non-exhaustive list of things I inexplicably enjoy in books

Per a conversation with Jane while shelving:

  • stories (particularly set in England, particularly set in manor houses) with layers of history somehow encountering one another [see The China Garden]
  • post-apocalyptic novels with some hope preserved, and, ideally a Jeffersonian back-to-the-land rebuilding of society [see Alas, Babylon]
  • characters who like the same books I do [see anything Marisa de los Santos]
  • stories set in Australia. Also, Wales [some of The Dark is Rising series].
  • the author breaking in to make asides (Dickens, early Austen and C.S. Lewis are particularly prone to this). It makes me feel like we’re friends, and (s)he’s telling me a story.
  • lists (no surprise here) of things characters pack on their journeys. [Tomorrow When the War Began; also, The Subtle Knife has a pretty good one, I believe]