Bitchery reader Falon gave me a heads up to a book she really, REALLY enjoyed, as in, read the whole dang thing in one sitting. As I am a sucker for YA, I’m going to look for it next time I visit the book commerce locations online or in Jersey: Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr. Have you read it? What’d you think?
Then, Early Ink maven Mollie forwarded me a really cool link to a UK publications catalog. The Bookseller
uses a program called Ceros to publish their Autumn Paperback Preview – and damn, does it kick the crap out of Adobe in terms of function, zooming, and ease of use.
Both links got me thinking – time to consult the reading power of the Bitchery. What are you reading now that you’re digging? And what are you looking forward to in upcoming releases?
To those who are ambivalent about Christopher Moore and wondering why everyone else seems to rave, my own experience has been as follows:
Practical Demonkeeping: really enjoyed it
Lamb: LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it
Bloodsucking Fiends: What???
Island of the Sequined Love Nun: Hmmm.
A Dirty Job: Probably one of my all-time favorite books. The audio version is a howl.
I haven’t yet figured out my up and down with this author, but thanks to the library, I can keep trying.
I’ve just started City of Laughter Sex and Satire in Eighteenth-Century London by Vic Gatrell which is a facinating look into a period of history that is almost the opposite of what most people assume it was like
I have a coworker who’s going through some health issues right now and needs ‘light’ reading for the Dr.s visits etc.
She’s new to the Romance Genre’ so I started digging through my favs and re-reading a few myself—-
Ashworth’s “Winter Garden”
Crusies “Getting Rid of Bradley”
Claybourne’s “Ghost of a Chance”
Dodd’s “Once a Knight”
Saunder’s “Enchanted Time”
Liu’s “Tiger Eye”
And of course Evanovich’s ‘Plum’ series
I also dug out
Al-Rawi’s “Grandmother’s Secrets”
Me?
I’m REALLY looking forward to another Stephanie Plum book (sue me, I’m excited that we’re having chili dogs in the cafeteria for lunch too).
Plus Lisa Marie Rice has a book coming out in August….She’s in my top 10 of “The woman reads my mind!” authors. 🙂
darlynne: I’m with you on the Moore. I thought I must have dropped a ‘funny’ chromosome, because I could never get into his work. Then I read LAMB. What a great book!
Liz C: When it comes to Shana Abe, I always buy it the second I see it. I quite liked DREAM THIEF, though it’s very different in tone than SMOKE THIEF: an I’m really looking forward to the third.
The only Christopher Moore I could really get into was Lamb. Very funny alternate history of the life of Jesus. I’m Jewish; it’s possible that devout Christians might find it offensive.
As I’m on vacation, I’ve been alternating between YA books and romances. I just finished London Calling by the talented Edward Bloor. It’s about a young boy in the present who dreams of helping another boy in 1940 London during the Blitz – is it really a dream or is it more? A very good story.
On tap is Jacob by Jacquelyn Frank. I haven’t started it yet, so no opinion there.
I finished Michelle Sagara’s Cast in Shadow – great character, horrific editing and Eloisa James’ Desperate Duchesses – I too enjoyed the secondary characters far more than the hero and heroine.
I am looking forward to Libba Bray’s newest (especially as I’ve met her twice and have a signed sneak peek of book #3) and have the ARC of David Levithan and Rachel Cohn’s new book – they wrote the spectacular Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.
As for the person who is about to read Fables: they are spectacular!! I am lucky enough to be in charge of ordering the graohic novels at my library and have made sure we own each and every one.
I realized I said spectacular twice, but it is nonethless true and I meant to say graphic novels, not graohic novels.
I (heart) Christopher Moore.
I just finished reading Rachel Caine’s Weather Wardens #3 (have to buy #4 and #5), and just started the first in Carrie Vaughn’s KITTY books. I recently read Colleen Gleason’s RISES THE NIGHT (adored it!) and Toni McGee Causey’s BOBBIE FAYE’S VERY (VERY, VERY, VERY) BAD DAY (hysterically funny).
