Books of 2009, part I

Feb 04, 2009 13:09

Sounds more impressive than it is :P All I've read so far this year are three short novels (if you want to call it that) and a few short stories.

- Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by Robert L. Stevenson - Really liked it, though I wish the ending had been handled differently - I just don't like this whole exposition-dump by letter, but the story was interesting anyway and I like Stevenson. All literary considerations apart, which aren't important to me when I read books not related to uni anyway (does this makes me a shallow reader and a bad student of English Lit? I suppose so and I couldn't care less) it was a good story to read.

- M is for Magic, by Neil Gaiman - collection of short stories, presumably for younger readers but I liked them anyway. I might yet get into the whole short story thing, it's nice to start something on the train and finish it there, without having to interrupt the flow of a story. Aaaand, I like Gaiman. I think his stories are quite clever, though some seemed a bit too abstract and without meaning to me.

- Stardust, by Neil Gaiman - liked it least of all of his novels I've read so far. It was as if it the story was trying to be a fairy tale for me, without managing to catch this peculiar magic of fairy tales. i think I'll get the edition with the illustrations anyway, maybe that would make some difference. It was still good, I think, just not the best of his books or stories.

- Knots & Crosses, by Ian Rankin - I decided I needed something short and easy I could read without thinking too much. Also I vaguely remember reading and enjoying crime fiction at some earlier point. I suppose this served the purpose (except for that original character of mine, whose name happens to be John and who's got similar mental problems as John Rebus. Yeah, right *facepalm*.) Anyway, the writing was a bit rugged, the story fairly simplistic, but I liked the main character. Not sure I'll pick up another from this series, though.

This does bring me to the actual purpose of this posts, and that is to beg book recs of you once again. We've had fantasy and we've had historical fiction, all of which were goldmines. Now, I'm looking for two things (not connected, though they can be) and those are: crime fiction for one, maybe mystery. Anything that goes in that direction. Present-day real world is the obvious choice, but if you know any good history or fantasy novels with that theme, I'd be interested, too.

And the other one... well, I've found that I'm missing my slash. I've absolutely no interest in any fandom writings atm, though I think I might make an exception for rexluscus's new PotC story. This means I have to find some (good, I'm pampered by fandom) original homoerotic fiction. I'd prefer something that is printed, even if self-published, because reading on the computer gives me a headache these days, but if online is the only place your favourite is available, point me to it anyway. kennahijja's recent search already has some interesting books, but I want more ;)

books

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