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Favorite Books Meme
Apr. 14th, 2016 10:11 pm1. Favorite Bronte Novel
Jane Eyre - it's sort of a female version of Great Expectations...with a lot less focus on the romance than you'd think. (Actually I like it a whole lot better than Great Expectations, which is book I could never get myself to read -- not helped by seeing the musical adaptation (yes, there was a musical adapted by John Jakes of all people) and various movies.) Most adaptations of Jane Eyre don't focus much on the first 100 or so pages, which is about Jane's childhood, schooling, and struggle to become a governess. The last third of the book, becomes an intriguing gothic mystery novel...with twists and turns.
Wuthering Heights...sigh, the lead is really Heathcliff, and it feels like a revenge novel. Cathy is not likable, entitled, and whiny all the way through. But it does have an odd ending, showing how revenge does not work out well and tends to just eat up the person waging it. So, anti-revenge novel.
Haven't read the others.
2. Favorite Jane Austen Novel...
Weirdly, my favorite was a short story that was continued by another woman, entitled Sandition. This is an oddity. It is a book started by a famous author, who died before it was completed, and then years later, as in a century, another woman, who never gives her name, ghost-writes the completion.
You can't really tell that Austen didn't write it. Outside of the fact that the characters are slightly more likable. It sort of combines themes from Pride and Prejudice and Northhanger Abbey (which I couldn't make it through).
It also contains my favorite hero...Sydney. I must have read this book five times.
Of the works that Austen actually wrote in their entirety....I'd pick Pride and Prejudice, mainly due to it containing the most likable leads. Emma got on my nerves.
3. Favorite Shakespearean Play?
Difficult, but I'd have to say Twelfth Night, for the humor, although Midsummer Night's Dream is a close second. (Seen multiple versions of both, here and in England. In England, I saw a nude version of Midsummer Night's Dream, with a distinct homosexual subtext. It was definitely interesting. Instead of Lysander being into Helena, he was into Demetrios. While Hermia was into Helena.) Both are just fun romps, with all sorts of interesting bits of commentary on gender, sexuality, and politics. There's a bit of satire in there as well.
Never been a huge fan of the tragedies...although if I were to choose... Othello is the most fun, and has by far the best villain. And Julie Taymor's Titus Andronicus...is the most spectacular.
4. Favorite Agatha Christie Novel
Easy. Curtain - the last novel in the Hercule Poirot series, where she effectively accomplishes what Conan Doyle never quite did with Sherlock Holmes.
It's a tricky plot, with a great villain. Hint? She borrows heavily from Shakespeare. I've never seen an adaptation of it though.
Second favorite is a Miss Marple mystery entitled Sleeping Murder.
5. Favorite Arthurian Fantasy Novel...
Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart. It focuses mainly on Merlin and his family. Arthur doesn't come into it.
6. Name three favorite science fiction novels that influenced you:
* The Sparrow by Maria Doria Russell - still haunts. It's written by a biological and cultural anthropologist, who explores the idea of religious faith and communication in startling ways.
* Dune by Frank Herbert -- my first science fiction obsession. His world is so vivid and relatable.
* Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo....a book that played with my head, part mystery novel, part horror tale. Takes place in deep space, with a hero who is a dwarf. Think Tyrion in space.
7. Name three favorite fantasy novels that influenced you:
* The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien - best adventure tale ever. And the world is so detailed, even down to the language.
* The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson...this is about a man with leprosy, whose wedding ring has great power in another world. Thomas Covenant, an embittered and cynical writer, afflicted with leprosy and shunned by society, is fated to become the heroic savior of The Land, an alternate world. In six novels published between 1977 and 1983, he struggles against the satanic Lord Foul, "The Despiser", who intends to escape the bondage of the physical universe and wreak revenge upon his arch-enemy, "The Creator". Some elements are similar to those found in Richard Wagner's epic "Ring Cycle" and in earlier Celtic literature, but with some of the values inverted.
* His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman
8. Favorite Urban Fantasy Series
Ilona Andrews - Kate Daniels series or the Magic Verbs series (Andrews sucks at book titles). Intertwines Eastern Europe and Asian mythology in innovative ways. Also has a subversive take on the Bible and Western Judeo/Christian mythology. On top of that -- it's innovative in regards to it's supernatural creatures - shapeshifters are zoological, such as a prehistoric lion, and a moongoose, and hyenas. Vampires are mindless monsters navigated by necromancers. Never read anything like it in the field. Most urban fantasy writers romanticize vampires and focus on ghosts, fairies and werewolves, Ilona Andrews goes a completely different route. Sort of ruined me on urban fantasy. Everything else in the genre...feels sort of trite and redundant in comparison. Although I am enjoying the Mercy Thompson series at the moment, Briggs has a good character in Mercy and an interesting plot/mystery. The romance...could be better. Andrews does romance better.
9. Favorite YA Series
*The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (science fiction)
* Harry Potter by JK Rowling (fantasy)
10. Favorite Historical Novel Series...
The Chronicles of Lymond by Dorothy Dunnett, which frankly ruined me in regards of historical novels.
The Lymond Chronicles is a series of six novels written by Dorothy Dunnett and first published between 1961 and 1975. Set in mid-16th-century Europe and the Mediterranean area, the series tells the story of a young Scottish nobleman, Francis Crawford of Lymond, from 1547 through 1558. Well researched, Dunnett uses primary and secondary sources, and with intricate details. You read this and it's hard to read any other historical novels afterwards.
