Did I read this before? I know I did, didn't I?!

I know I read DRAGONFLY IN AMBER years ago...back when I first read Diana Gabaldon's OUTLANDER, but for some reason or another, I could not remember the second half of the book.  I remembered everything right up to....well, for those of you who haven't read it, I won't say, but for those of you who HAVE read it, right up to THAT part--you know which part I'm talking about.  Anyway, everything after that part read as if I'd never read it before.  I don't remember giving up the book years ago after reading THAT part, but I honestly didn't remember any of it.  It was as if I'd never read it.  Oh well.  Now I can say for sure that I have read the WHOLE book and I doubt I will forget the reading of it this time!

I do think that these books have too much information, details that

are difficult to remember.  It is hard for me to believe that Claire, NOT a historian, would remember specific historical information that her husband, Frank Randall--a true historian, shared with her.  We remember things we're interested in and Claire just was not interested in the same things Frank was interested in.  Granted, I do believe that in times of necessity we can and do remember things, information that we didn't even realize we knew, but still...I find it difficult to believe that Claire could remember so much specific information.

I still love the story between Claire and Jamie.  It's wonderful seeing their relationship and how they interact with one another--two stubborn hot-heads who are definitely more suited to one another than Claire and Frank.  It is very difficult for me to like Frank at all when he physical resembles Black Jack Randall so much.  Yes, he also resembles Jonathan Randall's brother, Alex, but we don't meet Alex until the second book and Black Jack has made such an incredible impression on us already from book 1.

Anyway, to OUTLANDER readers, DRAGONFLY IN AMBER is still an enjoyment to read and definitely feeds our desire for more of Claire and Jamie!  I'll give VOYAGER a shot next and see if it continues to feed my desire for even more of my beloved characters!!!!  ;)

Why aren't you reading OUTLANDER?! If you aren't....

Laurie Lyda, thank you, thank you, thank you for introducing the OUTLANDER series by Diana Gabaldon to me!!!  I LOVE it!  I share it with everyone I can!  I even bought the audio CD and downloaded it to my computer so I can share the CDs, too!!!  So now I have the mass market paperback version (it's falling apart from being read so often), the audio CDs, and now the digital ebook!!!  And I just purchased the ebooks for books 2-4!  They're all on sale through Amazon.com (Kindle) for $4.99!!!  I can't resist!!!!  The digital reader is so much easier to hold than a massive book of over a thousand pages!  Don't get me wrong, now.  I love the actual books, but I don't mind having the ebooks, too!  In fact, while reading OUTLANDER this time on the digital reader, I had to get my paperback copy out for a day or two because my digital reader wasn't available at the time!  

I LOVE that OUTLANDER doesn't neatly fit into one genre category.  I don't believe in genres anymore anyway.  I get that publishers/libraries/book stores, etc. need to have genres in order to have places to put the books on the shelves and thus to find them quickly and easily, but yet it's ridiculous to attempt to put every single book into one simple category and expect that to be the end-all answer for what that books is really about.  For a practice book,

Gabaldon hit this one out of the park!!!  

If you haven't read the OUTLANDER series yet, what are you waiting for?!

And, yes, I LOVE the series as it's playing out on STARZ!  They're doing a fantabulous job with the books to tv series!  Jamie is even more gorgeous than anticipated!!!  ;)  

Waiting.....!

THE EXILE:  AN OUTLANDER GRAPHIC NOVEL (OUTLANDER 1.5) by Diana Gabaldon is really a great fill-in for the lover of the OUTLANDER series.  It's nothing short of pure genius for the author to write the same story from another character's point-of-view!  I especially love that it's not exactly like the original.  The fact that it's a graphic novel makes it that much more genius.  We already have SO MUCH with the original story that if Gabaldon attempted to do the same with Jamie's version of the story, no one would be able to stay with it through to the end.  By doing it as a graphic novel, it easily keeps my attention and makes me want to beg for the next installment!

Where's the next installment, Diana Gabaldon?!

I don't know of any other author who has written--and published (hear me, Stephenie?!)--the same essential story from a different character's point-of-view, making THE EXILE that much more fun and exciting to read.

As a writer-wanna-be (well, published wanna-be, anyway), I can understand how easily an author falls in love with each of her characters and wants each character to tell his/her story.  I, for one, would love to read some of my other favorite books from the POV of other characters within the stories.  I've even tried to write Snape's story, but not being Rowling, it's next to impossible.

Just finish it, Gabaldon....please?!?!

One negative:  there are images and brief details that are very confusing and difficult to follow.  I don't understand where this Kenneth comes into the story or how he fits at all.  I'm anxious to read the next one to find out more about him.  He's obviously a semi-main character who we never see in the OUTLANDER series because Claire never meets him.  But he's there and he's very aware of Claire and Jamie.....

It's over....?!

This is the 2nd time I've read Diana Gabaldon's OUTLANDER.  (Yes, I do consider it reading to listen to a book on CD.)  I found that I actually enjoyed listening to it on CD as I drove to and from work in my car.  I couldn't wait each day to get in my car just so I could listen to more!

Even though I'd read this book before, reading it again was like reading it for the first time.  There were a lot of details that I easily remembered from the first reading, but I forgot a lot of details, too.

The one thing that surprised me the most about this reading was the ending.  In my head, I remember the story ending with Claire having to go back to her own time--and to Frank.  But OUTLANDER doesn't end that way at all!  When I got to the last CD, I kept wondering how Gabaldon was going to get Jamie and Claire from France to Scotland quickly--considering how long it had taken them to get from one place to another throughout the rest of the book, I thought it was odd.

And the CD kept going from one track to the next, but Jamie and Claire were still in France with no possibility of being back in Scotland any time soon.

We got to one of the parts of the book that I remembered very well from my first reading (it was my favorite part) and all of a sudden, this guy came on and said "This ends the book OUTLANDER....."

What?!  I thought.......well, I guess I'm going to have to get the CD for the 2nd book and find out how much of that book I tried to put into the first book....!  It'll just have to wait until I get back from Disney.

At least I have something to look forward to after my trip....!!!!!  

:)