While She Knits

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Gosh, it's been quiet around here!

What great things have you read recently that are totally obscure?  Something other people are unlikely to ever find on their own?

I'll go first:

Boris by Cynthia Rylant - if you've ever loved a pet, you'll like this one.  So sweet!  And, it's told in verse.

A teen sci-fi series that you'll like if you're a Star Trek nerd * - the Galahad series by Dom Testa.  A comet has infected the earth with a disease that is killing off all the adults.  As a last-ditch effort to save the human race, scientists build a spaceship to travel to another planet, and choose 251 disease-free teens who must learn how to get the ship there, and colonize the planet.  Lots of fun.  The first book is The Comet's Curse.



* No, not me.  Not a bit.

Comments

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

This is a great discussion, and I'm hoping it isn't too late for me to jump in. Like Deirdre, I'd also like to plug The Ten Thousand Things, the Man Who Was Thursday, Sherryl Jordan, and the Farsala trilogy. But also-

1. An online friend has written a book I've mentioned before, which might appeal to us Megan Whalen Turner fans. It's called His Own Good Sword, and her name is Amanda McCrina.

2. A book that had a powerful effect on me when I read it as a teenager: I am David by Ann Holm. This is the story of a young boy given the chance to escape from a Communist labor camp, and told only that he must travel north through Europe to Denmark.

3. I don't know why no one reads the Ranvan series, by Canadian author Diana Wieler. They're really kind of great, even though, when I try to describe them, they can sound like they've got everything but the kitchen sink. Comics! Videogames! Destiny! Superpowers! Abuse survivors! Cancer! Aids! Neonazis! Teenagers acting crazy! - ;)

You get the picture. But seriously, this is an underrated set of books that should be better known. Especially the final one in the trilogy, Ranvan: Magic Nation.

4. I also love Sally Prue's Cold Tom. It's a remarkable book; short but intense. But somehow I've never come across a bad retelling of Tam Lin. This may be one of the most troubling and original retellings. As a teen reviewer said, don't let the fact that it's short and seems to be aimed at young kids stop you from reading this one.

5. Speaking of retellings of Tam Lin, I shouldn't forget The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope.

6. And childhood books that still touch me deeply - The Singing Tree, by Kate Seredy

7. Till We Have Faces, by C.S. Lewis - I think this is his best book; a wonderful character study of an intelligent, passionate, physically ugly woman.

8. And I will always, always love L.M. Boston. Deirdrej introduced me to her books when we were both small children.