Monday, February 7, 2011

Monday Library Post, 2/7/2011

Ok. So, after all the Dracula of last week (and I'm finishing up Dracula: The Un-Dead right now [and I don't like it much]) I've decided to start out this week with vampire humor. To that end, I have the following:

Terry Pratchett - Carpe Jugulum


This is Pratchett's take on the vampire genre - I recall it being fairly good, but I've only read it once, so we'll see. For those of you familiar with Pratchett, but not this book in particular, it's part of the Witches sub-series. It is a Discworld novel, and so you can expect a few things - a send up of the genre, naturally, some interesting philosophical discussions, and an appearance by DEATH. Also, footnotes.

Christopher Moore - Bite Me and You Suck


These are the second and third of Moore's vampire trilogy. Generally, it is felt that the first book (Bloodsucking Fiends) is better than either of these, but my local library doesn't have a copy. I have ambivalence about Moore, which I will no doubt discuss when I'm done with the books.

Those go with the book from last Monday, Suck it Up, by Brian Meehl, which I haven't read yet.

From there, we go into vampires as romance protagonists with:

Kerrelyn Sparks - Be Still my Vampire Heart


This would appear to be the 3rd in a series, but whatever. It's a vampire romance. The vampire is a Scottish Highlander. The non-vampire is a CIA agent. Vampires, Highlanders, and risky undercover operatives - if there were vikings, this might be the ur Romance novel.

Lynn Viehl - Twilight Fall


It's a novel of the Darkyn. He's an immortal vampire wracked with guilt, she's a landscape designer makred for death by an shadowy organisation. They fall insatiably in love. I'm not sure how this book could possibly be anything less than good.

J.R. Ward - Lover Avenged


I really wanted the first book of the "Black Dagger Brotherhood" series, but the library didn't seem to have a copy. When I asked people for recommendations, Ward came up, with some considerable disagreement about how good the books were. I'll let you know.

Finally, I have some oddball books, which I probably won't get to until next week:

John Steakley - Vampire$


I've read this one before, and I recall I quite liked it. The movie adaptation was not very good, though. Anyway, this is a book about people who make money by hunting vampires - I recall it being somewhat darkly humorous.

Fred Saberhagen - A Question of Time


Saberhagen brings us back to Dracula - this is the last (?) of Saberhagen's novels involving Dracula as a private detective, which begins with The Dracula Tapes. I've read several of these, and they are not bad - I don't think I've read this one.

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro - Borne in Blood


I could hardly do a vampire month without looking at Yarbro's Count Saint-Germain, so here's one of those.

February may, actually, be too short for this theme - I think I have books to last me the next two weeks, and I haven't even gotten to the Robin McKinley and the Nancy Baker. We shall see.

Followers