Drugs . . . I mean books? [Of the same kinds, class, or nature]

I am hooked on books. Seriously. (also, wow that sounds CHEESY) BUT I mean it.

I am on a book binge. It started off innocently with Julia Quinn, just picked one up and it was good. Less than a month later? I've read her entire book list.

And then I saw Stephanie Laurens had a lot of books. That was 3 weeks ago. I'm 10 books in to her book list and I can't read them fast enough.

I want to read more. I keep having to stop myself ordering them all off of B&N.com.

And fanfic isn't doing it for me - I want my historical romance with dukes and lords and ladies and balls and society and dresses and just EVERYTHING.

It has been so long since I just ran through book lists - I did it in high school and college. I would pick and author and get all of their books from the library and gorge myself. I did it with probably 30-40 authors over the years.

And now I'm doing it again. The only problem is I keep picking authors that don't have hardbound books in the library and we don't have a good second hand store around here. Which means I'm actually buying them all new. Which is getting expensive.

I'm limiting trips to B&N and limiting the number of books I buy - but then I usually run out early in the week and go through withdrawal. It's a VICIOUS CYCLE.

It's probably a good thing I'm out of new books this week - I need to write my

ronon_love story and I'm having a dinner party on Saturday that I need to plan dinner and dessert for.

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Have you read Dorothy Dunnet's Lymond series?

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I have not! I just wikipedia'd it and it looks really interesting - not my usual thing - but I'll check it out when I'm at the library this weekend.

I ummm . . . tend to read books with swooning ladies hanging off of burly men on the inside cover.

Regency romance novels are crack for Annie.

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Well, people either adore Dunnett or give up because there are too many words in the books. But they're *extremely* slashy, and Lymond is entrancing, and the author's got an amazing gift for scene and language. The second book's an easier and more entertaining read than the first, and you really could start there...

I edit books like that. LOL.

I thought about that! I always wonder when I'm reading some of these if you've edited them. :-)

Heee! We have the same taste in historical romances :D Regency is my all time favourite genre.

I have all of Julia Quinn and Stephanie Laurens and I'll add another author I really like onto the pile for you: Eloisa James - and she has a nice long list of books for your to work through as well. My favourite of hers is the set of interlinked books about the 4 Essex sisters, starting with "Much Ado About You".

And I totally sympathise with the spending of all my money on these books buying them new (even if they are the relatively cheap $15.95 each as opposed to regular fiction which runs more toward the $35 range...) www.abebooks.com is a good alternative to find second hand copies online where the shipping isn't as bank breaking as Amazon (or at least shipping to Australia which is pretty pricey anyways :P)

I love Regency romance SO MUCH. It's hard to find decent stuff so when I do I gorge.

OMG I LOVE HER. I have read all of her books. I'm not a HUGE fan of the new Desperate Duchesses but I have read the Essex sisters books at least five times each. I was so HAPPY with the result of the last book (I don't want to spoil anyone) and I thought it was fun Mayne ran through the whole series. EEEEEEEEEEEE. Just thinking about them makes me smily. I got

wojelah hooked on them. ETA (and by whole series, I mean most of her books - I liked how he tied the ones with Helene and Esme to the Essex books)

I like Amanda Quick and Johanna Lindsey, but not as much as Eloisa, Julie, and Stephanie. I used to read Jude Deveraux and Catherine Coulter, but I'm not a huge JD fan anymore and Catherine's historical is kind of crap. I loved Judith McNaught's historical stuff when I was in high school, but upon re reading as an adult, I can't get past some of her heroines are YOUNG. Like way too young.

Have you ever tried Joan Wolf? She has a bunch of historical stuff that I find extremely enjoyable. I've reread them A LOT. (she also has more modern stuff that is good.)

I can't stomach Nora Roberts anymore - I've stopped reading those. Jayne Ann Krentz (Amanda Quicks real name) is decent for modern stuff.

I've pretty much read all the biggies and a lot of the less known authors. I'll just pick books off the shelf and as long as they appear to have plot and are 200+ pages I'll try them.

We usually do B&N cause we're discount members and I just buy them in store for $7.19 US.

I love talking about books!

