Home » Discussion Forums » Pollyanna's Booklist » Nov.-Dec. 2009 recommendation thread
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| Re: Nov.-Dec. 2009 recommendation thread [message #23103 is a reply to message #22474 ] |
Thu, 12 November 2009 17:03   |
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 Beauty/Anna
Messages: 481
Registered: November 2008
Location: America |
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Someone has probably already suggested this, The Book of three and all the rest of the Prydain books—the chronicles of Prydain.
[Updated on: Thu, 12 November 2009 17:04]
"You are your best resource for success"
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| Re: Nov.-Dec. 2009 recommendation thread [message #23454 is a reply to message #23273 ] |
Thu, 19 November 2009 23:35 |
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| Erika in Colorado wrote on Mon, 16 November 2009 17:40 |
OK, since people seemed interested in the book I recommended on the other thread, I thought I'd post it here as well. The book is Beast by Donna Jo Napoli. It's a Beauty and the Beast tale set in Persia and told from the Beast's POV. I also like her writing in general and she rewrites lots of fairy tales (which probably appeals to this crowd  ).
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I read this a while ago, its really good!
I tried other Napoli books after this but didnt like them which was a shame.
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| Re: Nov.-Dec. 2009 recommendation thread [message #23494 is a reply to message #22474 ] |
Sat, 21 November 2009 04:13 |
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L.R.K.
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Registered: October 2008
Location: Sweden |
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Terry Pratchett: "The Wee Free Men" - The first Tiffany Aching book. A wonderful book with a wonderful heroine, lovely characters like Granny Aching (deceased), and - of course - the Nac Mac Feegle, the Wee Free Men of the title, here faced with an unknown and unseen danger:
"'Wut's the plan, Rob?' said one of them.
'OK, lads, this is what we'll do. As soon as we see somethin', we'll attack it. Right?'
This caused a cheer.
'Ach, 'tis a good plan,' said Daft Wullie."
Rudyard Kipling: "Just So Stories" - My favourite (as the cat fanatic I am) is of course 'The Cat that Walked by Himself', but it's a fun book over all; here's an extract from 'How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin':
"--- one Rhinoceros with a horn on his nose, two piggy eyes, and few manners. In those days the Rhinoceros's skin fitted him quite tight. There were no wrinkles in it anywhere. He looked exactly like a Noah's Ark Rhinoceros, but of course much bigger. All the same, he had no manners then, and he has no manners now, and he never will have any manners."
"Best Cat Stories" edited by Lesley O'Mara - short story collection with stories from authors as diverse as Zola and Wodehouse; also, among others: Colette, Patricia Highsmith, James Herriot, Mark Twain, Joyce Stranger, Doreen Tovey and Doris Lessing. Of course Kipling is represented with 'The Cat that Walked by Himself'. My favourite story is probably 'Heathcliff' by Lloyd Alexander, from his book "My Five Tigers".
Patricia A McKillip: "Ombria in Shadow" - Gorgeous. As is the cover by Kinuko Y Craft, which is just right for it:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/patricia-a-mckillip/ombr ia-in-shadow.htm
Mark Twain: "Life on the Mississippi" (Re-read) - "When I was a boy, there was but one permanent ambition among my comrades in our village on the west bank of the Mississippi River. That was to be a steamboatman."
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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| Re: Nov.-Dec. 2009 recommendation thread [message #24040 is a reply to message #23994 ] |
Mon, 07 December 2009 21:27 |
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Melissa Mead
Messages: 996
Registered: October 2008
Location: Albany, NY, USA |
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| Beauty/Anna wrote on Sun, 06 December 2009 18:20 |
Has anyone here read Wolfskin, Heir to Sevenwaters, or Daughter of the Forest all by Juliet Marillier? Would any of you recommend them? I love Cybele's Secret and Wildwood Dancing by her, but these look very different.
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Yes, yes, if that's the new one, not yet, and yes.
I think Daughter of the Forest comes before Heir to Sevenwaters?
It's been years, but I liked them.
