currently somewhere in the middle of, all of which I would recommend if anyone said "Hey, I need something new to read..."

The latest from Christopher Moore: The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror
The latest from Terry Pratchett: Going Postal
The latest from Tom Carson: Gilligan's Wake
The first from Susanna Clarke: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

and re-reading Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.

Man, I've read more in the six weeks since I quit my job then I read in the previous two years combined. Ahhh, sweet, sweet books. How I have missed you.

Comments

[movies-michelle.livejournal.com]

Oooh, new Christopher Moore? And, hm, is this in any way connected to the rather dim-bulbed angel from Lamb?

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

In fact it *is* Raziel, but the story is entirely separate from Lamb. Moore likes to do that (c.f. Catch the Demon from Practical Demonkeeping showing up in Lamb as well...)

[movies-michelle.livejournal.com]

Cool. I was just having the urge to re-read Lamb, so it's tempting to read the new one.

Of course, at some point I suppose I should read Fluke, which I've had for about six months....

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Yes, and also Practical Demonkeeping, The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, and Island of the Sequined Love Nun. Characters from each of these make cameos in The Stupidest Angel.

[dragovianknight.livejournal.com]

I keep eyeing Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Sell me on it?

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

Hm. Well, I'm only about 50 pages into it, having had to wait until my husband finished it (as he got to it first, damn him).

I find the writing style (and, occasionally, the spelling) interestingly archaic - it puts me in mind of things written in the 1800s. And it has fake footnotes, which happen to be one of my favorite devices. So it's half like reading a history, and half like reading a fantasy novel that dropped through a time warp.

[elynross.livejournal.com]

Well, I just started it, and I'm hooked already. Footnotes! Snarky magicians! Novel of manners with magic! I'm planning on taking the day off tomorrow and just burying myself in it. If you've read Stevermer&Wrede's Cecilia and the Chocolate Pot or A Scholar of Magics or The Grand Tour and liked them, or Randall Garrett's Lord Darcy books, or have a fondness for Jane Austen, perhaps, then I'd give it a go.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Well, I started reading it in the bookstore and immediately had to buy it. I was quite simply hooked. It's early 19th-century Alternate Universe London, and magic is a legitimate field of study. Everyone who studies magic is "a Magician"; according to them, actual practicioners of the art haven't existed in hundreds of years. Except! What if the "Magicians" are wrong and there *are* still real, practicing magicians! A-ha! But none of the "Magicians" believe it! Except then Mr. Norrell offers to proves them wrong! But *now* what will they do, as they've had to give up their title of "Magician" since they actually aren't, and everything they've believed is wrong! And will magic help England win the war?

Stay tuned...

SOLD!

[dragovianknight.livejournal.com]

::reads all the responses::

::grins::

::toddles off to Amazon.com::

*stealth*

[secret-anon.livejournal.com]

or

Re: *stealth*

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Oh wow.

These are cool!

... who are you?

Re: *stealth*

[secret-anon.livejournal.com]

:-P you shall not know my sekrit identity!