30 Day Book Meme (2014 version) - Day 2

[desertvixen]

Day 01 – Best book you read last year
2010: Mission of Honor, by David Weber

After giving this one some thought, I have to go with Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, by Lois McMaster Bujold.  (Get used to that name, you'll be seeing it a few times over the next 30 days.)
 Despite my great love for LMB, after I read Cryoburn, I found it hard to really read her for awhile.  After I managed to hook desert_sdwndr on the Vorkosigan Saga and got myself assigned a fanfic challenge involving LMB's work, I ended up working through the whole series again, and ended up with CVA.  In series chronology, it happens before Cryoburn.  To me, it feels like LMB's farewell to the Vorkosigan Saga, and it's a hell of a farewell.  It has all the things I love about LMB - dialogue and characters and scenery.  And it's a happy, satisfying book.  It's Ivan's book, and I couldn't have asked for more.  He's grown over the course of the series, and LMB gives him a lady worthy of his character.  The end... oh the end makes me happy and makes me want more books.  There likely won't be more, which makes me a little sad.  But this was the best book of the year, because I got to experience the joy of reading a new Bujold book.

Some choice lines:

Maybe only love gave you more than what you’d dealt for. Oh. So that’s what this is. Oh . . . So . . . if you spurned a miracle because it seemed to come too easily, would you ever get another? She suspected not. Hang on to this one, then. Hang on for all you’re worth.

Tej seemed such a sunny personality, much of the time—these flashes of dark were like a crack in the sky, shocking and wrong. Reminding him that the daylight was the illusion, the scattering of light by the atmosphere, and the endless night was the permanent default behind it all.

“I would follow you to the ends of the bunker,” he promised.


Day 02 – A book that you’ve read more than 3 times
2010 answer: Murder on the Orient Express, Cards on the Table, and After The Funeral

Still wondering who this meme is geared to, because "books I have read more than 3 times" is a pretty broad category.  I reread a fair amount

A triple feature answer (since today's question is brought to us by the number three):

1. A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer - One of her best, although not what many would consider a romantic novel today.  It's more pragmatic, the heiress isn't beautiful, and she's more concerned with making her husband comfortable than having him make a passionate declaration of undying love.  (Of course, she wants him to be comfortable, because she does love him.)  It's also got one of Heyer's top 5 most annoying characters, Julia Oversley, the girl who the hero had an attachment to before everything got out of whack, and she's a melodramatic pampered drama queen.  The hero's mother is a bit of an homage to Mrs. Bennett, but not as annoying - maybe because A Civil Contract hasn't been made into a miniseries.  Too bad - I would watch.

2. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie - Yes, a repeat from last time.  There's just something soothing about reading the mystery, having everyone trapped on the train, and watching Poirot do what he does.  Especially since he serves justice, rather than strict legality.  It's also got an excellent movie version.

3. Hunting Party by Elizabeth Moon - I picked this one because I found a paperback copy of it here, and it was like finding an old friend to open it up and get lost in the pages.  It's the first book of the Serrano series, and sort of throws you into the middle of everything.  I love how the characters just suck me in, between Heris and Cecelia and the rest of the cast.  It's pretty light, until we get thrown right into The Most Dangerous Game.  Also, as you go through the series, I love how she ties things up in the final book, despite some of the plot twists that fall into the "sudden and inevitable betrayal" category.

DV

Day 03 – Your favorite series
Day 04 – Favorite book of your favorite series
Day 05 – A book that makes you happy
Day 06 – A book that makes you sad
Day 07 – Most underrated book
Day 08 – Most overrated book
Day 09 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
Day 10 – Favorite classic book
Day 11 – A book you hated
Day 12 – A book you used to love but don’t anymore
Day 13 – Your favorite writer
Day 14 – Favorite book of your favorite writer
Day 15 – Favorite male character
Day 16 – Favorite female character
Day 17 – Favorite quote from your favorite book
Day 18 – A book that disappointed you
Day 19 – Favorite book turned into a movie
Day 20 – Favorite romance book
Day 21 – Favorite book from your childhood
Day 22 – Favorite book you own
Day 23 – A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven’t
Day 24 – A book that you wish more people would’ve read
Day 25 – A character who you can relate to the most
Day 26 – A book that changed your opinion about something
Day 27 – The most surprising plot twist or ending
Day 28 – Favorite title
Day 29 – A book everyone hated but you liked
Day 30 – Your favorite book of all time