fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2383 ]

[ SECRET POST #2383 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2383 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01. http://i.imgur.com/xFMajFq.gif
[Hannibal; moving gif]

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[ ----- SPOILERY SECRETS AHEAD ----- ]

02. [SPOILERS for Hawaii Five-O]

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03. [SPOILERS for Ashes to Ashes/Life on Mars]

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04. [SPOILERS for A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones]

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[ ----- TRIGGERY SECRETS AHEAD ----- ]

05. [WARNING for rape]

[Russell Brand]

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06. [WARNING for sexual assault]

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07. [WARNING for chan/shota]

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08. [WARNING for emotional abuse]

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09. [WARNING for rape/dub-con]

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10. [WARNING for incest]

[Fosters]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 000 secrets from Secret Submission Post #340.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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I'll read pretty much anything if it's good (or if someone has a link to a previous book recs thread, I'll also take that)

There were two recent threads here (http://fandomsecrets.dreamwidth.org/835122.html?thread=668117042#cmt668117042) and here (http://fandomsecrets.dreamwidth.org/834632.html?thread=667683656#cmt667683656), both fantasy-themed.

I know you said you'd read anything good, but to help narrow it down... what are some books have you considered particularly good?

OP

Thank you so much for the links!

I like most genres, but I really enjoy good fantasy, supernatural or mystery books (or books with all of those elements combined). I've enjoyed things like the Odd Thomas Series, Wicked Gentlemen, The Dead Zone, The Nightside series and the Detective Inspector Chen series

If you like mysteries you should try the Flavia de Luce series. I inhaled them and I'm so glad he's still writing more.

Little, Big! by John Crowley! Read it! It's beautiful and brilliant and it's about a family over several generations and the way that they interact with Fairie. I know that "about a family over several generaitons" implies a certain grimness or seriousness, and there is darkness in Little, Big. But on the whole, it's light, interesting, fascinating, and very willing to have its characters be happy. And it's one of the most beautiful books I've ever read.

You should read Bleak House and go on to talk to me about it! =D

Seriously, though, it's long and it's Dickens, but if you're cool with both of those it's the best book I've ever read. It weaves together a very large cast of characters to make a really interesting and enjoyable book.

John Dies at the End by David Wong is a really good horror novel. Also anything by Robert Cormier.

I just watched that movie last night. Have you seen it? If so, does it compare favorably to the book? :)

I have not seen it! I will watch it this weekend and tell you, though. I know it is on Netflix. :D

*nods*

We watched it streaming on Netflix too.

I thought it was a really fun movie; I liked the humor a lot. I hope you enjoy it as well (although I have no way of knowing if it's a good adaptation or not). :)

I just watched that movie! I know I'm not really the person you were responding to but I still want to talk about it so:

I think the movie was decent, but not great. I think it was as faithful to the book as it could possibly be, but I think it kind of suffered from poor direction (especially in the second half) that made it kind of static and it also suffered from the necessity to leave out a ton of stuff from the book just because of time constraints (including both my favorite joke from the book, and some really important thematic stuff). I really really liked all the actors and I think they adapted it as well as they could possibly have done. But when I heard they were adapting my reaction was "how the hell are they going to adapt that book" and , well, it turns out, it was a pretty difficult task. It was a good movie. However, if you liked it, you should really read the book.

Sorry for getting back to you so late. :)

I liked the cast too, especially John. And Paul Giamatti is always fun.

I had an accident today where this thing exploded in my hands and a bunch of white particles came floating after it, and I had an eep! moment where I flashed back to this movie. LOL

Here are some random books from my bookshelves:

Emily of New Moon (by L.M. Montgomery)
The Dark Lord of Derkholm (by Diana Wynne Jones)
Have Space Suit Will Travel (by Robert A. Heinlein)
Zuleika Dobson (by Max Beerbohm)
The Time Machine (by H.G. Wells)
The Gunslinger (by Stephen King)

Hopefully you'll like at least one of them!

