the rest of us

[sgwordy.livejournal.com]

Fun news (and request)! A few Christmases ago I bought my father-in-law the Thief as I was convinced he would like the series and wanted to introduce him to the awesome. I never heard anything back from him regarding the books but this year's gift list just came in and I quote "any books by megan whalen turner but not QT because I have all of those." Huzzah! He was converted, he just didn't let me know. :) Sadly, though...

He must now join the rest of us without ARCs in our hot little hands with silent tears. HOWEVER, I thought you all might help with a suggestion for a replacement to tide him over until March - don't worry, he's getting a gift card so he can buy ACoK immediately upon release but he'll need something to ease the pain of waiting. I know there are lots of suggestions in other threads but here's another chance to suggest any new (or favorite) titles that you think might help the wait.

Thanks all!

Comments

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

ELIZABETH E. WEIN (http://www.elizabethwein.com/). With knobs on.

Start with The Sunbird if you can find it; but if not, the Mark of Solomon duology will do fine.

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

Oh, my heart. My roommie told me it sounded like I was being repeatedly impaled with a spear when I was reading Sunbird. (Well, certain parts of it. You know.) Loved it, of course. But oh my was it painful.

Out of curiosity, why do you recommend starting with The Sunbird rather than The Winter Prince?

*answers own question* I suppose that Telemakos is much more Gen-like then Medraut.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

That, and THE WINTER PRINCE and A COALITION OF LIONS are so difficult to find, unless you buy them from Ms. Wein herself. Besides, Telemakos is really the thread that binds all the books together, more so than Medraut, IMO.

I really need to read those books again.

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

They are? Thats... weird. Because The Winter Prince and A Coalition of Lions are the only ones I own :-]

[gamwyn.livejournal.com]

Recently read The Winter Prince and A Coalition of Lions (because I kept seeing mentions of them on here :-)) and liked them muchly. Guess I'll have to go after The Sunbird, now!!

As for other book recommendations, anything I've read by Diana Wynne Jones has been fantastic (faves being Howl's Moving Castle, the Chrestomanci series, and Fire and Hemlock), Ursala K. Le Guin's Earthsea books are quite good (still haven't read the fourth one), and I love Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. There's lots more, of course, but that's a start. :-)

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Except that then you miss the bits where stuff from The Winter Prince starts resonating in The Mark of Solomon, which is very cool. I say start with Winter Prince if at all possible.

[emerald-happy.livejournal.com]

*seconds this*

I loved A Coalition of Lions and The Winter Prince too.

[sun-bird-498.livejournal.com]

The Winter Prince is my favorite book of all time. Though of course as my screenname suggests I do especially love the entire series of books by Ms. Wein. :)

[ballet2nite.livejournal.com]

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Candor by Pam Bachorz
and Shannon Hale's Books of Bayern series (Goose Girl)

[ballet2nite.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, and Catherine Gilbert Murdock's Dairy Queen trilogy.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

I should also recommend Catherine Fisher's INCARCERON and SAPPHIQUE, being wonderfully complex genre-defying quasi-historical/fantasy/SF with an awesome premise (a sentient prison which is a whole world in itself, with prisoners on the inside trying to get out and people on the outside trying to get in).

The first book won't be published in the US until 2010, but you can get the UK editions of books 1 and 2 through BookDepository.com (http://www.bookdepository.com/) if you want.

I kind of wish more people had read these books and were as crazy about them as I am, because I am dying for some good INCARCERON fanfic and I don't want to have to write it myself! Maybe next year...

[deirdrej.livejournal.com]

Wow, I love Catherine Fisher, and I haven't read these! I loved DARKHENGE, and that trilogy set in the desert....sort of quasi Egyptian with scorpions, and ARCHIVES......oh, WHAT was it called?

(sorry! I've lost my mind...)

But definitely, Catherine Fisher is wonderful!

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

The Oracle trilogy! I've read those and thought they were good, but IMO, INCARCERON blows them away. It's coming out in the US early next year.

[deirdrej.livejournal.com]

Thank you, R.J.!

I'm definitely adding that one to my list, as well as "Wayfarer"!

This is rather hard, because most of the people I give recommendations to are my own age. :-}

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
And while I'm on that subject...
Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome
the Lord Peter Wimsey books by Dorothy Sayers, starting with Whose Body


My brother really liked The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

Re: This is rather hard, because most of the people I give recommendations to are my own age. :-}

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

YES. I approve of this.

