This morning, at about 4 AM, I completed the last of the published Outlander books, "A Breath of Snow and Ashes."
What do I do now?
Because I am a slow reader, and the books are so long, I have been living with Jamie Fraser for about six months. Now, he is unavailable to me until 2009!
I do not reread books, yet I feel the need to reread these.
Any advice?
[ March 01, 2008, 08:53 AM: Message edited by: Elizabeth ]
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
...reread them? Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
I don't know, Kat. I am not a rereader. As I said, I am a slow reader and it takes too much time, and I also feel it is almost a sacrilege to reread a book. I want the original memories there.
I guess I have to think of myself as having gone back through the stones to my own time, and I will be able to see my family again when all the cosmic forces align.
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
I suggest you begin a careful campaign of terror based around stalking the author. Now, it's still winter, so you're in luck. The trick is to get the author to travel through the Rocky Mountains, where he can be pretty easily 'disappeared' and secured in your remote, creepy mountain cabin.
Once there, you can exert your Number One Fan influence to hasten the release of the next installment!
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Thank you, Rakeesh, that is some good thinking! She is a she, and lives in Phoenix, where my parents are. My father, being retired, needs something to do, and what better task than to capture an author?
She has the gall to have started a graphic novel in the midst of this! And then, to tease the people, has published two excerpts from the new novel.
She is just begging to be held hostage.
Posted by scholar (Member # 9232) on :
You could start a new book. I just read Transformation by Carol Berg. While not a romance novel, one of the characters (Zander) is a sexy jerk.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
scholar, you are not implying that Jamie Fraser is...a JERK?
Please, no!
Anyway, I have the latest Rhapsody novel at hand, but it has been so long that I don;t care so much. And now that will happen with the Fraser family!
Truly, I do into a bit of a mourning period. It is rather pathetic, really. My husband is fond of saying, "Liz, it's not real."
But...it is. You know what I mean, anyone? (Please someone, please say yes)
Posted by scholar (Member # 9232) on :
I have a policy of not reading books in a series until the series is complete. Except Wheel of Time, which is why I implemented that policy (maybe if I had read the reviews of the last 6 books, I wouldn't have bothered with the series at all). So, no understanding from me, though only cause I avoid putting myself in that situation. But, yeah, I did not like Jamie. I only read the first book though.
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
Try The Time Traveler's Wife. Trust me.
P.S. I LOVE Jamie. Mmmm. Purrrrr.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Read it, Raia, and felt mournful after that one, too.
Scholar, that is my policy as well, not to start a book until the series is complete. To be honest, after the first one, I was OK with putting it away. Then I said, what the heck, and here I am. I should say I also have a policy wherein I eat only healthy foods.
Sigh.
Oh, and scholar, Jamie ages well, like good Scotch.
Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
Elizabeth, did you read the Lord John Grey books yet? I think there are two of them. It's not a substitute for full on Jamie, but it might carry you for a little while. And then there's the Outlandish Companion. All of which you can get on Amazon. Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
But I don;t really care about Lord John! I will probably do this, though, jeniwren.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Tackled Lord of the Rings yet?
A buddy of mine at work is on the fifth book of the Wheel of Time series. I loaned him my copy of Golden Compass like four months ago, and he said he'd read it when he finished Jordan's books. I didn't realize it'd take so long.
That's an interesting view on not rereading books. I've never looked at it like that. I almost feel like it's a travesty NOT to reread good books. Good as they are, they demand to be reread.
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
I don't enjoy Lord John as a character (except for being sympathetic about his being gay in the 1700s, very difficult that). But the Lord John books are quite good -- very interesting historical bits (especially what with being gay and all), and they have an interesting spontaneity. (I love the Outlander books, but the later ones are more weighted down by established characters and plots, so Gabaldon's got more chance to improvise in the Lord John books.)
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
quote:Originally posted by Elizabeth: I don't know, Kat. I am not a rereader. As I said, I am a slow reader and it takes too much time, and I also feel it is almost a sacrilege to reread a book. I want the original memories there.
Elizabeth, have you ever read C.S. Lewis's space books? I forget which one it was -- Perelandra, or Out of the Silent Planet -- but in one of them the protagonist meets an alien who says something similar. It was a fascinating idea to me the first time I came across that back in junior high.
Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :
Jennifer Roberson has delightful series that can be sweetly and slowly devoured, or raced through -- whatever your pleasure.
Jamie was a challenge in the first book, and one I would have happily taken on. *grin* And he certainly did age well, didn't he? At least in my mind . . . and actually, I know it's just fiction
<<<<<<SPOILER>>>>>>>>
. . . but that scene where he held his daughter Bree so that he couldn't escape just to prove a point about her not being able to protect herself from rape even if she was big and stong was very healing for me -- I know I'm not alone in having bought into that notion that I should somehow be strong and skilled enough to keep the determined assailant away.
