The Hobbit (1937) J.R.R. Tolkein
My father gave me my first copy of The Hobbit and I quite literally read it to pieces. I read it at least once a year up through my late 20s. Then I suddenly had lots of books to read, and didn’t get around to rereading The Hobbit for quite awhile.

In [...]

Small Vices Robert B Parker

On the trip to get my grandmother, as I was driving alone I wanted a book to listen to, to help me stay awake and coherent. I grabbed Small Vices, read by Burt Reynolds to keep me company on the trip.
I really do love this book, and I love the audio [...]

Cookies and Brownies (1999) Alice Medrich

This is, hands down, my favorite cookbook.
I bought it on whim from a cookbook club, and when I pulled it out of the box, was slightly disappointed at how slender the book was. This was the only disappointment this book was ever to give.
I have a lot of cookbooks–and [...]

Swordspoint: A Melodrama of Manners (1987) Ellen Kushner

Despite my best efforts, I ended up re-reading Swordspoint again. I really love this book–and with good reason.
Here, see for yourself:
The falling snow made it hard for him to see. The fight hadn’t winded him, but he was hot and sweaty, and he could feel his heart [...]

The Devil in Music (1997) Kate Ross

Four years previously, Lodovico Malvezzi died of a heart attack. Now, four years later, it comes out that he was actually murdered, but local officials covered up the murder in fear it would encourage the revolutionaries, who it was believed were behind the plot. However, on her deathbed, the [...]

Tapping the Dream Tree (2002) Charles de Lint

Tapping the Dream Tree is the fourth collection of Charle de Lint’s short stories based in Newford. It’s also my favorite collection so far.
Several stories where Jilly makes an appearence, as well as several other favorite characters, and several new characters, or characters who made a brief appearences [...]

The Phoenix Guards (1991) Steven Brust
As is typically the case, once I finished reading the Vlad Taltos books, I felt myself consumed by an overwhelming desire to go back and re-read the other Dragaeran books. That is to say, mention of characters and events in the Vlad Taltos books whetted my appetite for re-reading about [...]

Jhereg (1983) Steven Brust

Comfort reading. Those books that you reach for when you’re feeling low, because you know they’re guaranteed to take you away from whatever is bothering you.
That’s the place that Steven Brust holds in my library.
Jhereg is the first Vlad Taltos book, and also the first Dragaera book. Vladimir Taltos is [...]

The Sandman: The Dream Hunters (1999) Neil Gaiman & Yoshitaka Amano
The Dream Hunters is my favorite Sandman story. It’s not a comic proper, but is instead an illustrated story.
And the illustrations are gorgeous. I tend to do little more than glance at illustrations, but the art here is impossible to ignore.
Based on a [...]

Rising Stars: Born in Fire (2001) Power (2002) Fire and Ash (2005) J. Michael Straczynski
Wow.
When I asked for comic recommendations, Tom gave me several suggestions. The one I found locally was Rising Stars. Initially I only picked up the first volume, however I saw that all three volumes were there, so I figure that I [...]

Swordspoint (1987) Ellen Kushner
While waiting for the last book in Sean Russell’s ‘The Swan’s War’ to arrive, I decided to indulge in a book I’ve read fairly recently and loved.
This book is just as gorgeous as I remember. The writing is absolutely lovely, drawing me into the story from the first sentence. The story [...]

Good Omens (1990) Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Good Omens is one of my all time favorite books, and one that I’d take with me to be stranded on a desert island, because it’s funny.
Really funny.
With lots of passages that make me giggle, and even laugh out loud, not just when I read them, [...]

The Phoenix Guards (1991) & Five Hundred Years After (1994) Steven Brust
Sometimes you just need to read a book that you know is going to make you happy. When those times come upon me, I frequently read Steven Brust.
The Phoenix Guards and Five Hundred Years After are two of the ‘Khaavren Romances’ centered around Khaavren [...]