Ok, so, we all know it has been a big day for me. I am tired and now stretched out in bed and relaxing. The folks have gone to take the kiddo home and I have some Norah Jones cooing softly from the iPad.
Yeah, I like Norah, get over it!
Any who, so, quiet house, relaxing tunes…. Time for a book!
I thought I might tell you about some of my favorite reads and authors, if you are inclined to know. If not, sorry Charlie!
My folks put books in my hand from a very early age. One of the first books I ever remember reading was Stephen King’s The Shining. Mom, of course, had gone through and read it first, and blacked out all the bad words! I have honestly have read very few of Mr Kings’s novels. I am told he writes an awesome fantasy series, but I just have never gotten into it. I did read Dreamcatcher long before it was made into a not very great movie, but the book was darn good.
I generally stick to fantasy novels. Sword and sorcery, or vampires and werewolves on Triumph motorcycles with the Sidhe and fey folk mixed in.
You can’t talk fantasy without the staples. Tolkien and Lewis. Trust me, if you have never read The Lord of the Rings, go pick the trilogy up! The movies were great, but I read those when I was like twelve or so. I am still mad Peter Jackson left out Tom Bombadil from the first movie! Here, hobbits, these swords are for you……
Yea right! Like that is how it really happened! I wonder how many people just did a google search in a new tab or window, wondering what I am talking about? I bet my buddy Pooh Bah and my brother Wes agree that Jackson is a tool for leaving out ‘ol Tom. Ok, bet you are really googling now! Don’t! Read the books, instead.
There is nothing like getting lost in a volume from Tolkien, let me tell you. Go read The Hobbit- there and back again, before the movie gets done and put in theaters, you will thank me for it.
And as for CS Lewis…. He has written some greats, as well. Narnia ring a bell? Go read it! I doubt they will make any more of those movies, so go see how that story ends. For that matter, see how the story begins! Ever wonder how that wardrobe transported them, or why there was a lamp post out in the middle of the woods? I know, and I ain’t tellin’! Go find out. Seriously, parents, those are great for kids and adults, alike. If your a Christian, you can see the Christian and Godly theme much easier in the books. Check ’em out!
Oh, wow….. Norah just started singing “Turn me on,” and man, that girl can rip one out! Kinda jazzy, kinda blues-ey, that is a great song. Makes me wanna……..
Um….. Moving on, then…..
So, for some other great classics, I would suggest Piers Anthony. He has written literally hundreds of novels, but some really pun-ney….. Um, excuse me, I mean funny.(inside joke if you have never read the Xanth series by him) The Xanth series is pretty much all kid friendly, and very fun reads. For a darker, more thought provoking, yet still fun series by him, try out The Incarnations of Immortality. Very good reads! (right, Pooh?)
Some other great sword and sorcery authors, and books, are:
Tad Williams- The Dragonbone Chair series…. I have literally read that trilogy three times! Great stuff!
George RR Martin- Song of Ice and Fire series. Great reads, but very long reads. I think HBO is doing a TV show based on them, now. Jon Snow is my favorite character in that series, with the Bastard Dwarf Prince running a close second.
Recently my younger brother turned me on to Glen Cook. He writes a series called Black Company. I just finished like a ten book series about the Black Company in about a month. Hey, I have time on my hands! What can I say?
If you like vamps and wolves, I have some good suggestions, as well. I am sure we have all seen or heard of the True Blood series on HBO, right? Great show, much better books. They are worlds apart, really. A lot of skin is shown on TV, but in the books, it is not like that. Ms Sookie does not much kiss and tell in the books by Charlaine Harris.
Let me get on a soap box for a minute….
I have started some great series in the urban fantasy genre, and then was irate that I couldn’t even finish them! Great example… The Anita Blake vampire series. First few books were good, a little randy at times, but tolerable. You get sucked in to the story, then, BAMMO!
It goes all soft core porn on you. I put the series down when the author had the main character, Anita Blake, involved in an orgy with a pack of were panthers in a back of a limo. For. Three. Chapters! Really, three chapters of it. Geez, I don’t mind a bit ‘o randy now and again, but get real.
The same author did the same thing in the Merideth Gentry series. Except the main character had her orgy in her bedroom for one chapter with a bunch of fairie men. I won’t pick up that novelist’s books anymore. Honestly.
So, off the soap box and moving on….
Roger Zelazny(RIP) did a heck of a great old school urban fantasy series, The Amber series of books. They were never fully completed, I don’t think, because of his untimely death, but wow, great stuff, nonetheless. He once wrote a novel called Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming, that was a fun read!
The author Kim Harrison does great vamp and wolf urban fantasy, and does not go all soft core porn on you. It is The Hollows series. It took her like eight books before she ever wrote a sex scene, and it was only like a page and a half. I swear! Well, at least as far as I can remember, anyway….lol (Jenny, I will try to remember to get those to you, like I said I would 🙂
So, there is a short jaunt into my long library of reading. I hope you found some gems, because they are all priceless to me!