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spokehaving seen this floating around for awhile, and yesterday being bored out of my mind: my top ten books.
you should be warned, however, that for a long time i've had a habit of going into a bookstore, used or new, and wandering the shelves until i saw something that looked interesting. this has netted me a lot of crap, and some gems...
1.The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings trilogy. first line of The Hobbit: In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.
first thing i ever read by myself. seriously! i had to keep getting a dictionary, and i pestered the daylights out of my dad, too. "how do you say this? pronounce? okay, how do you pronounce this?" (parents got it for me. it was hard, but dad read them to mom while she was pregnant with me. obviously, i had to read these books.)
2.White Fang, Jack London. first line: Dark spruce forest frowned on either side of the frozen waterway.
i remember thinking this was a lot easier to read. and, it had wolves! (little and in all my seriousness: wolves are the coolest animals ever. right after elephants. do you know Lord of the Rings has an elephant in it? but wolves are cool too.) damn, i wish i could remember how old i was! (oh, i was in grade school! i remember, i got that at a book fair..)
3.The Far Pavilions, M.M.Kaye. first line: Ashton Hilary Akbar Pelham-Martyn was born in a camp near the crest of a pass in the Himalayas, and subsequently christened in a patent canvas bucket.
this book has everything. it's a period romance, but not gushy. it's a het romance set from the guy's point of view. and the period is India, right at the end of the India Trade Company. so the boy gets orphaned and raised by his nanny, thinking for the like the first ten years of his life that he's Indian. he ahs serious identity issues, and... i need to stop before i try to tell the whole story.
this was published in 1978, and the woman who wrote it had lived in India as a child. her husband was in the Corps of Guides, a military regiment, and so was his Grandad... just really cool. (go used bookstores!)
4.The Once and Future King, T.H.White. first line: On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays it was Court Hand and Summulae Logicales, while the rest of the week it was the Organan, Repetion and Astrology.
i've always loved King Arthur. and wished that Mordred would've left everybody the hell alone, because most of the good ones i've read, Arthur and Gwen and Lancelot were quite happy the way things were!
although, i've always had this sneaking suspicion that Lancelot was after Arthur, and Gwen was just as close as he could get.
(new. saw it and thought, hey one of those things i always meant to read!)
5.Biting The Sun, Tanith Lee. first line: My friend Hergal had killed himself again.
the whole book, 'she' never uses her name. never. and the whole being able to pick your own gender, and 'her' cleverness at the end in getting things set up. although, i did see that end coming, who it was that had followed her out of the cities, it was still cool. (new. picked it up because of the pretty cover, noticed that the second half was written the year i was born; had to have it. grins.)
6.Spock's World, Diane Duane. first line: The joke in Star Fleet is that the only thing that travels faster than warp 10 is news.
i love the shifts between historical and modern times here. and getting to see Sarek and Amanda meet? and McCoy, telling off the entire Vulcan world. everyone's speeches, but especially McCoy. (used bookstore. it had Spock!)
alternatley, The Wounded Sky. or anything by Diane Duane.
7.The Cold Fire Trilogy, C.S.Friedman. first line of Black Sun Rising: She wondered why she was afraid to go home.
the gay! i'm sorry, but by the time the third book ends, i wanted Damien and Gerald to jump each other so bad! the psychodrama, and attempts at manipulation, and Damien wanting to 'save' Gerald and... again, with the blabbing the entire story.
really, they're good books, though. and i love the female support cast in these. everyone of these girls kicks ass! i want to be Hesseth when i grow up, okay. darnit, i need a time machine. go back and tell myself this. (used bookstore. saw the cover of the final book and thought 'damn, he's pretty.' made myself get read them in order)
8.Shadow World. StarBridge #3, by A.C.Crispin and Jannean Elliot. first line: The four moons of Elseemar rose one by one over the mountain peaks, sending multiple shadows gliding along the ground.
the whole series is nice, but this is the best i think. the main character is a dancer, and in training to be an ambassador of sorts to this alien people whose dances are one of the important rituals, like prayer. and the moment where he finally manages the Enelwo, the Death Dance? too, too cool. words fail me for this one. (used bookstore. looking for the whole series, no idea what i'd just picked up.)
9.The Silver Kiss, Annette Curtis Klause. first line: The house was empty.
young adult book. about these two vampire brothers, and how the younger turns the older into a vampire, and then big brother spends centuries trying to run him down.
little bro is a real bastard, and the girl who gets involved is a poet, trying to deal with her mom dying of cancer. very melancholy-happy, and one of the best matches of title to book, i think. the whole thing is silver-shades. (used bookstore. bored out of my mind. didn't think much of it at first, but it grows on you.)
10.Passage, Connie Willis. first line: "I heard a noise," Mrs. Davenport said, "and then I was moving through this tunnel."
at first, judging by the little blurb on the back, i thought it was going to be about reincarnation. not! very interesting scientifical stuff, and a mystery, and just... wierd. about a couple of doctors trying to figure out what the near death experiance really is.
i love little Maisie in the hospital1 the only thing like a villian in here is Muarice Mandrake, and he's more like Lockehart from Harry Potter. you will react to this guy's presence with that same 'eww! squash it, kill it, i don't care, just get rid of him!' feeling. at least, i did. (whistles) (new bookstore. and again with the cover, this one just pretty.)
and what have we learned from this? (hangs head in shame) that i am a whore for a pretty book cover. (snifles.) i feel shallow.
you should be warned, however, that for a long time i've had a habit of going into a bookstore, used or new, and wandering the shelves until i saw something that looked interesting. this has netted me a lot of crap, and some gems...
