What Are You Reading Right Now?

[Zombie]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

I am currently reading the Witching Hour series by Anne Rice. I have read this series at least twice a year since college... they're just my favorite books to get lost in. And with nearly 3,000 pages between 3 books, I pick up new facts and layers to the story every single time I read them. I'm currently on book #2, Lasher. It's such a wonderful series, so many taboo topics... hard to imagine such subjects being broached 20 years ago when these books were written. I'd be the happiest person in the world if this series were ever made into good movies. Personally, I think the subject matter for Anne's witch series is far more intriguing, intelligent, and scandalous than her vampire books, which she's famous for.

Oh man, Anne Rice. Back in the day, she was one of my favorite authors. I always loved her amazing poet of a husband more, but I was crazy about her, too. Particularly the Mayfair books, but also Cry to Heaven (which, if you haven't read, you should - particularly in light of your comment re: addressing taboo topics 20 years ago, because Cry does the same thing, but was written even earlier than the Mayfair books, in like 1982) and her erotica.

Alas, while I still love those books, I can't take her seriously AT ALL anymore. Because she's bat**** insane. Now whenever I hear her name or hear that she's got another book coming out, all I can do is giggle, because some people should not be allowed on the Internet, and Anne Rice is one of them.

She's been involved in a few kerfluffles on various subjects, but my favorite has got to be the incident over Blood Canticle (since that's a Mayfair crossover, you may have read it. If so, I am sorry for your loss. If not, you have dodged a bullet, can I get an amen?) - it got several much-deserved bad reviews on Amazon, and she went berzerk and posted a long, often incoherent, rambling reply to the haterz, informing them that they were "straining her Dickensian principles to the max" by "interrogating the text from the wrong perspective."

No, really. She said that. Roughly translated, it means, "You only didn't like the book because you read it wrong, fishbulb." And it was beautiful.

Oh, and one time in 1997, she took out a full page ad in the local paper, protesting a restaurant that had been opened in the building where she'd set much of Memnoch. Why? Because the decor was not classy enough for her. In the ad, she called it a monstrosity, and cites some examples of local establishments that ARE classy and should be the standard all new restaurants strive for, one of which is, y'know, the Shoney's.

When the owner of the building took out his own reply and most of the community backed him up, did she shut up? Oh no, she did not! She took out ANOTHER ad, except this time she didn't write it.

Lestat did.

And now I'm giggling uncontrollably again. That just never gets old.

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by Zombie

Oh man, Anne Rice. Back in the day, she was one of my favorite authors. I always loved her amazing poet of a husband more, but I was crazy about her, too. Particularly the Mayfair books, but also Cry to Heaven (which, if you haven't read, you should - particularly in light of your comment re: addressing taboo topics 20 years ago, because Cry does the same thing, but was written even earlier than the Mayfair books, in like 1982) and her erotica.

Alas, while I still love those books, I can't take her seriously AT ALL anymore. Because she's bat**** insane. Now whenever I hear her name or hear that she's got another book coming out, all I can do is giggle, because some people should not be allowed on the Internet, and Anne Rice is one of them.

She's been involved in a few kerfluffles on various subjects, but my favorite has got to be the incident over Blood Canticle (since that's a Mayfair crossover, you may have read it. If so, I am sorry for your loss. If not, you have dodged a bullet, can I get an amen?) - it got several much-deserved bad reviews on Amazon, and she went berzerk and posted a long, often incoherent, rambling reply to the haterz, informing them that they were "straining her Dickensian principles to the max" by "interrogating the text from the wrong perspective."

No, really. She said that. Roughly translated, it means, "You only didn't like the book because you read it wrong, fishbulb." And it was beautiful.

Oh, and one time in 1997, she took out a full page ad in the local paper, protesting a restaurant that had been opened in the building where she'd set much of Memnoch. Why? Because the decor was not classy enough for her. In the ad, she called it a monstrosity, and cites some examples of local establishments that ARE classy and should be the standard all new restaurants strive for, one of which is, y'know, the Shoney's.

When the owner of the building took out his own reply and most of the community backed him up, did she shut up? Oh no, she did not! She took out ANOTHER ad, except this time she didn't write it.

Lestat did.

And now I'm giggling uncontrollably again. That just never gets old.

