30 Days of Books - My Favorite Series

The Frabjous wonder of a good series - of reading a book, knowing that more will follow with the same characters and fantastic writing. 

Of course Harry Potter comes to mind instantly, as well as Moomins, Tolkien - starting with The Hobbit of course - and the Dido Twite books. In each series, an adventure happens and ends rather satisfactorily at the end. JK Rowling and Tolkien went one step further and introduced a common thread, a continuing siege or adventure that kept readers returning for more. 

Kill Voldemort! 

Destroy the Ring! 

Still, each volume of the series is, of itself, a good read with a beginning, middle, and an end.

Trust me, as an author of a series, this is a very hard thing to accomplish. You want the readers to be able to pick up any book and begin to read, but usually you really have to start at the beginning.

Of the above, for sheer genius in creating compelling story arcs and likable, living characters, I must go with JK. When I started The Deathly Hallows, I thought there was no WAY she could resolve every issue, especially with all those Horcruxes to be destroyed. Yet, resolve them she did. The woman is a goddess.

On the Indie front, my favorite series is Darkness Rising by Ross Kitson. Emelia is the main character, and she begins as a lowly servant in a castle. Soon she is propelled into a series of adventures, and she discovers hidden resources of strength and bravery.

It's all very epic and fantastic. Kitson makes Emelia spring to life right from the start. He has done a lot of world building; like JK Rowling, his universe (Nurolia) has been imagined with maps, languages, and characters. Kitson, a doctor in the UK, painstakingly illustrates them all, so the book is a journey through an imaginary country. 

And - joy! Kitson has just started another series, called Infinity Bridge. This one is a steampunk read, with loads of urban fantasy. I devoured the first book and can't wait for the next. 

And then there are those books that SHOULD be a series but are not .... cough ... Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell ... we are still waiting...

The Great Re-Reader

Posted for the 30 Days of Books blogfest, courtesy of The Indie Exchange)

Today's subject is : A book that you have read more than three times.

Aha! I have the answer at my fingertips : Jane Eyre. I've read that book so many times that I've gone through five copies now. My husband, when he catches me in the middle of it again, says, "Not that Janet Eerie again." (Shocker, he hasn't read it.)

I love her, because she refuses to drown in a "bathos of sentiment" with Mr. Rochester. Bathos is the perfect word here - a different woman would melt instantly into his arms, but Jane will have none of it.

YOU GO GIRL

I first read the book when I was in fifth grade. At the time, I sucked it down for the adventure and the story, as well as the descriptions of parties and beautiful dresses. Later, the quotes about bathos and deglutition hit me, so that reading the book became an entirely different experience. Jane herself emerged, like those tea flowers that open slowly in warm water.

Yup, I love Jane, and here's why:

Because she was so mystical. She had prophetic dreams, she drew elves and the North Star, she saw a ghost in the Red Room. 

Because she felt excitement, even in the middle of a most hopeless situation. "The crisis was perilous; but not without its charm: such as the Indian, perhaps, feels when he slips over the rapid in his canoe."

Because, even when faced with a beautiful rival who is rich and favored, Jane sees the truth. "She could not charm him."

And then there is this passage, that formed an important section in A Room of One's Own, by Virgina Woolf:


"Nobody knows how many rebellions besides political rebellions ferment in the masses of life which people earth.  Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts, as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags."

So I will read Jane Eyre (and her difficult, more dramatic cousin, Wuthering Heights) again to find the new delights that keep popping up, like a search through an old attic. There are many, many books I've read again and again - The Hobbit and Mistress Masham's Repose among them, but this is my favorite.

As for my Indie counterpart, I immediately thought of Sax and the Suburb by Marilyn Rucker, which recently won a BRAG medallion. You can read my complete review here. I'm not a mystery fan, but Rucker charmed me right away with her humor, her characters (the father who is a hoarder, the boss who falls asleep on the floor in the office, and even the dead mother) and the lovely little romance within. 

Are there any similarities between the two books? Not at all, at first glance. One is a mystery set in Texas, the other is a 19th century literary romance. Yet there is a certain charm and magic in both. In Rucker's book,  Miranda, the main character, dreams about her dead mother who takes her heart out of her chest and offers it to Miranda. That sounds ghoulish, but in the dream it is a cute heart-shaped box of candy. 

I love that image, and Rucker makes it work. I'll read that book again too.

Reading is great, and sometimes re-reading is better. I heartily recommend these titles for both.

30 Days of Books - Best Book of the Year

The Indie Exchange is running a 30 Days of Books meme this month. As a devoted reader and writer, I'm in!

Obviously we're starting off big with the Best Book of the Year post. That's a really tough one - I read so many wonderful books this year. There must have been something in the water - I felt there was a lot of talent and creativity flowing in both traditional and Indie publishing throughout 2012.

It's so hard to choose, between the two, so I plan to choose one book from each form, trad and Indie for each day this month.

The traditional book was easy. I loved The Age of Miracles, the story of what happens as the earth's revolution begins to slow down, from the point of view of a girl in middle school. It was tender and perfect, and I was entranced by the mysterious sadness throughout.

It was reminiscent of Melancholia, the movie about the end of the world as seen through the eyes of a severely depressed woman (played by the luminous Kirsten Dunst) and her sister. (The movie does include sex and some disturbing themes, so keep that in mind if you watch it.)

(You can read my full review here.)

As for the Indie book - that's a lot harder. There were many wonderful titles this year (some of them still languish on my Kindle, waiting for me to get to them.)

I do plan to mention others later in the month, but I must say my very favorite was The Prospect of My Arrival. It had the same sort of magical, hazy sadness as The Age of Miracles and Murakami's books, along with a feeling of mystery. All of that was served up with Okita's usual imaginative artistry.

(...and you can read the full review of Prospect along with 1Q84 here.)

Now - please tell me - what were your favorite books this year? I'm always looking for great reads, so go ahead and suggest some of the best from 2012.