What are the three best books you have ever read and what are the three worst? What made them so good or bad? Submitted By |
We-ell, that depends.
My (Current) Favorite Books
(by which I mean they litter the floor by my bed and have horrendously bent spine and dog-eared pages from LOVE)
'Foundation' by Mercedes Lackey
This book just reminded me of why I love to read. I spent the first five chapters sitting there with a huge grin on my face because it was JUST. SO. FUN.
Lackey has a lot of problems with her writing, and for some reason she managed to just neatly cover them up. Mags' accent doesn't annoy me like I thought it would, and I find him genuinely likeable, unlike Talia. Ultimately, they're two very similar characters - but for some reason Mags just gets me in an entirely different way to Talia. Talia seemed to be trying too hard to be pathetic, and just was idiotic. Mags on the other hand has perfectly reasonable reasons for his fear - reasons that could feasibly take that long to figure out.
Dallen is awesome, also, and it's always nice to read about the other Collegia, so a book where two of the three main characters belong to Healers and Bardic respectively, and the fact that they're both very realistic and very easy to like is so wonderful.
The other reason I love it is for the same reason my mother loves Pride & Prejudice & Zombies - all these horrible people get their asses handed to them.
Trickster's Queen by Tamora Pierce
Actually, I love Trickster's Choice too, but I like TQ more. Primarily, everything in it is more relevant and more immediate. Aly is far more easy to relate to in this one - which you wouldn't expect. Part of this is that in TC, she spent a lot of time getting over herself (she was still likeable) whereas in TQ, she spends her time growing as a woman. Her relationship with Nawat is sweet and, most fantastically of all, realistic, even though she's a spy and he's a crow. They act like real couples act, they get into fights and worry. Aly's interaction with the others is just as sweet and funny as ever (Ulasim: Ah, it is as I expected - you sleep with one eye half-open). The only issue is that, even from TC on, you could blatantly see the plot twist about Dove and Sarai.
Otherwise, it's wonderful to see Pierce try something new, and in particular see her style grow and her competence with emotions. Where Song of the Lioness and The Immortals Quartet left me cold, the Daughter of the Lioness duet and the Protectors of the Small make me feel all nice and warm and cuddly - even as they make me feel sad and horrible and weepy.
Closer by Patrick Marber
Okay, okay, a play script shouldn't count - but screw that, I love Closer. I shouldn't - it's a bitter play, all about sexual politics and people who are so nasty to one another it's insane. No one ends up in the morally right...but in a way it's also a litmus test for the way you view people. Who is most a victim? Anna, who gets objectified beyond belief, or Alice, who loves Dan more than she's loved anyone? Larry, who is lost and rudderless, or Dan, constantly looking for his muse? Who is the most awful? Anna, who has no compunctions about lying to the men she loves, or Alice, who lives a lie? Larry, who manipulates Dan until he's an utter wretch, or Dan, who is an inveterate womanizing scumbag?
A reviewer of the movie made a good point - the title is about people striving to become closer to one another, but only succeeding in pushing one another away.
Books I Think EVERYONE EVERYWHERE Should Read
Slaughterhouse V by Kurt Vonnegut
If you genuinely, honestly, completely think and believe that war is justifiable, that massacres are inevitable and that bombs should be dropped on countries, SLAP YOURSELF IN THE FACE AND GO READ THIS BOOK. And if you haven't read this book, DO THE SAME (BUT WITHOUT THE SLAPPING).
It covers the bombings of Dresden, as well as the way that...
You know what? I can't describe this book, so instead, I'm going to quote it:
"You were just babies then!" she said.
"What?" I said.
"You were babies in the war - like the ones upstairs!"
I nodded that this was true. We had been foolish virgins in the war, right at the end of childhood.
"But you're not going to write it that way, are you." This wasn't a question. It was an accusation.
"I - I don't know," I said.
"Well I know," she said, "You'll pretend you were men instead of babies, and you'll be portrayed in the movies by Frank Sinatra and John Wayne or some of those other glamorous, war-loving, dirty old men. And war will look wonderful, so we'll have a lot more of them. And they'll be fought by babies like the babies upstairs."
So then I understood. It was war that made her angry. She didn't want her babies or anyone else's babies killed in wars. And she thought wars were partly encouraged by books and movies.
