Fiction recommendations.

[mrissa]

I've been going through the fiction on my library list at an alarming rate, because I'm not interspersing it with nonfiction at the moment. Don't know when I'll get my ability to read nonfiction back, but it doesn't seem to go well with the vertigo. So in the meantime: what fiction should I read? Recommend something, or more than one something. If I've already read it, that's okay; I'll tell you, and you can recommend something else, or not, as you like.

I read books aimed at any age of person. The main genre constraint I have is that I tend to bounce hard off genre romance, and horror and traditional westerns are not generally my cup of tea.

In other news, Ista is really not at all thrilled with this entire holiday, and she's alternating between running around wanting to figure out what those noises are and trying to stay hidden and safe behind the living room couch.

I watched the first half of Good Night and Good Luck with today's workout. Seemed appropriate. Happy Independence Day, all those of you who celebrate it today.

Comments

[biguglymandoll.livejournal.com]

I have to assume you're pretty well rounded in the reading department, or I wouldn't have found your LJ, but...

A guy named George C. Chesbro and his "Mongo the Magnificent" series was, in fact, magnificent for the first 4-5 books. If you can find them, start with _Shadow of a Broken Man_. _The Beasts of Valhalla_ and _Two Songs This Archangel Sings_ should be read in order. Great good fun, and my recollection of the writing was first rate. Think Parker's Spenser with some sci-fi/fantasy, and Vlad's sense of humor and emotion. Anyway, I liked them.

The other one, and this is where you say "Well, duh, of course I've read that," is Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry, one of the best fantasy trilogies I've ever read. (I wondered how this guy came up with this amazing stuff, until I found out he'd spent several years working with his buddy Chris, helping him peice together Chris' father's writings. Yep, that would be Chris Tolkien, publishing The Silmarillion. Sheesh. No wonder Guy Kay knows his onions.) Our protagonists leave from Toronto to Fionavar, which reads a lot like Amber in theory (and less so in practice). OK, Amber meets Narnia - something like that, but better than I'm describing.

And of course, for light snacks in between, I go to Terry Pratchett's Discworld. I never fail to stay up all night laughing my butt off, waking up bleary-eyed from not sleeping and sore from laughing.

So, that's my two cents. Enjoy!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I do like GGK and Terry Pratchett both, but I haven't encountered the Chesbro stuff.

[biguglymandoll.livejournal.com]

Have you read GGK's recent YA, _Ysabel_? Set in our world with some Sqee! moments for me. Definately YA, and may not be his best work, but a fun read.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yah, I enjoyed that, though I found some aspects of it kind of clunky.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

If you like Pinkwater, do you read Bruce Coville?

Also early Gordon Korman-- the Macdonald Hall books, A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Bag, Son of Interflux, and my personal favorite, Losing Joe's Place, which is one of those rare books that for me at least never stops being funny. Warning: at some point in the mid-nineties Korman went off the rails and started writing formulaic teen thrillers, which should be avoided like the plague.

I have been cheerfully rereading Pamela Service's mad post-nuclear Arthurian duology, beginning with Winter of Magic's Return, and apparently they're even back in print.

Oh, and Wilanne Scheider Belden! A far-better-than-usual psychic kids trilogy and two sweet, gentle fantasy standalones.

And if your library can has it, because no one else will, Elizabeth Goudge's Valley of Song, which is sort of a YA cross between Mirrlees and George MacDonald with a touch of Kipling.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I do read Bruce Coville, yes. I ran into him at World Fantasy last year, because I spotted one of his books on a dealer's table when his name badge was turned around and started babbling at stillnotbored about his stuff and how I'd done an encyclopedia article about it. So he turned his badge around and asked me to send him the article. I was very pleased that he thought I'd gotten what he was doing with his books. Yay Bruce Coville. Nice guy, good writer.

The same conversation with alecaustin and zed_lopez that got me Daniel Pinkwater also got me Gordon Korman, but I haven't read all of the old stuff yet (or any of the new stuff), so thanks for the reminder.

I've read the first of the Service books from a library book sale but not the second. The library has other Elizabeth Goudge but not Valley of Song -- do you know if her other stuff is worthwhile?