Floating

[fredericks]

*sigh*
Have you ever finished a book and just...like, it's like friggin' afterglow? You're sort of floating and everything else is soft around the edges and you're all good? THAT's how Kirith Kirin left me. The last thing I read that had me remotely in the same league was Sea of Silver Light, the last book in Tad Williams' Otherland series, and even then things weren't right because Williams was too damn good; I knew all the people I'd journeyed with weren't going to leave with a "Happily Ever After". Grimsley gave me an out with Kirith Kirin and I, for one, intend to run with it and smile and not look back. Whee! So what if Jessex was a mite Sue-ish? The prose was *beautiful*, the magic was intriguing, and the book could have gone on for 500 more pages without me complaining (I actually read all the bloody *appendices*, fer Chrissake!). What makes me sad is that the book is currently out-of-print. I'm sorely tempted to "lose" the copy I got from the library, but I don't think I could live through the guilt of depriving other patrons what I've experienced. Damn my morals. The promising part is that I picked up another Grimsley book that's sort of set in the same world of Kirith Kirin so *squee*.

Okay, I'm controlled. I'm cool.

One more minute - I wish I was able to selectively delete memory so I could re-live reading this book fresh. Yeah, I liked it that much. I want to write Grimsley a fangirly letter thanking him for putting his work to paper. I think I will, once I'm able to collect my thoughts on the book so I'm not typing out "squeeeeeee!" Totally squee.

Really and truly cool now.

One more week of clinicals. Huzzah! There are less than two weeks of school left. Startling.

Just curious: what books have y'all read that have left you strongly moved in either a negative or positive way? and why (because the why's important on occasion)?

Comments

[frosty-pickle.livejournal.com]

No, I have never read a book like that.

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's a shame. It's always fun to come across something really engrossing, I think.

[theoban.livejournal.com]

Probably when I first finished the Farseer trilogy, I put them down and basked in the warm glow of a well-finished book.

Others I've enjoyed, and raced to the finish, but not had that same 'glow'.

Except for 'Small Gods' by Pratchett - makes me weep like a baby at the end of that, every time!

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

Four more books to add to my book list! I've heard tons about Farseer but I've never managed to pick them up. Thank goodness for library cards.

[writer-lilies.livejournal.com]

Positive: Dragonlance Annotated Chronicles by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman- It's pretty close to how I want my book structured and the notes in the margins add a lot of interesting insight.

In Between: A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore- Funny as hell. Interesting take on something depressing. Not the best ending.

Negative: American Gods by Neil Gaiman- He kept veering away from the main storyline. It's all right to do every now and then, but constantly. I skipped like 50 pages and wasn't the least bit confused. Then I stopped reading.

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

Re: DL - I've not read the annotated version. Do they talk about the writing process? or what went into creating the worlds (as in the oft-quoted "we were role playing and _____ started doing a raspy voice for the mage character and we knew that's what Raistlin sounded like")?

Re: A Dirty Job - yeah, I read that fairly recently. Lamb's a weird one. I too thought it was funny and also had my quibbles with the ending. More that I knew the daughter's role from the beginning and couldn't believe the dude would be so slow on the uptake.

Re: AG - I didn't see him as veering away so much and weaving threads that came together. As Shadow's journey was the main storyline IMO and he kept pretty close to following him.

[anogete.livejournal.com]

I'm definitely sticking that book on my to-read list. If only the list wasn't so long. There's not enough time in the world for my interests. I should be paid to be a fangirl.

As for books that have bestowed the afterglow on me...I can only think of two that really, truly did.

Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. It's a fantasy novel about a strong wizard who invades a country with his army. One of the provinces fights back especially hard and his son is killed in the battle. His immediate reaction is to crush that province and cast a powerful spell across the penninsula that will wipe the knowledge of that province from the minds of everyone. The only people that can recall it are those who were born there, and they can't even say the name aloud. The spell distorts the name, making it impossible to tell everyone their legacy. It's just one of those really gorgeous books filled with characters that are real. There isn't really a good side or a bad side. Most of the major characters are in that grey area, even some of the "good" guys. I found it very realistic and very heartbreaking. I think I actually hugged the book when I finished with it.

The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster. This one is about a man whose family dies in an accident. He's devestated and nearly kills himself over the period of several months. One night he sees a special on television that chronicles the life and works of a silent film star named Hector Mann who disappeared decades before. Hector's film clips actually make him laugh, so he takes on a personal mission of finding all of Hector's films, watching them, and then writing a book on the life of the silent film star who mysteriously disappeared. Just as he completes the book, he receives a letter from a woman claiming to be Hector's wife. She tells him that Hector is still alive, and would like to meet him. Eventually, he goes to see Hector and discovers that Hector has been making movies all these years using a small group of actors on a ranch in rural New Mexico. These "films" are described in great deal, and I wish that they were actual films so I could watch them. The book is very melancholy and beautifully written. Part of my connection to it is purely personal because the end of the book touches on one of the fears of a long distance relationship, and I was in one of those for several months. Really powerful stuff.

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

*grin* I'm going to be a punk here and ask if the books you mentioned were downers. I have a thing about downer endings. I can take them only once a blue moon. I'm such a punk, I know. But I'll add them to the list. The first in particular sounds encouraging.

[alicetheowl.livejournal.com]

Onion Girl by Charles de Lint. It's about a girl who ran away from her home YEARS ago, because she was being sexually abused by her brother, and her mother didn't believe her. She ended up out on the streets, homeless and turning tricks for drugs, until a charity worker found her, cleaned her up, and helped her get her life on track. When the books begins, she's a successful painter, and is known as the person you come to if you need to be cheered up.

Then, her younger sister catches up with her, wanting revenge for being abandoned in that house.

At the time I read it, I'd just had a fire in my apartment building, and was bemoaning my fate. Reading that book, I realized how easy I'd always had it, and how much more enriching your life can be if you bear it all with a smile.

And the magical-type elements in the book helped. ^ v ^

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

Onion Girl sounds quirky, in a good way. Weird, as de Lint's stuff tends to be. Added to the ever-growing book list. :)

[alicetheowl.livejournal.com]

Awesome. ^ v ^

Yeah, I'm a huge de Lint fan.