Do you make time to read? What are your favourite novels?
I love to read. I think it’s one of the most important things you can do if you want to be a writer, and I do. It’s gotten a little harder to make time for it lately — or, more accurately, I’m not prioritizing it the way I used to. I mean, at the beginning of every month I settle down with my new issue of “Today’s Parent” and “Every Day With Rachael Ray” and fight to read the pages before my toddler flips and/or crinkles them. I read a lot of blogs, some of them creative fiction. And I do enjoy settling down at the end of the night with a novel, but I’m usually doing something else — working on a site, blogging, tweeting (okay, mostly that last one) — and end up crawling into bed too exhausted to have thought about reading.
I’m a big fantasy fiction geek and I won’t even pick up a novel from another genre if I have the choice of sticking with fantasy (although I’m not totally closed-minded and will go out of my genre for the right story). When I first had my daughter and she nursed 75% of her waking hours, I filled that time with reading — her cradled against my chest, my hands full with a hardcover book. I reread the entire Wheel of Time series and, despite the obviously weak spots (books 7-10), really enjoyed it. I started trying to read The Sword of Truth series, and despite finding it to be basically a redux of WoT, got through the first four books before I had to set it aside. The third and especially fourth novels were so unapologetically bad as to be embarrassing.
I’m a huge fan of Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Dart trilogy. It’s sexy, poetic, and engaging; it’s also pretty light in the fantasy genre, more like an alternative history with a touch of magic. Definitely worth picking up if you have the time to read — in fact, it’s so good that it might just make you make time.
It’s hard for me to pick a favourite novel when I look at series, though, since they all tend to work together. The most recent book (the 12th one!) of the Wheel of Time series, The Gathering Storm breaks that trend, though. The character and plot development in it are awesome, and after the way the last few books dragged, the pacing in this one was refreshing, although it definitely wouldn’t work as a stand-alone novel. Richard Adams wrote a novel called Maia that’s a favourite, although it’s pretty hard to find these days. And yeah, it’s where I got my daughter’s name from, although I don’t want her to be like the main character (who is a glorified prostitute…). Cliver Barker’s Imajica is another amazing novel, because there’s a sense of being immersed in the fantastic as I read it.
Stepping out of the fantasy genre, I really enjoyed Anderson Cooper’s (yeah, the guy from CNN!) Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival. It’s surprisingly beautiful, touching on how several news stories affected him personally, with a look at his (not candy-coated) past. I like novels with a wry, almost confused protagonist, like Jeffrey Moore’s Prisoner in a Red-Rose Chain, which is about a professor of Shakespeare who teaches in Montréal pursuing his own Dark Lady. And Salman Rushdie’s The Ground Beneath Her Feet is another novel I adore; I love the alterna-history, the vulnerability of the narrator, the mysticism and heart-breaking humanity of the “Her” of the title, a rock star named Vina, and how the novel spans several decades and the entire globe. And yeah, the U2 song is based off lyrics written in that novel.
Anyhow, after writing this, I really really want to make more time for reading. What are some of your favourite novels?
PS: I just signed up for Goodreads, the social network for readers. Are you there? Let’s connect!
PPS: All novels are Amazon Affiliate links. I need more MAC stuff, I’m an addict now, so if you buy any of these books I will make a little bit of money. Which is awesome.
[...] your hostess over at Girl Talk Thursday today, where we’re talking about books we love. Come join the [...]
For two people who like to read, and coming from the same parents, I don’t think we could possibly be more day-and-night with the things we like to read.
.-= Katie´s last blog ..GTT: Books. I Can’t Get Enough. =-.
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Tatiana Reply:
May 27th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
Truth. Although after reading your post, I need to pick up some Palahniuk
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Ah, to read…to have the time, motivation, energy…I really love getting completely lost in a good book, I do. I just haven’t felt like it for the past, oh, four years…
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Tatiana Reply:
May 27th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Try setting aside just 10 minutes before bed, even. Or I know for me, with my daughter being the age she is, I can take her out on our balcony and read a book while she plays with her toys next to me.
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I do not consider myself to be a big fantasy fiction fan. (I didn’t even realize until recently there were actually subgenres of that genre.) However, my husband has got me into Robin Hobb. I cannot put down her novels. So, if you haven’t read them yet, I highly recommend them. Start with the first series: The Farseer Trilogy. Though out of the three series I’ve read so far my favorite is The Tawny Man series.
.-= Becky Mochaface´s last blog ..Stay Tuned =-.
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Tatiana Reply:
May 27th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
I’ll do that, Becky! I’m looking for more reading material right now.
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Colleen Reply:
May 27th, 2010 at 11:05 pm
Robin Hobb! I talked about her too. Love some of her stuff!
.-= Colleen´s last blog ..Books, Books, Books =-.
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**virtual high five** lol
I LOVE WOT and think that if you’re a fantasy reader and you haven’t read this series you belong live in a cave somewhere because it’s just that awesome.
You should check out the books by Elizabeth Kerner…if you like WOT she has a very similar writing style as Robert Jordan (in my opinion. Prolly why TOR picked her up too). Although her books are about Dragons, and a girl falling in love with one (odd I know, but well written).
Great Post! ^_^
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Tatiana Reply:
May 27th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Yay for fantasy geeks! ^_^ I haven’t heard of Elizabeth Kerner, but I’ll check her out for sure.
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I’m in a ridiculous fluff reading phase right now.
.-= Miss Grace´s last blog ..Owchiwawa =-.
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Tatiana Reply:
May 27th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
I follow CarinaPress, which is the e-book branch of Harlequin, on Twitter & on Facebook, and they’ve been posting teasers & favourite sentences from their upcoming novels. It makes me want to read these novels like A LOT. So. I may be picking up some fluff soon too
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Now I know why I love you Tatiana LOL
.-= Pamela´s last blog ..Someone needs to buy me a Nook! =-.
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Tatiana Reply:
May 28th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
We’re totally soul sisters.
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I never got too much into fantasy, though I’m always impressed by the writing and world-building. I think it intimidates me, having to learn the rules of a whole different society? Maybe I just haven’t found the right book.
I need complete quiet to read, so my only option is when everyone else has gone to bed. At which point SLEEP is all that is on my mind. I still get through some books, but it’s a dozen pages here and there. Not quite the marathoning I used to be able to do in the pre-kid days.
(Side comment: I learned today that Gloria Vanderbilt is Anderson Cooper’s MOTHER. I had NO IDEA. Probably everyone knows that, but it totally blew my mind.)
.-= Diane´s last blog ..7 Quick Takes – Sisters =-.
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Tatiana Reply:
May 28th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
Yeah, I love the world-building in fantasy. It’s one of my favourite things about writing it, myself.
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I totally gave up Wheel of Time after book six. Is it worth finishing?! I’m definitely adding your other books to my wish list!
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Tatiana Reply:
May 28th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
It’s definitely worth catching up on! If you really don’t have time, just read synopses of books 6-10… seriously… they’re pretty horrible and VERY VERY slow paced.
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You don’t need an e-reader if you have an iPod touch or an iPhone. Get stanza like I put in my post.
.-= Nicole´s last blog ..GTT: Books =-.
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OMG. I am such a HUGE fan of the Kushiel books too. I really love what Carey created there. Not only is the world she created so intricate and intriguing, but her characters are simply amazing. Melisande is by far one of my favorite book villians.
Have you read the Black Jewels trilogy by Anne Bishop? Also a very good read!
.-= Alice´s last blog ..May Wrap Up; June Goals =-.
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