And I have in my TBR pile:
DEMON MOON
EYE OF CROW
A HUNGER LIKE NO OTHER
FORBIDDEN MAGIC
GREYWALKER
Vicki Pettersen’s first Zodiac book
Oy, so many others…
((giggle—“boys69”))
I discovered Julia London when I bought the School for Heiresses anthology because it featured a story by Liz Carlyle and I’ve enjoyed some her books.
Since then, I’ve read Julia London’s The Hazards of Hunting a Duke—which was wonderful; The Perils of Pursuinging a Prince—which I enjoyed so much I had to send an email to JL to tell her so (and she emailed me back! Yipee!); and Highlander Unbound—which is the first in her Highlander trilogy and is also fantastic.
Also read a couple of her contemporary romances—Beauty Queen, and Miss Fortune, which were not bad, though not nearly as strong as her historicals.
Can’t wait for the third book that will follow The Perils of Pursuing a Prince—it’s due out in November, I think.
If you’re looking for something new, Julia London is great!
Nat, if you’re into that time-travelly thing, take a look at The Cat in the Mirror. It’s about 30 years old, and difficult to find, but really good. Similar to your novel, but set in modern day and ancient Egypt.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0440911230/ref=wl_it_dp/104-6460949-7066313?ie=UTF8&coliid=I140N3MQ5N8GYW&colid=38G0Z94UYNNMA
I finished Michelle Sagara’s Cast in Shadow – great character, horrific editing
Did you notice that literally every other sentence (no exaggeration) had ‘said quietly’. And where she didn’t have ‘said quietly’ it was ‘said softly.’ Did these people whisper the entire book?
I managed to finish Cast in Shadows, though my eye twitched the whole time. Tried Cast in Courtlight, but it had the same editing nightmare. One of the few times that editing and repetition ruined a book for me.
Just finished Magic Bites, really enjoyed it. Can’t wait for the next book.
Tried Vicki P. Zodiac series, not for me.
Judith Ivory Black Silk : I liked that this book was different for the norm. Really good.
Resenting the hero & the hero strikes back by Moira J Moore. Loved loved loved loved loved…
Gabriel’s Ghost by Linnea Sinclair, I found boring. Hero lied a little to often for me.
I’m undecided about Stray by Rachel Vincent. It was alright, heroine was a bit of a pain in the ass.
I grabbed the first Vicki Petterson Zodiac out of the TBR yesterday and ground through about half of it. There’s about a 30 percent chance I’ll finish it and absolutely no chance I’ll read another one.
She totally lost me at the point where Dear Heroine just stood there while the dude cut on her sister… Because if she took some action, he’d… cut her some more? Be agitated into killing her? CLEARLY once a nutjob starts carving a woman up like a turkey, he’ll let her go if the audience just keeps quiet and doesn’t make any sudden moves. Armed to the teeth and trained in Krav Maga, and she just STOOD THERE AND WATCHED.
Sweet Jesus nightlight…
I also couldn’t get into the Zodiac books. I had gotten an ARC and liked it up until the heroine got plastic surgery to look like her sister.
That idea just really bothered me, because I had this mental image of the heroine in my head and then the author was asking me to do a 180 change.
I’m so surprised people really liked The Historian. That was a wall-banger for me…all that build-up, and then mweh.
Emmy – thanks for the recommendation. I interlibrary loaned the book immediately. It looks like a good read!
Jepad – the said quietly and whispered didn’t bother me as much as the. very. short. sentences. Those drove me nuts as did her use of the words “not” and “as if.” I too, got through it, but my eyes were twitching the entire time as well.
I put aside Gabriel for a fun read titled: Everything I needed to know about being a girl I learned from Judy Blume. It’s an anthology from a slew of authors (mostly YA, but some adult fiction authors) about how reading Judy Blume as a teen helped them. If you are a fan of hers, it’s a great read. I plan to re-read a few titles after finishing the anthology.