<<<<<<<<<<< END SPOILER >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Good luck finidng a series to tide you over until 2009. Posted by Astaril (Member # 7440) on :
Probably half of my reading is re-reading. My favourite books are like best friends. I still read the Secret Garden just about every spring. It's practically ritual. I get up and go for a walk to watch the sunrise, read a few chapters in the sun, and savour them. I know just about every word, but I still love it, and I still remember the first time I read it when I was nine, sitting on a coach bus to Ottawa with my mother and grandmother with my knees up against the seat, and a countryside I'd never seen going by outside, and my imagining it was just like the moors when Mary drove past for the first time. Okay, enough nostalgia, sorry! My point is, re-reading can be wonderful.
I wish I knew the Outlander books so I could suggest something similar to take the edge off the craving, but I haven't read them.
I did just finish His Dark Materials (the Golden Compass series) and I would recommend that, if you're looking for something new. It doesn't take long to get into, so it might distract you more easily.
Also, I know exactly what you mean about the mourning period! I get in a wretched mood when I finish a book. It's like a friend has moved really far away, and you know you won't have any more good times together. If I'm mopey, my roommate will usually ask if I've finished a book recently. Sometimes, I purposely set a book aside when I get near the end, just because I don't want it to end. Sometimes I don't go back to it for months.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Shan, that scene hit me very hard as well. I was angry, but I had to remember it was 200 years ago.
Plaid, I did read Perelandra, which is the first, I believe, but I do not remember that being said about reading.
I think reading and eating are similar in the ways people go about them. Do you eat/read one thing at a time, or take nibbles of everything? Do you eat/read fast, or slow? Do you want the same meal/book, or do you always try different things? Etc.
No, I tried getting into my Rhapsody novel, and it just wasn;t doing it for me. I just need a couple more days.
Today's question now is, do I read the excerpts she has written??? (They are up on her site) (not that I would stalk an author and hang out in his/her website or anything...)
Posted by steven (Member # 8099) on :
"She is just begging to be held hostage".
That was hilarious. Posted by Avadaru (Member # 3026) on :
I might possibly be in love with James Fraser.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
That's sweet, Avadaru, but he's mine! Or, maybe we could share him out at different ages. I call forty!
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
quote:Originally posted by Shan: Jennifer Roberson has delightful series that can be sweetly and slowly devoured, or raced through -- whatever your pleasure.
Tiger and Del? I have these full compilations in large paperback and would happily mail to Elizabeth. Not the same as JF, but, you know.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Ooh, that looks good, CT! I will put them on my list, when I feel I am ready to date again.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
quote:I did just finish His Dark Materials (the Golden Compass series) and I would recommend that, if you're looking for something new. It doesn't take long to get into, so it might distract you more easily.
Really? I think compared to most series I read it took forever to really get into. But once I was in, I was hooked. To be fair though, it took almost all over Over Sea, Under Stone in the Dark is Rising series for me to get into it, and even then I wouldn't say I was hooked, I was merely interested.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
quote:Originally posted by ClaudiaTherese:
quote:Originally posted by Shan: Jennifer Roberson has delightful series that can be sweetly and slowly devoured, or raced through -- whatever your pleasure.
Tiger and Del? I have these full compilations in large paperback and would happily mail to Elizabeth. Not the same as JF, but, you know.
Some of my favorite books, really.
Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :
quote:Originally posted by ClaudiaTherese:
quote:Originally posted by Shan: Jennifer Roberson has delightful series that can be sweetly and slowly devoured, or raced through -- whatever your pleasure.
Tiger and Del? I have these full compilations in large paperback and would happily mail to Elizabeth. Not the same as JF, but, you know.
Yep. I love those books! Tiger and Del are both awesome. I hope she writes one about their (undoubtedly) kick-booty children.
For those with a more serious bent, and longer read, Roberson does a fine job on her re-works of the Robin Hood/Maid Marian story.
Posted by Olivet (Member # 1104) on :
I didn't really care for Lord John all that much until I read the Lord John books. They're good, and not your typical mystery. Any book with a character called Neil the C*** must needs be in a class by itself, methinks. But they are generally lighter(than the Outlander books-- both figuratively and literally).
I found it a little disturbing and annoying that everyone in the books loves/admires/desires Jamie Fraser so much. I mean, at least three people are so in love with him that they would die for him or, you know, kill someone else in order to be with him. Maybe four, if you count the girl who threatened his family in order to get him in her bed. I won't go into the whole Randall thing.
Not that Jamie isn't admirable and attractive. (Having married a man over six feet tall with reddish hair and bonny knees, I can hardly argue that Jamie isn't the stuff. Just that it got old after a bit.)
But I know what it's like when you get to the end of a story you enjoy. *hugs*
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Olive, I remember reading a letter to the editor of my college alumni magazine a few years ago, about homosexuality. (I forget why it had come up)
An older man, he was at least eighty, as I remember, wrote of a man in his class who was so physically attractive and charismatic that heterosexual men fell for him. I have always remembered that, because I think some people are just that alluring.
