I am a fairly voracious reader (just wanted to use the word voraciuosm heh)–but I am “dry”. This happens about twice a year or so.
I cannot think of any new books to read. Lawd knows they’re out there.
Can you all help, please?
Some tips:
I will read almost anything once. I am horrible with remembering titles and author’s names–riddle me a plot and a main character name and I can then ID the book, most likely.
Books I like:
Harry Potter (no, I’m not 12–he’s just on my mind at present; I am reading #4 out loud to my second grader)
Georgetter Heyer, but really don’t like romance (aka Harlequin etc). Have read all of Austen (and love her), not so crazy about the Brontes.
Murder mysteries–just read some good ones by Wright(?) about a Canadian Mountie on the Sunshine Coast. Don’t like mean streets/gore/vampire stuff.
Joanna Trollope is Ok with me, as is Elizabeth Berg (not so thrilled about her), and Jodi Piccoult.
Sci-Fi: eh, it’s OK. Like the Pern series and Ursula somebody–anyone got any suggestions here? I like medieval/sci-fi mix, if you follow me (fantasy?).
Don’t like Diana Galbaldon at all.
Hey, I’m doing much better with author’s names than I thought!
anyhoo, anyone out there with any suggestions?
I am working tomorrow, so forgive me if I don’t get back to you right away.
Ummm…public library?
I have so many books, that I try not to buy them, actually. I will buy a paperback if I like the book enough to read it more than once. Only if I truly love it, do I make a hardback purchase…
thanks so far–I’ll look for those!
Check out the periodic “whatcha reading?” threads to find out what a pretty ecelectic group of people have been curled up with recently. By a delightful coinky-dink, there’s just such a thread happening over here.
Mercedes Lackey has some great fantasy. Charles de Lint is wonderful. (mentioned above)
Marion Zimmer Bradley. And Lillian Jackson Braun’s The Cat Who mysteries are fun - and I don’t like mysteries all that much.
We’ve talked before and our tastes were pretty similar. Unfortunately, I don’t remember exactly what books we talked about! So I’ll try to pick some slightly less common series/authors.
Soooo, how about:
Stephanie Barron’s Jane Austen mysteries
Susan Conant’s Dog Lover mysteries
MK Wren’s Conan Flagg mysteries
MM Kaye
Carolyn G Hart’s Henrie O mysteries (I like elderly sleuths for some reason)
Sarah Strohmeyer’s Bubbles mysteries
Sharan Newman’s Catherine LeVendeur mysteries
I’m not putting details because you probably have read all of these. But details available upon request!
I tend to call this sort of story ‘urban fantasy.’ If this is something you like I’d suggest the following books and authors:
Jane Lindskold has two books about immortals living among us. Characters include Arthur, Endiku, Athena, Davy Jones, Circe, and a trickster who remembers the dinosaurs. The books are great fun, I think, but the first one took me a little effort to get started. Once past the first 50 pages I found it very easy, after that, and enjoyed it thoroughly. Each book is a stand alone, though the second will be easier to understand if you read the first book prior to reading it. The books are Changer and Legends Walking.
Tim Powers also does a lot of this sort of story. He has series of books dealing with an American Fisher King cycle. These are Last Call, Expiration Date, and Earthquake Weather. Each book is, again, complete to itself. Powers has a tendency, in my opinion, to write about grotesqueries, and make them almost beautiful, without reducing the horror one bit.
Finally, if you’re looking for a bit of light humor, try Dave Freer and Eric Flint’s Pyramid Scheme. This book is a mix of SF, with an invading alien probe trying to do something to us humans. And sending many people to a sort of hodge-podge version of the Greece and Egypt of legend. If you’ve ever wanted to say a few sharp words to any of the heros or villians of Greek myth, you’ll love the humor in this book. The link here, goes to a free online copy of the whole book. (The publisher being of the opinion that most readers prefer so-called dead tree editions of books instead of just electronic ones.)
The last 4 or 5 books I’ve read have been terrible. I’d get to the end and wonder, “was that it?” Ugh! But I just finished a book that had me back at Borders the same afternoon, looking for more by the same author (which I was lucky enough to find an autographed first edition of her latest one!!). So I’d highly recommend Darkness Peering, by Alice Blanchard (winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize for her short stories, The Stuntman’s Daughter).
WARNING: Do NOT read the Publishers Weekly review on that site, as it contains what I consider a MAJOR SPOILER that made me literally gasp outloud when I got to that part in the book, because I totally didn’t see it coming. In that regard, also beware the customer reviews, as they might also contain the same or other spoilers.
Wow. critecus --what a strange and at times frustrating book that was (but I liked it). Otakuloki I’ll look for/start with Changer
Shayna And thanks for the heads up about the spoilers–for some reason, spoilers re movies don’t bother me, but spoilers re books ruin the book for me!
jsgoddess --I have read the Austen mysteries. And stuff by MM Kaye (although plot and character escape me at present), but the rest? Yippee! Now I have some new ideas!
Everyone–thank you so much for lengthening my reading list. My library is open on Sundays during the school year–I am off to the library today! (oh, BTW, got a low census day at work–no patients- so I also got the gift of a day off! Woot!)
Hey, looks like it’s time to pimp The Book of the New Sun again. It’s by Gene Wolfe and it is the medieval sci-fi you mentioned. I didn’t even realise it was set in the future until I was halfway through the second book. I don’t usually like fantasy or sci-fi but I really liked this book. It’s 4 volumes and over 1000 pages long, and will feel like an old friend by the time you finish it. Don’t rush. And try to resist the urge to look words up in the dictionary; it kind of wrecks things.
Jurgen, by James Branch Cabell. It’s hard to describe, takes a lot of attention to get most of the jokes, and it’s very slow-going. But, it’s hilarious and brilliant, and it contains the best two-paragraph liberation of a castle in literature.
