I told you, I told you. Shannon Hale's books.
February 8, 2006 at 12:07 PM
I had a good friend ask me the other day if I recommended Shannon Hale's books because I was her friend, or because they really were that good.
I was insulted by the question to be honest.
Let me hit a couple of Shannon's high points over the last two weeks.
- A couple weeks ago Shannon received the Newberry Honor Award for Princess Academy (her latest book, which is a beautiful and wonderful read).
- This week, she made the NYT Best Seller list with
Goose Girl, her first book (and my favorite) which came out in 2003. (my Goose Girl review here).Correction: Princess Academy (although as Dean says in the comments, GG should be there too.)
Congratulations Shannon, I'm totally thrilled for you. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving author, or a nicer person.
Her books really are that good. I've yet to read Princess Academy, but Goose Girl is a stellar read. Easily one of my favorite works of fiction - ever.
Her husband is a bit weird though ;) (Take that Dean - since you won't return my emails now (now that your wife is all famous and everything).)
Posted by: Michael K. Campbell | February 08, 2006 at 12:19 PM
I've been getting threatening messages from the Campbell's Soup Cartel lately, so Mike must have gotten caught in my "Campbell Auto-Delete" rule.
Not to say I wouldn't neglect to respond to such an email even if I got it, though. I'm that lazy.
Also, Carson...it's actually "Princess Academy" that's on the NYT list. Goose should be there, but the general public hasn't realized that yet.
Posted by: Dean | February 08, 2006 at 01:39 PM
Ah, thanks for the correction Dean. Fixed.
Posted by: Carson | February 08, 2006 at 01:46 PM
The goose girl and the enna burning is better than The princess academy!!
Posted by: muntaha Shafiq | February 17, 2006 at 07:12 AM
Having verified that I was the "good friend" mentioned in the story, I decided to give you the whole pie, instead of the single “I was sooooooo insulted” slice Carson gave you. It was clear Carson loved Goose Girl. And I value his opinion to the point that I decided to buy it for my wife for Christmas based on his recommendation alone. (The fact that all the reviewers at Amazon absolutely loved it, didn’t hurt either.)
Anyway, I called him and told him I was buying it for my absolute babe of a wife. My question to him was whether I should buy the hardback or the paperback. He told me to get the hardback because: a) the book is that good, and b) they took great pains to make the hardback unique and of higher quality than most. As a frugal guy, I asked him if he was sure the hardback was worth the extra moolah. I told him that I only wanted the hardback if it were a book that would be read and reread. I essentially asked him if it was really that good (i.e. upper-upper echelon) because author familiarity can lead one to think a truly excellent book is a classic. His post made it seem like I was questioning whether he was peddling mediocrity based on nepotism. When, in reality, the question was more based along the lines of my trying to save $5 wherever I can to have an extra $200 when I retire. --Perils of being raised by an economics professor.
Anyway, I just remember that, when Carson was courting his wife, she could have given him a dry cow-pie...and he would have truly thought that he was eating the best home-made cookie ever. Now that’s objectivity!
Posted by: "good friend" | February 24, 2006 at 02:58 PM