Five Books

Today you’ll get a glimpse of what I read. Here are five books from my bookshelf that I have enjoyed reading.

1) Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

This book is simply hilarious. There are three plotlines; the first contains a devil and an angel, the second a Witchfinder Private and a witch and the third a boy, his friends and his dog. It’s 1995, and the Apocalypse is just around the corner.

I bought this book as a Pratchettist. Back then – in 2004 – my English was really bad and I gave up after 80 pages. Two years later I picked it up, read it laughing hysterically and decided it was worth reading again. Now it has been 5 or 6 times, and I intend to read it again. You simply can’t get bored with Aziraphale and Crowley, or the Apocalyptic Horse Persons in their civilian lives.

383 pages. My copy is starting to look slightly dishevelled. I had to fix the corners with tape this year to prevent them from peeling.

 

2) Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

To my shame I have to admit I only read the book after seeing the movie a couple of times. But I prefer the original work – it’s more complicated and has finer details. (Though I really enjoy Miyazaki’s version, too.) I own the book in two languages, but last time I read it (which happened a week or so ago) I found that it lost some of its funniness in Finnish. My favourite bits are all of Howl. Who wouldn’t enjoy “Chapter Fourteen, in which the Royal Wizard catches a cold” or said Royal Wizard bursting in at early morning, drunk.

It just keeps getting better and better. It was off my Favourite Books –list for a while, but made its return.

302 pages. I love my cover, for some reason. Maybe I have too many books with sensible covers.

 

3) Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow

Werewolves in modern day Los Angeles. Written in free verse. It’s very hard to describe this book, but if you’re a fan of werewolves, you need to read this. None of that walking-on-two-legs nonsense. It’s interesting, intense and beautiful. Far too few people are aware of this masterpiece. I happened to see it in the New Titles section at the bookstore, and got it for Christmas after hinting about it to my dad. I read it straight away, and then slowly again through this year.

313 pages. The cover is just beautiful.

4) The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

I bought Interview with the Vampire in Madrid 2006, and have been reading Rice since. Lestat has probably been my favourite, though I never got through the whole series. (There are 10+2 books, I’ve read 6.) It’s intriguing, flowingly written – and been too long since I read it. I fell in love with Rice’s vampires and can’t take this Twilight crap going on. (No offence – had Twilight become a hit a couple of years earlier, I would’ve been into it.)

I’m not going to say much about this now, because it has really been quite long since I read this book. However, I’m planning on rereading it after Christmas, mostly because I’m going to read Eclipse and am going to need proper vampires after that.

599 pages. I have the three first books with these covers. I like them a lot.

5) Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch

Book two of the Gentleman Bastard sequence. I would’ve loved to put the first book of the series, the Lies of Locke Lamora, here, but I don’t own it. Yet.

RSURS contains a lot of piratism. And card-sharping. And Gods, did I love it! After reading LoLL last summer I began craving for more, and finally bought this second book a few months ago. (There is one copy of this one in all the libraries on the area, and there were 11 reservations. I would’ve taken about a year to get my hands on it otherwise.) I wasn’t allowed to read it before I had finished my exams, but then I devoured it in four big gulps.

Scott Lynch is a brilliant author who has fewer readers than he should. This isn’t your goody-two-shoes Harry Potter, poor-in-language-and-characters Twilight or noble-serious-good-versus-evil Lord of the Rings. (Again, don’t get me wrong; I’m a potterist as well as a LotR-fan) This is something else, and I wouldn’t let kids aged fourteen and under read this stuff. It’s violent, harsh and very foul mouthed, and I love all those traits about it. (Not to mention interesting world and witty conversation.)

628 pages. Third book is on its way, there are going to be seven parts altogether, and novellas. This cover is so beautiful, and I’m aiming to get my Lies with the beautiful cover as well. I’ll post a picture when I do. 

That’s it for now. I’m leaving.

 
With love,
Wil