jadesfire

I should preface this by saying that in the last couple of years, I haven't done a whole lot of reading, for various reasons. Hopefully this is a better sign of things to come. I also need to say, sorry all of you who recommended The Dresden Files and told me I'd love them. For whatever reason, they don't work for me (I finished 1 but couldn't get through 2) and I'm not going to be trying the rest of the series. I realise that this is heresy in some corners of my flist, but it's just how it is.

Anyway, moving swifly on, I've tried to make these as spoiler-free as possible, although obviously that may change if anyone comments ;)

Things I have read recently:

( The Vesuvius Club by Mark Gatiss )

( Capote in Kansas by Kim Edwards )

( Scipio by Ross Leckie )

( Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen )

I've done more reading in the last week than I have in the last 6 months, and it's been utterly brilliant.

The first was Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree by Tariq Ali. It traces the story of a Moorish family in Spain after the Spanish reconquest had begun in the early 16th Century. I was fairly sure that I wasn't going to enjoy it, on the basis that the tense shifts about all over the place, the point of view skips from character to character and I'm not really one for family sagas. But while I wouldn't rush to read the other books (this is the first in his Islamic Quintet), it was an engrossing story, with wonderful detail about the lives of the characters, and telling a truly compelling and tragic story. It's not one to tackle if you're feeling frail of spirit, but it's a moving account of the end of a way of life.

The second was what I think may be the best book I read all year, Zorro by Isabel Allende. I read her book 'Paula' when I was about 16 and it made an enormous impression on me, but I've struggled with her other books and never managed to finish one. This was much more to my taste. It tells the story of Zorro's early life, how his experiences shaped the man he would become. The (anonymous) narrator's voice is wonderful - by turns admiring, cutting and ironic. The weight of historical detail is staggering, but it's the unashamedly adventurous feel of the book that really captured me. Diego de la Vega burns a trail through the New World and 19th century Barcelona, fighting duels, cheating at cards, mastering every skill he encounters while still being an awkward teenage boy. He encounters pirates (being captured by Jean Lafitte, in my favourite part of the whole book), falls in love, defends the weak and travels with gypsies. It's a real page turner of a book, and I could barely put it down. I'm also feeling encouraged to try some of Allende's other books now, as her prose is wonderful - rich and sharp all at the same time. Just wonderful.

I seem to be on a bit of a book-kick at the moment...

I'm selling off a lot of old books, including a whole load of Star Wars ones. There's also some X-men short story collections, some 'art of...' books (Spiderman and Star Wars, IIRC) and a fairly motley selection of random fiction. Oh, and some Iain M Banks.

The full listing is here, on a site we found today*, www.listbooks.co.uk. Which, incidentally, I'd definitely recommend! You can list your books for free, and I have a sneaking suspicion there are bargains to be had if you look hard enough.

And no, this is not an attempt to recoup Christmas shopping costs. More of a 'the charity shops are all full what are we going to do with this lot' attempt :)

*The site doesn't give 'international shipping' as an option, but just email us if you want anything and we'll sort it out.