brightly_lit

Reading, for me, depends very much on my mood, and what's happening around me. I LOVE political books, and books about anthropology and sociology and cultural stuff. I used to borrow all sorts of random things from the library - books about counter-culture in mainstream culture, books about cults (I went through a phase when I was fascinated with cults).

I also read a lot of crap. I love horror - love my Stephen King, grew up reading Christopher Pike and RL Stine. Oh, and The Vampire Chronicles until Anne Rice went nuts against the people who - shock horror! - inferred homoeroticism in her books (Lestat and Louis are still OTP to me).

I read BabySitters Club books still. Yes, I know, I know, but I love them. They're my sweetness and light. And they are kind of funny, after reading them as a kid. I am literally trying to read every one made - there are about 250. And in some of them 13-year-olds solve crimes.

I also read a lot of tie-in stuff. Movie, TV and DVD stuff. I love the Resident Evil novels, and the Supernatural novels. Sometimes they have some good angst, they're worth checking out. I love the X Files novels, and I'm in the process of reading the Walking Dead novels, which are based on the comics.

Speaking of which, I love comics. Walking Dead, X Files, Supernatural, some horror manga, Sonic the Hedgehog, Strawberry Shortcake (yep, I'm not making that one up), a lot of different things.

The intelligent stuff has fallen by the wayside since I started my PhD, since I do so much heavy reading at Uni. I prefer to zip through my comics or re-read my old tie-ins.

Speaking of fanfic, I need to finish one I've been working on - I'm working on a sad, angsty wee!chester fic I started eons ago, and just picked up again on the bus last week. If and when it gets done it'll be posted. I also started the fic involving sick Sam and Dean/Cas/Meg/Benny. Because I'm fussy, I needed a plot to explain why they're all in one place together. I don't do PWP very well, I need the plot!

From:

Which of the SPN novels did you particularly like? How many have you read? I read one, Night Terror, and it was so god-awful I thought I'd better try one by a different author, just to take the taste of that one out of my mouth and give the books a real try, and because it would almost HAVE to be better. So I read War of the Sons, which was only a little bit better- still terrible! All the way through both, I thought, "Man, I could list 10 fic-writers, easy, who could have done a hundred times better than this!" I WISH THEY'D GET SOME OF THE BEST FIC WRITERS TO WRITE THOSE NOVELS! They'd do a fantastic job. But I don't think I can bring myself to read another SPN novel unless someone tells me it's really, really great. :-}

From:

It sounds like I may not be the one to ask, since I liked Night Terror. You probably wouldn't like Rite of Passage, since that's by the same author, and I found that one less likeable than Night Terror.

War of the Sons was partly written by one of the people involved in the show, Rebecca Dissertine. She also wrote One Year Gone, probably my least favourite because it's before season 6, so it's Sam with Samuel and Dean with Ben and Lisa, and Ben and Lisa kind of bore me.

My favourites, for what it's worth, are DeCandido's books, mostly for his writing style and the characterisation. I like the way he writes Sam and Dean, and I like his way of writing. That is Nevermore, Heart of the Dragon (which actually features John as well as Mary's parents) and Bone Key. But you might not like them.

Stay away at all costs from Carved in Flesh. It fucking sucks and it has a ton of spelling and grammatical errors.

I like the books because they're easy to read and fun and I like some of the characterisations. I liked Rite of Passage because it had a lot of Hallucifer, and that was done quite well, I thought.

If you look at Amazon, the books get a seriously varied bunch of reviews. I personally don't expect a lot from the books so I enjoy them as a bit of fun and something that isn't too heavy.

I have actually read all of the SPN books now. I also have John's Journal and The Bobby Singer Guide to Hunting. They're not bad - Bobby's Guide is better.

Hilariously, one of the early SPN books features an angel called Abbadon. Kind of outdated now!

From:

Yes, wasn't the angel called Abaddon in War of the Sons?? Think I remember that!

