Home » Discussion Forums » Pollyanna's Booklist » December 2008 recommendations
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| Re: Current recommendation thread [message #6545 is a reply to message #6529 ] |
Mon, 01 December 2008 15:15   |
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My recommendation is a book I read as a teenager, called Up a Road Slowly, by Irene Hunt (no relation). I have a copy and read it about once a year. Very well written, about a young woman who had dreams of being a writer.
"And by the way you look fantastic in your boots of Chinese plastic."
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| Re: Current recommendation thread [message #6549 is a reply to message #6531 ] |
Mon, 01 December 2008 15:56 |
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 Susan from Athens
Messages: 817
Registered: October 2008
Location: Athens, Greece |
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| Lucy Coats wrote on Mon, 01 December 2008 18:35 |
I'd just like to say Yay! Maren! for being so amazing and efficient about archiving, setting up book rec threads and general wonderfulness. Thank you, it's much appreciated. And now (as they say) to the recommendations. I can highly recommend Kate Elliott's first series entitled Crown of Stars (seven books for those who like long runs), and her current one entitled Crossroadsso far containing three books. I am at the present moment so senile (senior member, ya know !  ) that I can't remember if I have previously recommended Jennifer Fallon. Her new series, Tide Lords is fab, and I am currently awaiting the last all the way from the land of Oz as it's not being published in the UK.
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Yay Maren from me too! Actually the Kate Elliott book I always liked best, and methinks it predates the Crown of Stars series is Jaran. New world, old world, older world, insider/outsider cultural differences all dealt with in an interesting manner. And lots of horses for lovers of that kind of thing (nobody around here, of course....)
“I have always imagined heaven to be a kind of library.” –Jorge Luis Borges
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| Re: Current recommendation thread [message #6602 is a reply to message #6529 ] |
Mon, 01 December 2008 22:08 |
Megan
Messages: 57
Registered: October 2008 |
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I think I've mentioned this before, or someone else has, but Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South is a wonderful love story along with a great family drama. If you like Georgette Heyer, you would probably enjoy Gaskell.
[Updated on: Tue, 02 December 2008 15:55]
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| Re: Current recommendation thread [message #6630 is a reply to message #6549 ] |
Tue, 02 December 2008 04:50 |
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Lucy Coats
Messages: 223
Registered: October 2008
Location: Northamptonshire, UK |
Senior Member |
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| Susan from Athens wrote on Mon, 01 December 2008 20:56 |
[Actually the Kate Elliott book I always liked best, and methinks it predates the Crown of Stars series is Jaran. New world, old world, older world, insider/outsider cultural differences all dealt with in an interesting manner. And lots of horses for lovers of that kind of thing (nobody around here, of course....)
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Thanks Susan--that's a new one for me, so shall go and seek it out. Naturally, not a horse lover <g>
Lucy xx
"'Thou shalt not' might reach the head, but it takes 'Once upon a time' to reach the heart."
http://www.scribblecitycentral.blogspot.com
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| Re: Current recommendation thread [message #6633 is a reply to message #6549 ] |
Tue, 02 December 2008 05:10 |
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| Susan from Athens wrote on Tue, 02 December 2008 09:56 |
Yay Maren from me too! Actually the Kate Elliott book I always liked best, and methinks it predates the Crown of Stars series is Jaran. New world, old world, older world, insider/outsider cultural differences all dealt with in an interesting manner. And lots of horses for lovers of that kind of thing (nobody around here, of course....)
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Susan, let me also put my hand up for the Jaran books. I really like these - yes lots of horse stuff, but great world building, and characters and intricate plots, and politics and all sorts. The only real bummer is that the series was just starting to get really interesting and then she stopped. And I doubt she will ever go back to it 
I started off liking the Crown of Stars series but then it started to get weird, so I stopped reading. I couldnt finish the first CrossRoads book, it just didnt do it for me at the time.
But even for the non horse people, Jaran is a good classic SF read.
