Gushing About Shows You Like (Sugar Wiki)/Literature: Difference between revisions

* In case you haven't noticed, I ''love'' Diana Gabaldon. She seems to honestly LIKE her fans and the writing process, has no problems with huge [[Doorstopper]] EPICS, and has a unique understanding of the little things-- and in her main series, she manages to pull off [[Happily Married]] despite horrific violence, many quarrels, many scars, and more issues than a subscription to National Geographic. And her characters ''function''. Like people, they move on. The plots are neat, her research is always fun, and hell... um... she reminds me of all my favourite people. Hearing her podcast about male readers of her books (which were initially treated as romance novels) was a serious moment of heartwarming for me. (Plus, for this asexual troper... the sex scenes? Read just fine as ''scenes'' by themselves. Doesn't matter if you aren't in it for the heaving bosoms. Still fun.)

* I don't care what you say, the Fight Club novel is motherfucking amazing and I will always prefer it to the movie. The reason the movie was so good is that it perfectly captures the idiom of the novel. The ending is a mind screw, but a perfect mind screw that fits with the dark tone and the out-of-control nature of Tyler's plans. Also, it hammers home the point that the protagonist is just, well, insane.

{{spoiler|Because every once in a while, somebody brings me my lunch tray and my meds and he has a black eye or his forehead is swollen with stitches, and he says: "We miss you Mr. Durden." Or somebody with a broken nose pushes a mop past me and whispers: "Everything's going according to plan." Whispers: "We're going to break up civilization so we can make something better out of the world." Whispers: "We look forward to getting you back." }} }}

* I don't care what people say, I love the ''[[Wheel of Time]]'', always will. Its plot line is the most epic I've ever read and it never talks down to the reader. It assumes you'll figure it out as you go. Sure it has some pacing problems but that's more than made up for by the fact that it is one of the richest fictional universes ever created.

* "[[Les Misérables|The night was starless and very dark. Without doubt, somewhere in the gloom an angel was standing, wings outstretched, waiting for the soul.]]" Complain about the [[Author Filibuster|Author Filibusters]] on a level like none seen before, or the [[Contrived Coincidence|Contrived Coincidences]], or anything you like, but Victor Hugo gets something, he strikes at something, something that makes the heart bleed and soar, engages the mind and the spirit, and leaves one with hope for the future of our race.

** Also, Waterloo is [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|totally awesome]], in [[Lowest Common Denominator|this troper's]] opinion.

* This Troper loves, LOVES Robin Hobb. All of her work, but especially her latest (and seemingly least appreciated) series, the Soldier Son trilogy. It is quite simply one of the most unusual fantasy stories This Troper has read.

* Sometimes you have read the synopsis of a classic, read it and then go "meh". Sometimes you've read the synopsis of a classic, read it, and discover how frickin' beautiful the language itself is. This was This Troper's reaction to Steinbeck's ''[[The Grapes of Wrath]]''

* ''[[Cold Mountain]]'' is as compelling and epic a Civil War story as ''[[Gone with the Wind]],'' with protagonists that could be cliche, but turn out as anything but. And it was the only novel I have ever read for school that [[Tear Jerker|made me cry.]]

* ''[[The Queen's Thief]]'' series by Megan Whalen Turner. Pseudo-history with epic politics, war, romance that by all rights ''should'' be dysfunctional but is instead amazing, and just the slightest hint of magic in the form of a Greek-styled pantheon (but with less dallying and more governing). As someone on the series's page said:

** [[The Reveal]] at the end of the first book is also the best {{spoiler|[[Subversion]] of [[Rebellious Princess]]}} EVER.

** Yes! The plotting and characterization of these books is the definition of why I love fantasy.