Book recommendations?

[rowyn]

I biked to my local library yesterday. For a few years, Lut and I used to go to the library regularly: we'd go online, request  books to be delivered to the nearest branch and placed on hold, then pick them up when we were emailed that they were in. The interlibrary loan system was sufficiently good that it was rather like ordering books on Amazon, except that you didn't have to pay and you had to go a few miles to get them instead.

 

I am not sure why we stopped going. Maybe we exhausted the backlist of books we knew we wanted to read. But as I was biking past the library a few weeks ago, I thought Hey, maybe I should check out some of the books I'm too cheap to pay  $9.99 for from Amazon.

 

So yesterday, I finally brought my ID with me on a bike ride and acquired a new library card.  I promptly went through and placed holds on the books I could remember being interested in, which was largely "Books by howardtayler's Friends". I am not sure why those are the books I could recall off the top of my head.

 

But I am looking for more book recommendations!  Recommendations for inexpensive e-books not likely to appear in the library are also welcome; I don't mind paying a few dollars for a book.  And classics that are in the public domain are also good: I finished rereading all the Austen novels, which is part of why I am jonesing for more books. For genres, I like sf, fantasy, and romance. I am happy with the various sub-genres of those (urban fantasy, supernatural, etc.)  I prefer books that are generally upbeat -- I am okay with the occasional pivotal character who gets killed or horribly traumatized, but I like stories that have protagonists with whom I sympathize and who get mostly-happy endings.

 

Any suggestions?

Comments

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

Have you read Soulless by Gail Carriger?

-TG

[nkcmike.livejournal.com]

No specific recommendations, but this website is a good resource for decision making.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I haven't read a lot of genre fiction that I thought was tremendously inspiring lately. SPIN (I can't remember the author) and Hull Zero Three (Greg Bear), and Glen Cook's Instrumentality of the Night books, might catch your interest. Other fun stuff that I thought was worth reading: Packing for Mars by Mary Roach (or anything by her reallly) and Flawless by Scott Selby and Greg Campbell.

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Just to make sure you know: all David Weber's Honor Harrington books (in hardcover) include a CD with the previous books by that author. The same is true for Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan books. You may have these books already, but if not, I figure it is good to know.

Beyond that, I would avoid Lois McMaster Bujold's Sharing Knife books, but I would recommend her Curse of Chalion books.

Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastard books are highly entertaining if you like con men and rogues in a fantasy milieu! The Lies of Lock Lamora, and Red Skies, Red Seas.

On the ebooks front: Sorcery & Cecilia, by Patricia C. Wrede, is followed by The Mislaid Magician and the Grand Tour.

I picked up Elizabeth Moon's 'The Deed of Paksenarion' from Baen, along with 'The Legacy of Gird'. The first book, 'Sheepfarmer's Daughter' is a free ebook from Baen and can be downloaded from their library. Fantasy but with grit and sweat.

You undoubtedly already have read Walter Jon Williams's Drake Majistral books, but I enjoyed rereading them in ebook form anyway. Support the author and all that.

Have you read the Liaden books by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller? I'd suggest beginning with "Balance of Trade" if you like merchanters, or "Agent of Change" if you like science fiction action.

Just making sure, you've read archangelbeth's stuff right?

[rowyn]

I've read almost al Bujold's books (what do you have against The Sharing Knife? I loved those!) although I'm sure she has a few from the last couple of years that I haven't read yet.

I read Sorcery and Cecelia when it came out a million years ago and remember liking it, so I should give that read.

I bought all three Maijstral books when you linked to their e-release -- thank you for that. :) I'd read them before but ... yeah, happy to read them again and have them in e-form.

[rowyn]

I read the first Liaden book a bazillion years ago and didn't care for it, but should probably give it another chance. I did like the Paksenarrion books. And I've not read Achangelbeth's work, no.

Anyway, thanks for the recommendations! I will give the stuff I haven't read a look. :)

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Sharing Knife: starting to suspiciously resemble Little Home on the Prairie or something like that! I lost interest on the recent ones.

