Elijah David

I often talk about specific books and series that I love, but I've never broken down (for myself or others) just which fantasy series  I love more than all others. So I decided to work out what my top 10 fantasy series of all time are, based on the following criteria: I have to love the themes, the magic, the characters, and so forth (themes of hope, light conquering darkness, etc. being preeminent); how complete is my reading of the series; and how many re-reads have I completed, if any. The Elemental Masters The least completely read series on this list, Mercedes Lackey's Elemental Masters wins a place by virtue of its unique blend of fairy tales, magic, and historical romance. Every time I read a new book in this series, I remember how much I love the world Lackey has created. The Dresden Files I'm all caught up on this series barring the newest short story collection, Brief Cases  (which is in my ever-growing to-read pile). This series has it all: magic...

I'm picking this tag up from Paper Fury , who picked it up from other blogs. Chocolate Chip: Classic Book That You Love Dracula, Treasure Island, Pride and Prejudice, The Hunchback of Notre Dame Thin Mints: A Hyped-Up Book You Want To Read The Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak, the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik Shortbread: An Author You Can’t Get Enough Of C. S. Lewis, Jim Butcher, J. R. R. Tolkien, Naomi Novik, Megan Whalen Turner  Samoas: An Emotional Rollercoaster A Monster Calls  by Patrick Ness, Changes by Jim Butcher, I Don't Want to Kill You by Dan Wells Oreos: A Book Whose Cover Was Better Than The Story The Golden Compass  by Phillip Pullman Gingerbread Cookies: Where The Story Was Better Than Its Cover Till We Have Faces  by C. S. Lewis, The Secret of NIMH/Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH  by Robert C. O'Brien (I have the movie tie-in edition and it's not...

Yes, I know this is a ThrowBook Thursday post, and therefore it's supposed to be about a book that's stayed with me over the years. But I honestly wasn't sure which one book to talk about this month, and I thought I could revisit my top 10 books. Only I haven't actually done a top 10 books post. I've done posts on my top 10 books to reread , top 10 fantasy books , top 10 non-fantasy/sci-fi books , and even top 100-ish books . So today I'm going to do a Top 10 Books post, with an emphasis on why these books have stayed with me. These are the books that I would choose if I had to choose only ten books to be able to read for the rest of my life. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell One of my perennial favorites, this novel is the perfect mixture of fantasy and so-called "literary" fiction. It blends the humor and social commentary of authors like Austen and Dickens with the magic of Tolkien. It has spiritual, moral, and emotional depth. It features cr...

Today is a special day in my family: it's both my grandmothers' birthday. In honor of that, I wanted to do a top 10 fictional grandparents post, but given the shortage of fictional grandparents that came to mind, I expanded the post to include non-grandparent characters who are also in a mentoring/parental relationship with characters who are at least 1 generation younger than they are. Grandma Fa (Mulan) The original Disney #GrandmaGoals, Grandma Fa is the old person many of us aspire to be. She speaks her mind, isn't afraid to sass off about the ancestors' lack of luck ("They're dead."), and loves her family deeply. Gramma Tala (Moana) The Disney #GrandmaGoals of the latest generation, Tala isn't afraid of her reputation as the village crazy lady. In fact, she embraces it. She's also the village's storyteller, passing on her knowledge of her people's history and culture to the younger generations. She doesn't let Moana forg...

For February's Top 10, I wanted to take a look at some fictional relationships in honor of Valentine's Day. But my favorite relationships in fiction aren't always romantic. As often as not, they're friendships and familial ties that exhibit a strength of love well beyond what romantic love offers. Also, this is less a Top 10 and more a top however-many-I-can-fit. I have lots of favorites in this category. So many in fact, I've got sub-categories. OTPs (or, the Romance Category) Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe (Anne of Green Gables) Belle and Beast (Beauty and the Beast) Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons (Marvel's Agent's of SHIELD) Simon Snowlock and Miriamelle (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn) Riza Hawkeye and Roy Mustang (Fullmetal Alchemist) BROTPs (or, the Sibling Category) Edward and Alphonse Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist) Dipper and Mabel Pines (Gravity Falls) Abe Sapien and Hellboy (Hellboy) Arthur and Kay (Arthurian Legend) Sokka and Katara (Avatar...

I've got a lot to share this month, owing to most of my artistic efforts in November and December going toward Christmas gifts that couldn't be revealed here until they were received. Also, I received a number of supplies for Christmas again this year, and I wanted to include those in this post. I'll start with the watercolor and drawing stuff. Every year a group of my online friends and I participate in a Secret Santa gift exchange, and this was part of my gift to this year's recipient. It's a painting of Puddleglum from The Silver Chair accompanied by some of his most famous words from the climax of the book. And here's a closer look at Puddleglum: This was another Christmas gift for a friend. It's a painting of me as a Hobbit and him as a Ranger a la Tolkien. I was pleased with the faces in this one. Here's a rough sketch I did to prepare for that picture, though my friend appears as a wizard instead of a Ranger. If you...

I recently knitted a pair of arm warmers designed to look like Gandalf's in the Middle-earth movies. In the conversations that followed my sharing about this on Facebook, Mirriam mentioned that Gandalf was her literary twin. Several other friends joined the conversation, offering up their own literary twins -- the characters with whom they most identified. I was surprised so many people had given this matter some thought, and confessed that I did not know who my literary twin would be (I do however have a birthday twin who is a wonderful human being). So I thought about it. And thought about it. And thought about it some more. And here we are, with me still not having a single fictional character who is my "twin." I have many. Hear me out, though. I have dozens, if not hundreds, of favorite characters -- characters I enjoy watching or reading, characters I would want as friends, characters I identify with in small and large ways. But very few of those come close e...