Recommendation of the Summer

I don't often flog books I love here. I love a lot of books, so that could be a post on its own. If you look in the background of my pictures, I am sure that most of them are littered with books. I've got a particular love of Guy Gavriel Kay. And I have eclectic tastes: from Canadian literature to Sci-Fi to Fantasy. Throw in the odd biography, the paper, some blogs, the odd horror...you get the picture. If I can read it, likely I will.

In the pile of books I read this summer, one floats right to the top.

I am going to be up front with you: I have met the author. She is a very good friend of a good friend of mine. Two years ago, we spent a day shopping and eating and just hanging around between Christmas and New Year's. It was amazing. I wish that she lived closer, because I would love to get to know her better. So I would have read this book anyway.

But I LOVE this book.

The characters are faulty and beautiful. You hate and love and desire them. The story is complex and fantastic. And it moves along. (I cannot stand it when you are plugging along and trying to figure out when the darn thing is going to get off the ground.) This story had me from the first paragraph and had me running along behind her to get to the next page and next scene and next...

When I finished, I wanted to pick it up and start again. I wanted to experience it all over again, but with knowing what was coming. And yet, I mourn that I can never have that experience of not knowing how it will end again. I am jealous that you can have that still.

I'm going to foist this book on as many people as I can over the next few months. And hope that the sequel comes out soon. (I hear November, which is soon, but not soon enough at this moment.)

So go! Run to the bookstore! Get it for your kindle or whatever electronic device. Read it. Wallow in it. Breathe in these splendid characters.