Beyond that, as long as you're digging into the library, you might see if you can find:

David Gerrold's "Chess with the Dragon"
Anything by big name SF authors - Heinlein, Harry Harrison, Asimov, Bradbury, plus Vernor Vinge, Robert L. Forward, Charles Sheffield...

The Liaden books should, referring to above recommendation, particularly appeal to your love of SF and romance, since love does feature strongly into many of the books, as does a courtly manner of speech.

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Queen of Roses is the standalone I'd recommend from archangelbeth's work! Her Lord Alchemist series (beginning with Herb-Witch and completed in Herb-Wife) is a duology set in a fantasy universe, be noted.

I prefer books about traders to books about derring-do pilots and mercenaries so I enjoyed Balance of Trade more than the other Liaden books, maybe see if you're the same way?

[argonel.livejournal.com]

You should look at what seanen_mcguire has been writing both under her own name and as Mira Grant. There is a reason she had 4 Hugo nominations this year even if she only collected one of the rocket ships.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

On a recommendation from a friend, I started reading the "Old Man's War" series by John Scalzi. Clearly, either he went forwards in time and stole all my ideas from Space Otters or I read the books before and didn't remember reading them or something, because, wow.

Except the otters. They are not furry books in any way. It's also a very different universe in general.

But they have an evil corporation running humanity's 'government' in space, 'clones' that aren't quite human to replace people, a plague used as a pretext to quarantine a population, cybernetics used for everything, and the second book has someone's clone that they tried to turn into a replacement for him by copying his old consciousness over it only it fails because they didn't know what they were doing. Oh, and his blood is made of nanites that he can spit at people and ignite.

Oh, and halfway through the second book they introduce space turtles which are basically space otters after all, only not cute.

Deja vu aside, they're very good books. n.n

[terrana.livejournal.com]

For science fiction/space opera, anything by Iain M Banks, but especially Look to Windward. His writing manages to be grand and whimsical at once. (The aforementioned title includes a conversation between two unnamed characters holding a mock-argument using only the names of starships as their points.)

[alltoseek.livejournal.com]

You've already been through all terry Pratchett, right?

And you tried Master and Commander?

Am too sleepy now; will think on later.

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

Heh. Gwendel has been on a reading kick for the longest time, but the only books I ever hear about from her seem to be the BAD ONES. :D (Even worse, bad ones that seem to come highly recommended in whatever dubious circles she's been following online. I keep telling her to stop taking Amazon comments/reviews SERIOUSLY. ;) I'd far rather take the word of a reviewer whose opinion I can grow to respect after following up on a couple of his or her recommendations, rather than the vast horde of the nearly-anonymous.) I'd elaborate, but then I would fill this comment box with a big rant about books that I haven't personally read, filtered by what I've gleaned from Gwendel's sharing of her frustrations, and that wouldn't likely help anyone.

Anyway, she's been reading some Austen titles, too (though those haven't been the source of her complaints). She said something about how she's going to pick up "Emma" next, because she heard that "it's the one that everyone dislikes." I'm not sure what she means by "everyone" in this context. She's also been reading "World War Z" recently as an eBook, and has taken time to share her frustrations over it with me (some of which I can sympathize with -- Max Brooks seems to have some peculiar ideas about disease vectors that strain credulity for me, even when we accept "zombies" as a price of entry). With that sort of range of reading material, I would joke that she might read "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," but I'm sure she'd throw something at me for it.

[alltoseek.livejournal.com]

Georgette Heyer? Regency romantic comedies. Not quite Austen-level, but lots of fun :-)

[alltoseek.livejournal.com]

Anne Tyler - contemporary literary fiction, set in and around Baltimore. Quirky and humourous and tragic all combined. Breathing Lessons and many many more. Mid-career are best, overall, I think.

Toni Morrison - Beloved, and then the rest

Amy Tan - The Joy Luck Club was set in both modern America and the China of her parent's generation; other works have usually been set mostly in China of parent's generation. Highly recommend The Hundred Secret Senses.