Books Eight and Nine

[ellyssian]

Book #8: Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

A re-read, but it's been some time. Can't say enough good things about this, and I'd resort to quoting half of it or more if I wanted to highlight the best parts. This book makes the Apocalypse fun, and something worth looking forward to... =)

Book #9: Trader by Charles De Lint

My wife has had this book for a while, and I finally got around to reading it last night. Couldn't put it down until done. Excellent stuff.

Cross-posted to 50bookchallenge

Comments

[yendi]

What amazed me about Trader was how well it took a plot that had become utter cliche, and turned it into a great story.

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

I did experience several preomonitions whilst reading - "this is going to happen next"; read, read, "oh, there, it happened"

I think most fantasies deal with cliches - it's their stock in trade, to coin a phrase. The difference between a well written fantasy and a poorly written one is that you can recognize that the well-written one uses the cliche and it is still enjoyable.

[dangerdean.livejournal.com]

We got the trade paper edition of Trader in the store last week and I was amused to see the back cover copy called the character Leonard Trader. I had to look inside to make sure CdL hadn't changed the character name, but no, the cover just wasn't edited.

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

Ooops... future collectors edition! =)

[phantom_wolfboy]

Trader went from one of my least favourite CdL novels to one of my favourites. I love to reread it.

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

I will definitely revisit it again in a year or so - longer, if only to re-read several others first, and that's pending completion of the library so the books aren't all stored in boxes. Much easier to browse books when they're on shelves!

[opakele.livejournal.com]

I think I put Trader as one of my favorites on the TH info page. Either that or Svaha. I really liked both.

I'm not a re-reader, never have been. I may just give it a try.

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

I am definitely a re-reader - some titles get re-read on a yearly basis. Usually I attach a particular mood or season to a book, so often it gets re-read when I'm either in that mood or want to get into it.

[illandaria.livejournal.com]

Trader is the one de Lint book I'm not entirely sure I want to read because it doesn't appeal to me as much from the description as some of his others do... But I think I'd be willing to have my mind changed since it is CDL.

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

It is very CDL... it's a Newford book, and Geordie and Jilly get reasonably sized parts in it, and it adds more depth to Bones / Joseph Crazy Dog.

But yeah, the back cover blurb didn't do much for me. I distantly remember almost starting to read this once before, right after my wife was done, and not getting past the first chapter (or first page, even).

I gave it a fair shot this time, and it sucked me in fairly quickly. I had only planned on reading one chapter, and wound up finishing the whole thing.