Friday Fiction Fiend #8- Meet Heather

If you've read my blog for a while you probably already know my friend Heather (ie: Smithy). She is an amazing friend for a million & one reasons, but for our book purposes here, I'll mention a couple very important characteristics of a best friend:

1. A willingness to read any book I ask her to, but especially her willingness to read crappy books, just so I have someone to talk to about it.
2. She is also always willing to camp out with me at book signings & other such awesome authorial events.
3. And, last but not least, Heather is one of the biggest supporters of my writing & I could not be more grateful for her her encouragement, her reading of my TERRIBLE first drafts, & her prophetic dreams about my future.  

So, in short, she rocks.

Here are her picks & I think you're gonna like them!

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I'm anti-favorites these days.  A shirt that I loved yesterday just doesn't seem to fit quite right today.  I saw Titanic four times in the movie theater when it came out, but have no interest in watching it again now.  Not only do my tastes change, but I would much rather read a new book, even if it's bad, than re-read an old book that I really liked at the time I read it.

So, I can't say that these are my all-time favorites, but I remember I really enjoyed them when I read them:

1.  A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry

I really like historical fiction...maybe because I feel like I'm also learning something while I'm reading.  Prior to reading A Fine Balance, I knew nothing about India.  I actually only picked up this book because it was fifty cents at a thrift store and had the O (Oprah) stamp on it.  You know when you're reading an Oprah pick that it can't be THAT bad.  Negative reviews on the book say it's a downer and doesn't have a happy ending.  Even though it's a work of fiction, I enjoy reading books like this because it very well could have been someone's reality and it helps keeps my own life in perspective.  

Of course having said that, lately I have been leaning toward quick reads that are simply for pure entertainment.  At law school, I read hundreds of pages a week from casebooks.  It was exhausting.  Whenever I had the chance to read for enjoyment, I wanted something light-hearted, and preferably short.  So that lead me to young adult fiction...

2.  Curse Worker Trilogy, Holly Black

I don't often buy books, but I pre-ordered these!  I loved that these books were from a male's point of view, that it involved magic but no vampires or werewolves, and that there was a good love story. This is also rare a trilogy where I equally loved all three books.  

3.  Dearly, Departed: A Zombie Novel, Lia Habel

I only read this book because it was available electronically from the county library for me to read on my e-reader. The beginning was a little slow for me, but I finished it in two days (while working full-time and juggling a 14 month old).  I think it's hard to pull of a good Zombie book, but Lia Habel has taken a new spin on the walking dead and manages to make you fall in love with a dead man.  The sequel comes out next week.

I swear there are a ton of other books that I would recommend (Liv previously posted about  Anna Dressed in Blood and the sequel, Girl of Nightmares does not disappoint), but quite frankly, it's my bedtime.