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icepixieQuick, someone rec me a book or three. My biweekly library trip is tomorrow and I'm fresh out of ideas for things to read.
Please?
(Although I suppose I could just read fic, watch TV, and force myself to write over the next two weeks if I'm bookless...or I could delve further into my shelf of Classics I've Totally Been Meaning To Read For A While NowBut Never Will Until Just This Sort of Situation...)
ETA: Most of you know my tastes, but for those of you who don't, I'll read practically anything except a straight romance. I have particular penchants for sci-fi, fantasy, quirky literary/mainstream fiction, humor of any stripe, travel writing, and historical novels or nonfiction, but really, anything goes.
Please?
(Although I suppose I could just read fic, watch TV, and force myself to write over the next two weeks if I'm bookless...or I could delve further into my shelf of Classics I've Totally Been Meaning To Read For A While Now
ETA: Most of you know my tastes, but for those of you who don't, I'll read practically anything except a straight romance. I have particular penchants for sci-fi, fantasy, quirky literary/mainstream fiction, humor of any stripe, travel writing, and historical novels or nonfiction, but really, anything goes.
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Date: 2007-06-16 04:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-16 04:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-16 04:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-16 06:09 pm (UTC)But if you've never read Garth Nix before, Becca, you should probably start with the Old Kingdom trilogy. It's what made Nix famous, and for good reason.
But don't start with the first book of the trilogy (Sabriel) -- the plot really drags. Instead, start with the second book (Lirael), then read the third (Abhorsen), then read Sabriel as if it were a prequel. I think it works better that way.
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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).
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Date: 2007-06-16 07:11 pm (UTC)And on the YA front, have you tried John Green? I haven't read him yet, but his vlog (http://brotherhood2.com) is great. (And he's a recent Kenyon alum, so you should read him anyway...)
Oh, and I'm currently reading some Robert A. Heinlein. He's old skool sci-fi, focusing on the psychological and sociological effects of futuristic technology much more than the technology itself. I'm in the middle of Expanded Universe, a whopping big collection of short stories. He follows the classic sci-fi tradition of having not just an active imagination, but actual writing skills as well, plus a sardonic sense of humor.
Have fun!
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Date: 2007-06-16 07:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-16 07:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-16 07:38 pm (UTC)Outside the dark pink air
was already hot and alive with cries. Time to go to school, she said for the third time.
Her cool voice floated
over a pile of fresh tea towels and across the shadowy kitchen to where Geryon stood
at the screen door.
He would remember when he was past forty the dusty almost medieval smell
of the screen itself as it
pressed its grid onto his face. She was behind him now. This would be hard
for you if you were weak
but you're not weak, she said and neatened his little red wings and pushed him
out the door.
Geraldine Brooks, Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women. WSJ journalist discusses women's rights in the Middle East, and how well they fit the Koran. It's not the kind of thing I would ever pick up myself, but an alto lent it to me, and it's really quite good.
Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. A "murder mystery" novel from the perspective of a British kid with high-functioning autism. Excerpt:
"It was 7 minutes after midnight. The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs. Shears's house. Its eyes were closed. It looked as if it was running on its side, the way dogs run when they think they are chasing a cat in a dream. But the dog was not running or asleep. The dog was dead. There was a garden fork sticking out of the dog. The points of the fork must have gone all the way through the dog and into the ground because the fork had not fallen over. I decided that the dog was probably killed with the fork because I could not see any other wounds in the dog and I do not think you would stick a garden fork into a dog after it had died for some other reason, like cancer, for example, or a road accident. But I could not be certain about this."
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Date: 2007-06-16 07:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-16 07:46 pm (UTC)Big fan of Bill Bryson here. Sadly, I've read everything he's written so far. :( Pratchett I am lukewarm on. Sometimes I like what I read, sometimes I don't. But I own ten Discworld books, so surely that says something.
I cannot stand the movie version of TPB. Is the book substantially different? I might give a go if it is.
I basically bypassed the entire young adult genre when I was a preteen and went straight to general fiction. (I think my library at the time was actively trying to keep teens out, so they didn't have much in that way--mostly Christopher Pike and Sweet Valley High, ugh.) I did run into Wrede later, though, which was good, as I like her stuff. What's good by Wynne Jones? I haven't been able to get into anything I've tried to read by her. I've never heard of Velde.
Tamora Pierce has so much out there that I wouldn't know where to begin. Suggestions?
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Date: 2007-06-16 07:48 pm (UTC)Hmmm, Heinlein. I should get some stuff by him, since I've run out of steam on the Bradbury front.
(P.S. Answer my eeeeeeee-maaaaaaaail...or at least tell me whether the DVDs got there, yes?)
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Date: 2007-06-16 07:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-16 07:50 pm (UTC)The other two sound interesting as well.
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Date: 2007-06-16 08:15 pm (UTC)Arg, checking email is so laborious on dialup. I'm in the process right now. But the DVDs did get here, and I was greatly confused and betrayed by the fact that David Marciano is all over the cover, and not a hint of CKR. Alas. Haven't had time to watch them yet, though. Thanks for the crack!
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Date: 2007-06-16 08:17 pm (UTC)Are you already a Terry Pratchett fan? I didn't see him or Discworld listed in your profile. Any of his books are good, but the most recent I've read was Small Gods. Good Omens by him and Neil Gaiman is quite good too.
Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter books are nice as well. I must admit I'm a big fan of the ones with Harriet Vane, especially Have His Carcase. I'd start with Strong Poison if you're going for Harriet ones.
I'll definitely be perusing your list since I should pick up some reading material from the library. The only books I have on my list so far are the GRE Review book (Barron's) and the seventh Harry Potter book.
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Date: 2007-06-16 08:25 pm (UTC)I was greatly confused and betrayed by the fact that David Marciano is all over the cover, and not a hint of CKR.
Yeah. There's a reason these DVD sets can be had for under fifteen bucks. "Cheap" is an understatement. They used the same packaging for all three sets.
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Date: 2007-06-16 09:11 pm (UTC)As for the teen fantasy books:
- I'm glad you've read Wrede. I don't know what of hers you've read, but I HOPE that it includes both Dealing With Dragons (and sequels), and Sorcery And Cecelia (and sequel). In fact, now that I think of it, you would be the perfect audience for Sorcery And Cecelia. Yes. Read it.
- Diana Wynne Jones was my favorite author for a very long time, taking that title from Roald Dahl when I was about twelve or so, and only losing it (to Terry Pratchett) round about the time I entered college. She's brilliant. I wish that the world were crazy about her rather than J. K. Rowling.
The best Jones books, in no particular order: Dark Lord of Derkholm, The Lives of Christopher Chant (and sequels), Howl's Moving Castle (and sequel), Deep Secret, Eight Days of Luke, Archer's Goon, and A Tale of Time City.
- Tamora Pierce just keeps cranking 'em out. I think her books have become a bit formulaic now, but the early ones are gems. Most people would point you toward the Alanna books, but I'm convinced that her best work is the Immortals Quartet, which I used to read over and over and over again. (In order, the Immortals books are Wild Magic, Wolf-Speaker, Emperor Mage, and The Realms Of The Gods.)
- Vivian Vande Velde isn't quite as stellar as the other three, but she lives in Rochester, and sets many of her books there, so I've a soft spot for her. Her best books, I think, are her two novels about virtual reality gaming: User Unfriendly and Heir Apparent. Oh, and if you're fortunate enough to find a copy of The Rumpelstiltskin Problem, thank your lucky stars and read it immediately.
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Date: 2007-06-16 10:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-16 10:42 pm (UTC)Harriet Vane sounds fun. :)
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Date: 2007-06-16 10:52 pm (UTC)Really? I thought everyone knew this about me. Where others find it satiric, I find it insipid and faintly stupid.
Of Wrede, I've read the Mairelon books, the second of which I loved greatly (first wasn't bad either, but was obviously much more for kids), and Snow White and Rose Red (a retelling of the fairy tale in an Elizabethan setting, with elements of Tam Lin thrown in). I tried the Sorcery and Cecilia books, and while they sound like they should be just my sort of thing...they weren't. I'm not really sure why.
I owned Deep Secret for a while, and read about a quarter of it, but it wasn't terribly interesting, and I eventually sold it to the used bookstore. I did enjoy Miyazaki's version of Howl's Moving Castle, though, so I'll look into the book.
My library does in fact have The Rumpelstiltskin Problem. :)
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Date: 2007-06-17 12:48 am (UTC)Also, my all time favorite fantasy series ever would be The Immortals Series (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/002-5433181-7986410?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=tamora+pierce+Immortals+series&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go) by Tamora Pierce. Its originally intended for young adults - which I was, in fact, when I first read it back in 1997 or there abouts. Since then, however, it has become an annual thing, and I have read it at least tend times over the years because I love it so much. However, there are lots of talking animals involved, so if that ain't really your thing (hey, you *said* fantasy! ;) ), you might want to look into something else.
Also, if they have it, The 10th Kingdom (http://www.amazon.com/Tenth-Kingdom-Kathryn-Wesley/dp/0007102658/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/002-5433181-7986410?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182040930&sr=1-2) is a good one, too. It was a mini series on NBC? back around 2000, but as with all movies, there is also a book - though whether the movie proceeded the book or a written version - which I think is better, even though there really isn't much difference between the two - came out after the mini series, is anyone's guess, but I adore both. It can been taken as kind the sequel to the original Grimm fairy tales, set 200 years later when it has been discovered that "happily ever after didn't last quite as long as we hoped". Its another one that I have read numerous times since it first came out.
I could suggest more, but I think I stop for now. :)
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Date: 2007-06-17 03:41 am (UTC)Tried Green Rider. Don't remember why I never finished it (this was a while ago).
10th Kingdom sounds awesome!
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Date: 2007-06-17 04:17 am (UTC)I don't know why I love The Green Rider, but it is also working its way up there in rereads. The second one wasn't as good, but it has it's moments, and the nice thing about rereading a book is you can skip over the bits you don't like so much.
And 10th Kingdom is *totally* awesome. I'd suggest reading the book before seeing the movie, but considering the movie is, quite literally, 6 and a half hours long (the full edition might possibly be seven hours), it's not like it really leaves much out. I only suggest the book reading first because some of the physical descriptions of the characters differ a bit from the actors who play them in the movie, and I personally like the description of them in the book better, even though - since i did see the movie first - the actors who played them are the ones who show up in my head when I reread it. But still, The 10th Kingdom will forever rate as a favorite on the book *and* movie scale for me.
/ramble
I really didn't intend for it to get this long, honest. I am such a book whore.