Anne Rice's best book on New Orleans?

[Hardrada]

Someone mentioned it in an earlier thread but I can't find this thread now.

[BlueIris]

1. I didn't see the original thread, but I like "The Witching Hour" best.

Either that or "Interview with the Vampire."

[terrya]

4. "The Witching Hour" is the book that made want to visit New Orleans

Anne Rice is so descriptive of New Orleans in "Witching Hour". She talks about the great old houses and the city itself. You get such a real feel of the city. Having read it (and it is one of her best books), I so wanted to visit afterwards.

[bicentennial_baby]

5. Exactly

that book is so atmospheric... :thumbsup:

[jonnyblitz]

28. i love that book. one of my favorites by her...

along with "the feast of all saints" and "a cry to heaven (which wasn't set in new orleans).

[bleedingheart]

2. I think Feast of All Saints is great - a tale of the Free People of Color

I think it says a lot about the social fabric of its time. Don't get me wrong, I love all her books but I liked that one a lot more.

[Jade Fox]

6. That's the one I was thinking of.....n/t

[bicentennial_baby]

3. I'm partial to The Witching Hour

but that's just me... :)

[Rising Phoenix]

7. I love Anne Rice...

but I've never read the Witching Hour, I think I will stop by the local library tomorrow...

[bicentennial_baby]

8. Oh you should!

I think you'd love it! :bounce:

[Rising Phoenix]

9. I have to go to the Post Office tomorrow anyway

and its right across the street, kill two birds with one stone, heh

[bicentennial_baby]

11. I have to go to the PO too

i have special mail to send out... ;)

[Rising Phoenix]

13. Oh , do you now?

[bicentennial_baby]

15. You know it!

:bounce: see, i'm bouncing.

[fudge stripe cookays]

24. Don't do it!

I enjoy some of Anne Rice, but that monstrosity took me 6 months to finish (after awhile it just became a "OK, I've come this far, I'll be damned if I'm going to quit now..." thing).

Other than A.S. Byatt's "Possession", never has a book made me want to blow my brains out more.

Just for another perspective....

FSC

[proud patriot]

10. The Witching Hour Series

and all of the other books on the Mayfair Witches.

[Rising Phoenix]

14. I read the vampire chronicles...

I'm sure I'll love these too.

[proud patriot]

25. Yes , I enjoyed both series equally well

lots of history ,, well you know Anne if you read
the Vampire Chronicles

[In_The_Wind]

12. Lasher ...

takes you magically into bayous ...

[Rising Phoenix]

16. I've always wanted to read her erotica too

has anyone read it?

[khashka]

18. Khash, of course, has. (Big surprise)

My two cents worth -

The Beauty series is pretty good as porn (but fails as novels). As long as minor S/m get's you going. (Prince Alexi getting raped by kitchen workers with vegetables has always been a fave, as well as Beauty wondering if she can handle being publicly whipped - that should give you a taste of what it's like :) )

Exit to Eden is pretty good (forget that stupid comedy movie!). It's about finding love in a sexual "utopia". More S/m (but some of it is pretty hot.)

I've never been able to stomach Belinda. I've never even been able to finish it. The whole thing about a not really real but pretended pedophilia creeps me out. I know what she was doing - Lolita, with the young woman pursuing and controlling the relationship with the older man. But the way it's done is kinda icky. At least to me. Many other people feel differently.

Just don't expect nice normal vanilla exclusively heterosexual sex from her......

Khash.

[Rising Phoenix]

19. hey, who wants nice and normal, anyhow

[khashka]

27. Not me certainly!

Anyway, check 'em out. The Beauty series is obviously fantasy. And oddly, in spite of some of the rather explicit gay male stuff (perhaps even because of it) is a huge hit with women.

Eden is more serious. The sex is explicit, very, but also more serious - and it's a better book because of it. I do have a problem with it, though. She seems to imply that giving up S/m is the greatest act of love. Tedious and reactionary. Sometimes, engaging in S/m can be the greatest act of love. For someone so into it, sometimes it seems she just doesn't get it.

Khash.

[In_The_Wind]

23. honestly ...

isn't the 'fruit bowl' imagery just the very best ...

ever ...

other than that the sleeping beauty series is just a 'bit over the top' (except for the use of spices) ...



I agree with you about reading Exit to Eden ... the movie just didn't make it ...




BTW ... don't expect 'vanilla' to ever be the same again

[khashka]

29. This is sick, Joani, but

the most erotic thing she ever wrote....

the part in Interview where they kill the prostitutes. It's ugly, it's wrong. it's bad. But it is so beautifully written and it touches you in a way that is aesthetic, sexual, horrific....

Khash.

[xmas74]

31. I've read them too!

Hated Belinda.

As a novel Exit to Eden was best. A group of us read them all together a few years back.

[In_The_Wind]

21. I've given several sets away ...

Awesome ... a must read! ...

[proud patriot]

26. yes I read "exit to eden"

She's able to make you understand kind of like she
made you understand what it must be like to go
from human to vampire.

she's got a knack at that .

[khashka]

30. Well speaking as a sadomasochist

She gets it. But I think she has problems with it. Eden is a perfect example. They run away from an S/m utopia to have a nice vanilla relationship? Huh? So this submissive guy and this dominant gal run away to have nice normal sex? I give it two weeks at best.

The sex is good - the wrestling/rape scene is pretty amazing. The scene where he is tied up and she's going to whip him. And she is racked with ambivalence. She wants to hurt him, he wants her to hurt him. But she's falling in love with him and never wants to hurt him - it's in that ambivalence that the real erotic juices start flowing....

But the politics kinda suck.

Love and sadomasochism can't go together? Is she really that stupid?


I've been in too many S/m relationships to buy that.. I've been in too many situations where Everything I needed, I wanted, I desired was denied me. And they called it love. And they called it in my best interest. I call it crap



Sorry I went from one thing to another....but give Khash a hobbyhorse and he will ride it.

I'm sorry I did this... but not really.... well kinda but not really really....

Something I needed to say.....

Khash.

[khashka]

17. The Witching Hour

Interview has some good New Orleans stuff but the Paris stuff is a litlle more evocative IMHO.

Khash.

[Chovexani]

20. Feast of All Saints, by far

New Orleans is practically a character in all her books, but out of all of them, I think Feast of All Saints was the best love letter to New Orleans.

It was also made into a Showtime miniseries that wasn't half bad (it's one of the better film adaptations of her work...but that's not saying much).

Any other Rice fans know if the Mayfair house survived the flooding? That was a beautiful house...I got to see it before she stopped giving tours.

[hatredisnotavalue]

22. I love all of Anne Rice

As a tribute to NO I am going to re-read them all this winter.
As an aside, I can't remember which one I was reading, I think it was The Witching Hour and I was astounded at her descriptive prose. I was reading in bed, about 2 a.m. and was struck by the incredible description where the houses were burning down. (Sorry if it was another book)
I could feel the heat, could envision the flames, until I looked out the bedroom window and saw a large farm on fire across the lake. Freak me right out. I had to put the book away and cover the fire for the newspaper I was working for, but boy it was one of those moments I will never forget.
Does anyone know if she is okay?

[xmas74]

32. She lives in La Jolla now.

She wrote an editorial for the Times about NO and she was pissed!