What other books do you read?

[myng.livejournal.com]

Hi,

I'm newly de-lurked and was commenting on threads elsewhere when I realised that some of us here share the same tastes in similar books (quite a few of us here like the Miles books also). So I was wondering if you all would like to share favourite titles on your bookshelf? I'm always looking for good books to read and think recommendations from people who share my love for some of my fave books would turn out great most of the time.

Shall I begin? Some of my favourite titles aside from The Thief/QOA/KOA:

Sci fic/fantasy/paranormal stuff:
1. The Miles Vorkosigan series, Lois McMaster Bujold
2. The Weather Warden series, Rachel Caine
3. The Temeraire books, Naomi Novik
4. The Archangel books, Sharon Shinn
5. Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay

Light/Cozy mysteries:
1. The Madeline Bean mysteries, Jerrilyn Farmer
2. Abby Cooper (Psychic eye mysteries), Victoria Laurie
3. The early Stephanie Plum books, Janet Evanovich

YA:
1. Princess Academy/Goose Girl, Shannon Hale
2. Uglies/Pretties/Specials, Scott Westerfeld
3. Summers in Castle Auburn, Sharon Shinn
4. Silver Metal Lover, Tanith Lee
5. Many Heinlein juveniles
6. Some of Meg Cabot's non-princess books
7. The Harry Potters

Currently starting: The Decoy Princess, Dawn Cook (hope this is good!)

That's all from the top of my head...hope this thread hasn't been too out of topic for the Community.

Comments

[avian-xj.livejournal.com]

wow... my reading list gets longer and longer every day(which is not necessarily a bad thing). :)

Some of my favorite books:
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - Tolkien
The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
Books by Gerald Morris(mostly King Arthur stuff)
Shades of Simon Gray - Joyce McDonald
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith
Tithe & Valiant - Holly Black
Some of these are from when I was younger and some I've just finished, but they're the ones I remember off the top of my head right now :)

[myng.livejournal.com]

I have Tithe on my to-be-read shelf but couldn't seem to start it somehow. So it's good? I'll get on to it soon.

[allthingevil123.livejournal.com]

i started on the weather warden series and got as far as the first book, they were good i prefer the dresden files, simon r greens nightside and hawk and fisher series and catherine webb....

[myng.livejournal.com]

I read ONE dresden files book and stopped...I'm not sure which but I remembered thinking that the graphic/gory scenes disturbed me and it spoiled my enjoyment? To be honest, I can't remember a thing about it apart from it being gory. Maybe I'll try another again soon. For the record, I didn't like the Anita Blake books too...so maybe I'm just not into such books.

You mean you read the 1st weather warden series and liked it but you didn't feel compelled to read on? I started with the 2nd book and read the rest in a hurry. It was only last month while on a vacation that I finally picked up book 1 from the airport and decided to read it to complete my collection. Funny thing about the Weather Warden books is that I don't even find the plot/premise that interesting. But the pacing of the books is so great that it's like watching a movie...it's addictive.

[allthingevil123.livejournal.com]

i have a feeling i know what you're saying, the first part of storm front is a little gory to say the least, but is you read the next one i thought they just got better and better (and less gory) i'm eagerly awaiting no.9 but thats not until next year.
anita blake was ok up until about book 5 or so and then it just...i refuse to buy anymore of those books.
i don't think i've read more of the weather warden series cos its not really easy to get hold of cos most bookshops don't stock it so i have to order it off amazon which i rarely do...

[myng.livejournal.com]

Do you have a favourite which you would recommend? I'd like to give it another chance...I've yet to find a good paranormal series that I like that well. I've tried Chairlaine Harris (ok), but have not read Kelly Armstrong or Sherilyn Kenyon (they do paranormal I think).

[allthingevil123.livejournal.com]

my fav would have to be either 4 (summer knight), 5 (death masks) or 7 (dead beat), if you've read the first one though i would recommend for go for the next one though fool moon...
i know i mentioned it earlier but catherine webb is a good author, david eddings redemption of althalus is a good book (like eugenides but older)

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Well, everyone always knows what I'm currently reading, right? :)

I LOVED Goose Girl and Enna Burning by Shannon Hale. Enna is the sequel--have you read it?

