Mogsy's Favorite Romance Book

Master of Crows by Grace Draven

While I've been known to enjoy an element of romance in my reading, I'm not sure if the actual Romance genre is my cup of tea. Harlequin novels or the type of books featuring their heroines' steely-eyed, bare-chested and six-pack-bedecked love interests on their covers just aren't generally my thing. But then, I stumbled upon Master of Crows. 

I read this one last year and I was surprised at how good it was, especially since it appears to be a self-published indie. Okay, so maybe indulging in a steamy Romance novel can be fun once in a while, but it's still gotta be science fiction/fantasy-related or else I don't know if it'll hold my interest. Master of Crows sure fit the bill, taking place in a world of mages and magic and all that good stuff. Sure, it's not without its cheesy parts (but then again, I'm also a firm believer that any good Romance must have its fair amount of cheese), with its rather standard master-apprentice love story and the archetypal tall, dark, handsome, sexy, broody, mysterious and misunderstood and privately tortured lone-wolf male protagonist. Still, I liked this one. Never once did we lose the fantasy element, even amidst the lusty passion...

Which I'll admit was kind of hot. 

Click here for more of the BiblioSanctum 30-Day Book Challenge

Wendy's Favourite Romance Book

For me, the best romance books are the ones that you don't realize are romances. That happened with The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord where, coincidentally, the lead character, Grace Delarua, didn't realize it either.

Wendy: A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving

Sorrows Of Adoration by Kimberly Chapman

I'm not typically a romance fan, but a friend wrote this book and I read it initially out of that 'obligation,' but by 2:00AM the next morning, I was so completely smitten with the characters and their emotional struggles that I spent the rest of the day in an exhausted book funk, desperately needing to get home from work so I could finish the book.
Click here for my original review.

Wendy: Favourite Classic Book

"There was only one catch and that was Catch-22."

Mogsy: A Book That Makes You Happy

Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi

John Scalzi's books generally make me happy. I can always count on them to make me laugh (the man can write gruesome death scenes at the hands of merciless aliens and still make them heeeelarious) and they often end well.

A re-imagining of H. Beam Piper's Little Fuzzy, Scalzi's Fuzzy Nation stars Jack Holloway the independent contractor who discovers a rich seam of valuable jewels on Zarathustra, but then discovers the planet may be home to a race of sentient "fuzzys". These creatures are tiny, furry, cuddly, and ridiculously adorable...how can anyone not feel happy after reading this?!

Wendy: Most Overrated Book

This book spawned my first rule about "bestsellers" - Don't believe the hype, even if it comes from Oprah.

I read this when it first came out. A bunch of old university friends and new acquaintances met up at a nightclub and, chilling over drinks and music, found our mutual love of books. A fledgling bookclub was born, with this selected as our first read. Unfortunately, gathering plans failed to pan out so I will never know what they thought of the book. But it was only because of the tentative meeting that I bothered to finish it.

Setting aside the controversy that came with, there were some interesting ideas presented, but the writing was horrendous. It reminded me of my Nancy Drew Case Files collecting days, with Nancy clinging to a rope by her fingernails in each cliffhanger chapter ending. When I finally made it to the conclusion, I headed straight to the library to drop the book in the donation bin.

Mogsy: Favorite Quote From A Favorite Book

"It’s a truism in policing that witnesses and statements are fine but nothing beats empirical physical evidence. Actually it isn’t a truism because most policemen think the word empirical is something to do with Darth Vader, but it damn well should be."

-- Peter Grant

Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch 

(BiblioSanctum Review)

Wendy: Favourite Book Turned Into a Movie

Wendy: Favourite Title

I just stumbled on this in my daily Goodreads update review. 

The title made me smile (and sing) and the blurb made me curious.

To-read pile updated! 

Mogsy: A Book That Makes You Sad

 

11/22/63 by Stephen King

 
Can I take "Book that made me sad" to also mean "Book that made me bawl my friggin' eyes out so hard that I couldn't even see well enough to finish the last page"?

If so, this would be it. 11/22/63 isn't really that sad per se, but the ending is gut-wrenchingly bittersweet. I found myself at the kitchen table the morning I finished this book sobbing so loudly my husband rushed in from the back of the house to ask me if anything was wrong.

"Uh, yeah," I said. "Stephen King actually made me cry!"

Yup. Stephen King. Made me cry. I doubt he'd be the first one to come to mind when naming authors adept at pulling heartstrings, and in fact, I believe King has been criticized in the past for his awkward handling of scenes that involve any deep emotion or feeling. For example, you wouldn't think romance would be his forte.