Yeah, they just might not be my thing, but I might try some of DeCandido's on your recommendation. I need good light reading, too... I love young adult paranormal/urban fantasy for that purpose. :-)

Thanks for your thoughts!

From:

Oh yeah, that was Abbadon wasn't it? I couldn't remember which book it was - that's the Civil War recreation one? I like Cas trying to heal the people who are just pretending to be hurt.

DeCandido is worth a try, I think. I like his style - he wrote the Resident Evil movie novelisations. I HATE the movies, but his novels rock.

What do you read YA wise? I grew up reading all that sort of stuff - not sure how old you are, so it might be all before your time, but I loved like Fear Street and all those kinds of books.

Good luck, hope you find something you enjoy!

From:

LOL about "before my time"! I think, unless you are a very unusual age for a Uni student, that I'm quite a bit older than you; I just turned 43. :-) I don't remember Fear Street, but I don't like horror, so no wonder. I remember R.L. Stine very well, though I never read any.

I tend toward fantasy and paranormal romance in the young adult genre. I love Sarah Rees Brennan, Cassandra Clare Tamora Pierce... I adore Harry Potter, of course... geez, I know there are a million of them, but I can't think of them all off the top of my head. I loved Anne McCaffrey's Harper Hall trilogy when I was a teenager, that begins with Dragonsong.I also love urban fantasy and fantasy for grown-ups; Jim Butcher and Patrick Rothfuss are faves. You can read my list of urban fantasy rave reviews for a wish I granted at insmallpackages here if you're interested:
http://septembers-coda.livejournal.com/11433.html
Most of those are actually young adult as well. :-)

From:

LOL I'm 29. For some reason I thought you were younger!

I saw the Potter movies, but I haven't read the books. I'm not sure I've heard of a lot of those books, so I think I'll have to check it out! I don't read a lot of fantasy per-se, but I love Pratchett's Discworld books, I love the humour.

From:

Yes, I assumed you were in your 20s. Perhaps my enthusiasm makes me seem young. ;-) I do feel like an old lady in fandom a lot, but then I find out some of the hardcore porn-writing people I know are grandmothers. :-D You just never know!

The Potter books are infinitely superior to the movies. I only really liked about half of the films, and you can't tell WTF is going on if you haven't read the books, a lot of the time. I enjoyed the movies even when they weren't great, though. It was amazing casting, particularly of most of the professors.

I enjoy some Terry Pratchett as well! I like more serious fantasy, but there's a lot of humor fantasy out there. Prathett and Neil Gaiman wrote a favorite of mine together, Good Omens.

Ahhh, how I love to talk about books. :-)

From:

Heh, porn-writing grandmothers. It is both awesome and strange!

Yeah, maybe it's because you're a bit new to Supernatural so I kind of assumed you were a young fan. You know what they say happens when you assume though!

I watched the movies with someone who had read the books, so she explained a lot to me. But yeah, there was a lot I didn't understand. Also, the second to last movie involved a lot of camping and sitting around doing nothing and more camping.

Snape was hot, though.

I've heard good things about Good Omens, I really need to read it.

I love the humour stuff, I guess I like that very British humour in fantasy. I LOVE Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. <3

From:

No, the Civil War recreation one sounds more interesting! In War of the Sons... all I remember is they went back in time to the 30s or 40s and there was some criminal chick who liked Dean, but her father had to kidnap or kill the Winchesters to prevent the apocalypse in some prophecy or something. Demons on a train? I dunno. Cas wasn't in it; I'd like to read one he's in!

From:

Oh, right, the Civil War one was The Unholy Cause, which was about the noose Judas hanged himself with. Yeah, Cas is in the middle of a re-creation, in a tent, 'healing' these people who are only pretending to be injured. It's season 5, so there's a lot of angst about Sam betraying Dean.

