Comments on: Friday Fluff: Books that get better and better

By: Lighty

Lighty — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:05:05 +0000

Reading through the archives, though massively late, I feel the need to comment because y’know: it’s about books!

The Inkheart Trilogy by Cornelia Funke, though I’ve never read it in the original german (as I can’t), is exquisite, and I not only want but need to re-read them.

A book that grew on me, and still continues to, from not finishing the first chapter out of boredom to searching out the sequels, is Anne of Green Gables. I’m not quite sure why, but it’s quirky and a good tale and with every read I love it more. I think spacedcowgirl has already mentioned it above.

Best for last is the His Dark Materials Trilogy which I loved before I read it because as a kid I had read the titles. It never occurred to me to read them, and in all likelihood at six or seven would not have got it. Then I did, I don’t know how, I don’t even remember the first time, it’s been that long ago and that many rereads. It goes from them being titles on a shelf at home to being the most amazing books. They’re my designated ‘favourite’ books, I read them, and start again as soon as I’ve finished.

Also fillyjonk mentioned Good Omens, which I just can’t leave out now and must second as it got, if possible, better on rereading.

I have to stop myself there, as this list could go on a long, long time.

By: CassandraSays

CassandraSays — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:55:41 +0000

OK, sorry for the multiple comments but…yeah, Stephen King. He’s one of the very few male authors who seems to totally Get It in terms of women being people. This wasn’t so obvious in his early books, but as time went on…well, I remember reading Gerald’s Game and being all “holy shit, a man wrote this?”.

By: CassandraSays

CassandraSays — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:50:43 +0000

Oh, also The Canterbury Tales, those never get old.

By: CassandraSays

CassandraSays — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:49:53 +0000

Almost anything by Terry Pratchett (except the books with Rincewind, those are kind of annoying). I didn’t expect his books to be funnier the second and third time, but they are.

Also Notes from The Underground, 1984, Animal Farm, Sherri Tepper’s “Raising the Stones” and “The Family Tree”, and both “Dead Souls” and Gogol’s short stories.

Dude, what is it with me and gloomy Russian novels/dark humor? I guess it must be a residual goth thing.

By: Lady Lately

Lady Lately — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:09:15 +0000

I’m a major fantasy girl, and I’d have to say Ms. Robin Mckinley my absolute comfort-food author. I can reread her for like a week solid, and I read pretty damn fast.

By: Mary

Mary — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 04:15:11 +0000

Jane Eyre and all of Austen, but particularly P&P and Persuasion. Great feminist classics, in my view. I also adore Northanger Abbey because it is just a symphony of snideness and a great take-off of gothic novels. I still blush with mortification for Catherine when Henry finds her out. And the part at the end about her parents deliberately not noticing that sh was getting frequent letters.

Connie Willis, every word. Despite knowing all the jokes I laugh my ass of at Bellwether every time I read it. If you love Dilbert you MUST read Bellwether. And Doomsday Book is sublime.

I LOVE Daddy Long Legs, and hardly anyone knows about it. So many excellent authors have died in childbirth, Jean Webster and Charlotte Bronte among them.

I love all of Charles deLint too.And gaining Marmee’s perspective in Little Women is interesting! And my brother was braindead for years starting at nineteen, and LW was a comfort because I felt for him what Jo felt for Beth.

Anything by L’Engle. A Swiftly Tilting Planet is one I go back to often. Also Deerskin and Beauty by Robin McKinley.

Sheri Tepper. Joyce Carol Oates. George Eliot. I think The Scarlett Letter imporves with time as well.

Comfort books indeed! BTW, I read the comfort food thread and was forced (FORCED!) to make creamed peas, which I consumed a half pound of.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:53:47 +0000

@ kateharding:

I only read The Scarlet Letter once, in high school, and I was scarred for life. I’m afraid to read it again to see if it got better or worse. :)

I loved his short story “Rappacini’s Daughter”, though.

(Available here: http://www.shsu.edu/~eng_wpf/authors/Hawthorne/Rappaccini.htm )

By: nuckingfutz

nuckingfutz — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 19:47:27 +0000

Oh thank you, Tari, thank you! How could I forget Shel Silverstein???? Especially considering I just did a blog post about him a few weeks back, after introducing my 7 year old to the genius that is Shel Silverstein. :D

By: Tari

Tari — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 19:29:13 +0000

Okay, so I have to nod along with a lot of what’s been mentioned…although I am another not-so-Potter and have never had the urge to pick up The Time Traveler’s Wife. My shortlist:

* Poetry (yes I’m that geeky!) – Cummings, Millay, Frost, Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Shel Silverstein. Aw, yeah.

* Anything, but anything, by Patricia McKillip. Her prose reads like poetry. Gorgeous writing.

* Political satire. Al Franken, Joseph Amann and Tom Breuer, Keith Olbermann…I’m slightly lefty. Some of this requires tolerating some anti-fat bias, though.

* “Waking the Moon” by Elizabeth Hand. It’s dark and twisty and not usually my style, but there’s something about it that brings me back to it again and again.

Yay books!

By: OlderThanDirt

OlderThanDirt — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 19:15:06 +0000

I remember reading that when Le Guin sent the manuscript in for Always Coming Home she had to persuade someone that she didn’t need copyright permission from the Native American tribe she was describing because they didn’t exist. For those who have read it: in my mind, I build a summer house every year.

I re-read constantly and if under stress, it’s about the only kind of reading I can do. Ursula K. Le Guin and Connie Willis have created people and worlds I can live in and not be a stranger. I depend upon being able to go there and be refreshed and renewed.

About recorded books, I just recently started listening in the car and thought that it would be better to get light stuff to listen to since my attention would be divided. WRONG! I never realized that prose I could read might not be prose I could listen to. If the book isn’t very well written, I just can’t do it. You can’t skim recorded books. However, P.G. Wodehouse is unbelievably wonderful to listen to. I can’t recommend it enough. Also Patrick O’Brien.