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Ah yes, the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Basically one of the greatest things on the internet. Watch them people!
[adrotate group="5"]"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"I love the EarthSea novels of Ursula K. LeGuin. Lots of magic with dragons and the importance of understanding the power inherent in knowing true names! In addition to the six novels, there are some short stories set in the same world in her book of stories, The Wind’s Twelve Quarters.
Another treatment of the idea of many different realms coexisting is found in Neal Stephenson’s Anathem. In this novel, he also suggests how ideas (including maybe authors’ ideas of fictional characters like Snow White or Frankenstein?) might cross from one universe to another.
Finally, whenever I think of Regina’s or Gepetto’s desire to adopt a child, I recall Isaac Asimov’s short story, The Ugly Little Boy. It remains one of the most touching stories I have ever read of the bond forming between an adult and a child. It was first published in his collection of stories, Nine Tomorrows, which is now out of print (but can be found used) but it is also included in his more recent Collected Short Stories, Volume 1. The short story was later expanded into a novel in collaboration with Robert Silverberg, but I confess I never read the novel. Maybe I’ll read it this summer!
So many books, so little time!
(Sorry the new forum software doesn’t seem to be applying italics to the titles. I need to figure out if I am doing something wrong.)
Not sure why it’s not working for you either. I took a look and everything looks fine to me…
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"I loved The Ugly Little Boy, and never knew there was an expanded version of it! Asmiov may be more sci-fi, but he’s got some really good stories, and I particularly like his short stories. I’m adding the Earthsea and Anthem to my list too!
My favorite sci-fi author that isn’t really sci-fi, is Connie Willis. If you like period pieces in the Victorian era, then read To Say Nothing of the Dog. Set in the same world, but with different primary characters is her first and most famous story, Doomsday Book. It’s set further back in time in the black plague, and be warned, unlike the other one, is far from a feel good fluffy thing, but was worth the heartbreak. She continued the same idea of time traveling historians (again, different main characters and historical period) in a pair of novels set in World War II, Blackout and All Clear. Those are in between–more hopeful than doom but not quite so much a fun romp. While none of these are childhood classics or fairytales, there is a bit of a fish out of water element to all of them that I guess is kind of similar to the clash in OUAT of modern girl Emma discovering Storybook.
The victorian novel thing gets me back to Frankenstein and Steampunk. I started to read The Mysterious Island, by Jules Verne, since Red gives it a mention to Belle, and have put, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on my list. I guess I should actually go read my list–it is quite long now enough to get me through the rest of hiatus and beyond!
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
Good point, KFC, to mention that The Ugly Little Boy is technically SF but is strongly grounded in some of the same character themes as Once. The same thing is true of Anathem, although 80% of the book doesn’t feel like SF.
Connie Willis sounds good I will definitely look for her stuff. I also would like to second your suggestion of anything by Henry James.
With the movie coming out soon, I really need to pick up Ender’s Game. I tried a few years ago and then got too busy to finish, but I really want to see the movie cause the trailer looks AMAZING.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"With the movie coming out soon, I really need to pick up Ender’s Game. I tried a few years ago and then got too busy to finish, but I really want to see the movie cause the trailer looks AMAZING.
Ender’s Game is one of my favorite novels, but it is also one of the very few books for which I found the sequels even better than the original. Even if I hadn’t enjoyed Ender’s Game, I would have considered reading it well worth my time if only to set up the story for the first sequel, Speaker for the Dead. I would definitely recommend adding Speaker for the Dead to your list after you’ve read the first book.
I went to Barnes & Noble today. Since I have an ereader and a tablet I rarely get print books, but I bought a reference book called Knit to Flatter. So far it’s a very interesting read, even if you’re not a knitter. It goes into detail about body shapes and how to dress to accentuate and camouflage aspects of your figure. My first step is a bit scary. It wants you to take a full body front facing and side picture and then draw all kinds of lines on it to determine things like narrow shoulder, broad hips, etc. I hate getting my picture taken, but I’ll do it. Maybe I’ll even get a piece of clothing that actually fits my figure for once since I can’t buy anything off the rack that does that. 😛
I did start reading, also, A Discover of Witches last night. I read the first few chapters on the Google Books preview. I don’t know if I’m going to continue or not. Has anyone read it by chance?
Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.
I just discovered something fantastic. My local library, a very small two room library, has finally joined Overdrive, an online lending library and now I can borrow books for free (yippee!) on my ereader. This is great news for my pocketbook.
Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.
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