Recommended reading

At the seaside, I was purposefully out of my usual reading material, and thus raiding the grandparents' collection of Important Works of Literature. Isaac Singer's The Estate is a very nice insight into Belle Epoque Jews if only one can look past the characters, which are the whiniest bunch I've seen since Neon Genesis Evangelion. The Godfather would be a perfect read if at least three characters in my head weren't ogling Michael Corleone with illicit purposes. Mann's Buddenbrooks faltered a bit in the middle, but the teenage slash at the end redeemed them (okay, the other bits were interesting, too). Doctor Zhivago caused me to facepalm over my Russian ancestry.

All in all, it was a relief to come back to an open yuletide archive.

This year I've been damnably lucky with my gifts - I received two full-length stories and a vignette. No idea yet who they're from, but all are gorgeous:

Ourobos - Tanz der Vampire behind the scenes; a different interpretation than my own, but I can imagine Thomas Borchert and Jakub Wocial in these roles far too easily.

Conversations with the Dead - Elisabeth, the deaths of Sophie, Rudolf and Franz-Joseph: the amount of historical detail is delightful.

And Black And Black And Blacker Still - Elisabeth, a heartbreaking Rudolf moment that reaches to the core of his character.

And from other stories that I've skimmed, four so far had me glued to the screen and exclaiming with delight:

The Invisible City - a sequel to Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere that should damn well be official. It's like turning a page and finding a lost epilogue to the story. This could be Neil writing.

By No Miracle or Majestic Means - for all that I avoid Vorkosigan fanfiction like the plague, this story of a young Miles's caper is perfectly in tune. It suffers a little from rush - I know well the lack of time to balance the plot at the end - but the language is Ivan's, the characters are vividly themselves.

The Sixth Heaven - the Beauty and the Beast TV series has always remained with me, and this AU with Catherine and Vincent meeting as children captures the magic perfectly.

The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down - You've probably seen this Who Framed Roger Rabbit story recced by others. All I'm saying is, hold on to your hats.