It's book and video and music recommendation time!

[annathepiper]

So, spazzkat, solarbird, and I are going to Japan for Worldcon this year. Which in and of itself warrants a large WOO!, but that's not the point of this post. The point of this post is that we will be in the air for a perfectly ridiculous number of hours getting to and from Yokohama, and so I'm thinking to load up my iPaq and my iPod with various amusing things to read and/or watch and and/or listen to.

So my question for you all is this: what ebook, audio book, movie, TV show, or album do you think I should purchase to take with me on this vacation to amuse myself?

What I like to read: science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, thrillers, the occasional horror novel, romantic suspense, the occasional actual romance if it's a good one. Heck, I'll even read general fiction if it comes highly enough recommended.

What I like to listen to: I post enough about my favorite artists that y'all should already have a decent idea of what I like to listen to. Assume I'm already eying albums I don't already have yet by artists I already listen to (Carbon Leaf, Seven Nations, the Young Dubliners, Solas, Altan, most notably). Thanks to buying those collections of music that might have been played by Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, I have begun to develop a fondness for Vivaldi, Boccherini, Corelli, and other Italian composers as well. So I'm looking for recommendations that might fill in a sentence like "since you already like <foo>, you should check out <bar>".

Hit me with your best shots, folks!

Comments

[seimaisin.livejournal.com]

Yay, Worldcon! That is awesome!!

Let's see, can I recommend anything? Music, do you have anything by Oysterband? I can't remember ... but, if not, you definitely need Holy Bandits like whoa. :) I also recommend Ashley MacIsaac's older stuff - he's apparently got a new album out that's a straight rock album, but the three that I have (Hi How Are You Today, Fine Thank You Very Much, and his self-titled album) are completely awesome fiddle music.

As for books ... Rob Thurman's books (Nightlife and Moonshine) are really fun urban fantasy, I can vouch for their use as good popcorn plane reading. :) Also, Lilith Saintcrow's books, Working For the Devil and Dead Man Rising. And, have you read Jacquelyn Carey's Kushiel books yet? I'm not remembering everything you've posted about reading, but if you haven't, those are highly recommeded!

[annathepiper]

We're really looking forward to it, this'll be the first real vacation we've had in a while. :D We're going to do a guided tour thing after the con, too!

I own nothing yet by Oysterband, though I did at one point hear their rendition of "When I'm Up", yeah. Good call! (Which reminds me I should also see if I can find some Runrig, since they are apparently the progenitors of the original "Beat the Drum".) Also good call on Ashley MacIsaac--I only have one track by him, the one he did on Fire in the Kitchen, but I hear tell he is indeed a wicked good fiddler. :D

I've got Nightlife in paperback form already--if I can read it before the con, and it's intriguing enough, I'll see about picking up the sequel as an ebook. Ditto re: Kushiel; I've got Kushiel's Dart in paperback form, just haven't read it yet.

But! Haven't read Lilith Saintcrow yet. Thanks for the tip! :)