A post I've been meaning to make

Ever since I read The Way of Kings earlier this summer I've been wanting to make this post, and I have no idea why I haven't.  It's a bit of a continuation of my comment on Kirsten's latest post.

So here's the deal.  About 2.5 years ago, while I was in Baltimore, I picked up my first book by Brandon Sanderson, Elantris.  I immediately fell in love, seriously, almost as much as I love LotR (yeah, fantasy geek, I know).  I read the Mistborn Trilogy, which was AMAZING and Warbreaker, which was slightly less amazing, but still very good (also, you can read it free online). 

Sidenote:  I just checked Sanderson's website and apparently another Mistborn book is in final revisions.  There was much squealing and waving of arms.

Sanderson has also taken over Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time (WoT) series, and is working on his own epics series, The Stormlight Archive.  The first book in Stormlight is The Way of Kings, which I read this summer.

I think Sanderson is an amazingly talented writer, but I have not read the conclusion for WoT, I was extremely reluctant to pick up Way of Kings, and I was very distressed to hear that he wanted to write an epic.  Why?  Because after reading all of WoT including the last book that Jordan wrote, I'm completely burned out from long, epic stories.  I much prefer stand-alones, trilogies, or other shorter series.  Thinks like Brian Jaques' Redwall or Mercedes Lackey's Heralds of Vlademar, with many books set in the same world, but each is a stand-alone, are okay.

I know many people love epics, Sanderson himself sites WoT and A Game of Thrones as his influences to write Stormlight, so why don't I like them?  I don't know.  One reason might be that, growing up in the age of instant gratification I can't commit to one story of such a length.  Another, perhaps more compelling reason, is that  I don't think I really liked WoT.  It's well written and terribly interesting, but the characters in it kind of terrified me.  They all seem to have so much anger toward everyone else, everyone is trying to control each other, no one trusts anyone, especially men vs women.  I find it to be terribly sad.  And then, I tried to read Game of Thrones, but it looked like it was going to be much the same way, so I only read the first one.

Btw, even though I didn't really want to read Way of Kings, and was a bit bored throughout most of the book (which insisted on switching characters when there was only one that I really wanted to read about-seriously, every night I was like "I'm going to read until I get to the next chapter this person is in"), the last couple chapters completely hooked me, and I will probably read the next book to come out.

So that's my little story about epics. 

Recently, I've been reading some Japanese fairy tales and various other free kindle downloads.  Did you know you can get Jane Austen and Dostoyevsky for free?  It's pretty exciting.

Catching Up

I've read all sorts of things since the last posting, but these are the only ones I can remember:

Sister Frevisse Medieval Mysteries were perfect beach reading when we ended up in Duck, N.C. after non-stop events and responsibilities in May and June. I think I went through about five of these at the rate of one a day. They were on the Books for Fun rack at EMU. They are my kind of murder mysteries--the victims are almost always characters you want to see go, and there are lots of suspects. I think Margaret Frazer gets most of the medieval details right--or enough that it's believable. The perpetrator in The Servant's Tale had the best, most disturbing motive ever.

Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. Now I know what all the fuss is about. I love all the politics, secret scandals, hints of dragons and impending wintry doom, complex characters...but if you read his GRRM, just know that he'll kill any character, any time, no matter whether you like them or not. He's no Margaret Frazer.

Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture. I read this with the analog book club. Highly recommended to anyone who ever plans to interact with little girls. Hint: you don't have to be pretty/sexy and purchase things to be a fulfilled woman, but the marketers won't tell you that.

Bossypants by Tina Fey: A speedy read--also for book club. Entertaining and inspiring.

Book manuscripts by two different friends--I love these exclusives. Such a privilege to be friends with good writers.

When I was at the AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs) conference in D.C. this spring, I subscribed to great literary...journal? It's called One Story and that's what they send you every three weeks--a pleasingly simple little chapbook with one short story in it. Each time one arrives, it's like receiving a tiny gift in the mail. Most of the authors are new, and the stories are well-wrought. I'll keep trying to get some of my work in there...

Happy reading to all.