Books

[lithle]

So, I have a job. And I like it. But it's basically warehouse work that I could do in my sleep. Luckily, I'm allowed to listen to my MP3 player on the job. I use audiobooks to get through the day. But the average audio book is eight to ten hours, which means I can go through four or five books in a week.

I download books from the library, making funds not really an issue. The issue is I'm REALLY picky and I've run out of ideas for what to listen to.

Anyone have any favorites to suggest?

Neil Gaimain is my favorite author. I've exhausted everything he's written. Same goes for Pratchett.

I don't actually like Anne's writing style, so suggesting her other work won't help much.

I lean toward fantasy, but I'm open on that front. I'm not a big fan of classics. Queer lit is a plus, but beyond simply being rare, there's not a lot of it that isn't so focused on the queer that it forgets to be lit.

Anyway, ideas?

Intended age range doesn't really matter, I often enjoy YA lit.

[nozomi]

Anything by Gregory Macguire (Wicked, Evil Stepsister, etc). Maybe the Dexter series? But it totally isn't fantasy. Neither is Gregory but he's getting closer. Into The Land Of The Unicorns and Dealing With Dragons (Or ANY Enchanted Forest Chronicles) are short and for grade schoolers, but still funny.

Also, I searched "lesbian fantasy novel" and it didn't pop up with porn but with this link! www.afterellen.com/node/4552

[lithle]

I haven't tried Dexter. The others I've all read. I'm not generally a fan of villain (and even a 'nice' serial killer is a villain in my book) being made into heroes, but I'll give them a try.

I am willing to at least try anything.

Also, the Enchanted Forest series was my FAVORITE when I was younger. I gave them to my little sister.

[leanansidhe]

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. There are... 12 books in the series so far, I believe. Modern Fantasy, really good. If you try this series, give it until book three. The first two are pretty good, but they were the first books he ever had published, and they only go up from there. Way, way up. Plus, book three really kicks off major continuing plot lines, which makes the series and series instead of books about the same people. PS-- if you stick around until book three, you also might meet a certain name sake of mine. ;P

The Codex Alera-- by Jim Butcher. (Jim Butcher is my favorite living author. I admit it.) "Swords and Horses" style fantasy. Complete series at six books. So very, very good. Again, the first book is the 'worst' of the lot, even though I enjoyed it a lot.

-Tamora Peirce. YA Fantasy; Tortall books trump Circle of Magic by a hundred percent. I cannot defend any critiques of the books, because they occupy a very special place in my heart and I cannot and WILL NOT look at them objectively. So, take it with a grain of salt when I call them fantasically enjoyable.

- Mercedes Lackey. See above about not being objective. To be fair, I would not call these great works of fiction, but they provide a lot of /enjoyment/ per book, which is really what I'm after. xD I could go on and on about their flaws, but, as I said, I enjoy them tremendously anyway. If you want queer lit, "The Last Herald-Mage". It's sad. It's protagonist is pretty unsympathetic, because the world CONSPIRES TO PUNCH VANYEL IN THE SOUL. His life is forty years of misery punctuated by two happy summers. ... I love it.

- The Outlanders by Diana Gabaldon. I have, admittedly, not read these yet. But they're on my list, and my friend never shuts the heck up about them, so they must be pretty good. There's some queerness, but I don't think it's essential to the plot or anything. They're pretty long books, too.

-Stephen King. Pet Semetary, IT, The Shining, Misery... I'm working my way through 'Salem's Lot, but, so far, that too. I adore Stephen King; also, look into his short story collections. PS-- Unless the warehouse is very scary. Then don't. The stories stick with you.

[lithle]

Thank you Lea!

lithle scares easily, so she will probably not be listening to King in her huge warehouse, where she often has to wander into dark places alone.

I /just/ finished listening to the Protector of the Small quartet and I have the Immortals books on hold for download. I've loved Pierce since I was little, but never read anything but the Alanna books, so it's nice to experience the rest of her work.

I... used to love Lackey. Really I did. Devoured her stuff. Including LHM. She's a bit too didactic for me, now, but she still holds a special place in my heart.

I've been curious about the Dresden Files and will definitely give them a look! Gabaldon, I'm torn on. She's said some... silly things. But that doesn't mean her writing isn't good. Just look at Card! I've heard nice things about her books, though I don't know anything about them.

[Zen]

*coughs* I love anything by C.S. Lewis and Lois Lowry... but they're more little kid books.

[leanansidhe]

Let me know if you like the Dresden Files, because I love to speculate about what will be happening in the next book. So much happened in the last one, too.

This doesn't really have anything to do with anything, but I'm currently a member of a Dresden Files RPG. xD It's heaven.

To justify my posting here, I will rec a couple other books:

"I, Robot". Heck ya, classic sci-fi! ((If you saw the movie by the same name, they have nothing to do with each other. The movie made me make this face: D8 ))

Also, "The Martian Chronicles". Ray Bradburry. Another classic sci-fi piece. A little trippy in places, but fascinating.

Also, for YA, try "I am Mordred". I forget the author's name, unfortunately. It's one of the most compelling retellings of Arthurian legend from Mordred's POV that I've read. Quite short, though. Relatively, I mean.

[ferrovax]

Oh, yay, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. <3

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell? I haven't listened to it (not an audiobook person ;p), but the almighty Google informs me that it exists. There is...almost nothing I can say about this book, because I love it so much. It has a very slow pace and isn't an "actiony" book, but it more than makes up for it with dry wit, delightful prose, clever worldbuilding, and interesting and flawed characters. The one problem is that there are a lot of footnotes, which might be difficult to follow.

Into The Land Of The Unicorns and Dealing With Dragons (Or ANY Enchanted Forest Chronicles) are short and for grade schoolers, but still funny.

