Books III: Return of the Book

[effex]

It's been a while since I've done one of these! And it's nothing like complete, but whatever.


Currently Reading:

Soul Music by Terry Pratchett


To-Read Pile:

Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett
Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett
Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett
Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
The one quivo recommended to me with the title I can't remember by It's Sitting In A Bag In My Room


Just-Read Pile:

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett
The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
Archer's Goon by Diana Wynne Jones
Year of the Griffin by Diana Wynne Jones


There is maybe a theme here.

Notes: I really, *really* enjoyed Small Gods - I dig Pterry's thinky thoughts on Belief. I really, *really* disliked Year of the Griffin (why, DWJ?) - it was... disjointed and painfully heteronormative (did you really have to pair up everyone at the end, DWJ? Woe?).

And hey, anyone have any articles/guides on the SF&F genre for someone new to it? A 'So You Want To Read SciFi And Fantasy' type deal, maybe.

Comments

Re: Oh, I *like* this game

[elspethdixon]

See, I left OSC off the list on purpose, because I hate him, but yeah, I definately should have included Butcher and Butler. If you're going for urban fantasy with vampires, though, I'd recommend Guilty Pleasures over Sookie Stackhouse - it's early, pre-Mary Sue&gratuitous pr0n!Hamilton, and probably more influtential than Harris, given that it's basically the book that started the vampire romance with butt-kicking heroine genre. And maybe Warren Ellis's Extremis run on Iron Man, for the post-human aspect. And also Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn, I think. And maybe an Andre Norton novel or two - I adored her books when I was in middle school.

My favorite Anne McCaffery/Pern books are the Dragonflight/Dragonquest/The White Dragon trilogy, probably because I was too young at ten to notice the fail, but the Harper Hall books are probably a more accessible intro that doesn't contain dragon-enabled dub-con.

And there should probably be at least one Mercedes Lacky book on there. Maybe Oathbound, the Tarma & Kethry anthology? And Barbara Hambly's Time of the Dark trilogy.

And Haroun and the Sea of Stories, because seanchai will not stand for me to leave it out.

edited to add; this is really an English-language-centric list, though. It would be awesome to get some recs for English translations of sci-fi and fantasy that isn't from the US, Canada, England, and Australia.

Re: Oh, I *like* this game

[effex]

Yes, yes, and yes, though I have no idea which Norton book I'd include.

Ha, I was thinking about adding Lackey - not the Magic books, those are freaking depressing (no matter how influential) but yeah, Oathbound. Or which were the ones with the ~soulbond~? The Arrow books? Man, it's been a long time.

Western-centricness is a major concern for the bookclub list, too - time to do some research.