Furies of Calderon (Codex Alera, Book 1) by Jim Butcher was a great book. A little slow getting into it but…stick with it. It’s so worth it.
J.D. Robb’s (Nora Roberts) In Death series is wonderful. I do recommend reading them in order as there are relationships that develop and you’ll get more out of them that way. Start with Naked in Death
Kasey Michaels has a fun mystery series about an author and her “creation” who becomes frustratingly real. Maggie by the Book is the first one.
You said you liked the Pern series…have you tried McCaffery’s Acorna?
Paul Maier has a great couple of books A Skeleton in God’s Closet (from Amazon.com: a spectacular discovery-a skeleton almost 2,000 years old!-will either shed light on the life of Jesus Christ or be the death rattle of the Christian faith) and More Than a Skeleton (same archeologist only this time it seems that Christ may have returned.) Yep, they’re Christian books and as such may be a bit preachy in parts but the stories are very very good.
Jane Heller has some great books. One of my favorites is Female Intellegence about a woman (Lynn) who is a linguist who teaches the “Wyman Method”…teaching men how to speak “Womanspeak”. A great send up of the Men are from Mars/Women are from Venus pop therapy phenom.
More mysteries…
Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swenson series (Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder)
Donna Andrew’s Meg Langslow series (Murder with Peacocks)
Tori Carrington’s Sophie Metropolis (just finished and I loved it. Evanovich meets My Big Fat Greek Wedding!)
Julie Kenner’s Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon Hunting Soccer Mom (also just finished and loved. Light but engaging!)
Nancy Martin’s Blackbird Sisters series (How to Muder a Millionaire)
Sujata Massey’s Rei Shimura series (The Salaryman’s Wife)
Maddie Hunter’s Passport to Peril series (Alpine for You)
And I’ll stop. Sorry if I’ve gone on too long…I tend to recommend everything I love!
A caveat, here. Nora Roberts has many strengths as an author. Her heros and heroines are interesting, sympathetic, and compelling. Her plots are usually believable, and entertaining. I’m inclined to the opinion that her villians are cardboard, but that’s only a minor gripe.
Her understanding of SF is laughable, however.
I have read the first couple of …in Death books. But I can’t read any more. The little things that she has in the stories that do not make sense scientifically or economically just got in the way of me enjoying what would otherwise be a good read. If you can accept an anecdote of someone committing murder by painting his victims, to remove the oxygen transfer via the skin, and cause suffocation without yelling, “Snopes!” go ahead and read these. If you’re anal enough to find that sort of thing a full-stop kick out of suspension of disbelief, don’t.
I’ll second the Catherine LeVendeur mysteries.
I also like Margaret Frazer’s Dame Frevisse medieval mysteries, starting with The Novice’s Tale.
I love Sharon Kay Penman’s historical fiction, and she has a mystery series now too, starting with The Queen’s Man.
James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small series. A Nun’s Story, by Kathryn Hulme Rocket Boys, by Homer Hickam Angela’s Ashes, by Frank McCourt The Doomsday Book, and To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis
Be aware that “Rambles” isn’t just part of the title; it can seem rambling and unfocused, but that’s part of Blount’s style and I think it makes his writing seem more immediate. It’s not quite a travelogue, either, but instead more “this is what the city means to me.” It’s also both very funny and very moving in parts.
I read it before the Katrina disaster, and I’m really glad I did. Even though I’ve never been to New Orleans, I felt like I’d seen it if only second-hand.
I read only one of her “In Death” books and came pretty close to loathing it. My husband thought it was enjoyable. The funny thing is, he’s the SF person! Strange days.
A little more in depth discussion, just because I feel like spouting off.