I knew about the Amazon thing, but wasn't aware of the whole restaurant incident. I can't say I care about either of those things. I do have to admit, Anne's reconversion to Catholicism, and subsequent books on Christianity have always bothered me, though. Reading all her books, it's clear she never stopped being a spiritual person, but battled with what the Catholic Church said she had to be. It just seemed stupid for her to try to make the shoe fit again, if it didn't the first time around. To make myself clear, I have no issues with religion... I'm a very spiritual person myself. I've been on Anne's Facebook fan group since she recently came out as a follower of Christ who rejected Christianity. She's very active on there, and has a lot of intelligent observations about what's going on in the world.

Anyway, my whole point is I don't really put a whole lot of stock into celebrity misbehavior. I know Stevie Nicks is a completely clueless imbecile, but I still adore her music. John DeLorean was a crooked, ruthless business man... but I still love the cars he made. Anne Rice is a bit manic to say the least, but her books still bring me immense joy. We're all a bit crazy... and I like that!

[Zombie]

^^^^^

Fair enough. I'd enjoy the Christ the Lord books more if they were written better, but that's just me. I don't mind her converting or whatever she did, but preachy bothers me, and I know she's capable of better writing than all of that.

Celebrity misbehavior doesn't faze me unless it's either extra funny or extra WTF, and Rice falls under extra WTF too often for me to remain comfortable with her - the ad in the paper thing is just amusing (the Shoney's, Anne? Really?), but her temper tantrum on Amazon was way too arrogant and condescending for me to ignore. I didn't like Blood Canticle, either, because it was a subpar book, and again, I know what she's capable of writing, because she's written above-par books in the past. So her getting online to spaz about how those that didn't like it are clearly just idiots is pretty insulting - I'm no idiot. And I see no reason to give my hard-earned pennies to someone that thinks I am an idiot/thinks it's a good idea to say publically that I'm an idiot if I do not love everything she does, no matter how crappy it might have been.

It's like how Laurell K. Hamilton lost me completely in much the same way - I LOVED the first few Anita Blake books, and still do, but as time went on, they went downhill faster than a flaming child on a greased sled. But instead of blame her bad writing for the books being bad, she blames everything else, and then says she pointedly ignores any criticism/reviews anyone has written, no matter how constructive, because she does what she wants. Well, okay - you can certainly do what you want - they are your books, your characters, etc - but if you don't think reader opinion is important at all, then I guess you don't think my money is important at all, either. So you can't have it.

For all Stevie is goofy, though, I can't see her getting online to start screaming that we only didn't like the new album because we listened to it wrong.

[SapphireSister]

Erotic literature and no, I do not mean porn.

[chiliD]

This thread....and the tons of emails that arrive in my inbox every 5 minutes.

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by Zombie

^^^^^

Fair enough. I'd enjoy the Christ the Lord books more if they were written better, but that's just me. I don't mind her converting or whatever she did, but preachy bothers me, and I know she's capable of better writing than all of that.

Celebrity misbehavior doesn't faze me unless it's either extra funny or extra WTF, and Rice falls under extra WTF too often for me to remain comfortable with her - the ad in the paper thing is just amusing (the Shoney's, Anne? Really?), but her temper tantrum on Amazon was way too arrogant and condescending for me to ignore. I didn't like Blood Canticle, either, because it was a subpar book, and again, I know what she's capable of writing, because she's written above-par books in the past. So her getting online to spaz about how those that didn't like it are clearly just idiots is pretty insulting - I'm no idiot. And I see no reason to give my hard-earned pennies to someone that thinks I am an idiot/thinks it's a good idea to say publically that I'm an idiot if I do not love everything she does, no matter how crappy it might have been.

For all Stevie is goofy, though, I can't see her getting online to start screaming that we only didn't like the new album because we listened to it wrong.

Ok, so I've done some research on both the Amazon.com and restaurant incidents. The Amazon.com meltdown happened within a year of her husband of 40+ years death. Grief makes people do weird and terrible things. Just look at what Stevie Nicks did when her lifelong best friend died... SHE MARRIED HIS HUSBAND!! I'd SO be haunting Stevie to this day if I were Robin Anderson!

The whole restaurant incident is a different matter. Reading Anne's books, there is an undercurrent of her being an advocate for historic preservation. She often laments in her books the loss of historic structures, or historic buildings being altered at the cost of their originality. From everything I've read, she was very active in New Orleans preservation throughout her life. She restored many properties, and was a strict purist. The restauranteur she battled with via the ads had radically (and tackily) altered the exterior of a historic building on New Orleans' most famous street: St Charles Ave (this was just around the corner from her home, by the way). St Charles Ave is the street the famed New Orleans Streetcar runs down. St Charles Ave is also the parade route for the Mardi Gras processions. With Rice being a native New Orleanian and an avid preservationist, you could see why this would enflame her.

