Bookish Thoughts

I've been reading Terry Pratchett's Discworld series for several years now. I actually read my first Discworld novel during my freshman year of college. But then I stopped taking every single class pass/fail and ran out of time to read anything I was being graded on. I didn't get back to the series until after graduation and have spent the last four years occasionally visiting the Discworld. I've read the first 26 (of 39) novels, without seeing much artwork. There aren't any maps included in the books (only an admonishment that you can't map a sense of humor). The covers of the editions I'm reading are fairly abstract. And I haven't sought out the movies or graphic novels. The world existed entirely in my imagination, and I was happy to let it. Then The Last Hero arrived in the mail and I was floored. The book is huge (10.8" x 9.2", according to Amazon) and fully illustrated. The illustrations, by Paul Kidby, are amazing. They...

The Passage , by Justin Cronin, is a beast of a book.  It's a sprawling, epic story told in 766 pages. And when I was halfway through it, I learned that it's only the first novel in a planned trilogy. Which...I can see where the story is going in the next book. I definitely think there's enough plot left to keep things interesting for two more books. But the last thing I need right now is another epic series. So, The Passage . The only thing I knew when I started it was that it was about vampires. I mentioned this to my boyfriend's mom when she loaned it to me, and she was quick to say that they aren't really vampires. They don't have a lot of the classic "vampire" characteristics. But the thing is, every vampire legend picks and chooses the bits of the legend they want to use. Bram Stoker's vampires couldn't cross running water and had to sleep in the soil of their homeland. Anne Rice's vampires absolutely could not change t...