BTT: Authors and Books I'm Thankful For

Header by Ginger at G Reads

This week's question:

It’s Thanksgiving here in the U.S. of A. so …
What authors and books are you most thankful for?


My Answer:
The authors I am most thankful for are Lois McMaster Bujold and Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Both write long running science fiction series.

Photo by me taken November 2010.

Lois writes the Vorkosigan saga. They are the continuing adventures of Miles Vorkosigan who is a hyperactive, privileged aristocrat who was born with very brittle bones in a society that hates anything different. He is the kind of character who grabs hold of your heart and just won't let go. He is also the kind of character you would be most likely to murder in his sleep if you happened to meet him in "real life." Whenever I re-read those books, I am again caught up in the world and the adventures. They are perfect books to take me out of myself and out of my life. Lois's books are listed here.

Photo from Fantastic Fiction (undated)

Sharon and Steve's books work the same way for me. I am most entertained by their Liaden Universe books. In this series, humans have evolved into humans, Liadens, and Xtraing and are joined by some other people who never were human like the Turtles. The series focuses on the Liadens who have a fascinating culture built around the concept of melanti (similar to the Japanese Face). The characters are well-developed human beings that I would love to know - but preferably in much less dangerous situations than they face in the books. The culture of the world and the values of Korval fascinate me. I have read these books so frequently that I have multiple copies of each book in case one gets too worn to be readable. A listing of their books is here.


These certainly aren't the only authors I love. But these are the authors that I have turned to year after year and stressful situation after stressful situation to make me feel better and more hopeful.


Which books and authors are you thankful for? Let us know by posting on your blog and linking here.

Booking Through Thursday: August 26, 2010

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly bookish meme. Anyone can play along! Just comment to the following: 

If you’re not enjoying a book, will you stop mid-way? Or do you push through to the end? What makes you decide to stop?

If I am not enjoying a book, I stop a lot sooner than half-way. I usually give a book a few pages to grab my attention. If it fails, I set it aside and try something else. I have over 800 books on my TBR stack currently either in physical form or on my Kindle. I also read for pleasure. It is not a pleasure if I am not enjoying a book. 


Here are some things that will stop me from reading a book:

• writing style - Do I have to stop and re-parse sentences before they make sense to me? Is the style overly "cute"? Did the author fall in love with their thesaurus? I avoid both stream of consciousness and over-abundance of dialect in the books I choose.
• characters - Can I identify in some way with the main character? Is the character interesting to me? Are there interesting and well-developed secondary characters?
• story - Is the author getting into actually telling a story or spending huge amounts of words setting up the story? Give me action and start it NOW. Something needs to happen. Is there a problem that needs to be solved?

Now, all of these things are very subjective. I story that I can't connect to might well be someone else's favorite book of all time. I also have to note that I am a mood reader. A book may be perfectly wonderful but I am not in the mood for it. Sometimes I want something light and happy; sometimes I want something darker or requiring more thought. In most cases, I give a book more than one try before I abandon it for good and move it along to find it a good home.


If you have thoughts on the topic I would love to hear them. Write a post and link it here. And, good luck! I hope the book you are reading now is not one that you will give up on.

BTT: Disappointment

Today's Booking Thru Thursday Questions is:

Name a book or author that you truly wanted to love but left you disappointed. (And, of course, explain why.)

I hate to say it but Before I Fall by Lauren Kate was this for me. I had read such great reviews. I pre-ordered it and was really excited when it arrived. But then I started to read it and just couldn't get into the story. The mean-spirited main character and the fact that the book was told in a first person, stream of consciousness style just defeated me. I read a few pages and set it aside. Then I read some more glowing reviews and tried again. I finally abandoned the book at about page 185. Here is my review. 

If you want to see what disappointed others, check out the Booking Through Thursday blog here. I'd like to know what book disappointed you. 

Booking Through Thursday: Long or Short

Which do you prefer? Short stories? Or full-length novels?

This is an easy one for me. I much prefer full-length novels (and I even like series). I think a full-length novel gives much more time for character development and allows for a much more complex plot.

I usually feel unsatisfied when reading short stories because I want to know more. The only time a really like short stories is when they are about characters I have already "met" in a previous novel.

Sometimes, I will read an anthology that contains stories about charcters I already know and meet a new character in another story that I want to know more about. I am quite disappointed if I learn that there is no more about the character.

  

Booking Through Thursday - Bedside

What books do you have next to your bed right now? How about other places in the house? What are you reading?

 

I don't have any books by my bed. I do almost all of my reading while sitting on the couch in my living room. Currently occupying my couch are: My Soul to Keep by Rachel Vincent, 2 copies of Storm Warning by Linda Sue Park (39 Clues, Book 9), and A Rush of Wings by Adrian Phoenix. 

 

My nearest books indicate how eclectic my book choices usually are. After, I finish My Soul to Keep, I will be donating it to my HS Media Center. The 2 copies of Storm Warning will be donated to my Elementary Media Center after I read one of them. A Rush of Wings would be a re-read, if I have time, for a discussion on GoodReads.

 

Oh, and my Kindle is sitting on my couch too with 325 books on it. Now, life would be good if I could just stay on my couch. However, I need to head off to work shortly.

 

Check and see what books others have at their sides (bed or otherwise) by looking at the links on Booking Through Thursday.