Member of Carpe Libris: http://carpelibris.wordpress.com/
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| Re: Nov.-Dec. 2009 recommendation thread [message #24071 is a reply to message #22474 ] |
Wed, 09 December 2009 12:19 |
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Beauty/Anna
Messages: 481
Registered: November 2008
Location: America |
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Thank you Melissa, and yes Daughter of the Forest does come before Heir to Seven Waters.
As for a recommendation The World of Pooh by A. A. Milne.
I don't think I will ever forget tiddely-pom.
[Updated on: Wed, 09 December 2009 12:21]
"You are your best resource for success"
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| Re: Nov.-Dec. 2009 recommendation thread [message #24830 is a reply to message #23494 ] |
Wed, 30 December 2009 17:28 |
Kim A
Messages: 117
Registered: August 2009
Location: Vancouver, Canada |
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I LOVE the Tiffany Aching books. The Nac Mac Feegles are one of the great fantasy creations: just saying their name makes me happy! I think Terry Pratchett is brilliant, but I get tired of his adult books; IMHO his kids books are much better. Have you tried the Bromeliad trilogy? (Truckers, Diggers, Wings.) Oh, but I do have to recommend Good Omens, which he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman, so it can't help but be good. (Typical line: "You can't second-guess ineffability, I always say.")
And Patricia A. McKillip I haven't read in years, but I remember loving the Throme of the Erril of Sherril and the Riddlemaster of Hed. (Speaking of horrible, nasty cliffhanger endings, I think the first book of that trilogy ended with something like: "He looked up and screamed.") I haven't heard of Ombria in Shadow: I shall have to look it up.
It was the only lullaby she would ever sing, and it was sung in Hell. --Laini Taylor
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| Re: Nov.-Dec. 2009 recommendation thread [message #24893 is a reply to message #24835 ] |
Fri, 01 January 2010 20:46 |
Kim A
Messages: 117
Registered: August 2009
Location: Vancouver, Canada |
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| librarykat wrote on Wed, 30 December 2009 19:45 |
| Kim A wrote on Wed, 30 December 2009 16:28 |
And Patricia A. McKillip I haven't read in years, but I remember loving the Throme of the Erril of Sherril and the Riddlemaster of Hed. (Speaking of horrible, nasty cliffhanger endings, I think the first book of that trilogy ended with something like: "He looked up and screamed.") I haven't heard of Ombria in Shadow: I shall have to look it up.
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And I read that book as soon as it was published more than 30 years ago. You should have heard ME scream upon reading that last line. Urk!
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Oh, dear, so you had to wait for the next book to be published? How agonizing! (Not, ahem, that we faithful fans begrudge the time it takes for authors to finish their sequels (or not-sequels, as the case may be). We can be very, very patient.  )
As I recall, I had taken Riddlemaster out of the library, and they didn't have Heir of Wind and Fire, so I had somewhat of a delay in reading the sequel, but I'm sure it wasn't as long as yours. It's now been published all in one volume, and I own it . . . or I did, but it's not on my shelves now. Wonder who I lent it to . . .
It was the only lullaby she would ever sing, and it was sung in Hell. --Laini Taylor
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| Re: Nov.-Dec. 2009 recommendation thread [message #24905 is a reply to message #24830 ] |
Sat, 02 January 2010 11:00 |
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L.R.K.
Messages: 1090
Registered: October 2008
Location: Sweden |
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I'd better hurry up and answer before we are "thrown out" from this thread.
| Kim A wrote on Wed, 30 December 2009 23:28 |
I LOVE the Tiffany Aching books. The Nac Mac Feegles are one of the great fantasy creations: just saying their name makes me happy! I think Terry Pratchett is brilliant, but I get tired of his adult books; IMHO his kids books are much better. Have you tried the Bromeliad trilogy? (Truckers, Diggers, Wings.) Oh, but I do have to recommend Good Omens, which he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman, so it can't help but be good. (Typical line: "You can't second-guess ineffability, I always say.")
