Well, that's enough about what I'm trying to get away from and what makes the little kitty tail lash with annoyance for a while, I think.  On to things I've enjoyed recently.

Wa have a fantastic library system in our area.  There's a page you can log into and do a complete library search.  Yes, yes, I know that's not new, but the really cool thing is that with the click of a button, you can request a book, and they put you in a queue if needed,  transfer between libraries in the system to the library most convenient for you, and send you a polite little email letting you know when you can come pick it up.  And they have a great selection, since there's half a dozen different libraries pooling their books in the county.  It gives me a lot of freedom to look into all kinds of genres I've been leery of.

For instance, I was rather surprised to find I enjoy urban fantasy so much.  I've always preferred the 'pure' fairy tale based fantasy, so didn't expect to like the genre.  And sure, there have been a couple of authors where I've started reading about their angst-ridden, snarling, fatalistic characters, rolled my eyes, and took it back to the library the next day.  But I like spunky heroes, and there's lots of them to be had.  Authors like Patricia Briggs, Jim Butcher, Carrie Vaughn, Charlaine Harris, Phaedra Weldon, C.E. Murphy, and a handful of others are fun to read, even if the settings are a bit dark for my taste at time, specifically because the heroes are...well..heroes.  I don't particularly care for anti-heroes personally, because the intent to help others is a big part of what makes a hero a hero in my mind.  But these authors make main characters I like and want to root for, and that's a big part of why I enjoy reading stories.  

I've also picked up a few fantasy and sci-fi authors, though my voracious reading habits in those areas had pretty much covered even the great selection these libraries have.  Unfortunately for me, my keen insistence on a main character that I can follow and root for has eliminated some of the bigger names in 'pure' fantasy recently.  Too bad, really, but it's too important a part of my enjoyment for me to just forget about it.  I tried most them out anyway.  Not to speak ill of the dead, of course, but Jordan's books, for instance, was such a mass of characters that I found it difficult to tell one from another, let alone start really rooting for any particular guy.  And just when I would, the point of view would change, and I might not see that character again for 200-300 pages.  And now, of course, the whole series is left without a resolution.  Eddings has fun romps, and usually have the benefit of few pov changes, but the characters STILL all blur together eventually, especially in his later works.  Martin's books I haven't even checked out of the library, sadly.  I just don't think I could get into a bok where not only is the PoV changing all the time, but (judging from people who have read it), the characters who serve as point of view characters are frequently pretty unlikeable and/or die off.  

Regardless, one of the things I plan to going into more are these authors and their stories, and what I thought about them.  I've already spent more time talking about them than I planned in this post, really.  However, up front I wanted to praise the library system for their role.  I buy the authors I like, to support them, but I tried them in the first place because the library allowed me to so easily.