Morbid Romantic

Book Review & Personal Blog

One of my favorite sci-fi authors (Sharon Lee) has declared June 23rd Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers Day.

So … what might you do on the 23rd to celebrate? Do you even read fantasy/sci-fi? Why? Why not?

I can’t imagine that I would do something special to celebrate the 23rd, but I wish that I had a lot of book loving friends to have some sort of book party with. We could share and discuss books and eat yummy things. Alas, I am veritably friendless! I am not even a member of any local book club. Maybe I will take the suggestion of above and just blog about some of my favorite fantasy/sci-fi writers and books.

I am not a big fan of fantasy or sci-fi, but I have read a books in the genre and am not adverse to selecting a good sounding one to read. In fact, I started out my love of books thanks to a fantasy series. I have said this before on my blog, but my mother used to read to me Piers Anthony’s Xanth series when I was a kid of 7. She read me the first eight or so books, and I always remembered them fondly. So, later on when I was around 13, I picked up the books again and it just took off from there. I have nothing but respect and love for the fantasy genre. Sci-Fi, though, I am more selective about because I tend not to like stuff that is technical and ‘spacey.’

“This can be a quick one. Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.”

1. Interview With the Vampire- Anne Rice
2. A Spell For Chameleon- Piers Anthony
3. Madame Bovary- Gustave Flaubert
4. The Handmaid’s Tale- Margaret Atwood
5. Blood and Gold: or the Story of Marius- Anne Rice
6. Never Let Me Go- Kazuo Ishiguro
7. Breathing Out the Ghost- Kirk Curnutt
8. Isle of View- Piers Anthony
9. Road to Nowhere- Christopher Pike
10. IT- Stephen King
11. Wicked- Gregory Maguire
12. A Clockwork Orange- Anthony Burgess
13. Whisper of Death- Christopher Pike
14. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas- Hunter S. Thompson
15. Trainspotting- Irvine Welsh

Book Gluttony! Are your eyes bigger than your book belly? Do you have a habit of buying up books far quicker than you could possibly read them? Have you had to curb your book buying habits until you can catch up with yourself? Or are you a controlled buyer, only purchasing books when you have run out of things to read?

My eyes, or rather desire to purchase books, are much bigger than my book belly. I am a book glutton and there is no such thing as having too many books. My TBR pile is extensive and daunting, but I love that I keep adding interesting books to it. I don’t think that I have to curb my buying habits because 1.) I still have room to walk and 2.) If I see an interesting book that I want to read one day, it’s my choice how to spend my money and on what. I like buying books, even if I do have a lot of them.

Last Saturday (May 2nd) is Free Comic Book Day! In celebration of comics and graphic novels, some suggestions:
- Do you read graphic novels/comics? Why do/don’t you enjoy them?
- How would you describe the difference between “graphic novel” and “comic”? Is there a difference at all?
- Say you have a friend who’s never encountered graphic novels. Recommend some titles you consider landmark/”canonical”.

I don’t read comic books or graphic novels a lot, but I do own a few. The couple of comic books/graphic novels that I own are made as versions of books that have already come out. Is that confusing? I own the comic book and graphic novels of Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles. For some reason, the powers that be decided to make a comic/graphic novel version of a few of the books. Of course, being the Anne Rice collector that I am, I had to get them. They are out of print now, but that is what eBay is for, right? Other than those few, I don’t bother to collect comics or graphic novels, excluding manga. I don’t really have much of an interest in them and their format is too active for me. I would rather just read lines and make up the images in my head than have to follow the chaos of a comic/graphic novel sequence.

I believe that there is a difference between comic books and graphic novels. Comics are generally shorter, put together and stapled to keep them together. Comic books are traditional. Graphic novels are longer in length and bound like a book with spine and glue. Graphic novels are usually an ‘anthology’ or sorts in that issues of comic books are grouped together to form a graphic novel.

Landmark? Oh man, I am so unfamiliar with most comic book series’ that I have NO idea. Dozens flash through my mind. I would recommend Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, though, because it’s a lot of fun and just too maniacal and hilarious.

Some people read one book at a time. Some people have a number of them on the go at any given time, perhaps a reading in bed book, a breakfast table book, a bathroom book, and so on, which leads me to…

1. Are you currently reading more than one book?
2. If so, how many books are you currently reading?
3. Is this normal for you?
4. Where do you keep your current reads?

Right now, I am only reading one book. I have so little time for reading that if I read more than one book at once, I would never get a single book read. With my reading time so limited, it is best for me to read just the one I am currently on and then not pick up another until that one is complete.

Of course, this is not normal for me. Before, I would read two or three books at a time easy. This was when it only took me a few days to read a book because had twice the time that I have now.

My current read(s) are kept either right next to my pillow or on the floor right next to my bed so that all I have to do is reach down and pick it up or reach down to put it away at night.

What book do you think should be made into a movie? And do you have any suggestions for the producers?

Or, What book do you think should NEVER be made into a movie?

There are TONS of books that I would like to see turned into a movie. I would like if there were a proper, to the book version of Dante’s The Divine Comedy. I would also like to see a book version of Blood and Gold by Anne Rice made. However, I know that one will never be done because there is too much homosexuality in it to appeal to a mainstream audience. If it were made, it would be a low budget film that wouldn’t capture the time or characters, even the story, appropriately. Not enough to do such a great and beautiful book justice.

But the book that I would LOVE to see made into a movie is A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony.

A Spell For Chameleon is the first book in the Xanth series, which is well up to near its 30th book by now, I believe. The book is a fantasy story about a magical land called Xanth in which magical creatures live, mythical things happen, and every human is born with a magical talent that is unique to them and never to be duplicated in anyone else. Some inhabitants of Xanth may not be born with talents. If a person is found to be without a magical talent, they are sent away to Mundania, which is… well, here. In A Spell For Chameleon, the main character Bink is one such talentless individuals. The book follows his quest for his magical talent and then his own exile. It’s a charming book, funny, exciting, and sexy. I can’t sing the praises of Piers Anthony and the Xanth series enough. I would just LOVE for movie companies to start making them into movies.