What Makes This Book So Great by Jo Walton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I can say without blushing that I felt like I was in a long drawn-out conversation about books and reading with a long-time friend.

It might not be true, but it certainly felt true, and it was a continued conversation with whom I spent some truly memorable moments as I walked through the fantasy that was Among Others.

I'm still not blushing, but perhaps I should be, because I dropped a goodly sum of money trying to hunt down all these other books, the ones I hadn't already read, simply because her enthusiasm was simply the last push I needed after realizing that her taste in SFF is sublime.

I feel blessed, as I always feel blessed, after being introduced to fantastic and sophisticated works of high literature. (No one can gainsay me on this. I've spent a lot of time in both worlds, and genre lit is no less brilliant than any other.)

My only regret is that I can't continue the discussion as I'd please. I'd have loved to discuss so many other top-notch pieces and see her take on them, too, but in the end, I might just have to do some further rereading of my favorites. There is a solid logic there that my younger self disdained and my older self has gradually seen for its beauty.

Of course, I might not reread Dune for the fourteenth time. I've pretty much memorized that novel already. But there are a few others that might serve a third or a fourth read.

I have to face reality... the temptation is more than a little unendurable.

Shall I reopen Rajaniemi, Joan D. Vinge, or Brin? How about Eco, PKD, or Gaiman? Or Neal Stephenson, Manly P. Hall, or Ayn Rand? (Yes, indeed.)

The list feels like it ought to be endless, and perhaps when I'm 800 years old it might still seem that way, but for now, the brightest stars are the most effortless to name.

Thank you for this conversation!

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