My sister and I need to make another run to the library. I’m running out of ideas for books though.
We are looking for fiction.
Here’s what we like:
Her - John Saul, Janet Evanovich, Bentley Little, Nora Roberts, Robin Cook - I don’t know for sure what else.
Me - Dean Koontz, Brian Jacques, Terry Pratchett, Bentley Little, Nora Roberts, Jude Devereux, Stephen King, John Saul, JK Rowling, Robin Cook, Elizabeth Cadell, etc.
I’ll read just about anything actually. Those are just some of my favorites.
Unfortunately, the library up here is small and poorly stocked. They only have 4 Discworld books and I can only get 2 more from interlibrary loan. So, I’d like lots of authors but also specific books. I’m not sure what I can get. I’d like to start reading the Stephanie Plum books but our library only has 4 of them and they aren’t in numerical order. This is making it kind of hard to pick stuff. So, I’d also like books that aren’t part of a series - as it’s a time consuming PITA (or impossible) to get the next book in a series.
Well, you like thrillers, so have you read any of the Preston and Childs books? The Ice Limit, Mount Dragon, Cabinet of Curiosities and Still Life With Crows should get you started. Well written, exciting and very entertaining – you won’t be bored, I promise.
Try Patricia Briggs - Mooncalled, Blood Bound, and Iron Kissed. Mercy Thompson is a good heroine, and if you like both Koontz and Evanovich you should enjoy the strangeness of her life. Even though they are a series they can be read as stand alone books. Also have you tried any of Nora Roberts/JD Robb …In Death, the series starts with Naked in Death? These are mysteries that are more violent than her normal romance - although there is romance in them.
If you are looking for a one-off book that isn’t part of a series, I highly recommend “The Devil in the White City” by Erik Larson. It’s a combination of a history of the Chicago World’s Fair in the early 1900’s and a true crime story about a serial killer who ran a hotel just down the street from the fair. If you like history and/or true crime, it’s wonderful. It was a pretty big seller a little while back, so even the smallest library has a pretty good chance of having a copy.
Just out of cussedness, I’m going to suggest that you look into some electronic books that are available to read for free. I grant, the Baen Free Library is an evil, manipulative marketing technique from the publisher - they believe that people who read, and enjoy the books available online will often choose to read more books by the same authors, and sometimes even purchase those books for themselves. And they’re right - it often does happen that way.
But it’s still a free way to get a chance to evaluate some of my favorite authors, and series, to see whether they might be right for you.
Suggestions from the Free Library include: David Weber’s On Basilisk Station, which begins his epic Honor Harrington space opera, inspired by the life of Horatio Nelson, and the works of C. S. Forrester.
Eric Flint’s 1632, which also begins a hugely entertaining collection of books. A small, West Virginian town is transported to the Germanies in the middle of the Thirty Years War, and things start to change fast. It’s a grandly fun, and informative, alternate history.
Also by Eric Flint, with K. D. Wentworth, is The Course of Empire: twenty years after Earth was conquered by the Jao, the scion of a prominent family of the conquerers comes to Earth to take up his new position in charge of the human troops. And to prepare Earth for its part in the galactic war which the aliens are fighting.
Finally, David Drakes With the Lightnings is a hugely enjoyable space opera inspired by the works of Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey and Maturin books, the inspiration for the recent film Master and Commander.
Thanks guys! This is a great looking list. I’m going to check the availability online. Hopefully I can get a few without having to wait for interlibrary loan.
Keep them coming!
As I some of the same favorite authors as both of you (Evanovich, Roberts, Rowling and Deveraux) allow me to suggest Elizabeth Lowell, specifically the mystery/thriller set. I’d start with Moving Target as it’s one of my favorites.
Carl Haaissen. Writes “mysteries” which you seem to like - writes funny ones with odd characters which you seem to like. Sara Paretsky would be another author in a similar sort of popcorn private eye vein.