Some things I've read recently that I've liked. The Bujold books, of course, lots of DWJ, Criss Cross (Perkins), Rosemary Sutcliff, Elizabeth Wein, A Town Like Alice (Shute), Stardust (Gaiman), the Pagan books (Jinks), Morris' Arthur books, Crossley-Holland's Seeing Stone books, Twilight (Meyer), House of the Scorpion (Farmer). Some of my favorite authors are McKinley, Le Guin, McKillip, Bradbury. Lots more.

MWT posted a list of older favorites of hers. You can see it here, scroll toward the bottom.

http://community.livejournal.com/sounis/32025.html

[myng.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link! And your list of books. I am constantly looking out for books to add to my to-be-read list. I do enjoy many of the books I read but I'm always on the lookout for "keepers" so to say. Those are rare and it's my mission to continue collecting keeper books ;)

I have not read Enna Burning...but will get it together with River Secrets later. But while I liked Goose Girl alot, I prefer Princess Academy...it touched me more.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I liked Goose Girl better, though I think Princess deserved its Newbery Honor. Part of the reason, I think, is that I was in an online discussion of Goose and Enna and Shannon Hale came and discussed with us. It was wonderful. I can't wait for River Secrets.

[dh684.livejournal.com]

I love Sharon Shinn's books, Archangel being my favorite. I also loved GGK's Tigana and The Lions of Al-Rassan. I read Novik's His Majesty's Dragon, enjoyed it and I have the other two subsequent books TBR. You might also enjoy Patricia Briggs. My favorite of hers is Dragon Blood. I'm currently reading and enjoying Michelle Sagara's Cast in Courtlight, sequel to Cast in Shadow.

Mysterywise, I've liked Margaret Maron's Deborah Knott series. Elizabeth Peters' Vicky Bliss series (when will she write another book in this series?) and if you can find it, Ellen Emerson White's ALL EMERGENCIES RING SUPER is a really fun read. (I also enjoy Jan Burke's Irene Kelly series but these books are definitely not cozies).

I don't generally read a lot of YA but I've liked Libba Bray's books (picked up the first based on the cover) and I recently enjoyed Sarah Dessen's Just Listen (contemporary, not fantasy setting).

[myng.livejournal.com]

Archangel's also my favourite...the rest are good reads but forgettable. Summer at Castle Auburn is really good, if you have not read it. It's more YA I think.

I ALSO bought Libba Bray's Great and Terrible Beauty for the cover! It was gorgeous, wasn't it? I liked it but don't see the need to go get the next book in hardcover...so maybe I don't find it that compelling. Sometimes I don't understand myself...or maybe my expectations were too high.

Let me know what you think after you've read the rest of Naomi Novik's books? I don't wanna comment now seeing that you have not read them. But His Majesty's Dragon is my newest keeper.

I've read Michelle Sagara when she was Michelle West. Can't recall a thing. Maybe I'll try her again.

I'll be checking out your mystery recos, thanks.


ps: For those who read above that I was reading Dawn Cook's Decoy Princess earlier, I've finished it yesterday. It's really good, I'd recommend it for those who like a spunky heroine, betrayal, politics, mentors, assasins, thieves, cheats, poison, rescue, friendship, sea-sailing...and a fairly breezy style of writing. (Yes, I'd never make a good book-reviewer :) I'll be getting the 2nd book later this week.

[willow-41z.livejournal.com]

Oh, tell me what you think of the 2nd one! I read Decoy Princess but was ambivalent about it; I'd be interested to hear how the next compares.

[dh684.livejournal.com]

I've read and enjoyed Summers at Castle Auburn too. I'm looking forward to Thirteenth House but I'm trying to hold off for the pb.

I tried to jump into one of Michelle West's books, mid-point in the series, but the books are too dense. The ones she's written under the Sagara name for Luna are much shorter and more accessible (with a very, very sarcastic heroine).

And I will get to the Novik books eventually. I've got a really large TBR pile.

