Stuff and randomness

[go_team]

So lately it seems like everything I read is sad: currently it's Kelly's copy of Stone Butch Blues, before that it was a reread of the Dark Tower series, because Book 5 (The Wolves of Calla) is coming out this year or I'm going to go seriously Misery on Stephen King's ass. To counter this trend and try to win back the feeling that there's hope for humanity, I started in on The Zinn Reader ("writings on disobedience and democracy") this morning. Actually, by that point it was probably afternoon, but that's because we slept in and had waffles for breakfast --- thanks again to chocolatesmudge and nedthealpaca for the hand-me-down waffle iron! It's not often that I turn to nonfiction for my feel-good reading, but so far, so good. Still, if any of y'all want to recommend some relatively light-hearted, entertaining fiction that won't bludgeon me with an emotional 2x4, that would be great. Bonus points if I can get it at my friendly local public library (the link is mostly for my own reference, so I can check the online catalog for any suggestions that appear in the comments to this entry).

I swear I had more to say than this, but of course I've completely forgotten it. Drat.

Update, 17:14: Oh yeah: we had tostadas for dinner last night and they were super-tasty. I am pleased by the outcome of this experiment, yes indeedy. I'd gotten corn tortillas on an impulse-buy earlier in the week, but wasn't really sure what to do with them: huevos rancheros? tostadas? In the end, the latter won out, but I might have to try making me some rancheros in the not-too-distant future. We'll see. Yay for trying new foods!

Comments

[pants-of-doom.livejournal.com]

I recommend Iain M. Banks, although he's not superlight, he's a lot lighter than Stone Butch Blues. Of course, a suicide attempt might be lighter than that book... I finished The Club Dumas recently, which the film The Ninth Gate is based on, and I liked that quite a bit. If you want cool kids' books, read Diana Wynne Jones, pretty much anything she's written.... Uh. I'll think more.

[chocolatesmudge.livejournal.com]

Waffles make the world go round, Tracy.

Howard Zinn for light reading? Hmm.

[chocolatesmudge.livejournal.com]

Check out my new icon! (I had to show it off somewhere.)

[goteam.livejournal.com]

Very cute. I've been thinking I should make me a new icon sometime... maybe a picture of me with my fab new haircut.

[kuddliphish.livejournal.com]

Terry Pratchett is always good for a light read. If you haven't read Good Omens then you should. It is by Niel Gaiman and Terry Pretchett and is really delightful. I find Pratchett a little too bizarrely fluffy sometimes but I think Gaiman managed to keep the silliness under control.

Gregory Keyes and Steven Brust are my two favorite fantasy authors so I always plug them when people ask for reading suggestions. Keyes does really neat world creation stuff (I believe that his background is in anthropology) and Brust does stuff with voice that I want to learn to do. His narrators are always characters themselves even in primarily third person POV books. Louis McMaster Bujold is also really good. She does sci-fi instead of fantasy and is amazing when it comes to believable melodrama. If you want specific titles of favorites I can give them to you, but I figure if you're going to the library it's easier to just have author names.

Paula Volsky

[dmyersta.livejournal.com]

I really liked the Curse of the Witch Queen novel that she wrote. It is self-contained, light hearted and in the style of Talking with Dragons, Searching for Dragons etc. which were also books I liked, though I can't remember their author. :-)