While She Knits - Holiday Gift Edition

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

FALALALALA LALALALA.

Who else besides me is getting ready to buy the gift that keeps on giving?  Books for the holidays!

What books are you giving as gifts?  And what books for yourself are you sneaking onto to that Amazon order because, well, you have that free shipping anyway, right? 

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I sent to the book depository for two copies of UK edition The Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch because they retitled it Midnight Riot in the US and gave it and ugly cover. I highly recommend it, even if you have to get the US edition.

~mwt

[readingisgoodforyou.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

You're right, the Rivers of London cover is so much better than Midnight Riot's so very generic suspense/thriller one. Why would Del Rey do such a thing?

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I liked Ben Aaronovitch's Doctor Who novels back in the day. Now I am Intrigued.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I just finished Rivers of London/Midnight Riot (such a dumb name) per Megan's rec and it was excellent. So different! If you've ever been to London you'll enjoy reading all the action that occurs in places you've visited. Also, his writing actually reminded me a little of yours, Megan. The book is subtly funny, suspenseful, and clever. Here's the blurb:

Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is a paper cut. But Peter’s prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter’s ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic.

But it's stuff like this that makes the book such a delight (Peter is learning a magic spell):

I nodded and Nightingale brought out a basket of apples. A wicker basket with a handle and a checked napkin, no less. He placed a second apple in front of me and I didn't need him to explain the next step. He levitated the apple, I listened for the forma, concentrated on my own apple and said, "Impello."
I wasn't really that surprised when nothing happened.
"It does get easier," said Nightingale. "It's just that it gets easier slowly."
I looked at the basket. "Why do we have so many apples?"
"They have a tendency to explode," said Nightingale.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I'm sneaking Spirit's End by Rachel Aaron onto my Amazon gift order, for myself.

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

Ooh! So you read The Spirit War? What did you think? I have my eye on that book too ;)

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I really, REALLY enjoyed The Spirit War. You learn so much more about Eli and Josef's backgrounds, and it is set up very nicely for the last book. Can't wait to read it.