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My favourite Terry Pratchett is "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents", very closely followed by "Wee Free Men" - for a cat fanatic like myself, it's Maurice who tips the balance. I do love his adult Discworld novels - I think the key not to "burn out" on them is not to read too many of them in too close succession, but then I try not to do that with any author. Actually it took me a while to go from "like" to "love" with them - my brain had a little trouble adjusting to the chapter-less pacing. I haven't read the Bromeliad - yet. "Good Omens" however... My favourite quote:
"Two of them lurked in the ruined graveyard. Two shadowy figures, one hunched and squat, the other lean and menacing, both of them Olympic-grade lurkers. If Bruce Springsteen had ever recorded "Born to Lurk", these two would have been on the album cover."
So, needless to say, I second your rec! (I can't remember if I already rec'd it or no...)
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And Patricia A. McKillip I haven't read in years, but I remember loving the Throme of the Erril of Sherril and the Riddlemaster of Hed. (Speaking of horrible, nasty cliffhanger endings, I think the first book of that trilogy ended with something like: "He looked up and screamed.") I haven't heard of Ombria in Shadow: I shall have to look it up.
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Oh, if you haven't read it, may I recommend "Winter Rose" as well? I can't choose which is my favourite Patricia A McKillip - that or "Ombria in Shadow". I don't remember that cliffhanger-ending - but then those books I did read in close succession - otherwise, I'd probably been driven insane by it. (I was getting the LOTR from a book-club one book a month - but when I got to the ending of the second book, I just had to have the third at once, so rushed out to the library to get it - and therefore the third book is slightly less worn than the other two, having been read one time less.)
Librarykat - I sympathise! That must have been just - awful!
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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| Re: Nov.-Dec. 2009 recommendation thread [message #24911 is a reply to message #22474 ] |
Sat, 02 January 2010 14:03 |
Kim A
Messages: 117
Registered: August 2009
Location: Vancouver, Canada |
Senior Member |
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I just looked up Patricia McKillip online, because our library is woefully short of her. I was wrong about the second Riddlemaster title: it's Heir of Sea and Fire, and the third is Harpist in the Wind. The library does have Winter Rose, so I shall go get that one today. (I still have two days of holiday left; I can read that one, and finish Bujold's Cordelia's Honor (which I'm enjoying, thanks for the rec, whichever thread that was on!), and take down the decorations and clean up after New Year's Eve and . . . sigh.)
Oh, and I'd forgotten about the Forgotten Beasts of Eld! (McKillip again)
[Updated on: Sat, 02 January 2010 14:10]
It was the only lullaby she would ever sing, and it was sung in Hell. --Laini Taylor
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| Re: Nov.-Dec. 2009 recommendation thread [message #24913 is a reply to message #24905 ] |
Sat, 02 January 2010 14:14 |
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| L.R.K. wrote on Sat, 02 January 2010 11:00 |
My favourite Terry Pratchett is "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents", very closely followed by "Wee Free Men" - for a cat fanatic like myself, it's Maurice who tips the balance. I do love his adult Discworld novels - I think the key not to "burn out" on them is not to read too many of them in too close succession, but then I try not to do that with any author. Actually it took me a while to go from "like" to "love" with them - my brain had a little trouble adjusting to the chapter-less pacing.
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I've read most of his adult Discworld books, though I agree... no more than two in a row, and generally as asides to something else. Off-the-wall humor stops being nearly so funny when it gets normalized in your head. The chapterless thing is... challenging for me. I -try- to use chapters as stopping points, because otherwise I just read, and read, and read. When there ARE no chapters? I don't want to stop until the end of the book (the only natural stop there is). If I recall correctly, some of his more recent ones have had chapters, though a bit scarce.
To make this properly in the recommendation thread, I've been happily devouring my way through Simon R Green's body of work, when I can find them. He's got four serieses, in two or three universes. There's the "Tales from Nightside" set, which are sort of pulp PI books, set in a hidden section of London, populated by all the weird things; there's the Shaman Bond series, which intersects some with Nightside and are more adventure/spy type novels (the first one is The Man with the Golden Torc); there's his Deathstalker series, which I am going through much slower, due to most of them being frustratingly out of print, but they're space opera novels, set in the far future, I -think- they're the far future of Nightside/Bond, but it's a little fuzzy; and finally, there's his Hawk and Fisher series, which I've only just found the first of (they are also, sadly, out of print for the most part).
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Nov.-Dec. 2009 recommendation thread
