Quite possibly the love of my life

Dang, I started with a firm goal of posting everyday.  Or every other day.  Or once a week.  (See a pattern here?)  Basically, I'm a bum.  But a bum with good intentions!  Oh well, road to hell and all that.

Let's talk about books.

I'd say I have a lot of books for the average person, but I tend to think the average is dragged down severely by the people who last read a book in high school when they had to for English class and even then they just read the Cliff Notes.  Also, I think I have pretty good taste in books.  I mean, look at all the books I have that I like!  (Circular logic ftw.)  I do feel pretty justified in this though since I happen to own 7 of the 10 books voted the best SciFi/Fantasy of the last decade in a survey Tor did.  Go me, right?

I think most of what I read falls into that category* but I also read a lot of fiction and I have a few favorite mystery authors too.  Recently, I've gotten into autobiographies and nonfiction which I never had ANY interest in before but now I think they're kind of fascinating.  Because I feel this overwhelming need to force books I love onto anyone I meet here are some of my favorites (in no particular order because if I had to do that I would agonize over it forever and this would never get posted):

1.  "Good Omens" Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett - This is my go-to book.  I have no idea how many times I've read it but I'm on my third copy.  It's about the Apocalypse but it's hilarious and it makes you think and it has a good message.  (No guarantee it'll make you think or that you'll take a message from it, that could just be me.  But it does have EPIC footnotes.)

2.  "The Name of the Wind" Patrick Rothfuss - If you like fantasy at all, read it.  Just do.  Apparently it follows pretty close to the fantasy formula (I don't actually pay attention to that kind of thing), but the story is so well planned out that tiny details come back in a big way. Plus all the magic makes sense in a science-y way.  (Disclaimer:  This is the first of a trilogy and the last one won't be out for awhile so if you're one of those people who gets their panties in bunch if you have to wait you might want to hold off for a couple years.)

3.  "Lamb" Christopher Moore - If you can't take your religion with a grain (huge, heaping sack) of salt it might not be for you.  It's basically an alternate version of the life of Jesus and it's really funny but serious enough that I cry at the ending EVERY TIME.  (I think that's pretty impressive since even the first time reading it I knew what was going to happen.)

4.  "My Booky Wook" Russell Brand - Even if you don't know who he is (a British comedian who married Katy Perry) it's a great book.  He's witty with a great vocabulary and I don't know that I can explain why I liked it so much.

5.  "Old Man's War" John Scalzi - Like a geriatric "Ender's Game."  (That's seriously the WORST description ever, yet oddly accurate.)  He brings together a lot of very cool ideas and is just an excellent writer.  Also, he's funny.  I like funny.

6.  "Harry Potter" J. K. Rowling - Really, have you not read these?  I know they're in the children's section but they are SO well-written and SO good.

7.  "American Gods" Neil Gaiman - A very cool look at the different religions in America (including modern "gods" of TV and celebrity) and what happens when those gods are forgotten.

8.  "A Game of Thrones" George R. R. Martin - Normally I don't buy it when there are these huge plots to manipulate kingdoms but I believe everything I'm sold in this book.  Plus he continually surprises me and he is NOT afraid to kill off his characters which, while traumatizing, is also kind of awesome.

9.  "Doomsday Book" Connie Willis - More people need to know about this author.  Her books ALWAYS make me think and wonder exactly how much of what she talks about is real science and how much she made up.  This one happens to be about time travel to the Middle Ages.

10.  "And Then There Were None" Agatha Christie - She is the queen of mystery writers.  They are all complete mind benders and sometimes (like this one) have nursery rhyme themes.  Heck yes.

Huh, there's no fiction or nonfiction on that list.  I thought I had planned that out a little better than that.  Maybe next time.

*It's one category, okay?  I know some people get all touchy about books being called SciFi when they're really fantasy (Mom.) but I pretty much use them interchangeably (I know the difference, I'm just lazy).