11/22/63 would prove that wrong. Obviously, the book isn't a tearjerker romance (Note: it's not horror either; personally I would say Thriller/Suspense). Still, I can't deny those emotional factors made it even stronger, and ultimately it's the love story in the end that stayed with me.

But the book is about so much more! Basically, it's one giant "what if" scenario involving John F. Kennedy and his assassination by Lee Harvey Oswald that fateful day in 1963. It's got aspects of time travel, alternate history, historical fiction, thrills and chills -- honestly, it's great. But I'd say the less you know about the story going in, the better the experience is going to be. It's just one of those books!

Wendy: Favourite Female Character

I have several favourite female characters, two of whom have already appeared in Character Appreciation Posts. For the reading challenge, I opted for someone a little more unusual. In fact, Vergere is a Star Wars character that I mocked, initially, because really? She's a Jedi chicken! How could I possibly take her seriously? Then I read Traitor and Vergere was transformed from a source of ridicule to a subject of respect, curiosity and maybe even some awe and adoration. She may have even surpassed my previous Jedi Masters, Kreia and Jolee Bindoo, taking the deconstruction of the force and the ways of the Sith and the Jedi to an entirely new level, as manifested in her pupil, Jacen Solo. She shreds her pupil to his core, separating him from everything that he is and pushing him towards uncertainty. In the end, he learns a truth about the force that I have always wished would be explored within the Star Wars realm. Vergere is identified most readily as Sith and therefore evil, but her actions and teachings spoke much louder than that simple definition.

“Everything I tell you is a lie."

Mogsy: Favorite Book Turned Into A Movie

Okay, there are books I love whose movie adaptations end up being train wrecks that I abhor. On the other hand, there are also examples of great films based on books I'm not all that crazy for. So, in coming up with my answer for this question, I wanted to think of an instance where I actually enjoyed both the book and its movie.

It's actually tougher than I thought.

In the end, I had to go with this one. After 20 years (holy crap, has it really been that long?!) the movie is still just as entertaining for me now to watch as it was in the theater the first time I saw it as a little kid, and it was based on what was, in my opinion, one of the best books by Michael Crichton.

"You know, at times like this one feels, well, perhaps extinct animals should be left extinct."

-- Ian Malcom, Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton 

Tiara: Favorite Quote from Your Favorite Book

“In a way, her strangeness, her naiveté, her craving for the other half of her equation was the consequence of an idle imagination. Had she paints, or clay, or knew the discipline of the dance, or strings, had she anything to engage her tremendous curiosity and her gift for metaphor, she might have exchanged the restlessness and preoccupation with whim for an activity that provided her with all she yearned for. And like an artist with no art form, she became dangerous.” 
― Sula, Toni Morrison

Tiara: Favorite Title

Moms Who Drink and Swear: True Tales of Loving My Kids While Losing My Mind by Nicole Knepper

Mogsy: Your Favorite Series

The books in the Kushiel Universe by Jacqueline Carey

Oh whyyyyyyy, why must you make me choooooooose?

This is the reason I'm always chafing at these kinds of "What's your favorite ______?" questions. Whether it's movies, songs, books, etc. I don't know how anyone can name just one. I know I can't. A book series is no exception, but if I gotta pick just one...

Putting aside a whole slew of series I've fallen in love with just recently, or ones that still have too few books published in it to be included, I'll probably have to go with this long-time personal favorite of mine -- Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Universe, which is nine books split into three trilogies: Books 1-3: Phèdre Trilogy, Books 4-6: Imriel's Trilogy, Books 7-9: Moirin Trilogy.

All of them are quite fantastic, even though I felt the Moirin Trilogy might have missed its mark, and Imriel's Trilogy as a follow-up wasn't really that bad at all. Still, it's the Phèdre Trilogy that I completely adore. It's the one that first introduced me to the wonders and beauty of Terre D'Ange, its magic and its people.

For a long time, many of the books in this series has ranked among some of the best I've ever read, and I always remember the reading experience fondly and with pleasant nostalgia.

Wendy: Favourite Quote from Your Favourite Book

"Pearls are congealed oyster spit."

The Handmaid's Tale

Wendy: Favourite Series

I'm not necessarily a fan of historical fiction, or of the Arthurian legend, but a friend recommended this to me and I ended up loving the book so much that I bought the entire series and have read it twice.