Edited Date: 2008-03-12 05:18 am (UTC)

I haven't made up my mind on the Desperate Duchesses yet :D But I'll buy them just the same, cos... It's Eloisa James! *fangirls Mayne some more*

*nods at your list* That's my bookshelf! I'm like you in that I've read most of the big names and a whole heap of one off smaller authors via our local library which has a pretty decent Romance collection. And I indulge myself in buying secondhand trashy!romance as much as possible for the excruciating plots and dialogue...

We have a store here in Perth that is devoted exclusively to romance - and since it opened I've religiously bought one book a month of my "keepers" basically all of Quinn, Laurens and James - but next time I shall be adventurous and seek out Joan Wolf!

Recently (as in over the last 5 years) I've been following Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series - starting with "Outlander/Cross Stitch", which can be classified as historical romance, but crosses several genre boundaries. They're set in the 1700's (specifically Jacobean Scotland and then later pre-revolutionary America), involve time travel (done well, mind you) and I really love these books, despite the last one being a HUGE hefty tome of massiveness :P

Then related (sort of, in that the authors are friends and work similarly) to these is another series by Sara Donati starting with "Into the Wilderness" These are actually sequels (of a sort) to one of my all time favourite novels "The Last of the Mohicans" but again - sprawling epic historical romance. :D

I love talking about books too!!

I'll read the rest of the DD series - I'm just not sure I like them as rest as I love the rest of the books. :-) MAYNE. Seriously - from the moment we met him I was in LOVE. I also kinda love all of her heroes. (except Felton - I was never all eeee over him.) Helene and Reese are two of my favorites. And Stephen Fairfax-Lacy!

Joan Wolf is fun - really - her older books are interesting and I just kinda love how they end up.

I've heard of DG - I've just never read them.

I tend to stick to only like regency england or scotland - but I'll try other historical stuff. I'm just excited tomorrow is saturday and I can buy more books! :-)

Have you checked out paperbackswap.com? I've not used it yet, but people who have say it is great.

What are you going to serve for your party?

But that implies I actually have to GIVE UP MY BOOKS. :-) I'll give it a look.

I'm thinking a pasta party!

This as the main dish. (nine people coming) I can make it early in the day and then just pop it in the oven an hour in advance. I am going to replace the cottage cheese with ricotta cheese because cottage cheese is the devil.

This is going to be my "lighter" side pasta. I haven't met a Rachel Ray orzo recipe I haven't liked yet.

And then I was thinking of doing this as a third option

None of those are that prep intensive so. I'd do a veggie plate with carrots and celery and stuff, plus I'll get some cheeses and crackers.

For veggie sides - asparagus? Everyone likes that. And salad and garlic bread.

I'm doing cupcakes for dessert - probably the lemon ones again - and a chocolate. I haven't decided exactly what yet? What did you do for your party again?

Yum! They all look delicious! When I did my party I served

Butternut Squash Lasagna (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/105911)
and
Pear and Gorgonzola Tart (http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_36535,00.html)

I just discovered the most amazing salad! Baby Arugula or other baby greens tossed with a vinaigrette made of fresh lemon juice and olive oil, then topped with kosher salt, pepper, and some fresh shaved parmesan. The flavors are amazing -- the lettuce is tender, and the tang of the lemon plays perfectly against the buttery taste of the cheese. Do you have a Trader Joe's? I find the frozen haricot verts cooked with a little pancetta is a huge hit with everyone.

My cupcakes were the lemon, white chocolate with white chocolate frosting, and chocolate with salted caramel buttercream.

YUM.

That salad sounds GOOD. I'll have to make a salad for tomorrow.

MY CUPCAKES OVERFLOWED TONIGHT. It was SO SAD. Instead of scrapping the bunch, I crumbled them into a crust and topped them with a peanut butter creme mix and I'll drizzle chocolate on them tomorrow. BUT STILL. DRAMA.

And my pop overs didn't cook all the way though! ::Sads::

But my Lemon Ricotta biscuts were yum!

Speaking of cupcakes! When I was making cupcakes for my party I tried out this raspberry cupcake recipe -- I thought the pink raspberry cupcakes would be yummy with white chocolate icing.

WRONG. The cupcakes were SO BAD. There was obviously too much liquid in the recipe because the cakes didn't rise, and when they came out of the oven and cooled they just collapsed in on themselves. I ended up pitching them -- they were too soggy to even save as crumbs.

Oh! Lemon ricotta bisquits sound delicious!

Eeeeeeeek! That sounds like not fun!

I have a tutorial for them on the cooking tag. They are YUMMY!

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December