| Jun. 26th, 2008 @ 06:31 pm Book Recs! |
|---|
mood:  hot
music: It's Gonna Be A Long Night - Ween
So, it's a toasty 89 degrees F in our AC-less apartment, and the flatmate is hiding in her room with her fan. And I'm with my fan in the living room with my computer on my lap. Why did I have to describe all that? Who knows.
I realize that I've not done a book rec in awhile, and I have some!
If you enjoy dark fiction with a dystopic theme, off-beat fantasy/sci-fi, well-written stories with wonderful characterization, great plot, and just general awesomeness, go out and buy right this instant China Mieville's Bas-Lag series: Perdido Street Station, The Scar, and Iron Council, in that order (with another one scheduled to come out in 2010, according to Wikipedia). I've not yet read Iron Council, but I have read the other two, which are absolutely amazing. Mieville world-builds with a dexterity and thoughtfulness that's sometimes absent in other fantasy/sci-fi, despite its importance. I personally liked The Scar better than Perdido Street Station, simply because of how he wove the entire story together and brought together one particular motif, that of scars, as well as coming up with this idea of the city of Armada -- astounding! These books are difficult to describe, but absolutely take my work and go read them right now.
Overall: 5 stars out of 5.
This is a more tentative rec. Gale Colette's "erotic retelling of The Phantom of the Opera" Unmasqued. It's...interesting. It's one of those guilty pleasures, where you know it's a terrible book, horribly-written and over-the-top, and yet you enjoy it immensely. It's, as it says, an erotic retelling of Phantom (and I'm a sucker for Phantom retellings, sequels, etc.), and there was a lot more kinky sex than I had expected. Like, BDSM sex, and absolutely every character thinks almost entirely only of sex, kinky sex, almost to the point of distraction. Almost. There is basically at least one sex scene every chapter, but it wasn't as overpowering as all the terrible porn in Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife, for example. I enjoyed it, and I laughed at it and myself. It's a fun read that is, by no means, a well-written book. Oh, and it's fairly obvious that the author is taking the story from the movie with Emmy Rossum and Gerard Butler much more than the original movie, the musical, or the original novel, but -- again -- not to the point of disruption.
Overall: 2.5 out of 5.
I love that I can read on the bus and during lunch hour. I'm busy all over times, but at least I've got those times. Hm, what to read next... |
blank
annoyed
tired
bitchy
hungry![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
excited
geeky
calm
creative
