Favorite Books (pt.1)

Hello, everyone! Today I wanted to write about a topic near and dear to my heart – BOOKS! Naturally with my creative writing degree, my goal is the publish a novel. But with another year of college, another summer of internships, and so much else, divvying up my time appropriately to write a novel is a teenie tiny bit difficult.

However, reading is still a passion! So, I thought I would make a list of some of my favorite novels that I’ve read over the years. For some of them, it has been a few years; others, I’ve read fairly recently. Nonetheless, each of these books are nestled on my bookshelf with many pages tabbed to mark my favorite scenes. This is a multiple part series that I’ll be starting, so stay tuned for some other blog posts with my thoughts.

Let’s dive right in!

Golden Compass– Philip Pullman – Dark Matter series

This is a more recent novel that I picked up – I’m surprised I didn’t buy it sooner with how much I enjoyed the film adaptation. And the part that I love the most is this concept of a “daemon.” Daemon, according to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, is “an evil spirit”, “an agent of evil, harm, distress, or ruin”; however, they were also “a supernatural being whose nature is intermediate between that of a god and that of a human being.”

In The Golden Compass, Pullman morphs daemons into the human soul outside of the body. Essentially, people are able to converse with their souls – a physical manifestation of their conscience. Like, how cool is that? Pullman crafts so much lore around daemons, all of it seeming to symbolize stages of humanity. For instance, a child’s daemon may shift forms up until they hit puberty, when their daemon chooses one permanent form. This could be a way to show how when we hit puberty, we begin to have one consistent personality? Which might be debatable since people going through puberty are still changing.

However, it is also interesting because this creates a connection between a daemon and childlike innocence. There is confusion, as children are constantly changing, developing their sense of identity and who they will become. Think about Lord Asriel – what might we infer from his daemon? Ferocious with a deadly elegance? The way in which Pullman has written his world and followed the logic of this world he created is magnificent. I felt drawn to each of the characters, cherishing them even when they betrayed mine and Lyra’s trust. I’ve already purchased the second book, The Subtle Knife, and I am dying to pick it up.

Chimerascope – Douglas Smith

Rather than a novel, Chimerascope is my favorite collection of short stories to this day. I purchased this back in my freshman year of college, thinking I needed to expand my horizons. As I was currently writing fantasy and science fiction pieces, I searched Amazon religiously. Then I stumbled upon this gem <3

Chimerascope contains all types of stories. My favorites include:

  • “Scream Angel”
  • “By Her Hand, She Draws You Down”

One being more futuristic-science fictiony based and the other more of a fantasy-horror, I loved both of them. They soothed my soul, if you will. “Scream Angel” quickly captured my attention with the relationships amongst the characters, the unique “scream” drug that Smith fabricated, and the ferocity of his main character. When I read it the first time, I had to put the book down, but for the good reason of digesting it. Then I had to pick it up and read it again just to embed the images fully into my head. “Scream Angel” was, in my opinion, the right choice as to what story should’ve been first. It immediately captures the tone of strangeness and energy that the other stories carry.

By Her Hand, She Draws You Down” gave me the tingly scared chills, but OH THEY WERE THE BEST. That ending really got me though when Joe ended up taking in Cath’s soul and the demon inside her. Then he draws children, something he never let her do because he was so hungry. How messed up is that? I LOVED IT! It was eerie and sent chills up my spine, and I wanted so badly for there to be more. Even for some understanding of what the creature was. Yet I realized by the end that not knowing made it scarier – and that style of writing is the type I want to emulate.

Additionally, I recently found an interview from 2011 on his main website, Douglas SMith ll Writing the Fantastic. The article was about Smith’s experience publishing this small collection and another with a smaller print press. I am currently in the process of publishing numerous short stories, and one day, I’d even hope to compile them into a short collection. However, I had always thought that those would be self-published or simply eBooks on Amazon. However, to read about Smith avidly searching for the right small printing press had me feeling invigorated. Anyway, I really enjoyed this compilation of pieces, as it gave me hope. Reading pieces that are similar to what I write makes me excited to write more! I purchased this book my freshman year of college, but I’ve kept it close every year since because I can always count on Chimerascope for a good read!

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter – Seth Grahame-Smith

I’ve read very few historical fiction novels, but Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter stole my heart. When my aunt originally handed me the book, I was skeptical. Very few historical fiction books have the right amount of fantasy element to them to make me feel interested. But boy was I wrong to doubt this book. Seth Grahame-Smith did everything right for me. He is well-known for other publications, such as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Grahame-Smith takes the fantasy/fiction element to the extreme, but the best way possible. He morphed Lincoln into this powerful character, fighting vampires left and right, transforming from a man dead-set on murder into a valiant, freedom-fighting hero.