I just recced the hell out of this to some coworkers today so this is great timing.... one of my favorite books ever is A.S. Byatt's Possession. It's basically a literary mystery -- two English lit grad students studying two Romantic-era poets discover clues that suggest the two poets (never before known to interact) actually had a love affair, and they piece the clues together through the poets' poetry, letters, journals, and other artifacts. The book alternates between the present action with the grad students and the past action with the poets. A.S. Byatt is an insanely sensitive and elegant writer, AND she also accomplished the amazing feat of recreating the poetry of these fictional writers, one sort of in the style of Tennyson/Coleridge, the other sort of in the style of Christina Rosetti/Emily Dickinson. She's just a genius, and the book is gripping and fun, and I am in love with the character of Maud. Nobody writes "icy on the outside, passionate on the inside" characters like Byatt does.

That's my favorite book too. :) It really encapsulates everything about why I decided to be an English professor.

Have you read any of her other work? I adore her short stories. I think Angels and Insects is brilliant.

Yes! I've read (let's see) The Game, Sugar and Other Stories, Angels and Insects, The Djinn in the Garden, The Matisse Stories, Elementals, The Little Black Book of Stories, and The Children's Book. I've wanted to get into her 4-book series that starts with The Virgin in the Garden, but I just...couldn't get interested for some reason.

I like her short stories (especially Angels and Insects!), but I think Possession is my favorite thing she's ever written. It's satisfying on so many levels. :) Yay for it being your favorite book, too!

I read the first two of that series and then lost interest myself. That was years ago, though. It's on my agenda to re-read them at some point.

I absolutely adored Elementals. That story where the woman turns to stone--fantastic.

How do you feel about Margaret Atwood? I love her as well and I think her writing has such a kinship with A.S. Byatt's writing.

ME TOO. (OMG, that was the other author I was reccing to my friends today!) Yes, I see that kinship, too -- she's another one who writes very cerebral, emotionally reserved women very insightfully, and has a similar elegant command of the English language.

My favorite of hers is either The Robber Bride or Alias Grace. In her case, I find her earlier work really hard to get into -- I read Bodily Harm in college and it made me physically ill (I think that was actually the book that got me to break my rule of having to finish every book I start). Alias Grace seems to me to be her masterpiece, in that all of her talents are in full bloom and all of her weaknesses are quieter than usual. Occasionally she can get snide and, well, bitchy, in her tone of writing, which irritates me, but there was very little of that in Alias, Grace.

I've never read Bodily Harm, but I have read the other books you mention, and they're awesome.

I think my favorites of her novels are The Blind Assassin, Oryx and Crake, and its sequel The Year of the Flood. What I love most, though, are her short stories. Bluebeard's Egg is one of the finest collections of short stories I've ever read (but I've always been a sucker for reworkings of fairy tales).

Vonnegut! I'll be cliche and say read Slaughterhouse-Five (b/c I do genuinely enjoy that book and the bits with the Trafalmadorians). Also, Deadeye Dick and Mother Night. I found Sirens of Titan a bit difficult to read but the ending always gets me.

If you're also open to graphic novels, definitely read Saga. The artwork and character design are kickass (wings and horns and TV heads!) and the story is pretty engaging.

China Mieville; his writing is pretty dense and idk how to even describe the genre--the first one I read was a kind of fusion sci-fi dystopian sociolinguistic psychological thriller. You can read his YA novel first (Un Lun Dun) and if you like it (I do!!) you can look at his other novels which are more...just more.

If you have any interest at all in hard sci-fi, Timothy Zahn and Jack Campbell are both awesome--Zahn has written all the best Star Wars EU novels as well as a butt-load of original sci-fi (and a young adult series that everyone in my family loves), and Campbell has the amazing space-navy series "the Lost Fleet" as well as some other novels.

also in the realm of scifi, David Weber and John Ringo collaborated on the AWESOME March Upcountry series; it's sci-fi, but mostly stranded on a planet...so, like, space marines vs. giant 4-armed aliens (and supply logistics, and weather, and monsters) on a tour through the bronze-iron-early industrial ages. IT's got a glorious sort of 50s space opera aesthetic to it I love.

The 'Rivers of London' series by Ben Aaronovitch. British crime drama, with magic and mythology! And a wonderfully diverse cast*.

*The audiobooks are fan-fuckin'-tastic, too.

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[ SECRET POST #2383 ]

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