So I held up my right hand and I made her a promise:
"Mary," I said, "I don't think this book of mine is ever going to be finished. I must have written five thousand pages by now, and thrown them all away. If I ever do finish it, I give you my word: There won't be a part for Frank Sinatra or John Wayne.
"I tell you want," I said, "I'll call it The Children's Crusade."
It is one of the most beautifully written, tear-jerking, heart-rending, hilarious anti-war books that has ever been written, and if you can still say, when it is all over, that war is a good and just thing, than you have missed the point entirely, and you have not understood the horror that was Dresden.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Another anti-war book, I feel crack-writers in particular should read this as an example of WHAT NOT TO DO. Heller managed it. YOU WILL NOT.
Again, utterly hilarious but, if you're still laughing in the later chapters, there is something seriously wrong with you. It belongs in the same category as Slaughterhouse V - a book that gets its point across through a combination of melancholy and laughter. Like Slaughterhouse V, if you still support war by the end, then there is NO hope for you.
The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde
Okay, so it's a poem. But, like the above two books, it makes a good point - in this case, about the death penalty. If you agree with it by the end of the poem, then I don't know WHAT to do with you.
It is beautiful, absolutely beautiful, with a haunting theme that goes throughout:
Yet each man kills the thing he loves
By each let this be heard
Some do it with a bitter look
Some with a flattering words
The coward does it with a kiss
The brave man with a sword!
Books I HATE
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkein
I hate these books. I hate them I hate them I hate them I hate them. Words cannot express by disgust for them.
There are beautiful moments, I will grant you, but it is so boring, and so mind-numbing, and so utterly, utterly stupid that I simply cannot take it. Do not ask me to. It will not work.
Twilight by Smeyer
Not because Bella is a Mary-Sue - I'm a Lackey and Pierce fan after all. Partly because she is a self-insert. Mostly because they targeted this at fucking teenagers! They targeted a celibate, sexist, misogynistic bodice-ripper at teenagers!
GAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!
If they had aimed it at adults, I wouldn't have minded! But good fucking god! What does Smeyer want our teenage girls to believe?!?!?!?!
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
...Urgh. I know it was the times but the sheer, overwhelming misogyny that echoes throughout the last third of the book leaves a nasty taste in the back of my mouth.
Why, Bronte? You were so close to greatness? Why did you have to turn her into a simpering, festering moron?!?!?!
A/N: Again, not much that can be said. This is entirely your fault, Sage.
Disclaimer: Not mine. The quote this chapter is from Andrew Young.
Title: I Have Heard the Voices Dying
( Chapter Ten: So Easily )
Disclaimer: I'm a bad writer, but not nearly bad enough to have written 'My Immortal', and not good enough to have invented or own the characters mentioned here, except Freya.
( Chapter Thirteen: Snap Out Of It, Man! )
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
emeriin 1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc).
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press play.
4. For every question, type the song that's playing.
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button.
6. Don't lie!
( Fun fun fun in the sun sun sun )
A/N: I apologize deeply for the biology joke. I just...I regressed back to sixteen. I'm sorry! Also, I know I repeated the factoid from last chapter. It just made sense.
Disclaimer: None is mine. And there was much rejoicing.
( In Which Freya Goes Back To Her Roots, Film Brain Bangs His Head Something Chronic And The Testosterone Level Rises By Five Notches )
Next Chapter: Snap Out Of It, Man!
A/N: Not much to say. Apologies for Benzaie being horrendously out of character. I guess I'm just not good at writing him in Outraged Mode.
Disclaimer: None are mine. The somewhat horrid quote this chapter is General William Tecumseh Sherman.
Title: I Have Heard The Voices Dying
( Chapter Nine: And It May Be Well )
Next Chapter: So Easily
Should I post a link to the In SPAAAAAACE tag and post chapters of the Prequel Fic up on the Secret Treehouse? I ask primarily because, although they were linked in the community master list, unless you're looking for it you can't find it.
That, and I really would like some concrit on Prequel Fic. I'm a bit lost with it, as it were, as I have no idea what direction I should take it in next.
Suggestions?
A/N: I would like, yet again, to express my deepest apologies to all and sundry for making you either a bastard, an unfeeling bastard, a wussy or any combination of the above. Yes, I feel very, very ashamed.
Disclaimer: Not mine, for which they are no doubt grateful. The quote this chapter is by H. G. Wells, which, now that I think of it, is oddly appropriate.
Title: I Have Heard The Voices Dying
( Chapter Eight: Everybody And Nobody )
Next Chapter: And It May Be Well
Word Count: 491
Fandom: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Summary: Miss Lupescu's last stand.
Warning: Spoilers.
A/N: Not my best fanfic by any stretch of the imagination, but lord was it fun to write!
( Read more... )
A/N: FINALLY! An update! I apologize if this chapter isn't very funny.
Disclaimer: None of it is mine. Sorry.
( Chapter Eleven: 'Tasteless' Does Not Even BEGIN )
Next Chapter: In Which Freya Goes Back To Her Roots, Film Brain Bangs His Head Something Chronic And The Testosterone Level Rises By Five Notches
But here. Have some meme time! Tagged by
kamitosis 1. If you could meet any deceased historical figure who would it be and what would you talk about?
Hoo boy. My automatic reaction is Shakespeare, but I'd probably collapse into a puddle of undying affection and in any case we wouldn't have much to talk about. I suppose chatting to Homer about his stories would be neat - going through how they evolved from what he originally told and how they developed into the published form today, and how much was lost in translation.
Alternatively, Sappho. That would be awesome.
2. If you found out you won a million dollars but under the condition you had to give a third of it to charity, what would you donate it to?
Starship hospital. Saving little kids FTW!
3. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
Actually, I'm pretty happy here in New Zealand. We're all socialist and weird. I suppose if I had to move somewhere, it would probably be Greece. Meteora, specifically. After all, who doesn't want to live next to naturally-formed pillars of sandstone? Not only is it incredibly beautiful, it also has spectacular monastries, awesome food and a wonderful history, both scientific and anthropological.
4. If you could sleep with any celebrity who would it be?
Oh, the list is long and exhaustive of the celebrities I would sleep with. But if I had to narrow it down...
Let's see. Male: Sean Bean (provided he didn't try to convince me to shift political sides). Female: Natalie Portman. Dear god, Natalie Portman. *sighs happily*
5. If there was any way you could relive one moment of your life and change it, what would it be?
Probably change it so that the whole fiasco following my breakup with Ash didn't happen. At least thanks to Fox I don't feel like such an idiot for running back to probably the worst thing that ever happened to me.
I wouldn't remove Ash entirely from my life, though. When Christmas 2007 happened, he was half the reason I was able to keep going and try and be strong for my family, and that's something I wouldn't change for the world. But running back to Ash...*sigh*.
Now to play along just type GUREITO in the comment box and I will ask YOU 5 questions.
...Okay, now you just know I have to somehow reference that in one of my fics!
The Kittens Of Awesomeness APPROVE!
That is all.
A/N: Jesus this chapter took ages - and went in a completely different direction from what I had planned (hence the chapter name change). Also, should I post this to the comm? I've already got the Master List, which I've been keeping up to date for...no real reason...but I'm not sure if it should go on the comm.
Disclaimer: Not mine. The quote this chapter is from Herodotus.
Title: I Have Heard The Voices Dying
( Chapter Seven: Their Sons )
Next Chapter: Everybody and Nobody
Alas.
I'll miss you, pyro. I'll miss your giggles on my MST posts, your reactions to the 'It was A TREE' joke. I'll miss your memes, your writing, your gleeful squeeing.
I hope whatever is happening in your life sorts itself out. I hope you return to our midst where we will shower you with fics and candy.
More importantly, I hope you're happy.
With affection,
Freya.
- Feeling:
sad
I do not make a very good zombie.
A/N: Finally! Finally! Finally! The fanfic that started all my fics gets finished. Good god.
Disclaimer: Not mine on so many levels it's hilarious.
Title: Of Fireflies, Geeks and Destroying Hypertime
Warnings: Contains possible OOC-ness, my usual gleeful joy of wanton violence and destruction, first person shooters and, bizarrely, sap of levels that would make a redwood jealous.
( Chapter Nine: In Which Many Things Are Resolved )
