In Case You Missed It: Backlist Book Love (September 20)
Cass's all-time faves edition
Welcome to ICYMI, where I yell about and encourage you to read some books that didn’t just come out within the past few months! Maybe they’re a few years old; maybe they’re a lot of years old. Why am I doing this? Because books (and their authors) shouldn’t have to thrive or die based on the first week of sales. Check out the first installment for the full explanation!
This month — well, it’s my birthday! So I’m going totally indulgent and recommending some of my all-time favorite books. It breaks my rule about only using living authors, but… well. It’s my rule, so I’ll break it if I want!
Links in this post are affiliate links to Bookshop; if you buy a book using them, then I get a little somethin’-somethin’ from Bookshop, which I will then use to… buy more books.
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmunska Orczy
Published 1905
I love this book so much. I’ve read it a truly absurd number of times. I have Chapter Sixteen: Richmond more or less entirely memorized. I collect pretty editions of it.
And, look, it has some very written-in-1905 flaws. I won’t try to say it doesn’t. But it also has ridiculously swoony romance, thrilling adventure, and a hero who is six foot odd of gorgeousness (and without whom we would not have Zorro or Batman).
I swear someday I’m going to write my own take on this story, but until then, I’m just going to keep re-reading it.
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
Published 1968
This is a book that forms a core component of my entire being. It started with the movie, actually, but the book is even better. It’s gorgeous and stirring, but it has a sense of humor and undeniable whimsy. Lines from this are some of those things that are just the flotsam and jetsam of my brain, popping up at random intervals. It’s a classic for a reason, and if you haven’t ever read it, I really must insist that you do so.
The Orphan’s Tales by Catherynne Valente
Published October 2006
Catherynne Valente has written many excellent books, but these remain not just my favorites of hers, but some of my favorites ever. These Scheherazade-like tales weave into and out of each other with elaborate elegance. Valente creates an intricate mythos for multiple cultures within her invented world, many echoing the mythos of our own, but telling their own stories and with their own power. These books are enchanting. Get them and curl up with them on a cold winter evening.
Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett
Published November 1992
All of Discworld is, of course, wonderful, but my personal favorite is Lords and Ladies. It treats the Fae as they should be treated, which is to say, as absolute terrors and horrifically dangerous to all of humanity. And it says so much, too, about magic, and how it’s perceived. The prose is Pratchett at his finest, slipping between poignant and ludicrous, exquisite and hilarious so deftly. And it’s a beautifully constructed book (much in the way A Midsummer Night’s Dream is beautifully constructed), all its disparate parts coming together in perfect orchestration. It has so many passages that I think of often, that have entwined themselves into my very essence.
So. I love this book. If you read only one Pratchett book ever, read this one. If you read only one book about fairies ever, read this one. If you read only one book I recommend, read this one. It’s a masterpiece.
So, since it’s my birthday and all, you really should go acquire those books.