From:

Ooooh, Cas!! Like the scene in E.T.: "Oooooouch..." "No, fake ouch! Fake ouch!" Soooo cute, Cas trying to heal all the re-enactors! Was The Unholy Cause good enough to check out? I like Samd 'n Dean angst...

(I'd better, huh? Man, can't imagine why I'd still watch the show if I didn't!!)

From:

I haven't read it in a while, but I remember it being quite good. I think it's one of those things where you have read it for yourself and decide. You possibly are less forgiving about the books than I am, lol. But some interesting trust issues come up in it as well.

From:

Sounds interesting! If I can get it at the library, I will definitely check it out (literally). :-)

From:

indiachick.livejournal.com

I haven't tried the Supernatural books yet, but Bobby's guide is really good! Hilarious once Dean takes over the POV!

From:

Also - it ain't dead 'til it's in 5 pieces!

From:

caranfindel.livejournal.com

Oh, and The Vampire Chronicles until Anne Rice went nuts against the people who - shock horror! - inferred homoeroticism in her books

You're joking, right?

From:

http://www.angelfire.com/rant/croatoan/

http://fanlore.org/wiki/Anne_Rice

I swear there was a religious aspect to it, because she found God again not long before all this came down.

From:

I remember the weird Christian phase she went through-- I thought there was some hypocritical religious freak out related to perceptions of her work, too. More recently, though, she flipped her stance AGAIN and said she could no longer be Christian because of their anti-gay and anti-feminist values. She said the intense efforts the church went to to block gay rights groups were just too wrong to ignore.

From:

She utterly weirds me out. It's making it difficult to go back and read her stuff. And I so loved Lestat.

You really think she would've known their anti-feminist/gay stance when she joined the Church.

From:

caranfindel.livejournal.com

Well, bless her little heart!

From:

I love random stuff, too! One of my favorite things is wandering through some obscure section of a bookstore and finding something in a genre I never thought I'd like but do ....

I, uh ... don't know what to say about learning that Anne Rice reacted like that. Those books were the first I ever read where it was so overt I had no doubt it was totally deliberate. Actually, don't they kiss and stuff? Come on.

I love a good junk book if there's something else about it that's also absolutely brilliant. ;-)

It's so fun to hear about what everybody likes to read!

From:

I read the most amazing book series just randomly - it's an Australian author, it's an alternate history of World War 2, a bunch of people are sent back in time, it's hard to explain but it's amazing stuff.

http://www.amazon.com/Weapons-Choice-Axis-Time-Trilogy/dp/0345457137/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387254417&sr=1-1&keywords=weapons+of+choice

Yeah, Anne Rice became a born-again Christian or something and got all pissy about the fanfic out there.

Yeah, there is actually a lot of sex in the books. There's one where Lestat is human and all he wants to do is have sex with this professor dude friend of his, and there is some stuff between a vampire and a child, and Lestat sleeps with a Nun and Lestat also has a creepy relationship with his mother.

From:

deceptivemirror.livejournal.com

My book tastes tend to run for series in science fiction, generally, though that's not always the case. If you want psychological introspection, few things accomplish that more than the theory of living among other sentient beings. CJ Cherryh's Foreigner series accomplishes that quite nicely using her protagonist, Bren.

For angst and feels and thoughts, a friend of mine gifted me with The Book Thief one year...and it made me ugly cry. IN PUBLIC. It's an amazing and touching read, and so powerful. I also look for characters I can cheer for.

Thirdly, for the most part, I want both humor and plot. This is where I, oddly enough, enjoy romance novels. Sherrilyn Kenyon is both funny and plot-filled in her books, though the one negative criticism I have for her books that genuinely does bother me is her rather prolific character-torture. Without giving too much away, a lot of her characters have really tragic backstories, and in some of her books, I really wonder how the protagonists manage to find love in the way they do, but it DOES undoubtedly work.

Those are just a few tastes of my own reading preferences.

