Anticipation

[mrissa]

[insert tired whine here]

Other than that, I'm having a pretty productive day, getting things removed from the list at quite a reasonable rate and doing other, non-list things besides. I have finally got my hands on a copy of Lloyd Alexander's The Xanadu Adventure! This is the last of the Vesper Holly series, and I have wanted it since I was 11. It hasn't existed that long, but I've wanted another Vesper Holly book that long. The Chronicles of Prydain and the Westmark trilogy were both definitively ended with their last book, and much though I love Westmark, another book in Westmark would have to be the start of a new plot arc completely; The Beggar Queen is the last. But The Philadelphia Adventure, while theoretically conclusive enough, left the possibility for more, and so more I wanted. And now I have more.

The other book I'd wanted since I was 11 was published long ago (Arthur Ransome's Great Northern?, the last in the Swallows and Amazons books).

What about you? What books have you wanted forever? Or did it just seem like forever? Were they everything you wanted of them? What are you still waiting for?

(Now nobody say Going North, no matter how much we all want it, or pameladean will turn pink and get flustered. Which heaven forfend.)

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I'm still waiting for Lois Bujold to write another Cordelia book. Miles is all very well in good -- he's my boyfriend, you know -- but I love Cordelia best of all.

[wilfulcait.livejournal.com]

That was me, although I shouldn't claim it given the typos. Well and good, y'know.

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

I didn't read Shards of Honor until I was 18, so I couldn't have been waiting for this other book since I was 11. Not literally. But I wanted the story of Aral as a young man -- Aral and Ges and Serg. I was really disappointed after reading Cetagenda and realizing I probably wouldn't have liked young Aral much...young Lord Vorkosigan is a provincal ass, even with the dash of galactic perspective Miles brings to the job.

[timprov.livejournal.com]

I've been wanting General Piotr's books for a while, and it seems like they could eventually include some young Aral as well.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. I thought Philadelphia Adventure was the last book.

Oh my.

*hops onto Amazon*

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

I think I answered a version of this in my 15 things about books post: http://buymeaclue.livejournal.com/200233.html

I'm not sure what I'm waiting for, except enough time to get through all the books that I've accumulated!

I was going to tell you something cute and dog-related in this comment, but it's completely gone out of my head. Alas.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Harry Potter Book 7! I know lots of people here don't like them, but I *do*.

Aside from that, my most exciting find was one I *hadn't* wanted for years because I had absolutely no clue such a thing existed. That was Harding's Luck by E. Nesbit. It's a companionpiece to The House of Arden, which has been my favorite of hers since about fourth grade. So another book I'd want would be one more E. Nesbit, except it has to be a real book as opposed to a collection of stories or poetry. What I'd like absolutely most of all would be an another adult one like The Red House only with magic in it.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Oh, and also another Janet Rhys book by Alisa Craig aka Charlotte MacLeod. I think she only wrote about three.

[fitzcamel.livejournal.com]

Weren't there five?

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Were there? Then I guess if I can find the other two, I get my wish!

[fitzcamel.livejournal.com]

The Wrong Rite (1992)
Trouble in the Brasses (1989)
A Dismal Thing to Do (1986)
Murder Goes Mumming (1981)
A Pint of Murder (1980)

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[jenfullmoon.livejournal.com]

Off-topic, that icon sounds familiar... Gordon Korman?

[fitzcamel.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. :-)

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

First I've heard of an adult Nesbit book.

Of course I want more and more Ransome books, all just like the first with all the same people doing the same things, as a fan once wrote to him. :-) Same with more Narnia.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

It's available online here. As I implied, it's a nonmagical book. It's good though, and touches one of the Bastable books - that is, the same incident shows up in both, from different perspectives. Harding's Luck is available online now too, (by "available" I mean "readable full-text version", not just that you can buy it for sale). (http://www.indiana.edu/~letrs/vwwp/nesbit/redhouse.html)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I have E. Nesbit to catch up on. This makes me happy.

[katallen.livejournal.com]

A few... but "The Gryphon in Glory" by Andre Norton was the longest (well apart from the sequels to the one about the rabbit with glasses that I adored when I was five or six). I read "The Crystal Gryphon" more than 30 years ago, and I think knew there was to be a sequel before the sequel was written. But I don't think it was ever published over here. So whenever I went to London I'd scour the SF bookshops for it as a US import (saw the co-written sequels but I wanted the original sequel).

Then at Worldcon last year it was there in the dealer's room... dead cheap and a signed copy. And I brought it home with great ceremony -- and have been too scared to read it. Because the last couple of books where I've waited a decade or two have been major disappointments. Plus, after thirty years, I can hardly pretend I can't wait for a better time :o)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, Kat! Maybe you should schedule it for your birthday or something?

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

I loved The Secret History and waited forever for Donna Tartt to write another book. Then I was dreadfully disappointed, because the new book (The Little Friend) was dreadfully dull.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Same here! The story was just starting to get interesting when it ended.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

Diane Duane's Door Into Starlight. She keeps kind of almost finishing it, and then getting diverted by work that pays her money, and the collapse of publishers, and things like that.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've been waiting for that one....

