Demonic Fox Kurama On BooksDemonic Fox Kurama On Books
Welcome to my book page. As some of you may or may not know, I have a great passion for reading. I think that it's an excellent way to pass time while getting to places on the subway for instance, and provides a great learning source at hand. Just check out what "The Complete Idiot's Guide to HTML" did for this site!! A year ago, I would have never pictured myself having a website. So what kind of books does the Demonic one read....well demonic tales of witchcraft and wicca, of course (j/k) :P~~~. Okay well may be not...I like to read all genres of fiction, and if the book is good, I recommend it to others. Incidentally, I am one of those believers that the book is indeed better than the movie, AND IT ALWAYS IS GODDAMN IT!!!! Why doesn't anyone believe me? =( By the way, the book illustrated on the left is author Laura Joh Rowland's Shinju. She writes mystery set in feudal Japan....really cool!!! ^_^x My friend Jenn recommended this one to me, and let's just say that it totally rocked, but more about that later.
Books/Authors I Like: 
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess: due to the violent nature of this book, I have yet to see the movie. I had to read it while I was in high school, and I loved how author Anthony Burgess, created a special language for his society (i.e. the word golgoss meant voice). In a nutshell, the book is about this juvenile delinquent named Alex who is captured by the police and sent for this program which suppresses all capacity for violence. As a result, anytime Alex wishes to fight back, he becomes sick to his stomach. Not giving away anything, the language is pretty easy to decipher once you get started, and you really should read this one, because it is one hell of a book.
Timothy Zahn's Star Wars Trilogy: He is the first author George Lucas gave permission to cash in on the whole Star Wars scene. These books take place about 5 yrs. after the Return of the Jedi (I may be mistaken). And Luke is forever alone (just as well, he's waiting for meee!!! ^_^x), while Han and Leia are married. This trilogy is soooo cool and a perfect follow up to the movie trilogy, as Zahn IMO captures the essence of the Star Wars characters best. He also introduces a whole slew of new characters, including one of my faves, Mara Jade. She is also a user of the Force, but she doesn't learn to use it much until later.
The Books of Zahn's Trilogy are:
Les Miserables (unabridged edition) by Victor Hugo: If you are totally unfamiliar with this title, where have you been? I cannot say enough good things about this book. When I was younger, I found some parts of it redundant and pointless, such as the chapter based on the Paris sewer system, but now I realize that such chapters give you insight into the historical living conditions of that time. Hey being a history buff, you have to be into such things. I will not go into great detail of the plotline, b/c I've already mentioned it in my music room, but just be aware that there are major plot differences b/w the musical and play. Hey whaddya expect, they had to transcribe a 1500+ page novel, into a 3 hour musical!!!
Water Damage by Gregory Ward: yay, a fellow Canuck!!!! Author Gregory Ward is Canadian, and when I read this book, it blew me away!!! I dunno man, it was really twisted but extremely intersting at the same time. The storyline followed the life of this successful man who encountered this woman hell-bent to make his life miserable. I won't reveal why, because it was one of this novel's shockers, but let me just say that this is definitely not a book for the prudent and squeamish. Very cool page-turning thriller, that had me talking about this one to my friends for a looong time.
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton: one of my faves for a very, very, long time. I had to read it in grade school, and I've loved it ever since then. My friend Zev and I loved Frost's... (Robert, not my KAWAII STORMRIDER)...oh what the hell
Other Novels by S.E. Hinton:
Terry Goodkind's Novels:
Anne Rice's Extremely Long Book List
...hee hee!! Anyway Zev and I like Robert Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay" (which I dare not write out due to copyright infringement laws) a poem read by character Ponyboy, midway through the novel. Now S.E. Hinton IMO is one of the best "teenybopper" authors out there b/c she makes her characters seem like real people from real backgrounds, unlike the superficial characters of the Sweet Valley universe....hey I know all you girls (and may be some of you boys) once read them too. In the Outsiders, she follows the lives of boys living on the wrong side of the tracks until two of them must flee after murdering another. It examines the loss of innocence, and the transition between childhood and adulthood, as at the end of the novel main character Ponyboy contemplates what direction his life should take. The 1983 movie is pretty good, with tons of then-unknown stars in it (Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, Patrick Swayze), and C. Thomas Howell and Karate Kid Ralph Macchio playing leads Ponyboy and Johnny.