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

I ALSO bought Libba Bray's Great and Terrible Beauty for the cover!

*laughs*
I did too :)

Archangel

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

myng, Readerville's site is featuring Archangel as the Aug. YA book discussion, and Sharon Shinn has dropped by to post, too.

Re: Archangel

[myng.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the heads up. I was just thinking of re-reading it...it's a good opportunity to do so now.

[willow-41z.livejournal.com]

I've seen the Libba Bray books in the library but held off on reading them. Is there a lot of supernatural stuff, or is it more magic?

[dh684.livejournal.com]

Not sure I understand the distinction, but early on, in the first book, the main character has these premonitions and she is visited by a young girl spirit. It's very gothic - she's at this boarding school for young ladies in the middle of nowhere. Later on, I think about midway through, she discovers she has this ability to move between worlds, bringing along her friends, into this magical realm where all their desires become reality upon first thought. The girls become addicted, drunk on their new powers. Of course, they're playing with fire, the unfortunate consequences of which are played out by book's end.

I ended up borrowing these books from the library. In the end, I didn't need to own them. While they're interesting books, the characters aren't always sympathetic.

Everything

[willow-41z.livejournal.com]

Madeleine L'Engle, L. M. Mongtomery, Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell (I've only read North and South so far but it was very good), Dorothy Gilman (she writes the Mrs. Pollifax series, which is light spy fluff, as well as some other books. Incident at Badamya was very good). I've just started the Vorkosigan series and gotten through the first two; I have three and a half shelves full of Star Wars books, the best being Zahn's Thrawn trilogy and the X-wing squadron series. Anne McCaffrey's earlier Pern stuff is good, as well as some of the later stuff if you don't read it for the original characters. Robin McKinley, Sherwood Smith and Tolkien, of course, are also good for fantasy. I have some Tamora Pierce which I reread occasionally, especially the Kel and Daine books, and Orson Scott Card's Battle School books. He also wrote Enchantment, which was a retelling of Sleeping Beauty that I liked.

Re: Everything

[myng.livejournal.com]

How did you find the the Vorkosigan series so far? While I know plenty of people who like it, but many don't, so it's good to see what new readers think.

I'm not sure but I think one of the reasons I liked them so much was that I read those books over years...practically growing up in tandem with Miles. We're about the same age now! I think the emotional attachment plays a big part in why you (I) like some books beyond reason.

Re: Everything

[willow-41z.livejournal.com]

Sorry... forgot this for some reason!

I've only read through the Warrior's Apprentice, but I like it so far. I like Cordelia and Aral a lot more than Miles, and I wish there was a book about the Regency. But I think it's exceedingly well-written, and the descriptions and all are spot-on. As someone (checkers maybe?) said, there are really no good or bad characters except for a couple, like Vorrutyer.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Just off the top of my head, a few things I'd rec (or have already recced) to people here...

George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series (Beware, only 4 of the planned 7 books are out so far)
Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series and the Curse of Chalion-world books
Tinker by Wen Spencer
The Flambards trilogy (which is actually 4 books) by K.M. Peyton
Sarah, Plain and Tall and the 4 sequels (woo-hoo!) by Patricia MacLachlan
The "Tales of the Otori" trilogy by Lian Hearn (Book 4 is coming this fall and a prequel next year - fake Medieval Japan, with magic and a trickster hero)
The "Crown of Stars" series by Kate Elliott (7 books, but at least they're all out, unlike Martin)
Sunshine by Robin McKinley

Some mysteries:
Charles Todd's post WW I mysteries
Phillip Kerr's Bernie Gunther books
Dick Francis
Dennis Lehane
Francis Fyfield
Minette Walters
Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko books
River of Darkness by Rennie Airth
Johnny Under Ground by Patricia Moyes

OK, shutting up now.

[adjrun.livejournal.com]

For YA fantasy, I really like Tamora Pierce and Patricia Wrede. Chris Wooding is a little trickier to find, but good. I adore Neil Gaiman. And I have to echo the recs for George R. R. Martin -- his A Song of Ice and Fire series is absolutely brilliant.