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| Re: Current recommendation thread [message #6690 is a reply to message #6659 ] |
Tue, 02 December 2008 19:37 |
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| shalea wrote on Tue, 02 December 2008 10:27 |
| ssshunt wrote on Mon, 01 December 2008 15:15 |
My recommendation is a book I read as a teenager, called Up a Road Slowly, by Irene Hunt (no relation). I have a copy and read it about once a year. Very well written, about a young woman who had dreams of being a writer.
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Is this the same Irene Hunt who wrote Across Five Aprils? It's a novel about the Civil War that I had to read in junior high, I believe, but I remember it as being very good.
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I think it is by Irene Hunt. But I'll check.
"And by the way you look fantastic in your boots of Chinese plastic."
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| Re: Current recommendation thread [message #6695 is a reply to message #6529 ] |
Tue, 02 December 2008 19:42 |
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Yes, Irene Hunt wrote Across Five Aprils (did I get that right), too.
X-post with Maren.
[Updated on: Tue, 02 December 2008 19:42]
"And by the way you look fantastic in your boots of Chinese plastic."
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| Re: Current recommendation thread [message #6787 is a reply to message #6529 ] |
Wed, 03 December 2008 11:52 |
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shalea
Messages: 781
Registered: October 2008
Location: Raleigh, North Carolina, ... |
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Thanks all!
And to keep on topic, I'll recommend one of my favorite authors, Barbara Hambly. She's a historian by education and uses that background to give her stories a really convincing sense of place. Add to that characters that feel like real people and interesting plots, and you've got a pretty good idea of her work.
My particular favorites of her fantasy work are, in no particular order: The Time of the Dark, The Walls of Air, and The Armies of Daylight; The Silent Tower and The Silicon Mage; Stranger at the Wedding; Sisters of the Raven and Circle of the Moon; Bride of the Rat God; Ladies of Mandrygyn. Note that in certain of these cases there are related works or sequels which are also good, but I'm not as fond of them as the listed works.
She has a series of mysteries set in 1830's New Orleans which start with A Free Man of Color and are also excellent.
She's also written a book about Renfield (Dracula's guy), a couple of pieces of historical fiction about president's wives, and scads of Star Wars books, none of which I've read yet.
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| Re: Current recommendation thread [message #6856 is a reply to message #6529 ] |
Thu, 04 December 2008 01:27 |
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I really loved Hambly's Silicon Mage stuff--she swears she will write another at some point, but you know how that goes.
"And by the way you look fantastic in your boots of Chinese plastic."
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| Re: Current recommendation thread [message #6883 is a reply to message #6529 ] |
Thu, 04 December 2008 08:47 |
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handyhunter
Messages: 61
Registered: October 2008 |
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I'd like to recommend Brian K Vaughan's Ex Machina. It's an on-going graphic novel with 7 trade volumes so far.
Mitchell Hundred is an accidental superhero turned political figure. He's elected Mayor of NYC after his part in the events of an AU 9/11 (because Hundred, as his alterego, The Great Machine, was there to affect the outcome). I was a bit leery about the 9/11 part, but it's used well, not sensationalized or trivialized for the story.
The story is told in non-linear fashion; I think so far there are three timelines: Mitchell in 'present day' as the Mayor; Mitchell just gaining his powers; Mitchell as a child. It's about Hundred's mayorship (his everyday running of the city - which is sort of its own character too) as well as the mystery of his powers (where'd they come from, why him, what they can do, etc), and how the two are related.
I highly recommend it.
Also, BKV's Faith and Giles arc on Whedon's Buffy Season 8, No Future For You. And his own creation, Runaways (which Whedon later had a run on, which I haven't read yet).
with a wide open country in my eyes
and these romantic dreams in my head - No Surrender, Bruce Springsteen
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| Re: Current recommendation thread [message #6965 is a reply to message #6529 ] |
Thu, 04 December 2008 20:57 |
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Wow, Hambly doesn't update like Robin does. Thank goodness. I mean that Robin does. Leaving now.
"And by the way you look fantastic in your boots of Chinese plastic."
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| Re: Current recommendation thread [message #7104 is a reply to message #6529 ] |
Sat, 06 December 2008 01:26 |
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I got about halfway into the first book and stalled out. Is it really worth continuing? (I seem to be asking this a lot lately...)