The Warlord Chronicles is the story of King Arthur, as told in the first person by his friend Derfel. It includes the regular cast of characters and the expected monumental moments, but Cornwell skillfully twists them in a realistic way. What we think we know as Arthurian "truths" are, according to this book, the result of history being twisted by memory or by bards paid to sing different songs...

In keeping with making it more historical fiction than fantasy, much of the magic is toned down, though the belief in magic and ritual remains.

I love that Arthur is not the main character in this story about Arthur. he plays a major part, obviously, but this is Derfel's story and I love the humility of a main character who never really realizes how great a man he is and how great a friend he has been to a king.

The trilogy consists of The Winter King, Enemy of God and Excalibur.

Tiara: Favorite Book Turned Into A Movie

"I say never be complete. I say stop being perfect. I say let's evolve, let the chips fall where they may."

- Tyler Durden, Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Mogsy: A Book That I've Read More Than Three Times

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Okay, I'm going to cheat a little for this question. The thing is, I don't typically reread books. If I were to read a book again, it would be a book that I love, and generally books that I love, I remember very, very well, and that's why rereading isn't something I do a lot. Unfortunately, life's just too short (or more accurately, my TBR list is just too long) for it, so you can see why it would be kind of a challenge to come up with a book I've read more than once, let alone more than three times!

But...there is a book that comes close. In the fourth grade, I had a fantastic teacher called Mr. Smiley. And I am so not kidding, that was his real name. Mr. Smiley was a fun guy who was also Australian, so he had this really cool accent which made class story time even more amazing with his ability to do these great voices. One of the books he read to us was The Hobbit. And that, dear readers, was my very first exposure to this fantasy classic and the name J.R.R. Tolkien. I loved it.

Fast forward a couple years, in Grade 6, at another school in another country, my fellow students and I were assigned The Hobbit to read for English class. I'll admit, reading the book for a school assignment was definitely not as fun as listening to Mr. Smiley do his Gollum voice, but eh, what can you do? I remember having a great time returning to Middle Earth, nonetheless. It was just as good the second time around.

I have, of course, read The Hobbit again since my school years. But even if you count that along with the first couple of times (which I do, even if it was read to me the first time around) that's still just three times. But I included this book in my answers to the 30-Day Reading Challenge anyway, because as you can see the adventures of our beloved Bilbo Baggins played a big role in my childhood reading experiences which ultimately lead to my love for the fantasy genre in my adult years.

Eventually, I hope to be able to read The Hobbit to my own child, when she is a bit older. When I do, I suppose then it will be a book I have read more than three times, but too bad we're not counting future reads! In any case, I can't think of a better title to introduce my daughter to the world of fantasy books, and who knows, maybe it'll be the one that leads her down the road to become a fantasy fiction fan, like it did for her mom. The thought warms my heart.

Mogsy: The Best Book I've Read This Year

Heir of Novron by Michael J. Sullivan

This is where keeping track of my books on Goodreads comes in handy. To narrow down my options for Best Book I've Read This Year, I went straight to my 5-star reads. Still, 2013 isn't even half done yet, and according to my stats I've already racked up quite a few of those. Looking over the list, it was a tough choice, but in the end I had to go with Heir of Novron for overall best read.

Why? Well, Heir of Novron is actually an omnibus that collects the last two books (Wintertide and Percepliquis) of a six-part fantasy series called The Riyria Revelations. The first two omnibuses are Theft of Swords (collecting The Crown Conspiracy and Avempartha) and Rise of Empire (collecting Nyphron Rising and The Emerald Storm), and it's the gradual building up of the over-arching story in these books that made the stunning conclusion such a joy to read.

This is a delightful down-to-earth fantasy series, filled with adventure, action, and a cast of great characters. Once you start the first book, you just can't help but keep going; each installment has its own self-contained story, but the series is also meant to be read a whole. As you make your way through it, you will find that the author has dropped hints of what's to come in the earlier books, WAAAAAY before you even realized it was happening, which is what made Percepliquis such a mind-blowing experience. So many twists and turns, and shocking reveals. Let's just say the word Revelations in the series title is certainly apt.

And the icing on the cake is that the author is such a nice guy. After you finish the series, Michael J. Sullivan asks that you contact him for bonus material. So I sent him an email about it, along with my thanks and comments about how much I loved his books. This led to a back-and-forth email conversation which lasted a couple days where we talked about the themes of the series and he answered all my questions. To be able to discuss a book that I loved so much with the author right after reading it was one of the coolest experiences ever.