{"id":938,"date":"2013-04-02T17:25:48","date_gmt":"2013-04-02T05:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sevilo.co.nz\/blog\/?p=938"},"modified":"2013-04-02T17:25:48","modified_gmt":"2013-04-02T05:25:48","slug":"favourite-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sevilo.co.nz\/blog\/2013\/04\/favourite-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Favourite books"},"content":{"rendered":"

Listmania<\/a>‘s prompt for this week is favourite book(s) and what’s on my current reading list.<\/p>\n

There are many books I’d describe as ‘favourites’ and, now that I work in a library and can\u00a0 borrow books so easily, I don’t buy nearly as many as I used to. I have also purged lots of books from my collection and have kept only the best of the best. Here is my list for today – it might be different tomorrow!<\/p>\n

\"fave-books\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Lord of the Rings<\/em> – JRR Tolkien’s classic fantasy is a trilogy, but as the first edition I ever owned was the ‘one volume’ paperback, I’m counting it as one title. This is a book I can re-read again and again, and it’s the absolute pinnacle of fantasy fiction as far as I’m concerned.<\/p>\n

However, coming a close second are Terry Pratchett’s Discworld<\/em> novels, and it’s extremely difficult to pick just one. However the concepts in Thief of Time\u00a0<\/em>are amazing and funny and provide lots to think about. The basic premise of the tale is that the Monks of History\u00a0 ‘harvest’ time from creatures that don’t need it – eg undersea fish (how much time does a cod need, really?), and allot it to those who do – eg city dwellers (who never seem to have enough time). Great idea, isn’t it?<\/p>\n

Horse Heaven<\/em> by Jane Smiley is simply a lovely story which makes me smile and feel good (there are places where the tension is high, but I am happy to reread these bits because I know there is a happy-enough ending coming up). I think I also enjoy this novel because it reminds me of some of the great times I had with my horses when I was considerably younger than I am now.<\/p>\n

Anne Donovan is probably not well-known outside her native Scotland. I have Buddha Da<\/em> because my aunt sent it to my mother as something light for her to read during Mum’s final illness. It is amazingly funny and true and heart-rending and lovely. What would you<\/strong> do if your Glaswegian plasterer father became a Buddhist?<\/p>\n

Life of Pi<\/em> is a book I loved so much I wouldn’t see the movie (I like to keep my own visuals intact, and not have them influenced by someone else’s). It was a close contest for the #5 slot between this title and The Time Traveller’s Wife<\/em> which falls into the same category for me. Do you enjoy seeing movies of books you have really enjoyed?<\/p>\n

As for what I am currently reading, I am getting close to the end of The Rose Labyrinth<\/em> by Titania Hardie. It’s a sort of Da Vinci Code<\/em> idea, and it started off very well, but got a bit bogged down in the middle with all the explanations and historical information. I’m finishing it because I’m almost done, and I want to see how the writer solves the puzzle (as I’m sure she will). However unless you’re very keen on conspiracy lit, don’t bother to read it yourself.<\/p>\n

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Listmania‘s prompt for this week is favourite book(s) and what’s on my current reading list. There are many books I’d describe as ‘favourites’ and, now that I work in a library and can\u00a0 borrow books so easily, I don’t buy … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[48,107],"class_list":["post-938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-im-reading","tag-books","tag-listmania"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sevilo.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sevilo.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sevilo.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sevilo.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sevilo.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=938"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.sevilo.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":946,"href":"https:\/\/www.sevilo.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions\/946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sevilo.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sevilo.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sevilo.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}