"And by the way you look fantastic in your boots of Chinese plastic."
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| Re: Current recommendation thread [message #7105 is a reply to message #7097 ] |
Sat, 06 December 2008 01:28 |
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Nix himself refers to it as a trilogy, though. Just thought I'd point that out... I'll second the recommendation on them, though.
"The center of every man's existence is a dream. Death, disease, insanity, are merely material accidents, like a toothache or a twisted ankle. That these brutal forces always besiege and often capture the citadel does not prove that they are the citadel."
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| Re: Current recommendation thread [message #7141 is a reply to message #6529 ] |
Sat, 06 December 2008 13:52 |
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*ponders*
"And by the way you look fantastic in your boots of Chinese plastic."
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| Re: Current recommendation thread [message #7146 is a reply to message #7141 ] |
Sat, 06 December 2008 16:56 |
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Shelley, did you give up on it before you got to meet Touchstone? Because, I think you ought to at least give him a chance... I loved the books when I read them... however many years ago that was...
"The center of every man's existence is a dream. Death, disease, insanity, are merely material accidents, like a toothache or a twisted ankle. That these brutal forces always besiege and often capture the citadel does not prove that they are the citadel."
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| Re: Current recommendation thread [message #7189 is a reply to message #7105 ] |
Sun, 07 December 2008 01:55 |
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danceswithpahis
Messages: 380
Registered: October 2008 |
Senior Member |
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| Reading Angel wrote on Sat, 06 December 2008 01:28 |
Nix himself refers to it as a trilogy, though. Just thought I'd point that out... I'll second the recommendation on them, though.
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Okay, I hadn't heard that. If that's the author's opinion, then I stand corrected. It's just that it seemed to me to be an original book and then a duology sequel, rather than a trilogy.
Shelley, I agree with what others said. It depends on why you stalled out.
My personal opinion was that I loved Sabriel and Abhorsen. Liriel was good too, but the main characters were very whiny in that book (note that this is not an anti-Pollyanna-ish comment; I felt that it was well-written, felt that their reaction was potentially reasonable and normal, and still liked the book [just not as much as the others]. However, that did take away from the book for me personally).
One thing I liked a lot about Abhorsen was (trying to write this in as unspoiler a way as possible) that Nix's treatment of his "Gollum" character (disclaimer: not saying that he necessarily based this character deliberately on Gollum, just that there were certain similarities) was interesting. There was the hero who had an uncertain relationship with this character (think Frodo-Gollum). There was the hero's sidekick, who couldn't stand this character (think Sam-Gollum). But then he threw in a third character who liked this character and treated him with respect. I enjoyed seeing the way that this played out and the effects on the group dynamics as a whole; perhaps I've said too much (like I said, trying to be discreet), but that made the book a lot better for me.
"Oh good! My dog found the chainsaw!"
-- Lilo ("Lilo and Stitch")
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| Re: Current recommendation thread [message #7230 is a reply to message #6529 ] |
Sun, 07 December 2008 14:01 |
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Well, I was a little confused there... thanks.
"And by the way you look fantastic in your boots of Chinese plastic."
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| Re: Current recommendation thread [message #7653 is a reply to message #6529 ] |
Thu, 11 December 2008 16:02 |
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That sounds really interesting, ArtfulMagpie. Did I get your name right? But I think I wil check this one out.
"And by the way you look fantastic in your boots of Chinese plastic."
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| Re: Current recommendation thread [message #7727 is a reply to message #6529 ] |
Fri, 12 December 2008 09:52 |
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L.R.K.
Messages: 1080
Registered: October 2008
Location: Sweden |
Senior Member |
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I liked "The Doomsday Book" too - and I also liked that, if it didn't romaticise the past, neither did it demonise it. Without moralising, it made it clear that "modern" people can be just as unreasonable and eager to look for scapegoats, for instance, as people in the past - people are people, simply.
Why, I feel all thin, sort of stretched, if you know what I mean, like butter that has been scraped over too much bread.
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December 2008 recommendations