Re: This is rather hard, because most of the people I give recommendations to are my own age. :-}

[harlyn.livejournal.com]

I second the approval! What a wonderful book. Bellwether is fantastic, too.

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad that everyone (well, three people) is (are) seconding my recommendation. It doesn't seem to be making much of an impression on my roomie, though.

"Look, Roomie! Everyone else thinks it's awesome too! You know you want to read it! And I have it right here, just for you! (Except you have to give it back.)"
"Yeah, yeah. I'll get around to it."

Lol.

Re: This is rather hard, because most of the people I give recommendations to are my own age. :-}

[lady-schrapnell.livejournal.com]

Oh, definitely third (or fourth or fifth) it! As you might guess. :)

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

Great username ;-)

[lady-schrapnell.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It's lovely when people recognise the source. I thought of Penwiper first, but it was taken already. :)

[keestone.livejournal.com]

Well, there's always Instead of Three Wishes. ;)

Also, the Chalion series by Lois McMaster Bujold:
The Curse of Chalion
Paladin of Souls
and The Hallowed Hunt

[filkferengi]

Enthusiastically seconding rec for _Instead Of Three Wishes_!

Also, for Gen-like manipulativeness & forward momentum, don't forget the Miles Vorkosigan books by Bujold. _Cordelia's Honor_ & _Young Miles_ should be just the thing.

[veriloquently.livejournal.com]

Seconding *To Say Nothing of the Dog.* It's my go-to gift book because it's perfect for pretty much anyone, no matter what genre they prefer, as long as they love reading. This is one of the few books that I love that I would share with an older male relative and feel confident we'd both enjoy it. Connie Willis is wonderful, and I think this is her funniest, twistiest, and most accessible book.

[inkasrain.livejournal.com]

The "Temeraire" series, by Naomi Novik- it's basically the Napoleonic Wars, just with dragons. It's a terrific series, even (incidentally) for those who don't like fantasy. The dragons are just creatures like any other in these books, and the author really nails down the practicalities of the time and of what dragons would be like. Honestly, the series could easily be classified as ordinary historical fiction if people weren't so strict about quartering off anything fantasy-related into its own nook (pet peeve!)

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

I thought of mentioning this one, and then I didn't. This is another series that I love, and my brother enjoyed it alot as well.

[tiegirl.livejournal.com]

RRelf enjoys these too! Along with the Locke Lamora series.

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

I've sold a LOT of people on Geraldine McCaughrean's The White Darkness. Mother, sister, mother-in-law, husband -- they all loved it.

[diadactic.livejournal.com]

Let me second Instead of Three Wishes, by Megan Whalen Turner. It's an EXCELLENT book, although it seems to be aimed more at younger readers, and is short stories. I love it.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

If you think he'd like Sci Fi, the Vorkosigan books by Lois McMaster Bujold. Start with Cordelia's Honor.

[harlyn.livejournal.com]

Pretty much anything by Gillian Bradshaw--she writes *excellent* historical fiction, mainly in the classical era, with great characterization and a certain amount of humor. Especially Island of Ghosts(Roman Britain), The Bearkeeper's Daughter(Byzantium), or The Wolf Hunt(middle ages France, with a sci-fi element.

[lady-schrapnell.livejournal.com]

Oooh - so rarely see anyone talking about Gillian Bradshaw - except the friend who sent me Island of Ghosts on a hunch. It's probably still my favourite.

[deirdrej.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to say, I LOVE your icon! Moomins!!

BTW, I got my dad the first vol of the Moomin graphic novel, and my brother and sister in law got him Calvin and Hobbes. Both great choices for dads who like comedy, IMO!

Thanks for all the new authors to check out...

[hazelwillow.livejournal.com]

I recently read "Number9Dream" by David Mitchell and liked it a lot: especially if you like first-person narrators who are occasionally mis-leading, and getting to know them despite themselves. :) It's set in Tokyo and has a slightly sci-fi like atmosphere from the way the character narrates (but it's not actually sci-fi). It's interesting and, at points, really exciting.

"The Wars" by Timothy Findlay. This is not exactly "YA," although the main character is young (I mean, my age :)... It's like reading a collection of searing photographs. It's about World War I. It grabs you right in, and it's really short, and really beautiful.

[lady-schrapnell.livejournal.com]

Martha Wells - wonderful world-building and great characters. Also Sherwood Smith. Especially the Inda series for long (in the best possible sense), fabulously involving story, and The Court and Crown Duet for romance that looks as if it has about as much chance as Gen and Irene!

