I’m a steady reader since I have a commute by metro to work and also need to read before I can fall asleep at night, so it was hard to pick only a few books I enjoyed this year. I blogged on Mary Shelley’s birthday about Passion by Jude Morgan, and I can’t wait to read his next one, Symphony, about the love affair between Berlioz and Harriet Smithson (hint to nearest and dearest–it’s on my Amazon wishlist). I also loved The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James whom the Riskies interviewed earlier this month.

OK, first, let’s get the literary crack out of the way. Read this hilarious spoof by the Smart Bitches and you’ll know what I mean–I find JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series immensely entertaining, embarrassingly addictive, and I just about still respect myself in the morning. I can give them up any time I wahnt (a joke, not a typo). Same with Anne Stuart’s Ice books, where–what’s not to love–phenomenally good looking male operatives are trained to be so good at sex that they can make women do anything. And they do. Terrific escapist fun, both series.

My friend Robin L. Rotham published her first book Alien Overnight this year–it’s funny, sexy, and very well-written and has a hilariously over the top cover. Carry a big stick, har har. How’s this for a killer opening sentence: “Notice the slight emergence of the male’s accessory sexual organ, or what the Garathani refer to as a breeding spur.”

Well, what can I say. I’m in love with another species myself. I pooh-poohed the idea of dragons in the Napoleonic wars when Megan blogged about them last year, but I read all four of Naomi Novik’s fabulous Temeraire books in less than two weeks. I take it all back. These are a brilliant blend of fact with fantasy, and I’m absolutely in love with both Temeraire the dragon (whose neck fringes are infinitely better than Gerard Butler’s and everything is much much bigger) and the wonderful, gentlemanly Captain Laurence.

I also enjoyed new books by two favorites–Making Money by Terry Pratchett (check out the macroeconomic model in the basement of the bank) and Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next–First Among Sequels. If you don’t know these two writers you’re in for a treat; Pratchett writes (sort of) satirical sci-fi; Fforde writes about an investigator for the Department of Jurisfiction in an alternative literary England. I’d suggest trying to read them in order, although Pratchett has a huge amount of books in print.

I was also thrilled that Jennifer Crusie and Bob Meyer’s second collaboration, Agnes and the Hitman, was right on the money; great, funny stuff, although I still can’t get used to the idea of Jennifer Crusie writing about the mafia. Maybe Bob wrote those bits. You really can’t tell, with such a seamless collaboration.

I discovered a new author, Fiona Neill, whose book Slummy Mummy is about that most hideous phenomenon, London yuppies in reproductive mode. As well as the obvious jokes involving high-powered women putting their formidable talents into child-rearing, this book had a lot of heart and wisdom. I recommend it highly.

I finally got around to a 2006 release, Mozart’s Women, about the women he loved and the music he wrote for them, and I desperately want the gown Nannerle his sister is wearing on the cover. Also in nonfiction, London in the Nineteenth Century by Jerry White, which was excellent, although disappointing in only very brief mentions of servants and the black population. I don’t think it’s available yet in the US.

And finally, The Elements of Internet Style for anyone who’s interested in literacy, books, the web, and where everything online and in print seems to be going. It’s entertaining and smart, and I wrote a section of it.

Have you read any of these? What’s on your wishlist?

All contests all the time. Check out what Pam Rosenthal is giving away in her contest; read an alternate ending to The Rules of Gentility and enter to win a prize at janetmullany.com.

This week is devoted to our favorites of the year — and I’ve decided to add a movie to mine. (I’m not sure if this is breaking the rules, but I have Blogger at my fingertips and I’ve gone mad with power!)

There were lots of great books this year, both by my fellow Riskies (who, as we all know, are fabulous writers) and by other folks…but end-of-year time-crunch panic has set in for me (Todd is sick again and I’m picking up the slack with my hey-wait-I’m-lazy-why-are-we-working hands), so I’m just going to talk about a few of them: one book series, and one movie.

My friend Heather (book pusher extraordinaire) turned me on to Megan Whalen Turner’s Attolia books. And — wow.

First off: no spoilers! This is one set of books where spoilers are especially spoiling!

Second off: these are high fantasy, though the kind without huge amounts of magic. The world is sort of Greece, a ways in the past. The hero of the first book is a clever, vain, lazy, charming thief who has more heart than he likes to let on. I’m not going to say who the later books are about, because that would be spoilage!