From:

tifaching.livejournal.com

I'm a big fan of Cherryh, though I haven't read the Foreigner series. I've got her Chanur books, Cyteen and her Gate series. I'll have to give Foreigner a look.

Unh, The Book Thief. I haven't read it, but the movie's on my must see list right now.

From:

deceptivemirror.livejournal.com

The Foreigner series is amazing! I'm eagerly awaiting the next one to emerge from hardback hell so I can buy the softcover! SO MUCH POLITICAL/INTERSPECIES INTRIGUE. So awesome. I haven't read those, but I've read others of hers. It looks like we have a similar interest but no common books of hers we've both read!

READ THE BOOK THIEF. You will THANK me. Such an amazing book.

From:

Ah, I love hearing about what people like.

I keep hearing about The Book Thief, and I still can't get a handle on what it's about. Tell?

Did it make you look like this? ;-)

From:

deceptivemirror.livejournal.com

UGLIER.

Edited because I realized you asked me a question and I was too distracted giggling at the .gif of the ugly crying.

The Book Thief is about a young girl who starts stealing books after her brother dies. It's set back during World War II, which is something I would ordinarily not touch with a ten-foot pole...but the story just sucked me in. It's so amazing. The characters (and Death is one, by the way) are so well-fleshed out!

Oh, read it! I need a companion in my horrifying ugly crying!

Edited Date: 2013-12-17 05:30 am (UTC)

From:

alexisjane.livejournal.com

I like to read stories so I tend to read a snippet of something and if I like the writing style I'll read the rest of it and if I like the story then I'll read more from the same author.
I think I fell in love with fairytales as a child and then Star Wars hit when I was the right age for it to make an impression so epic, ansty, uplifting, gory stories that are complete in themselves but lead on to more stories kinda float my boat.

I love Stephen King as he writes so simply and beautifully and he makes it all about the characters and their story.
I try and work my way through the classic stories too, although the copy of The Count of Monte Cristo has been glaring at me from the shelf for about three years now (it's sooo fat and the typeface is sooo small, I fear I maybe lost for years in there).
I quite like to try everything and not be constrained by genre. I figure there's something to be learned by reading anything so trying the first few pages is no hardship and if I don't like it, it's no biggy. Looking at the bookshelf next to me I have Philip Pullman, Poppy Z Brite, Nick Hornby, Umberto Eco, Mitch Albom and Aldous Huxley. So yeah, random.

I try and read whatever my Mum tells me to read also as she has never been wrong yet and has a wide taste in books too. The Farseer Trilogy was awesome, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, stuff like that.
I've recently discovered the Mrs Bradley Mysterys which are kinda like Miss Marple but funnier. Love Agatha but Gladys Mitchell makes me giggle.

My main problem with books is that I devour them in a binge-like fashion. It's not unusual for me to read a book in a day, though it's more usually two days. I pig out and then don't read anything for a while.
Having discover all y'all on LJ, it's even worse as there's no frigging end to the thing! There are so many great writers telling great stories, I'm going blind looking at my computer screen!
It's like heaven : ) x

Edited Date: 2013-12-16 09:34 am (UTC)

From:

epic, ansty, uplifting, gory stories that are complete in themselves but lead on to more stories kinda float my boat.

Ooh, I like the way you put this.

I try not to be constrained by genre, too--which is easier for me to do with music because, like I say, I read slowly. Honestly, I do best if I don't bother to try to read every word. I've "skimmed" books in the space of a couple of hours that had a profound effect on me and that I'm pretty sure I read every important word of, and that way I don't get bogged down in the dread of picking it up and slogging through it ...

It IS like heaven! Our secret heaven of free art made for the simple pleasure of it, *drooooolingggg*

From:

tifaching.livejournal.com

I'm mostly into the sci-fi and fantasy genres, though I do love a good mystery and P.G. Wodehouse's hilarious books are a constant re-read.

But, most of my reading these days is fanfiction. So much good stuff out there!

From: