Looking for Book Recs

[caitri]

I have a gift certificate and a good used bookstore in my vicinity, plus lots of upcoming quality airport time. Hit me. Please.

~

Sidewaysedly, I started writing a western AU because Pike started cussing in a western accent in my head and the more I thought about the True Grit remake the more it irritated me. Also, Karl looks awesome in western gear and that makes my warped lil mind go nuts.

~

Okay, I'm beyond sick of having this conversation with strangers/acquaintances: "So ya'll have to go back and forth between Texas and Georgia? That's awful! Cait, when are you moving?"

Okay, 1) why is it always assumed *I'm* the one who has to move? I'm the academic! I work in a ridiculously tiny field! (Seriously, people, there are maybe TWELVE people on the planet who do exactly what I do. Also, I get PAID to obsess about SciFi! If I have to leave, it will be with much crying and protest and a host of other things. *grumble*)

2) We're adults! Functioning ones, even! Stop treating us like we don't have a clue! Seriously, the next person who goes off about I'm supposed to have babies is gonna get a graphic earful about how we're actually in a group marriage and Rudolpho will be the designated father for the first litter, or something. Grr.

3) Yes, it's hard. We kinda noticed. We get through it day by day. Now say something mildly comforting and move the fuck along. Thanks.

Comments

[tocourtdisaster.livejournal.com]

Eurgh, I hate it when people I barely know/don't know start in on the 'I know better than you do how you should live your life and I'm going to tell you all about it' spiel. Makes me want to punch somebody. So, anyway, I sympathize with you there.

As for book recs, if you're into zombies at all, you have to read Feed by Mira Grant. Even if you're not really into zombies, you should read it anyway. ;) It's more about what comes after the zombie apocalypse than the actual zombie apocalypse. It's super fascinating and the characters are completely engaging and I'm counting down the days until the sequel comes out. (Next May!)

Also, I enjoy Timothy Zahn's stuff, though I've only read some of his short stories and his Star Wars novels. I really should pick up some of his other novels....

[caitri.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And I'm a fairly private person with my private life, and it's like, Uh, yeah, you are sticking your nose in something touchy. Few people see bitch!Cait, but a couple of folks have come close this weekend!

[claudia-nic.livejournal.com]

I've been travelling up and down the country to see the boyfriend for four years now. Granted the country is a lot smaller, but still, people seem to be asking us the same stupid questions! They should go and mind their own business. It's not like we didn't think it through on more than one occassion. We make it work splendidly most of the time. And if we don't that's out own fault.

Books....I don't know, I read too many to recommend them all. I'm a great fan of Laura Lippmann's Tess Monaghan detectives if that's your kind of thing. And Ian McEwan if you like it more in the direction of literature.

Also, my favorites at the moment are by Leonie Swann. The first one, Glennkill, is about a group of Irish sheep who are set on finding out who killed their shepherd. While doing this, they observe the strange behaviour of humans. It's hilarious. The books are originally written in German, so I don't know if there's already an English translation.

[caitri.livejournal.com]

That sounds cute, I will at least look for it. *haz mad librarian skillz*

And yeah, people who want to horn in on our private lives make me want to scream!!!

[amine-eyes.livejournal.com]

Argh people, silly silly people.

Let's be honest, having this means that only do you get to run around being PAID for geeking to your heart's content, but when you wish, you can go to Georgia, lie on a chaise-langue and be fanned while listening to Georgian drawl. Best of worlds :D

(I figured the fanning might happen? IDK, never seen Gone with the Wind xD)

Also, book recs :D

I whole-heartedly pimp Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels series, it's fantasy about a post-Shift Atlanta (the Shift being from tech to magic), uses a whole BUNCH of mythological happenings and not just the normal vampires and werewolve stuff, the vampires and werewolf stuff is cleverly done (vampires have handlers, werewolves are only one section of shifters), and is good :D It's in 1st person, and currently has four books out :D

Also, Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books, I'm currently working my way through and they are awesome :D Same sort of makeup as the Kate Daniels lot (1st POV, whole bunch of myths and magics), but focuses on the life and times of Harry Dresden, the only professional wizard in Chicago :D

Otherwise, the usual from me - Pratchett. Every one. Now :D

And I would like a Western please ;D

[caitri.livejournal.com]

Luckily fans are not an issue what with the invention of AC and all. ;)

[amine-eyes.livejournal.com]

Surely you could still get him to fan you ;D

[caitri.livejournal.com]

Maybe. ;)

[tn-tiger.livejournal.com]

If you've never read Tipping the Velvet, I recommend it. Lesbian picaresque Victorian cabaret goodness. It's probably the best fiction book I read this year.

[tn-tiger.livejournal.com]

Best nonfiction book from my yearwould probably be The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory: Why an invented past will not give women a future. I think it's a must-read for all us "country people", and or every self-professed feminist.

[amine-eyes.livejournal.com]

Second! :D

[caitri.livejournal.com]

This one got two votes, adding it to the list. :)

[100wordspermin.livejournal.com]

Most books by Laurie Halse Anderson, particularly the historical ones (Fever 1792, Chains and its sequel, Forge. I also really liked Twisted for an unflinching modern-day take on what it can be like for teen guys. Speak is undoubtedly her most famous one, but I think I was a bit too old for it when I read it. Ditto Wintergirls, which touches on something I know is widespread (eating disorders) but have no personal experience with.

[caitri.livejournal.com]

Noted! :D

[100wordspermin.livejournal.com]

Also, who is this Rudolpho person? Is that what you named your iPad? ;)

[caitri.livejournal.com]

http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/105789289/15258889

:D

[abigail89.livejournal.com]

Oh. I didn't realize you and your guy were long-distance. Duh. That explains all the travel. Clueless!abigail is clueless.

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt which sucked. But hey--if the love is there, ya make it work. *high-fives*

And I moved my husband and me, twice.

Let's see: the best non-fiction book this year was The Secrets of the Grown-Up Mind: The Surprising Talents of the Middle-Aged Mind by Barbara Strauch. Sadly, nothing I read in fiction caught fire. It was a bad year in reading for me.

[caitri.livejournal.com]

*hi5s* and no worries, it's not like I made a commuter marriage for the suck memo. Though sometimes I wish all major life things could be communicated only by tshirt...

[gadgetorious.livejournal.com]

Okay. First thing's first. GO BUY GOOD OMENS. Seriously. Go do it. I could give you more recs, but I'm afraid they will overshadow HOW FUCKING SERIOUS I AM.

As for the bullet points... It's wrong, I know, but the thing that I find STRANGEST about that sentence is the use of the word "y'all." Anyway, I assume people assume you're moving because you lived together in Texas and then HE moved away. The assumption would be that you would wrap up whatever and then follow. The assumption is WRONG, but it doesn't mean it's necessarily a "good wife" assumption. I hope. :/

That wasn't comforting, I know. So how's this... um... uh... oh, fuckit.

[caitri.livejournal.com]

Adding it to list. Also, oh Karl. Only you can make being a complete dork so jumpable.

[nanashi-tomo.livejournal.com]

Who hoo! So that means we might get a Comanche Moon-esk fic? Because Woodrow Call could use a Pike-size kick in the pants. If you’re not completely against alternate history, there is Naomi Novak’s His Majesties Dragon. Which is Napoleonic Wars + Dragons. Or Morgan Howell’s Queen of the Orcs Trilogy.

[caitri.livejournal.com]

I have the Novak book...somewhere.

And yeah, the western will be kinda a revenge/adventure/romance story. Pike's a marshal, McCoy's a Texas Ranger with a past, and Jim Kirk wants revenge on the half-Comanche called Nero who murdered his father. ....I'm trying to figure out how I can work the rest of the crew in there.