O is for... Outlander

is for Outlander!

Okay, this doesn't have much to do with Geneva - except for the question of how on earth I'm going to watch the Outlander series when it starts in June.

How to summarise this for those of you who haven't read the books? Let's see... Once upon a time a friend leant me a copy of a book called Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon. I was wary about reading it, since I don't usually enjoy books recommended by others, but it was a historical, set in Scotland, so already I was positively biased.

Once I did start, I couldn't put it down. Lucky for me, not only was it a Big Book, but it was part of a Big Series, and I was coming in right at the time that the latest book, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, was released in paperback. I got to read all the books at once, and then join in the loooong wait for the next one, An Echo in the Bone (but how much more other fans must have suffered in the wait between the second and third books, when the protagonists were separated by both space and time and there was no knowing if they'd ever come together again!).

Diana describes the extent of the series better than I can:

Also, her challenge with regard to the first book still holds:

As for how to describe it...as Diana says: "Frankly, I've never been able to describe this book in twenty-five words or less, and neither has anyone else in the twenty years since it was first published."

But here's her description anyway:

And here're all the books:

(photo from MommaRake)

She's in the Final Frenzy of writing the next one, and it should be out in a few months!

If you're wondering why I keep referring to her as Diana instead of by a more formal form of address, it's because I feel like I know her, mainly because the best side effect of reading this series was joining the Compuserve Books and Writers Community, which Diana has called the greatest "electronic literary cocktail party" out there. You should have heard my squee the first time I addressed a message to her and got a reply!

Actually, I just did a quick search, and I think this might have been it: a thread about Susan Cooper. Here's another thread from a little later, discussing cover blurbs. And here's us talking about me writing a review about one of the Lord John books. And here's the review itself, of Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade.

There are lots of Outlander themed blogs out there. A yummy one is Outlander Kitchen, featuring recipes inspired by the books.

And yes! They're making a tv series of the first book. Everything you ever wanted to know about it is here on the Outlander Starz page. Can't wait!

Which series would you recommend?