Right, since we have a forum especially designed for book (nerd) talk, I thought I’d take full advantage of it!
Since there have been a few people asking for recommendations of good books I thought I’d throw this one out there as the author is an Aussie. Not sure if you’ve noticed but Aussie authors get a pretty rough time of it and hardly ever get the recognition they deserve!
Anyway, Lian Hearn is the author and there are three books that make up Tales of the Otori. Across the Nightingale Floor is first followed by Grass for his Pillow, and Brilliance of the Moon concludes the series. The story is set in mythical ancient Japan and follows the life of a boy named Takeo as he discovers who he is in a world dominated by warring clans and the supernatural assassions of The Tribe.
It’s a wonderful series, especially if you like fantasy but be warned, I looked for it in a few book shops in the Uk and Europe and couldn’t find it so you might have more luck somewhere like Amazon.
If there’s anyone out there who has read it already, let me know what you thought!
I edited your post to put the title of the series in the title of the thread. I figure that will be important for this forum, otherwise people scanning the list of thread topics won’t know what the threads are about.
I’ll start reading Tales of the Otori as soon as I get it (in between working on my own book, of course). It can be like the Museum of Hoaxes online book club! A slightly more nerdy and less influential alternative to Oprah’s book club.
*sigh* I loved Tales of the Otori. It’s so nice having a fantasy series based on Eastern culture rather than a Celtic culture for a change. One reason why I like Raymond E Feist’s Empire trilogy.
I believe Mr. East’s culture had no pathogens, it was just normal flora…
I’ll have to go pay my fines at the library I suppose… Its like 20 dollars… how geeky is that? To owe money because you just dont want to give books back?
Eesh… come to think of it I havent read anything but the news in a few months now. And the last things I did read were some Lemony Snicket books I kidnapped from somewhere…
Well, Nettie, I read the first book of the series based on your recommendation. And it was pretty good, so I suppose I’ll continue to allow you to associate with me.
Now all I have to do is find the next two books in the series in a used book store. . .they’re really horribly overpriced to buy new. I don’t know why it is, but a lot of books recently (The Tales of the Otori trilogy, Robert E. Howard’s works, Bernard Cornwell’s books, et cetera) have been being published in a paperback format that’s apparently two or three times more expensive than ordinary paperbacks. Grrrr.
Don’t you dare complain about the cost of books acci, until you come to Canada and see what they cost here!
Of course, you don’t have to actually come here, just look somewhere next to the US price, usually there’s a price in Canadian dollars too. I wish they wouldn’t do that, I really hate seeing how much cheaper a book is just 100 miles south of me.
Books aren’t exactly cheap here, either. In fact, I’ve noticed a couple of times where US editions have made their ways into our bookstores and are actually cheaper than the Australian editions…
Don’t you dare complain about the cost of books acci, until you come to Canada and see what they cost here!
Of course, you don’t have to actually come here, just look somewhere next to the US price, usually there’s a price in Canadian dollars too. I wish they wouldn’t do that, I really hate seeing how much cheaper a book is just 100 miles south of me.
Nyah nyah!
Although even with the Canadian prices, these books are costing twice what they would ordinarily cost.