Terry Goodkind: a relatively new author of the fantasy genre, I picked up his first novel "Wizard's First Rule" b/c it reminded me of the video-game "The Legend of Zelda", which I was playing at the time. If you know the story of Zelda, you know that the hero Link, is this commoner who gets this powerful sword, with which he has to rescue the princess from the forces of evil. Although this book seemingly used the same tired old formula, it couldn't more far from it than I thought. For one thing, the main character Richard Cypher, would become weak after using the sword, and he had no desire to become a hero of any sort. It is actually Richard at one point, who is captured by the forces of evil, where he is enslaved by a really sadistic woman until he can break her spell and fight back. Another element differing from the game and novel, was the actual presence of strong women on both sides, who could fight, including the female lead, Kahlan. Zelda has always lacked this element. Now I don't want to give too much away, b/c these novels flow beautifully into one another, and new things are constantly revealed, but I will reveal one significant point so if you don't want to read this spoiler, scroll down. Not giving away too much, it is revealed at the end of the first novel that Richard is actually the son of a very powerful wizard. This drastically changes the theme of the story in the later novels. I absolutely love this author, and only started to read novels of the fantasy genre after I got through Wizard's First Rule. Although I don't know much about this genre, I think Terry Goodkind's novels are an excellent intro. to it, b/c he leaves nothing hanging, and is able to tell an engaging story in 1000+ pages w/o once putting me to sleep.
Anne Rice: since I've made a shrine to her famous Vampire Chronicles, I won't bother going into much detail about her. She is an extremely popular best-selling author, whose works mainly deal with the supernatural, in a humanistic view. I have read most of her novels, including her Mayfair Witch series and independent storylines including "Cry to Heaven", "The Mummy" (in the process of being made into a movie), "Servant of the Bones" and "The Feast of All Saints". She also has erotica under the pen names of Anne Rampling and A.N. Roquelaure but I haven't really read much of those. In the main, I love how she mixes her historical facts with bits of fantasy. For instance the Vampire Lestat dancing with the Sun King and his wife (Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette) in Tulieres. She doesn't attempt to make her supernatural characters influence history, although Lestat once was a rock-star, they are merely just watchers on. Of course my favourite works by her are the Vampire Chronicles but that doesn't mean that her other novels aren't as good. On the contrary, she is truly a talented author, and well worth a read.
James Clavell: truthfully, "Gai-jin" was the first book of his I ever read, although I had previously viewed "Shogun". I orginally picked it up, because it takes place at the end of the Tokugawa Era, and involved such key historical figures as the Shogun (although in Clavell's works he has given them a different family name -- Toranaga) and the Ishin Shi Shi...^_~x!!! I think he has done an excellent job in the research of his novels and I hope to read more when I have the time.
Novels by James Clavell
Laura Joh Rowland: she too is relatively new to the writing scene, but so far, each of her books have been amazing. Not to be too critical, I think her descriptions of Japan are much better than James Clavell's, and her novels are ten times shorter to boot!!! She mainly writes mystery in 1600's Japan, involving this character named Sano Ichiro, currently Shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi's sosakan-sama (best private investigator). In her first novel Shinju, he was a police chief, but was fired when he didn't comply with their rules. Like Terry Goodkind, she too has strong women characters in he novels, such as the ninja Aoi, in "Bundori". My friend Jenn was the first person who recommended her works to me, after reading Shinju, so I am eternally in her debt for that. ARIGATO GOZIAMASU, Jenn Jenn, YOU CHANGED MY LIFE FOREVER!!! (j/k) :P~~~~ Although I haven't listed it down, she has an upcoming Sano Ichiro novel in the works, about this prostitute who commits suicide. Sano of course, is sent to investigate.
Laura Joh Rowland's Novels
Well I hope you'll try out some of these novels of you have the time. ARIGATO GOZAIMASU!!!!
Check out my Vampire Chronicles Shrine, by clicking on the book 