Jane Eyre - it's sort of a female version of Great Expectations...with a lot less focus on the romance than you'd think. (Actually I like it a whole lot better than Great Expectations, which is book I could never get myself to read -- not helped by seeing the musical adaptation (yes, there was a musical adapted by John Jakes of all people) and various movies.) Most adaptations of Jane Eyre don't focus much on the first 100 or so pages, which is about Jane's childhood, schooling, and struggle to become a governess. The last third of the book, becomes an intriguing gothic mystery novel...with twists and turns.
Wuthering Heights...sigh, the lead is really Heathcliff, and it feels like a revenge novel. Cathy is not likable, entitled, and whiny all the way through. But it does have an odd ending, showing how revenge does not work out well and tends to just eat up the person waging it. So, anti-revenge novel.
Haven't read the others.
2. Favorite Jane Austen Novel...
Weirdly, my favorite was a short story that was continued by another woman, entitled Sandition. This is an oddity. It is a book started by a famous author, who died before it was completed, and then years later, as in a century, another woman, who never gives her name, ghost-writes the completion.
You can't really tell that Austen didn't write it. Outside of the fact that the characters are slightly more likable. It sort of combines themes from Pride and Prejudice and Northhanger Abbey (which I couldn't make it through).
It also contains my favorite hero...Sydney. I must have read this book five times.
Of the works that Austen actually wrote in their entirety....I'd pick Pride and Prejudice, mainly due to it containing the most likable leads. Emma got on my nerves.
3. Favorite Shakespearean Play?
Difficult, but I'd have to say Twelfth Night, for the humor, although Midsummer Night's Dream is a close second. (Seen multiple versions of both, here and in England. In England, I saw a nude version of Midsummer Night's Dream, with a distinct homosexual subtext. It was definitely interesting. Instead of Lysander being into Helena, he was into Demetrios. While Hermia was into Helena.) Both are just fun romps, with all sorts of interesting bits of commentary on gender, sexuality, and politics. There's a bit of satire in there as well.
Never been a huge fan of the tragedies...although if I were to choose... Othello is the most fun, and has by far the best villain. And Julie Taymor's Titus Andronicus...is the most spectacular.
4. Favorite Agatha Christie Novel
Easy. Curtain - the last novel in the Hercule Poirot series, where she effectively accomplishes what Conan Doyle never quite did with Sherlock Holmes.
It's a tricky plot, with a great villain. Hint? She borrows heavily from Shakespeare. I've never seen an adaptation of it though.
Second favorite is a Miss Marple mystery entitled Sleeping Murder.
5. Favorite Arthurian Fantasy Novel...
Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart. It focuses mainly on Merlin and his family. Arthur doesn't come into it.
6. Name three favorite science fiction novels that influenced you:
* The Sparrow by Maria Doria Russell - still haunts. It's written by a biological and cultural anthropologist, who explores the idea of religious faith and communication in startling ways.
* Dune by Frank Herbert -- my first science fiction obsession. His world is so vivid and relatable.
* Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo....a book that played with my head, part mystery novel, part horror tale. Takes place in deep space, with a hero who is a dwarf. Think Tyrion in space.
7. Name three favorite fantasy novels that influenced you:
* The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien - best adventure tale ever. And the world is so detailed, even down to the language.
* The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson...this is about a man with leprosy, whose wedding ring has great power in another world. Thomas Covenant, an embittered and cynical writer, afflicted with leprosy and shunned by society, is fated to become the heroic savior of The Land, an alternate world. In six novels published between 1977 and 1983, he struggles against the satanic Lord Foul, "The Despiser", who intends to escape the bondage of the physical universe and wreak revenge upon his arch-enemy, "The Creator". Some elements are similar to those found in Richard Wagner's epic "Ring Cycle" and in earlier Celtic literature, but with some of the values inverted.
* His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman
8. Favorite Urban Fantasy Series
Ilona Andrews - Kate Daniels series or the Magic Verbs series (Andrews sucks at book titles). Intertwines Eastern Europe and Asian mythology in innovative ways. Also has a subversive take on the Bible and Western Judeo/Christian mythology. On top of that -- it's innovative in regards to it's supernatural creatures - shapeshifters are zoological, such as a prehistoric lion, and a moongoose, and hyenas. Vampires are mindless monsters navigated by necromancers. Never read anything like it in the field. Most urban fantasy writers romanticize vampires and focus on ghosts, fairies and werewolves, Ilona Andrews goes a completely different route. Sort of ruined me on urban fantasy. Everything else in the genre...feels sort of trite and redundant in comparison. Although I am enjoying the Mercy Thompson series at the moment, Briggs has a good character in Mercy and an interesting plot/mystery. The romance...could be better. Andrews does romance better.
9. Favorite YA Series
*The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (science fiction)
* Harry Potter by JK Rowling (fantasy)
10. Favorite Historical Novel Series...
The Chronicles of Lymond by Dorothy Dunnett, which frankly ruined me in regards of historical novels.
The Lymond Chronicles is a series of six novels written by Dorothy Dunnett and first published between 1961 and 1975. Set in mid-16th-century Europe and the Mediterranean area, the series tells the story of a young Scottish nobleman, Francis Crawford of Lymond, from 1547 through 1558. Well researched, Dunnett uses primary and secondary sources, and with intricate details. You read this and it's hard to read any other historical novels afterwards.