This is what I did this weekend. How did you spend yours?
Oh, dear, yes, I have been sucked into the film adaptation of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series of books. I read the first three books many, many years ago. I recall gulping them down, but they are very hefty tomes and I think my interests shifted and I never did get back to the rest of the books. I saw the first episode for free online, but at the time felt only tepid towards it all. Very desultorily I decided I would just get in line for the DVD at the library. I might try an episode or two when my turn finally came up. As we now only get one (very short) week for DVDs at my library (and the line is long so there will be no renewals) it was now or never to begin watching.
Well. I surprised myself by how much I enjoyed watching the first season (or most of it--I still have a few episodes left to watch). Now, you have to definitely suspend disbelief to a certain degree when watching this. And yes, it is pure, unequivocal fantasy. Lots of eye candy--in what world would someone who looks the part of the hero Jamie Fraser ever cross my path? (Trust me, only in a book!). Not much of a parallel between that world and the real world. I am sure, despite all the villainy and dirt of 18th century Scotland that the movie tries to convey, it still paints a very rosy picture. But if you come at it with a view to simply enjoy it as a fluffy entertainment, it's pretty darn addicting.
So now, yes, it has put me in the mood to read something in a similar vein. I could reread the books (I think I would have to begin at the beginning at this point--too much time has passed for me to jump back into the fourth book), but I know liberties were taken with the story, so I hate to read and watch in tandem as then I will be comparing them too much. Better to find a story that has similar traits. Any suggestions?
I am looking for an epic sort of read, historical, perhaps a Scottish setting again, maybe time-slip, but not a requirement. I've already contemplated reading Susanna Kearsley (I love her books but I think I have read most of her novels set in Scotland with a time slip element), and Rosamund Pilcher. I've already thought about Sara Donati. I've read most of Paullina Simons books, which have that same epic story-romance-ish. I'm not quite sure what I want. Something similar--a story you can sink your teeth into and can spend lots of time with yet is still engaging enough that you want to keep picking it up and fly through the story. Maybe Sharon Kay Penman or Judith Merkle Riley or Elizabeth Chadwick, though they all deal in earlier time periods.
Why is it that I see something I like or enjoy--on whatever level (maybe just pure entertainment or maybe something more), but then I must read about it?! It's as if every life experience or pleasure must translate then into a book . . .