Books I Must Have

Slowly, I have been in the process of acquiring everything on my Books I Must Have on My Shelf list. These are books that either affected me in some way or were just simply that good. There are very few books on this list (Five total), mostly because I have found myself becoming an exceedingly picky reader, so, by necessity, all of these books have been good enough to just get me in some way. Whether it was a character that I identified with or the plot just sucks you in, these are the five books that I have to have on my shelf. The entire list is Misfortune by Wesley Stace, Blood Memory by Greg Iles, The Black Jewels Trilogy (published as one book) by Anne Bishop, and Like Being Killed by Ellen Miller.
A couple of weeks ago I finally got The Black Jewels trilogy in the mail, having bought it with the money from returning a Christmas gift. (I know, that sounds terrible, but it's the truth.) I started to read it and realized that I had forgotten how much I loved this book. This book was to me their first time I read it a year ago what Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith was to me when I was thirteen. Normally when you have a book where the author who creates a large cast of characters, it can get a bit burdensome. Keeping track of all the characters, who they are, where they are, what they want, can be a little tricky and suddenly the book doesn't seem all that worth it anymore. A lot of times you can also get stock or really stereotyped characters that rely too heavily on one feature or personality trait, or all of the characters can start to seem the same. The only two exceptions I have found are Charles de Lint's books and The Black Jewels Trilogy.
The characters that Bishop creates are perfect. I love her sense of humor and the way she weaves it into the book (although it can be a little much at times), and the characters interact with each other well and have their own distinct personalities. The only times when the characters start to seem a little lackluster is when you have a large group of them all together and interacting in the same space, and the rather challenging prospect of bringing a fully formed character of a seven-year-old girl into the future where she is now a twenty-five-year-old young woman. Aside from that, this book has some of my most favorite characters in it period, which is high praise for me. The depth of the characters also keeps my interest (and keeps me from never actually finishing the book, as with de Lint's) through the whole "Must save the world as we know it!" epic battle.
All in all, one of my very favorite books, and one that I am so glad to have on my shelf.