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bunrabI had gone to one of those sites where you type in the name of an author, and the site suggests other authors you might like, based on relationships in Amazon.com purchases. Got a list of names, and have been trying them out, courtesy of the Howard County and Harford County public libraries. Herewith some results:
Based on liking the mystery author Sharyn McCrumb, the site mentioned, among others, Tom Bodett. I found 2 books of his, a collection of his short NPR pieces, which is mildly amusing but quite lightweight, and a novel which I haven't started yet.
Based on the fantasy author Emma Bull, the site suggested, among others, Nicholas Christopher and Graham Joyce. I found a fantasy by Joyce - and hated it. It was more of a supernatural thing, not really fantasy, and based almost entirely on religious hallucinations - not my cup of tea at all. I also found the writing style far too "English" for me - lots of slang I didn't get, and the characters were described as doing things that you wouldn't find Americans doing, and that didn't seem realistic, even within the confines of fantasy, to me. I mean, a guy who's agoraphobic and hasn't gone out in decades, sure - but that where he's holed up is a youth hostel in Jerusalem, and that even though he's been holed up in this unlikely place, in one room (and they let him?) he has pieces of the Dead Sea Scrolls... nuh-uh, not right. Not to me, anyway. So scratch Graham Joyce.
Nicholas Christopher, on the other hand: not precisely a fantasy, more fantastical, if you see what I mean. A Trip to the Stars starts out in the planetarium in NYC - how could I not be hooked? I'm only halfway through the book, but I'm enjoying it. It's a sort of magical realism style - the characters are odd, and there are things happening that aren't *quite* explainable, but it all rolls merrily along. A large cast of characters, many of whom belong to an extended family that names its children after stars; many people who don't realize they have a special relationship to each other, and pass in the night mysteriously before finally figuring out who they are. It doesn't sound like much of a plot, that way, but it is interesting. The strange hobbies of the characters are also engaging - Zaren Eboli, the spider collector; our "heroine," more or less, who reads the classics in the original Latin and Greek, while working as a Navy nurse during the Vietnam war; people with telescopes and mind-reading acts... it's keeping me reading.
Based on romance author Mary Balogh, the site mostly recommended other authors with whom I was already familiar, including a couple I had already tried and hated. And, for pete's sake, Steven Crane?? How the heck did he get into that mix?? Anyway, one of the unfamiliar names was Elizabeth Cadell, and I found one book of hers. Lightweight contemporary romance, no real plot, and not my cup of tea - it's the sort of English romance that depends far too much on people entering houses without knocking and therefore seeing things they didn't want to see, and peering through windows, and strange details about how the English school system works, that make no sense to me - what's a matron? And unlikely children bringing even unlikelier friends home from boarding school for the Christmas holidays with no warning... that stuff may actually happen, but I just can't get into it. Anyway, it wasn't bad, it just wasn't worth much effort.
Tomorrow's another trip to the Howard County library in Columbia, so more results soon!
Based on liking the mystery author Sharyn McCrumb, the site mentioned, among others, Tom Bodett. I found 2 books of his, a collection of his short NPR pieces, which is mildly amusing but quite lightweight, and a novel which I haven't started yet.
Based on the fantasy author Emma Bull, the site suggested, among others, Nicholas Christopher and Graham Joyce. I found a fantasy by Joyce - and hated it. It was more of a supernatural thing, not really fantasy, and based almost entirely on religious hallucinations - not my cup of tea at all. I also found the writing style far too "English" for me - lots of slang I didn't get, and the characters were described as doing things that you wouldn't find Americans doing, and that didn't seem realistic, even within the confines of fantasy, to me. I mean, a guy who's agoraphobic and hasn't gone out in decades, sure - but that where he's holed up is a youth hostel in Jerusalem, and that even though he's been holed up in this unlikely place, in one room (and they let him?) he has pieces of the Dead Sea Scrolls... nuh-uh, not right. Not to me, anyway. So scratch Graham Joyce.
Nicholas Christopher, on the other hand: not precisely a fantasy, more fantastical, if you see what I mean. A Trip to the Stars starts out in the planetarium in NYC - how could I not be hooked? I'm only halfway through the book, but I'm enjoying it. It's a sort of magical realism style - the characters are odd, and there are things happening that aren't *quite* explainable, but it all rolls merrily along. A large cast of characters, many of whom belong to an extended family that names its children after stars; many people who don't realize they have a special relationship to each other, and pass in the night mysteriously before finally figuring out who they are. It doesn't sound like much of a plot, that way, but it is interesting. The strange hobbies of the characters are also engaging - Zaren Eboli, the spider collector; our "heroine," more or less, who reads the classics in the original Latin and Greek, while working as a Navy nurse during the Vietnam war; people with telescopes and mind-reading acts... it's keeping me reading.
Based on romance author Mary Balogh, the site mostly recommended other authors with whom I was already familiar, including a couple I had already tried and hated. And, for pete's sake, Steven Crane?? How the heck did he get into that mix?? Anyway, one of the unfamiliar names was Elizabeth Cadell, and I found one book of hers. Lightweight contemporary romance, no real plot, and not my cup of tea - it's the sort of English romance that depends far too much on people entering houses without knocking and therefore seeing things they didn't want to see, and peering through windows, and strange details about how the English school system works, that make no sense to me - what's a matron? And unlikely children bringing even unlikelier friends home from boarding school for the Christmas holidays with no warning... that stuff may actually happen, but I just can't get into it. Anyway, it wasn't bad, it just wasn't worth much effort.
Tomorrow's another trip to the Howard County library in Columbia, so more results soon!
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Date: 2006-06-21 10:23 pm (UTC)A friend urged me to read her Bimbos of the Death Sun years ago - I spent a sleepless night in the Haque worldcon reading it. However, the Zombies of the Gene Pool was not as interesting. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any others.
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Date: 2006-06-22 04:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-22 07:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-23 12:44 am (UTC)Oh, and I love Emma Bull. Big time.
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Date: 2006-06-23 03:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-23 08:35 am (UTC)