I would be DELIGHTED to recommend some books for you. I love getting asked this question.
First of all, I've recently discovered Christopher Moore -- apparently I'm the last person in the Milky Way to do so -- and now I'm going around recommending him to everyone. Moore writes real-world comedies with supernatural elements. He's sort of like a cross between Carl Hiaasen and Douglas Adams. I especially liked "The Stupidest Angel"; rather than try to describe it, I'll just direct you to this comic (http://www.unshelved.com/archive.aspx?strip=20060604), courtesy of the Unshelved book club (http://www.unshelved.com/bookclub.aspx).
Second, some old standbys, most of which I bet you've already read:
- The Discworld series, by Terry Pratchett (start with "Going Postal" or "The Truth", or possibly "Thief of Time").
- The Princess Bride, by William Goldman. Everyone should own a copy of this book.
- The Fables series of graphic novels, by Bill Willingham. An ongoing series about characters from fairy tales (such as Cinderella, Snow White, the Big Bad Wolf, Old King Cole, etc.) all living in an apartment building in New York City. Fantastic, in both senses of the word.
- Anything by Diana Wynne Jones, Patricia C. Wrede, Tamora Peirce, or Vivian Vande Velde, the four ruling doyennes of teen fantasy. I especially liked "Dealing With Dragons", but honestly, it's all good.
- Anything by Bill Bryson, the best travel writer I've ever read. "In A Sunburned Country" is good. So is "Notes From A Small Island". "The Mother Tongue" is not about travel, but about the English language, and it's superb (though unfortunately there are a bunch of factual errors in it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_Tongue_%28book%29), which you have to watch out for).
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-06-16 06:30 pm (UTC)First of all, I've recently discovered Christopher Moore -- apparently I'm the last person in the Milky Way to do so -- and now I'm going around recommending him to everyone. Moore writes real-world comedies with supernatural elements. He's sort of like a cross between Carl Hiaasen and Douglas Adams. I especially liked "The Stupidest Angel"; rather than try to describe it, I'll just direct you to this comic (http://www.unshelved.com/archive.aspx?strip=20060604), courtesy of the Unshelved book club (http://www.unshelved.com/bookclub.aspx).
Second, some old standbys, most of which I bet you've already read:
- The Discworld series, by Terry Pratchett (start with "Going Postal" or "The Truth", or possibly "Thief of Time").
- The Princess Bride, by William Goldman. Everyone should own a copy of this book.
- The Fables series of graphic novels, by Bill Willingham. An ongoing series about characters from fairy tales (such as Cinderella, Snow White, the Big Bad Wolf, Old King Cole, etc.) all living in an apartment building in New York City. Fantastic, in both senses of the word.
- Anything by Diana Wynne Jones, Patricia C. Wrede, Tamora Peirce, or Vivian Vande Velde, the four ruling doyennes of teen fantasy. I especially liked "Dealing With Dragons", but honestly, it's all good.
- Anything by Bill Bryson, the best travel writer I've ever read. "In A Sunburned Country" is good. So is "Notes From A Small Island". "The Mother Tongue" is not about travel, but about the English language, and it's superb (though unfortunately there are a bunch of factual errors in it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_Tongue_%28book%29), which you have to watch out for).