This page contains enriched content visible when JavaScript is enabled or by clicking here. FolioFiles » D.M. Cornish
 

D.M. Cornish

...now browsing by tag

 
 

Booking Through Thursday

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

btt button

Who’s your favorite author that other people are NOT reading? The one you want to evangelize for, the one you would run popularity campaigns for? The author that, so far as you’re concerned, everyone should be reading–but that nobody seems to have heard of. You know, not JK Rowling, not Jane Austen, not Hemingway–everybody’s heard of them. The author that you think should be that famous and can’t understand why they’re not…

Today’s question is a good one – it sent me to my LibraryThing catalog in search of a book I rated highly, by an author I haven’t heard, read, or seen much about in all of the places I do bookish things.

I picked up a remaindered copy of D. M. Cornish’s Foundling on a whim, and found the book to be far more intricate, richly illustrated – both in word and artwork – and thorough than I had anticipated. I happily purchased the second book, in hardcover no less (but with a coupon, of course), shortly after finishing the first in this series, called Monster Blood Tattoo. While both Foundling and its sequel, Lamplighter, are considerable in length and complexity of language, I found them to move swiftly and with  great momentum. I’m looking forward to the third installment, and have only found one other reader in my on-line and real world travels who has read these books, as well.

My reviews for both books can be found on my reading challenge post for 2009.

What author do you think deserves more attention than he or she receives from mainstream booksellers, reviewers, and publishers?

Reading Roundup

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

So I figure mid-week is a good time to revisit the books I’ve completed and started over the past seven days. Without further ado…

The Titan’s Curse, Rick Riordan

starstarstarhalf starstar empty

This is the third book in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. While the books don’t seem to increase in complexity or profundity like some authors’ works tend to do over time, they don’t lose any of their charm, either, as we follow Percy and his friends on adventure after adventure. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud funny moments, moral and ethical dilemmas, and dynamic battles, and we are left with Riordan’s now customary cliffhanger ending. Thankfully, I had purchased the subsequent novels the night before completing this last in my boxed trio of the start to the series!

The Battle of the Labyrinth, Rick Riordan

starstarstarhalf starstar empty

More of the same about Percy and his friends. The books maintain their addictive nature throughout, though I am starting to notice a trend towards phrases like, “And I know this from experience,” which is a tad annoying when reading the series straight through; I don’t need the reminder, I just read about you doing that!

The Demigod Files, Rick Riordan

starstarstarstar emptystar empty

A cute supplement to the series; nothing integral, but some fun insight into some of the minor characters.

Lamplighter, D.M. Cornish

starstarstarstarhalf star

I have to give it to this guy – the creation of a whole world cannot be an easy task, and the thoroughness with which Cornish accomplishes it is to be commended. This second book (the first book being Foundling) in the Monster Blood Tattoo series in particular is a tome, but the story is intriguing and the characters truly lifelike, even in their utterly unearthly circumstances. The cliffhanger ending is oft employed by authors across genres, but you can usually see it coming; with the thick appendices at the end of this volume, I thought surely it couldn’t be the end but —— ! Now, the next chapter of Rossamund Bookchild’s life must wait until it’s written. May 2010 doesn’t need to hurry any faster (I’ll be the big three-oh, don’tcha know), but if he wanted to release the book a bit sooner, I’d be ok with that :)

I’m still working on Oliver Twist, and I’ve begun The Last Olympian to complete the Percy Jackson series. I’ll also be leading a group read of Terry Brooks‘s Magic Kingdom of Landover series on the Hogwarts Express forum on LibraryThing; feel free to join us!

In the meantime, what are you reading this week?