I'm not condoning her actions one iota (like I said before, I just couldn't give a damn), but given the context behind both of them, they're certainly understandable. All I can say is I'm glad I'm not famous... because I say and do PLENTY of stupid crap!

[KarmaContestant]

^^I love Anne Rice! I've read all of her books multiple times, and The Witching Hour hour is hands-down one of my favorite, along with Memnoch The Devil.

I haven't read her most recent book - Angel Time - but it's on the shelf waiting for the right time.

I've had a hard time reading the past couple of years. I'm not sure why, but my attention span is far too short. I've started but not finished several books.

I tried reading A Complete History of Poland; I wanted to go there and thought some historical background would make the trip more interesting - but the writing was so dry and I just couldn't get into it.

I'm also reading Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, and finding it very entertaining.

Last night I picked up Clive Barker's Imajica, and started reading it again. It's been 13 years, so it's due for another read. Any fans of Anne Rice would probably love Clive's work.

Any Tom Robbins readers' here?

[chiliD]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

Just look at what Stevie Nicks did when her lifelong best friend died... SHE MARRIED HIS HUSBAND!!

You mean "her", right?

[Betsy]

Sorry I haven't read all the posts in this thread, and have just skimmed it for titles to read in the future. Here's what I've read since June...

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATOO - Swedish translation, makes the first 100 pages awkward -- but then the book takes off...really takes off. I am so excited that it's a trilogy. I got the other two...and am looking forward to reading them. I also bought the Swedish movie with English subtitles. I want to be able to compare it to the American version when it comes out. I heard that Emma (What's her name) from Harry Potter has cut her hair to play the part of Salander...but I just can't see her in that part.

THE TWILIGHT SAGA - read all 4 books this summer. My 20-something daughters wouldn't get off my case, until I read them. They were an easy read and I liked the humorous back and forth of cynical remarks between Jacob and Rosalie...but to my thinking...the Bella character was too self-absorbed.

BIG MAN TALL TALES - Clarence Clemons ( I think the gray colored pages were all figments of the Big Man's imagination, but it was a good read.)

P.S. Thanks for resurrecting this thread...I like to get new titles.

[Betsy]

ChiliD...

As I recall you were reading the CLAPTON autobiography at the same time as I was.

What did you think of it?

(I also read Patti Boyd's WONDERFUL TONIGHT...)

Those are two books, I still think about and would recommend.

[Erin]

Originally Posted by Zombie

^^^^^

Fair enough. I'd enjoy the Christ the Lord books more if they were written better, but that's just me. I don't mind her converting or whatever she did, but preachy bothers me, and I know she's capable of better writing than all of that.

Celebrity misbehavior doesn't faze me unless it's either extra funny or extra WTF, and Rice falls under extra WTF too often for me to remain comfortable with her - the ad in the paper thing is just amusing (the Shoney's, Anne? Really?), but her temper tantrum on Amazon was way too arrogant and condescending for me to ignore. I didn't like Blood Canticle, either, because it was a subpar book, and again, I know what she's capable of writing, because she's written above-par books in the past. So her getting online to spaz about how those that didn't like it are clearly just idiots is pretty insulting - I'm no idiot. And I see no reason to give my hard-earned pennies to someone that thinks I am an idiot/thinks it's a good idea to say publically that I'm an idiot if I do not love everything she does, no matter how crappy it might have been.

It's like how Laurell K. Hamilton lost me completely in much the same way - I LOVED the first few Anita Blake books, and still do, but as time went on, they went downhill faster than a flaming child on a greased sled. But instead of blame her bad writing for the books being bad, she blames everything else, and then says she pointedly ignores any criticism/reviews anyone has written, no matter how constructive, because she does what she wants. Well, okay - you can certainly do what you want - they are your books, your characters, etc - but if you don't think reader opinion is important at all, then I guess you don't think my money is important at all, either. So you can't have it.

For all Stevie is goofy, though, I can't see her getting online to start screaming that we only didn't like the new album because we listened to it wrong.

Anne wrote she's no longer a Catholic on Facebook, I believe. Maybe she'll start writing better books. Although I did enjoy the Angel book more than I thought I would. Queen of the Damned is still my favorite of all the books she's written.

Laurell K. Hamilton, sigh. Like you I really enjoyed the Anita series at the beginning, now it's basically porn. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it wasn't what the series was supposed to be about. I still read the series in the hope a plot will eventually surface, but so far no dice!