Seriously, Eve Dallas is, based on Roberts’ other books, an extrememly atypical character for Roberts. She’s not had a storybook life, and it shows in the characters attitudes, and actions. She’s self-confident only in her perfessional life. At the beginning of Naked in Death, the only non-business relationship she has is with a cat. In short, she’s about diametrically opposed to any of the main characters that Roberts had written to that time. There are two basic reasons that established authors use pen names: To allow them to break out of a current niche that they are associated with; and to hide the shame if they’re afraid a given book will crash in flames. I honestly have no idea how confident Ms Roberts had been with the first of the …in Death books, but I can’t help thinking it began as something of a personal experiment for her. Which only makes me respect the woman for her willingness to take a risk of that nature, but I still don’t wanna read any more about Eve Dallas and her effed up world.
Have all the Herriot books and love 'em–also loved the BBC series (which came to us courtesy of PBS years ago).
Don’t care for Nora Roberts or Mary Higgins Clark (although I haven’t given either of them a second chance in a long time, so…). I’ll try Dobbs–I dunno if the lack of accuracy will bother me–it depends on how much I care about the characters etc.
Margaret Frazer is fine, too.
McCourt’s first novel was grand and then the sequel was blech.
Personal prejudice: I really cannot read “Christian” fiction. I have tried. I know-those books may be great–but the “Christian” fiction I have read is so poorly written and so righteous…I just can’t support it as a genre–not even in circulation numbers!
Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series is fun. It’s a magic-in-the-real-world series dealing with wizards who fight against the Lone Power, inventor of death and entropy. Wizardry is the opposite of entropy, and therefore the younger a wizard is the more power he/she has. Older ones are less powerful but more skilled. It’s written on a large scale; the wizards teleport to other worlds, pull iron from the heart of a star billions of years in the past and encounter divine beings.
John DeChancie’s Castle Perilous series is good. It’s a humerous/serious series set in a gigantic castle at the center of all realities, with over a hundred thousand doors into different worlds. Some are magical, some technological; one is even Earth. Anyone who lives in the castle devolps a magical talent, ranging from magically imbued skill in swordfighting to the ability to conjure anything you imagine ( like animated chainsaws or a luxury submarine complete with crew ). With a hundred thousand open doors and wild magic all over, things tend to be a little chaotic.
The Lord Darcy series by Randall Garret. It’s a mystery series set in an alternate world where the laws of magic are understood but technology is at the steam engine level. Instead of forensic scientists, they have forensic sorcerers, for example.
The Keeper’s Chronicles series by Tanya Huff. A humerous series, it’s set in our world. Two groups of magicians, Cousins annd Keepers ( more powerful ) are tasked to keep various supernatural forces from invading the mudane world, like Hell. The two lead characters are a Keeper and her eventual boyfriend; a man so much of a goody-two-shoes that after living for six months with a gate to Hell in his basement, the Forces of Evil still haven’t gotten him to so much as drop his underwear on the floor. The series has lots of great lines, like “Rule one for survival : Don’t tell two Egyptian gods that they remind you of cartoon characters.”
Elizabeth Peters’ “Amelia Peabody” mysteries (about a late-19th-century Egyptologist) are enjoyable; I get them as books on tape and listen to them on my commute.
Any of the Lois McMaster Bujold SF books - her series about Miles Vorkosigan and others in his universe. I don’t like her Chalion fantasy series nearly as much.
Any of Bill Bryson’s travelogues.
Michael Palin’s travelogues (books that are companions to his various video series, e.g. Pole To Pole, Around the World in 80 days etc.).
check out Guy Gavriel Kay. i really liked The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire, and The Darkest Road (these 3 are the Fionavar Tapestry), Tigana, The Lions of Al-Rassan, and A* Song for Arbonne*.
the last 3 are “alternate histories” type of fantasy. all are very well written, IMOWBRHO.
The early Xanth books are less goofy. Especially the first three.
Incarnations had a great beginning – On A Pale Horse, the first one, is probably my favorite. I wasn’t crazy about the last one, though (And Eternity…) – thought it was pretty weak.
If you like mystery/thriller books in which the main character is the type who frequently works “beyond the law”, then you might like the one I just finished. Killing Floor, by Lee Child. He has a series of novels featuring a character named Jack Reacher. Killing Floor is the first one (and the only one I’ve read so far), but I’m looking forward into digging into the rest.