Anyway, there are three books in the series so far:

1) THE THIEF
2) THE QUEEN OF ATTOLIA
3) THE KING OF ATTOLIA

And because this is a romance blog, I’ll just mention that at least one of the books involves a really well-done romance — and one that’s so unusual, I can’t think of anything similar I’ve seen in any book. The characters and relationship have been in my head ever since, and I think about them a lot.

So, in short, I’m saying: read these books — and avoid any spoilers (including back-cover blurbs, jacket synopses, or reviews on Amazon) while doing so!

We’ve previously talked about the movie AMAZING GRACE, with Ioan Gruffud as Wilberforce, so I won’t repeat what’s been said.

But it just a really interesting, very enjoyable, and gorgeous to look at movie. (And all the gorgeous actors in it don’t hurt.)

Well, there you have it…my abbreviated “I have to exchange those books then wrap them then mail them then mail the other things then wrap those others and do my cards and then OOPS I was also going to do this and this and that” list of favorites of 2007…

Cara
who has nothing clever to say in her sig line today

You have won a copy of JANE AUSTEN’S WORLD by Maggie Lane, courtesy of Amanda. Please email riskies@yahoo.com to claim your prize.

Thanks to all who helped us celebrate the divine Jane’s birthday!

This week, in anticipation of Jane Austen’s birthday, we are each discussing one of her books. I chose Sense and Sensibility. At the end of the week, courtesy of Amanda, we’ll be giving away a copy of Jane Austen’s World to one lucky commenter. (Bertie’s rules apply)

Jane was born Dec 16, 1775, and Sense and Sensibility was her first published book. She wrote the first draft, called Elinor and Marianne, when she was nineteen years old but the book we read today was first published in 1811.

from Wikipedia: Although the plot favors the value of sense over that of sensibility, the greatest emphasis is placed on the moral complexity of human affairs and on the need for enlarged and subtle thought and feeling in response to it.

It has been a few years since I’ve read any Jane Austen (being the worst-read of all the Riskies), so I came to Sense and Sensibility with fresh eyes. I discovered a few things:

1. Sense and Sensibility is primarily a love story. A Romance. No matter the other themes of the book, romance is central. From the beginning we root for Elinor and Marianne to find love and have a happily ever after.

2. How masterfully Austen parallels Elinor’s love story with Marianne’s. They both fall in love with men they cannot have. They both have knowledge of the women the men must marry. What Marianne suffers openly and dramatically, Elinor conceals.

3. How deftly Austen can convey character-and with such wit and wisdom! It seems to take her a mere brush stroke. For example, of John Dashwood, Elinor and Marianne’s half-brother, comes this: “He had just compuction enough for having done nothing for his sisters himself, to be exceedingly anious that everybody else should do a great deal...” I’m in awe of her skill.

4. The Marianne of the book is much less appealing than how she was portrayed by Kate Winslet in the Sense and Sensibility movie. Marianne is convinced that acting upon her own feelings at all times is the way to go; therefore, she is often rude and thoughtless and ill-mannered, even if her heart is in the right place toward her sister. Marianne is selfish in this way, to feel her emotions may be expressed at the expense of others.

5. It occurs to me that, in the end, Marianne learns to be unselfish, to think of others rather than herself. In the end, she understands that Willoughby needed something she was unable to give him, so she could forgive him. I think she might have learned some of this unselfishness from Col. Brandon, who seems always to think of her needs over his own. And, of course, from her sister, who is unselfishness personified.

6. Compared to most romance novels today, Austen’s writing is denser, wordier, and its revelations seem to be slipped in when you least expect them. There is a lot of what we would call “Telling,” but her prose still shines. You have to read it at a savoring pace, which was perfectly fine with me!

7. In Sense and Sensibility, Austen’s subplot takes center stage and the main romance is almost in the background. I see this book as Elinor’s story (although I’m sure that others could argue differently) and Elinor’s love story is a quiet one compared to the drama of Marianne’s love story. I can see 19th century readers turning the page to see what happens to Marianne, but in the end, it is Elinor’s happy ending that resonates. At least for me.

8. Emma Thompson did a wonderful job of condensing the book into a movie. The book is, of course, richer and more detailed, especially of the minor characters, but Emma caught the spirit of the book.

Those are my random thoughts about Sense and Sensibility. What do you all think? What do you like about this story? What don’t you like about it, if anything?

Come back every day this week for more discussion on Austen’s books. If you want to know what we’ll be up to in the future, sign up for our newsletter at http://www.blogger.com/riskies@yahoo.comand put “newsletter” in the subject field. And don’t forget! The Vanishing Viscountess is available now on eharlequin and will be in stores Jan 1.