1.The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings trilogy. first line of The Hobbit: In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.
first thing i ever read by myself. seriously! i had to keep getting a dictionary, and i pestered the daylights out of my dad, too. "how do you say this? pronounce? okay, how do you pronounce this?" (parents got it for me. it was hard, but dad read them to mom while she was pregnant with me. obviously, i had to read these books.)
2.White Fang, Jack London. first line: Dark spruce forest frowned on either side of the frozen waterway.
i remember thinking this was a lot easier to read. and, it had wolves! (little and in all my seriousness: wolves are the coolest animals ever. right after elephants. do you know Lord of the Rings has an elephant in it? but wolves are cool too.) damn, i wish i could remember how old i was! (oh, i was in grade school! i remember, i got that at a book fair..)
3.The Far Pavilions, M.M.Kaye. first line: Ashton Hilary Akbar Pelham-Martyn was born in a camp near the crest of a pass in the Himalayas, and subsequently christened in a patent canvas bucket.
this book has everything. it's a period romance, but not gushy. it's a het romance set from the guy's point of view. and the period is India, right at the end of the India Trade Company. so the boy gets orphaned and raised by his nanny, thinking for the like the first ten years of his life that he's Indian. he ahs serious identity issues, and... i need to stop before i try to tell the whole story.
this was published in 1978, and the woman who wrote it had lived in India as a child. her husband was in the Corps of Guides, a military regiment, and so was his Grandad... just really cool. (go used bookstores!)
4.The Once and Future King, T.H.White. first line: On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays it was Court Hand and Summulae Logicales, while the rest of the week it was the Organan, Repetion and Astrology.
i've always loved King Arthur. and wished that Mordred would've left everybody the hell alone, because most of the good ones i've read, Arthur and Gwen and Lancelot were quite happy the way things were!
although, i've always had this sneaking suspicion that Lancelot was after Arthur, and Gwen was just as close as he could get.
(new. saw it and thought, hey one of those things i always meant to read!)
5.Biting The Sun, Tanith Lee. first line: My friend Hergal had killed himself again.
the whole book, 'she' never uses her name. never. and the whole being able to pick your own gender, and 'her' cleverness at the end in getting things set up. although, i did see that end coming, who it was that had followed her out of the cities, it was still cool. (new. picked it up because of the pretty cover, noticed that the second half was written the year i was born; had to have it. grins.)
6.Spock's World, Diane Duane. first line: The joke in Star Fleet is that the only thing that travels faster than warp 10 is news.
i love the shifts between historical and modern times here. and getting to see Sarek and Amanda meet? and McCoy, telling off the entire Vulcan world. everyone's speeches, but especially McCoy. (used bookstore. it had Spock!)
alternatley, The Wounded Sky. or anything by Diane Duane.
7.The Cold Fire Trilogy, C.S.Friedman. first line of Black Sun Rising: She wondered why she was afraid to go home.
the gay! i'm sorry, but by the time the third book ends, i wanted Damien and Gerald to jump each other so bad! the psychodrama, and attempts at manipulation, and Damien wanting to 'save' Gerald and... again, with the blabbing the entire story.
really, they're good books, though. and i love the female support cast in these. everyone of these girls kicks ass! i want to be Hesseth when i grow up, okay. darnit, i need a time machine. go back and tell myself this. (used bookstore. saw the cover of the final book and thought 'damn, he's pretty.' made myself get read them in order)
8.Shadow World. StarBridge #3, by A.C.Crispin and Jannean Elliot. first line: The four moons of Elseemar rose one by one over the mountain peaks, sending multiple shadows gliding along the ground.
the whole series is nice, but this is the best i think. the main character is a dancer, and in training to be an ambassador of sorts to this alien people whose dances are one of the important rituals, like prayer. and the moment where he finally manages the Enelwo, the Death Dance? too, too cool. words fail me for this one. (used bookstore. looking for the whole series, no idea what i'd just picked up.)
9.The Silver Kiss, Annette Curtis Klause. first line: The house was empty.
young adult book. about these two vampire brothers, and how the younger turns the older into a vampire, and then big brother spends centuries trying to run him down.
little bro is a real bastard, and the girl who gets involved is a poet, trying to deal with her mom dying of cancer. very melancholy-happy, and one of the best matches of title to book, i think. the whole thing is silver-shades. (used bookstore. bored out of my mind. didn't think much of it at first, but it grows on you.)
10.Passage, Connie Willis. first line: "I heard a noise," Mrs. Davenport said, "and then I was moving through this tunnel."
at first, judging by the little blurb on the back, i thought it was going to be about reincarnation. not! very interesting scientifical stuff, and a mystery, and just... wierd. about a couple of doctors trying to figure out what the near death experiance really is.
i love little Maisie in the hospital1 the only thing like a villian in here is Muarice Mandrake, and he's more like Lockehart from Harry Potter. you will react to this guy's presence with that same 'eww! squash it, kill it, i don't care, just get rid of him!' feeling. at least, i did. (whistles) (new bookstore. and again with the cover, this one just pretty.)
and what have we learned from this? (hangs head in shame) that i am a whore for a pretty book cover. (snifles.) i feel shallow.
