Well, errr...Happy Early Thanksgiving or Happy Really Early Christmas!
Some music! 1) "I Have a Song to Sing, O!" from The Yeoman of the Guard by Gilbert & Sullivan So it's technically an opera but I always thought of this one as more of a gentle musical. This particular song is a duet between the traveling jester and his assistant who are performing for the crowd. I always thought the song itself was very sweet and lovely so thought you might like it. http://www.sendspace.com/file/bfdldq
3. "Row" by Jon Brion It's again an instrumental song from the soundtrack for "Endless Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." It's a short piece but I often find myself listening to it when I'm writing certain bits of fic as it's lovely. http://www.sendspace.com/file/5ij167
Book recommendations! The Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler This is both a mystery and a bit of a historical, I suppose. The book is a first in a series about two detectives named Bryant and May. In present time, they're two old men who've had a long, slightly bizarre career as they were the heads of the Peculiar Crimes Unit in London. The book shows you as they are now, but also detail their very first meeting and case together back in the 1940's.
Bryant is the somewhat socially inept one who is also messy, incredibly knowledgeable and eccentric, which is good since most of their cases tend to be peculiar as their unit name suggests. Whereas May is the more normal and significantly more socially charming one, which is good because he often has to be the negotiator between Bryant and the rest of the human population the man tends to inadvertently insult. They make a good team and their first case involves the death of a ballerina by gruesome means.
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell I know I harp about him a lot on my LJ, but if you like scifi, mysteries, and historical fiction, this book has all three and then some. The novel is six interconnected stories that take place at various points in time and all over the world. Mitchell is a master of the English language and despite the different genres of each story and the different characters, he sucks you right in.
The Memory Artists by Jeffrey Moore This is a story about four friends who all suffer from some form of synaesthesia. It's mainly centers on one of them, Noel, and his struggle to literally invent a cure for Alzheimer's once his mother is diagnosed. It's really not as depressing as it sounds and actually is oddly uplifting without being condescending. I really enjoyed how each of Noel's friends had their own unique personality and how despite huge differences, they all help Noel in their own way.
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke It's fantasy and historical fiction rolled into one. A reviewer once said that if Jane Austen decided to write fantasy, it'd be this and that's kind of true. But Clarke has a style all her own and this book is a re-imagining of England during the Napoleonic Wars if magic was something that actually existed during those times as a mostly lost, archaic art.
The plot centers around Mr. Norrell who is at the start of the novel the only person in England who actually practices magic. Most students of magic just learn the history bits of it. He soon meets Jonathan Strange who is a gentleman of leisure and someone who has recently discovered a natural talent for practical magic that so far the world has never seen.
The various plots revolve around their relationship as Norrell takes on Strange as a student but they're joined by a host of wonderful side characters who all figure into the larger story. It's definitely one of my favorite fantasy books ever and I'd heartily recommend it.
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Some music!
1) "I Have a Song to Sing, O!" from The Yeoman of the Guard by Gilbert & Sullivan
So it's technically an opera but I always thought of this one as more of a gentle musical. This particular song is a duet between the traveling jester and his assistant who are performing for the crowd. I always thought the song itself was very sweet and lovely so thought you might like it.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/bfdldq
2. "blinking lights(for you)" by the Eels
It's an instrumental song by one of my favorite bands.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/lr55gk
3. "Row" by Jon Brion
It's again an instrumental song from the soundtrack for "Endless Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." It's a short piece but I often find myself listening to it when I'm writing certain bits of fic as it's lovely.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/5ij167
Book recommendations!
The Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler
This is both a mystery and a bit of a historical, I suppose. The book is a first in a series about two detectives named Bryant and May. In present time, they're two old men who've had a long, slightly bizarre career as they were the heads of the Peculiar Crimes Unit in London. The book shows you as they are now, but also detail their very first meeting and case together back in the 1940's.
Bryant is the somewhat socially inept one who is also messy, incredibly knowledgeable and eccentric, which is good since most of their cases tend to be peculiar as their unit name suggests. Whereas May is the more normal and significantly more socially charming one, which is good because he often has to be the negotiator between Bryant and the rest of the human population the man tends to inadvertently insult. They make a good team and their first case involves the death of a ballerina by gruesome means.
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
I know I harp about him a lot on my LJ, but if you like scifi, mysteries, and historical fiction, this book has all three and then some. The novel is six interconnected stories that take place at various points in time and all over the world. Mitchell is a master of the English language and despite the different genres of each story and the different characters, he sucks you right in.
The Memory Artists by Jeffrey Moore
This is a story about four friends who all suffer from some form of synaesthesia. It's mainly centers on one of them, Noel, and his struggle to literally invent a cure for Alzheimer's once his mother is diagnosed. It's really not as depressing as it sounds and actually is oddly uplifting without being condescending. I really enjoyed how each of Noel's friends had their own unique personality and how despite huge differences, they all help Noel in their own way.
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
It's fantasy and historical fiction rolled into one. A reviewer once said that if Jane Austen decided to write fantasy, it'd be this and that's kind of true. But Clarke has a style all her own and this book is a re-imagining of England during the Napoleonic Wars if magic was something that actually existed during those times as a mostly lost, archaic art.
The plot centers around Mr. Norrell who is at the start of the novel the only person in England who actually practices magic. Most students of magic just learn the history bits of it. He soon meets Jonathan Strange who is a gentleman of leisure and someone who has recently discovered a natural talent for practical magic that so far the world has never seen.
The various plots revolve around their relationship as Norrell takes on Strange as a student but they're joined by a host of wonderful side characters who all figure into the larger story. It's definitely one of my favorite fantasy books ever and I'd heartily recommend it.