That is how I see Jamie, as "one of those people."
I am also completely aware that if I was in smelling distance of Jamie Fraser, I might lose the attraction.
So, on another note, in the May Scholastic book order, there is a book about a girl from our time who goes back(I think? It might be a parallel sort of thing)in time 200 years. there is a man on a ship. That is all I remember, but it seemed rather serendipitous.
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
quote:Originally posted by Elizabeth: She has the gall to have started a graphic novel in the midst of this! And then, to tease the people, has published two excerpts from the new novel.
I don't know, it could be worse. She could be the kind of schmuck who decides their double-digit numbered fantasy novel series warrants prequel novels, and then hauls off and dies before the thing gets completed...
Jennifer Robertson's Tiger and Del series is a pretty good read. It begins well, and I think it ends pretty well. Just be prepared for some annoyances in between.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Sterling!!! She speaks of prequels! Oh nooooooo!
Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :
quote:Originally posted by Elizabeth: Ooh, that looks good, CT! I will put them on my list, when I feel I am ready to date again.
Reading these books did nothing for my dating life, I have to say . . . of course, maybe I was just waiting for my husband (ex, now hitched to me again *grin*) to grow up in a very subconscious way, but I'd hate to be on the dating scene and comparing each and every potential relationship to Jamie/Clair or Tiger/Del . . .
Just sayin' Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
quote:Originally posted by Elizabeth: Sterling!!! She speaks of prequels! Oh nooooooo!
Oh, I'm so sorry. Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
I do not believe your sorrow is genuine, Sterling.
Shan, I meant dating in the fictional world. In fact, I think Jamie is so hot because he reminds me of my husband.
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
quote:Originally posted by Shan:
quote:Originally posted by Elizabeth: Ooh, that looks good, CT! I will put them on my list, when I feel I am ready to date again.
Reading these books did nothing for my dating life, I have to say . . . of course, maybe I was just waiting for my husband (ex, now hitched to me again *grin*) to grow up in a very subconscious way, but I'd hate to be on the dating scene and comparing each and every potential relationship to Jamie/Clair or Tiger/Del . . .
Just sayin'
I tell this story whenever an Outlander thread comes up, but my friend Jenece broke off her engagement because of Jamie. (She'd been reading the Outlander books, and got to comparing Jamie to her fiance... and THAT changed her mind. A good thing, that, because the engagement was pretty poorly considered.)
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
I not only remember that story, Plaid, but I remember responding to it here! Hmm.
OK, I have made a decision. I needed the first book, which I had read from the library, to make my Outlander collection complete.
So I got it last night, and am reading it. As I have said, i am not a rereader, but I cannot bear to read anything else, even Lord John, which I also purchased last night.
Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :
You go, girl!
I love the wit and humor in that first book -- it's so delightful!
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
I think it will be weird. As I said, i am not a rereader. I know the characters as older and more mature, and it sort of feels like looking at baby pictures! Only way I can describe it.
Posted by tt&t (Member # 5600) on :
I re-read, a lot. Most of the books in my bookcase are ones I have or plan to re-read - otherwise I usually just borrow from a friend or library: if a book's not good enough to re-read, it's not worth spending money on. Luckily, I'm quite a fast reader. And I loved the Cross-Stitch/Outlander series (I'm with the Jamie Is Hot crowd).
Have you read the Axis trilogy by Sara Douglass? It's not that similar to Cross Stitch (Outlander), apart from the characters being well-developed and the writing style being good and there being a fair amount of "romance" involved without it really being a "romance novel"... but it is very good. And I think that people who liked Outlander would like these books. There's also a second trilogy out, which I think is even better than the first - and the best bit is, they're all finished already (all in my bookcase ). However, I know (and I am guilty of this myself) that many people usually don't read the books that others recommend - but I have to say, anyone who doesn't read these it's your loss . They also appeal to males, my husband is onto the third book of the first trilogy and he finds it very hard to put down.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Is it a historical novel? (series)
I think many people do read what others recommend. I do, anyway, and I have gotten many recommendations here!
Posted by tt&t (Member # 5600) on :
No it's fantasy.
Mmm, I think many people do, but I also think many people do not... (perhaps just non-Hatrack people?) Which is unfortunate, cos there are so many good books. However I often find that when I recommend books to people, they will say later that they didn't have time to find or read the book. I think finding it might be most of the problem!
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
I think many people "don't have time" to read.
Posted by scholar (Member # 9232) on :
I read all night straight when I have a new book I like a lot. So, right now, I claim the not having time to read excuse. I need my sleep.
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). However, I know (and I am guilty of this myself) that many people usually don't read the books that others recommend - but I have to say, anyone who doesn't read these it's your loss