Isn't hooking people on favourite books the best?

[joyfulme.livejournal.com]

Yea for Sherwood Smith! :) Crown Duel was my favorite book for years and years and years!

[hapaxnym.livejournal.com]

Coming in late on this, but I just finished SHADOW MAGIC by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett, which I loved even more than HAVEMERCY, their previous title.

SHADOW MAGIC is a sequel, but perfectly fine on its own; and I especially recommend it to fans of MWT because of the marvellous first person voices of the four viewpoint characters:

Caius Greylace, the wizard -- vaguely Gen-like, but literally mad, bad, and dangerous to know;
Alcibiades, the general -- imagine a cross between Costis and Teleus, who just wants to go home
Mamoru, the prince -- slightly like Sophos, sweet, innocent, well-meaning, but with a steel core
Kouje, the servant -- loyalty and devotion incarnate

The first two serve on a Europeanish diplomatic embassy to the Japan-ish nation of the latter pair, at the conclusion of a multigenerational war. And then much Stuff Happens.

There's a vaguely homerotic subtext if you like that sort of thing, easily ignorable if you don't.

Just splendid.

[readsintrees.livejournal.com]

"Airborne" by Kenneth Oppel if he likes YA adventure.

"The Lies of Locke Lamora" by......someone, if he likes sneaky main characters. Adult fantasy

"Mr. Was" by Pete Hautman. YA fiction, twisty.

"Sabriel" by Garth nix, for YA fantasy.

"The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" by Bill Bryson, adult Non-fic....for hilarity.

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

Yes! Sabriel is a wonderful book, and not at all your standard YA fantasy (or fantasy of any sort). All of that series, actually: Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen. I also liked Garth Nix's "Seventh Tower" books for younger readers and I'll throw those out there, too. Or, alternatively, his "Shade's Children" for some dark dystopian sci-fi.

[readsintrees.livejournal.com]

Also, every time we have one of those "what do you recommend" threads, my Amazon "to read" wishlist gets MUCH longer. I can't keep up!

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

--Bloody Jack, by L.A. Meyer. It's a whole series set in England and American in a very historically accurate rendition of the turn of the nineteenth century. The main character is a girl who, in the first book, disguises herself as a boy to join the Royal Navy, but in the following books has adventures ranging from attending finishing school, to stealing and operating a pirate vessel on the Atlantic, to steaming down the Mississippi on a showboat, to joining Napoleon's army in continental Europe (one more disguised as a boy). She has a lively narrative voice and is extremely clever, and since the books were written by a former Navy officer, you will learn more than you ever needed to know about the parts and operation of a large-scale sailing vessel. The research is thorough and it's fun to see famous figures (Napoleon and William Pitt) rendered as ordinary characters that Jacky can charm, wheedle, lie to and otherwise manipulate much the way she does everyone else.

--Psion, by Joan D. Vinge, whose main character, Cat, starts off a street urchin and in the first chapter is arrested. Afterwards he is spared a prison sentence because he has psionic powers and agrees to train them at a special institute instead. He reminds me a lot of Gen in TT, especially when he's tricking the people who are holding him captive. There's a big emotional aspect to the plot, since the people with psionic powers communicate through telepathy and have trouble hiding their thoughts from each other. However, it's almost exactly the opposite of MWT's books in the sense that there is decidedly *not* a plot twist at the end. I was expecting there to be a huge one, but I thought I knew what it was ahead of time---then it turns out that what I thought was going to be a revelation was already common knowledge to all of the characters and none of them are surprised. Only I was. So it was surprising, because it...wasn't surprising. But it was good. I highly recommend it :)

A few more

[deirdrej.livejournal.com]

I'd definitely recommend the Farsala trilogy, by Hilari Bell. Trust me, they're awesome!

Also The Dream Merchant, by Isabelle Hoving.

Y'all rock my sox!

[sgwordy.livejournal.com]

Holy cow! Have I got lists to make, research to do and bookshelves to peruse! My father-in-law isn't going to know what hit him! :) And I can't wait to dig into some of these myself. Thanks to everyone and keep 'em coming if you have more - haven't actually done any shopping yet so there's still time.

More great fantasy and sci fi...

[deirdrej.livejournal.com]

C.S. Lewis 'Til We Have Faces
OR the space trilogy

Walter Miller. A Canticle For Leibowitz

These are really marvelous (IMO) and I think I forgot to mention them before. ;-D