“History prefers legends to men. It prefers nobility to brutality, soaring speeches to quiet deeds. History remembers the battle, but forgets the blood. However history remembers me before I was a president, it shall only remember a fraction of the truth…”

Like, AGH! I thought this book would be a little murky since we are dealing with slavery and the fight to end it, thus causing the Civil War. There’s multiple other causes, which are covered in this PBS article, “Causes of the Civil War.” The morality of slavery was only one part, as the Southern states really wanted territorial power and the ability to abolish federal laws that they didn’t agree with. It was a power struggle, but it did not feel like it was the actual main issue. This book follows Abraham from his youth to his tragic assassination.

The key part that really drew me in for Grahame-Smith’s novel is the sincere emotions that Abraham exhibits for the other characters (Henry, Mary, his mother, and the sense of hatred for Adam). There’s so much love and spite within the pages of this book, and it makes it marvelous. Specifically, I really liked Henry, as he felt like an anti-hero to some degree. A depressed vampire who doesn’t seem to want to live but doesn’t want to die. There’s such emotional depth to him, and I really want to read the book again and analyze him wholly as a character. He is a perfect mentor for Abe, one of the creatures he is so determined to exterminate. Talk about a plot twist!

Recently, I also found a Q&A from Vanity Fair about Grahame-Smith’s writing of the his novel. As it turns out, he is big into biographies (especially about the presidents) and nonfiction. The interviewer, Eric Spitznagel, asked him where he drew inspiration. The answer inspired me:

“I guess where it really came from was, I like to wander around bookstores and see what people are reading. Last year, during the Lincoln bicentennial—and this was when Twilight was really blowing up—it seemed to me like every book on the front shelves was either a Lincoln biography or a vampire novel. So it was like an instantaneous click in my brain.” (Seth Grahame-Smith, Q&A: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Author Seth Grahame-Smith).

How cool is that! I wish I had thought of that. What better way to get a feel for the audience than going out and seeing what’s on the shelves. Specifically, I took a look at the YA novels that were sold in 2011 via handy-dandy GoogleReads “YA Novels of 2011.” Go ahead, click on the link and come back – what did you see? A WHOLE LOT OF FANTASY! A good number of those would be shapeshifter/werewolf, vampire, angel/demon, etc. SO MANY! No wonder he would see so many.

However, his novel remains my go-to historical fiction novel. And if you haven’t picked it up, I promise you it is well worth the time out of your day. You’ll get sucked in by the creatures of the night; who knows, maybe you’ll be inspired to be the next vampire hunter in history!

Cry Wolf Patricia Briggs – Alpha and Omega series

And for my final favorite, Cry Wolf one of Patricia Brigg’s Alpha and Omega series. Originally when I picked this out at a Barnes & Noble, I wasn’t quite sure what I would find. I was big into shapeshifter/werewolf novels, but YA fiction wasn’t quite enough. So I ventured to the adult section and found this novel, pristine and fresh on the shelf.

And she is now my all-time favorite shapeshifter novelist. To say that I am addicted to her Alpha and Omega Series PLUS her Mercy Thompson series is an understatement.

On her website, Briggs comments that Charles was a character that just popped up and who really intrigued her. I completely agree that he is invigorating and his series opened a doorway of fantastic elements. But my heart was drawn to Anna, his new mate, and the way the two interacted with each other in such a timid but loving way. How could my heart not be captured? Anna has such a lovely voice in the series, bouncing between nervous and timid to fierce and protective. The first time I read about her, I knew she would be my favorite. And Briggs does such an amazing job with building her worlds (which is loosely based in Mercy’s world from her Mercy Thompson series). I could picture it so vividly, and nothing seemed out-of-place.

Over the years, I have purchased others of Briggs books, including the sequels to Cry Wolf. Unfortuntely, I have not purchased her most recent sequels, Dead Heat and Burnt Bright (which I will hop on as soon as humanly possible). Out of this list of favorite novels, Cry Wolf remains my favorite and most cherished book. I even got my mom into both the Alpha and Omega series and the Mercy Thompson series.

I’d call that a WIN!

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts and feelings on some of my favorite books. Hopefully I listed at least one that caught your attention, or would even recommend to someone else. If there are any particular books or genres which you think I should read or write a review over, drop it in the comments below!

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