If you're brave enough to fly

Yeah, I didn’t do so well at actually posting these on the days.

Day 27 – If a book contains ______, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!

There are a couple of things that I’m a sucker for, but one of the biggest ones is an Otherworld of some kind.  It’s a huge part of what attracts me to Charles de Lint’s work, especially The Onion Girl, which heavily features an Otherworld.

Day 28 – First favorite book or series obsession

First series obsession was definitely Raymond E Feist’s Riftwar books, which I still love, even though I’m mostly over fat fantasy.

Day 29 – Saddest character death OR best/most satisfying character death (or both!)

The one that springs to mind is Tom’s death in House of Leaves.

Day 30 – What book are you reading right now?

Mark Chadbourn’s World’s End.  Which is incredibly awesome.

Mirrored from Stephanie Gunn.

I let this get away from me.  Catching up!

Day 23 – Most annoying character ever

I’m going to have to go with the Wheel of Time books here, specifically Egwene.  Though almost all of the female characters could go into this category – they’re supposed to be powerful, but they spend way too much time mooning around after men.

Day 24 – Best quote from a novel

We’re all made of stories. … When they finally put us underground, the stories are what will go on. Not forever, perhaps, but for a time. It’s a kind of immortality, I suppose, bounded by limits, it’s true, but then so’s everything.
- Charles de Lint, Memory & Dream
Day 25 – Any five books from your “to be read” stack

Alice Hoffman – Practical Magic

Cherie Priest – Fathom

Caitlin Kiernan – The Red Tree

Karen Healey – Guardian of the Dead

Juliet Marillier – Heart’s Blood

Day 26 – OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending

I had to really think about this one.  I suspect that I’ve blocked out a lot of bad endings in books.  And I also had to go and look at my shelves.  But I found it: Chapter House: Dune.  If you haven’t read it, then I won’t spoil it, but it’s just irritating.

Mirrored from Stephanie Gunn.

Day 21 – Favorite romantic/sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)

I seem to be turning back to the same books over and over in my answers.  And these ones aren’t going to deviate from that.

Definitely Daemon and Jaenelle from Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels books.

Day 22 – Favorite non-sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)

Also going to use the Black Jewels books here – Daemon and Lucivar.

Mirrored from Stephanie Gunn.

I got behind again.

Day 18 – Favorite beginning scene in a book

Definitely Stephen King’s The Gunslinger.

“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”

Day 19 – Favorite book cover (bonus points for posting an image!)

The recent US releases of Mark Chadbourn’s Age of Misrule trilogy, all have gorgeous covers.  I have to confess that these covers alone convinced me that I needed to read the books, even before I knew anything about them.

I’m also a massive fan of John Jude Palencar’s covers, especially all of Charles de Lint’s books with his covers.

Day 20 – Favorite kiss

The first kiss between Phedre and Joscelin in Kushiel’s Dart.  What can I say, the whole scene is amazing.  As is the rest of their relationship.

Mirrored from Stephanie Gunn.

Yes, I missed a day yesterday.

Day 16 – Favorite poem or collection of poetry

I’m eternally a huge fan of Sylvia Plath’s poetry.  Sue me, I’m emo   My favourite of hers always remains Lady Lazarus.  Yes, I’m the cliche there, too.

Day 17 – Favorite story or collection of stories (short stories, novellas, novelettes, etc.)

I don’t tend to gravitate towards a lot of short stories, which is one of the reasons I like judging awards – it forces me to actually read short stories.  I could continue by trend by choosing one of the Charles de Lint collections, but I’m going to go with something different – Deborah Biancotti’s Book of Endings.

Mirrored from Stephanie Gunn.

Day 15 – Your “comfort” book

There are a few, several of which I’ve already mentioned in answers to other questions.  Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel books, Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels books, Charles de Lint’s Newford books.  Also, books that I read as a child and teenager: John Christopher’s Tripod books, Margaret Mahy’s The Changeover and Aliens in the Family.

Mirrored from Stephanie Gunn.

Day 14 – Favorite character in a book (of any sex or gender)

There are many, but I have to go with Daemon Sadi from Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels books.

What can I say about him?  Read the books, and you’ll understand.

Mirrored from Stephanie Gunn.

Day 13 – Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!)

I’m going to answer both with one book here.

I remember being around eleven or twelve and running to the YA shelf (Yes, *shelf* – at the time there was only one) in the library, searching through for books that were more grown up than the children’s books I’d been reading.  I may have been even younger, I’m not sure.  I just know that I wanted something more to read, and the adult shelves were as yet too intimidating.

I don’t remember why I picked up The Changeover.  I suspect that I actually read Mahy’s Aliens in the Family first, after seeing the miniseries based on the book.  I just remember being utterly enchanted.

This was before I had any real inkling of what genre was.  I just read what I liked, and didn’t care what anyone thought of it.  Since I read that library copy, I hunted up my own and have had it on the shelf almost constantly ever since.

Young readers are so lucky these days – there’s such an awesome variety of young adult fiction, much of it genre.  I hope it leads to a generation of adult readers.

Mirrored from Stephanie Gunn.

Day 12 – A book or series of books you’ve read more than five times.

I think the only series that I’ve read this many times is Dune, specifically the first three books.

These books also have the honour of probably being the first science fiction that I ever picked up, while knowing it was science fiction.  I don’t even know why I grabbed them in the library one day – probably someone else had been talking about them.  But they remain one of my favourite, and most read, series.

Mirrored from Stephanie Gunn.

Day 11 – A book that disappointed you

This meme is making it seem like I only read a handful of authors.  I really do read more widely, honest!

I hate using this as an answer to this, because I am a huge fan of Anne Bishop – I adore her Black Jewels books.  I’ve looked forward to everything she’d written, but nothing has grabbed me as much as the Black Jewels series.

Sebastian was a particular disappointment for me.  There were a lot of interesting things in it, both plotwise and characterwise, but it didn’t ever gel into a coherent whole.

Mirrored from Stephanie Gunn.