bookshelves

I was looking through my books the other night, looking for something to read, and it dawned on me that I have several books that I rarely read. Why was that? Thinking it through, it’s because once I read it once, I don’t want to put myself through it again. Not because the stories are bad, but because the books are for one reason or another not the easiest reads.

So, here’s a few of those books – books with great stories at their heart, but hidden under less than amazing writing:

Sunshine by Robin McKinley – a great vampire story that takes place in a wonderful world with a great Other history (demons, part-bloods, vamps, magic-handlers and such definitely aren’t loved, but are common enough). Unfortunately, the book itself is more tangent than story. I know the story is there, but digging it out is kind of exhausting. Everything in the book is really interesting, but the way it’s written … you’ll be reading about an event, which triggers a small thought in the mind of the main character, which leads to two or three pages telling some memory or history of the world we’re living in – helpful at times, always interesting, but completely unrelated to the event we were originally dealing with. By the time we’re thrown back into the actual story, sometimes I have to think about where we were even at before that long-ass tangent. Tiring, but mildly rewarding once you finish the book, once you know the whole story and are able to sort of retell it to yourself without those intrusive tangents.


Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkein – come on people, let’s not lie. The stories themselves are amazing, but honestly. Wading through Tolkein’s writing? not as amazing.


The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown – the basis of this book was intriguing, interesting … but wow, is Dan Brown not a great writer.


The Black Jewel series by Anne Bishop – a great set of books, but I don’t really know what I’m reading until I finish the book. Everything is interesting, and I get the feeling I like the story, but it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what’s going on. It feels almost as if there’s some prequel or companion novel that I should have read before starting the series … except none such exists.


Now how about some books that I think are just all-around wonderful?

Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy by Tad Williams – if you liked The Lord of the Rings books, you will love these. There are four books (book 3 has a Part 1 and Part 2) and they’re just as wonderfully epic as LOTR but without the weighty Tolkein writing in the way. Williams’ writing style is interesting to read and tells the story beautifully. Not to mention these books have everything – battles between Good and Evil, a tortured deposed prince, a beautiful princess, your basic coming-of-age tale with our main character … I could go on. It’s the epitome of epic fantasy and I could read them over and over.


Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen – there’s a reason this has been a book club staple lately, it’s a damn good book. Set on a circus train during the Depression, it’s got romance, history, exotic animals, and wonderful characters. I also love the way it’s written, jumping back and forth between the main character as a young man on the circus and as a old man in a nursing home. The comparison makes the story even more interesting. I’d love to see this book adapted for the screen. It’d be interesting to see if they could pull it off without fucking it up.


Fallen by David Maine – not a religious person in the slightest, I was a little leery of this book. But once I started reading it, I was instantly sucked in. The book tells the story of the first family, but telling it in a wonderfully real way. The story begins with Cain on his death bed, and every chapter jumps you back farther in time. You’re constantly learning what led to the events you just read, which makes for a really interesting read. We look back through the life of Cain, then the lives of Cain and Abel and their family, then Adam and Even alone, and the book ends with Adam and Even getting kicked out of Eden. Maine also leaves out most of the religious aspects of the story as well, which can’t be entirely easy. But God is a minor character, really only important in that he was the one who kicked Adam and Even out. The story instead focuses more on the reality of the situation – two virtual newborns thrust out of paradise into a harsh land with no idea how to survive. The book describes wonderfully and realistically what it could have been like, the nitty gritty of it all, and follows the family as it learns and grows. Really interesting.


Pilgrim by Timothy Findley – long but always interesting, this book tells the story of a man who cannot die. Not for lack of trying. We start out with the character in an asylum in the mountains, basically on suicide watch after his latest “botched” suicide attempt. “Botched” in that everyone swore he was physically dead for a good hour or so, but lo and behold, he awoke. The man, known only as Pilgrim, really wants to die, having had enough of this immortal life. The books takes us back in time often for stories from the long life of this man, and it’s wonderfully interesting to see how the writer insinuated Pilgrim into actual historical events (for example – the portrait of the Mona Lisa is actually of him, and he was the one who stole it from the Louvre in 1911.) All the while, he is being studied by psychologists of the time, mainly Carl Jung, who all think he’s nuts. With good reason. The book leaves you unsure who to believe, which makes it even more interesting in my opinion. There’s also some good subplots about Jung and his failing marriage. I believe this book also inspired an opera called The Dream Healer – I think it premiered in 2008, though I haven’t seen that it continued showings.


The Sundering books (Banewreaker and Godslayer) by Jacqueline Carey – I think this is one of the most interesting stories I’ve read in a while. It’s your basic Good v. Evil story, but it really focuses on each side’s reasons. We’re given insights into both the good guys and the bad guys, and the intriguing thing you discover is that both sides are pretty much the same. The only reason one is considered ‘bad’ is because of a very old grudge and what basically boils down to a big misunderstanding. But with the misunderstanding diluted and the grudge concentrated over centuries, what we get is what must be a Bad Guy. Everybody’s always said he’s bad, so he must be. And legends also say that if we do such and such, we can destroy him. Why are we destroying him? Do we know for sure he has some evil plan? Well, he must, because he is a Bad Guy. Now we’re thrown back into the Evil camp, where we learn that the Bad Guy’s not really that bad. He’s not necessarily the Muffin Man either, but you try keeping a good temper when you’ve had the mass majority of the population wishing fervently for your destruction for centuries. Some of his actions can easily be seen as Evil by the good guys, but this is because he’s trying to thwart their plans. So he doesn’t die. Understandable. Really, the good guys kind of started it. It puts a whole new twist on the classic Good v. Evil battle you find in so many fantasy stories, and it was extremely interesting. Definitely a good read.

There – now I will take a good book (actually one from my first list, I’m digging my way through it) and curl up under lots of blankets. We are currently at the tail end of our first blizzard of the season. Ick. Did I mention that I loathe snow? And all things related? Particularly the effing snowmobiles that my effing neighbors seem to want to buzz around my house in? Yay, winter.

Oh, and by the way – happy birthday to me.