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

Me three.

One every decade if we need 'em or not.

Worth the wait, though.

Also, Tim Powers just delivered something. W007.

[zalena.livejournal.com]

I didn't even know there was a newer Vesper Holly adventure!

I was horribly disappointed by Lyra's Oxford.

I'm currently dying of anticipation for the follow up to Sarah Micklem's Firethorn.

[rosefox]

Lyra's Oxford was redeemed for me by the inclusion of the map and a .siggable quote. I'm easy that way.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

I'm currently dying of anticipation for the follow up to Sarah Micklem's Firethorn.

Ooooh. Yes.

[fitzcamel.livejournal.com]

The sequel to Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand...

[fitzcamel.livejournal.com]

Oh, and the non-Marlow novels by Antonia Forest. Girls Gone By needs to hurry the heck up with their reprint schedule...

[ellarien]

I've been waiting, with diminishing hope, for the final volume of Melanie Rawn's Exiles trilogy since about 1998. In the meantime, the second volume languishes unread on my shelves, because there doesn't seem much point in embarking on it until the sequel is at least announced.

I was a teenager when The Silmarillion came out, and was rather disappointed to find that there were no hobbits in it.

[(Anonymous)]

In strange way I like to know that there were English speakers also who had to wait for more hobbits to read about, even if not for two decades as was my (also ending in failure)case.

Aet

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I want more Daniel Keys Moran books. Specifically, The AI War, but then everything after it, too.

And look at me, being good, not even mentioning Going North and how I nearly short-circuited my keyboard when I first heard about it.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

You are virtuous indeed.

[(Anonymous)]

I guess I feel a little sad that the book I wanted, that I remember longing for and wondering about for years, I had lost interest to actually read when I finally got access to it.

I am talking about "Lord of the Rings" by Tolkien.

But it is a long story that starts in 1977 and would be boring to anyone save myself ... A case of spilled milk, nothing more (I guess one CAN use "spilled milk" when talking about accidents of birth also?)

Aet

[oursin.livejournal.com]

Oooh, thought-provoking - will probably turn into a post.
(For me the longed-for Ransome was Pigeon Post, the one volume the local library had not got: I think I finally found it in the school library at my secondary school. Of course, nothing could come up to my imaginings of it.)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

No, Great Northern? was not everything it had been in my imagination as well.

Of course, I was apparently the opposite of most Ransome readers: even as a kid I wanted to see how they handled growing up a bit more.

[alecaustin.livejournal.com]

Hrm? I'm the only person here who's waiting impatiently for A Dance With Dragons? That can't be right.

I waited for the release of A Feast For Crows knowing that it wouldn't be the book I wanted, because it had only half the usual POVs (and not the right half, at that - though it had 3 Arya chapters, which were all that bought it forgiveness). Still and all, A Dance for Dragons has most of the POVs I actually care about, like Danyerys and Jon.

Um. Other than that? I don't think I'm ensnared in any other series at the moment. (I should be more excited about a new Vesper Holly than I am, largely because I haven't read any of the other books. Shame on me.)

Wait. I'm waiting for the next book/series from Walter John Williams, be it a Praxis followup or otherwise.

Now I'm really done.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

You haven't read the Vesper Holly series, or you haven't read Lloyd Alexander? Because my response to the former is, "Oh, too bad, they're fun," but the Westmark trilogy, well.

I made the mistake of trying to press it on my mom. She had it in her hands when the words, "And bloody!" escaped my lips with a bit too much glee, and she handed it back.

I have had extremely mixed reactions to WJW books, so I have a few more on my list just to see if they're "the good ones" or "the bad ones." And I really don't like the George R. R. Martin series, but we've talked about that already, yes?

[alecaustin.livejournal.com]

Vesper Holly specifically. I know that I've talked to you about Westmark and Prydain at various points in the past.

I don't think we've talked about the George R. R. Martin. Feel free to email me if I must be informed of the reasons for your dislike.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

I'm not done with A Feast For Crows yet. Once I am, I will be impatiently waiting. Right now I'm just geeking out.

Needs more Hound, though.

(I do think I'm going to try to make his reading on Friday, if you're planning to be not video-game-squashed by then. Or even if you are.)

[jenfullmoon.livejournal.com]

The next Kushiel trilogy. I can't wait to read about Imriel.

[landofnowhere]

The Xanadu Adventure is in fact also the book I waited forever for :-) also since I was 10 or 11. I absolutely adored the Vesper Holly books as a kid, although they haven't held up over time as well as other Lloyd Alexanders. I was fairly disappointed by Xanadu since although it was fun, I didn't feel it really did anything new (um, except for the obvious). It felt liked it turned out to be a lot less than I hoped it could be. However, I'm not sure how much of my disappointment is that the series appeals to me less now.

I'd be interested to hear what you have to say about Xanadu.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I certainly didn't feel that The Xanadu Adventure transcended itself or capped the series. It was not the best book in the series. But it was pretty thoroughly the last book in the series...I don't know. It was fun, but it wasn't really more than that. But I don't think the earlier ones were, either, and it's okay to just be fun.

The Westmark trilogy is still my favorite.