I REMEMBER THOSE.

Speaking of unicorns, The Last Unicorn? Beagle's prose is wonderful, though he is perhaps a bit too heavy-handed with his message.

Seconding the Dresden Files, though with more reservations than the Leanansidhe. The narrator's sexist attitude can be grating (and every single female villain that I can think of is either a) a femme fatale or b) a walking corpse, which gets a bit tiresome), but those books have been a part of my life for so long that I am just not capable of being objective about them. Unlike the Leanansidhe, I recommend skipping the first and possibly second book at first. PS -- If you stick around till book 3, you might meet a namesake of mine.

...Also seconding the Tamora Pierce books, with a nod particularly toward the Circle of Magic books. There are not a lot of fantasy books that focus upon crafting, and those that do have a direct connection to my id. So yeah.

For light humor, Jim C. Hines's goblin books. Witty deconstruction of fantasy and gaming tropes, told from the perspective of a goblin.

[leanansidhe]

I second "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" Author: Susanna Clarke. Very good; pretty slow, but I have a lot of patience. A very well crafted book.

Ferro-- We shall discuss the villains in private, because... It's not like there are a LOT of walking corpses. Also, I forgot about your namesake. ;P Skipping the first two books would work well enough, I suppose.

On the narrator's sexist attitude... Just to be clear, he's chivalrous, not, misogynistic. xD It is a flaw of his, though. At least women tell him it's not appropriate. And it's been his downfall. Not excusing it, by any means--I do want to smack him sometimes. But it's a 'thing'. *eye roll* Harry...

I'm going to get shot for even recommending this, since I'm 99% sure you've read it, but... "The Lord of the Rings" and 'The Hobbit". <3 loooove them.

[Spiffy]

Personally I agree with Anne's writing style not being the best. When I first re-read Dragonflight for the second time I was like "whoa how did I get into this?"

But anyway, stuff I read tends to be fantasy, magic, dragons and war, with sometimes a lil' horror thrown in for effect xD But the list is long, so here goes:

The Dragonmaster trilogy by Chris Bunch - just finished reading these for the third time. Mostly war with dragons and a little magic here and there, and it's quite fast paced, but the third book goes a little off the plot as it's set after the war, which isn't quite so fun.

The Adamantine Palace, and King of the Crags by Stephen Deas - a work in progress, he's working on the third book. Fast paced and not overly descriptive, Deas tends to focus on the interactions and plots between the characters, but the dragons get much more development in the second book. It's also told from the perspectives of all the different characters, and there's no one good 'hero' - they're all as rotten as the next, which I like a lot because I like sneaky characters :3 Highly recommended, though.

Anything by Garth Nix. Fantasy, of various types, but Sabriel is by far the best, closely followed by Lirael and Abhorsen to complete the series. Shade's Children is also worth a look, as are his short stories. Again, highly recommended.

The Gift, The Riddle, The Crow, and The Singing by Alison Croggon, all one series which I can't remember the name of. Allegedly based off of some ancient Annaren scriptures, as I can't find any referances other than to the books themselves, I'm taking that with a pinch of salt. Classic kinda 'save the world' fantasy roaming over some awesome big ol' maps, but very well written. They're quite long too, so they should last you a good long while.

The Night Watch, The Day Watch, The Twilight Watch, and The Last Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko - set in Moscow, Russia, and originally written in Russian, the english versions are nonetheless excellent. Deals with magicians, vampires, werewolves, witches, the lot, and something known as the Twilight (a bit like between, but you can stay there for a while and you can't teleport :3 The first three form a trilogy, each split into three smaller sections and mostly told from the perspective of a single character. The fourth is a sequel to the series, set partly in Edinburgh xD

The Sight, and Fell by David Clement-Davies - anthropomorphic wolf fantasy, The Sight is my most read book ever, 4-5 times over the years, and it never gets old. Fantastic. Fell is the sequel, but isn't so good, as it was a stand-alone book.

Outlaw by Angus Donald - Robin Hood-esque, but told through the eyes of Alan-a-Dale. Good, but a bit bloody. Just a change from my usual fantasy romps xD

His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman - Need I say more?

The Maximum Ride series by James Patterson - This series is very long, and still going, and it's mainly aimed at teenagers, but I feel they tail off a bit after book three as the plot starts getting old. The first few are great fun though xD James Patterson also has a lot of good crime dramas for adults, if you're into that, but I haven't read any.

The Black Magician trilogy by Trudi Canavan - I LOVE these books. All about Magic, and with a few good twists here and there. She also did a prequel which wasn't so good because the plot was a lot like the trilogy, but she's just started another series set just after the trilogy starting with The Ambassador's Mission, and the second is to be released soon, The Rogue (I CAN'T WAIT!!! I've pre-ordered it :3)

Ugh, I could go on, but my list is exhaustive, and those are just the best ones xD

[Lesa]

Mar 1, 2011 10:00:51 GMT -5 Spiffy said:

His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman - Need I say more?

No, no you don't.

If you want detective type scifi, there's always JD Robb. Admittedly, she IS Nora Roberts under a pen name, so there's romance here and there, but the main thrust of the stories are the cases, and they're quite good. They're also all I can think of at the moment, everyone else having said ones I would suggest. I'll be back when it's not 3am. XD

[nemix]

His dark materials is awesome

Pratchett is awesome.

I'm currently nosing through The Redemption of Althalus by David Eddings (think it's actually David & lee Eddings) quite an enjoyable one I've read a few times now. Fantasy, not bad found the concept really interesting

Terry Goodkind is another author you may like, I worked through a few of his books but couldn't get the rest of them and then the interest died a lil for me. My sister and friend however, love them.

[Spiffy]

David Eddings is pretty good I've read several of his books, The Belgariad and the Mallorean series xD