Question from a reader

[rolanni]

From deep in the comment thread of the last post, we have the following question:

If you're willing to share, I'm just curious -- how many of the favorites/current reading listed by other folks have you already read?

Well, let's see...

Poison Study, Maria V. Snyder
Definitely Dead, Charlaine Harris
Storm Front, Jim Butcher
entire eight books of the wizard series by Diane Duane
Sorcery and Cecilia, Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
Arabella, Georgette Heyer
Downbelow Station, CJ Cherryh
These Old Shades, Georgette Heyer
The Masqueraders, Georgette Heyer
Niccolo Rising, Dorothy Dunnett
the Brother Caedfael mysteries, Ellis Peters
Uglies and Pretties, Scott Westerfield
Smoke And Ashes, Tanya Huff
the Kencyr books by P.C. Hodgell
The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis
Lord Valentine's Castle, Robert Silverberg
Summers at Castle Auburn, The Shape-Changer's Wife, Wrapt in Crystal, Sharon Shinn
The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
Hellspark, Janet Kagan
Nine Princes in Amber, The Guns of Avalon,Sign of the Unicorn, The Hand of Oberon, The Courts of Chaos, Roger Zelazny
Memory, Lois McMaster Bujold
Space Cadet, Robert A. Heinlein
Farmer in the Sky, Robert A. Heinlein
The Threads that Binds the Bones, Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Summer Country, James Hetley
Alien Taste, Wen Spencer
Rats, Bats & Vats, Eric Flint, Dave Freer
the Anthony Villiers series, Alexei Panshin
On Basilisk Station, David Weber
the Telzey Amberdon stories, James A. Schmitz
Agent of Vega, James A. Schmitz
the Joe stories, Murray Leinster
Skeen's Leap, Jo Clayton

I have tried random Pratchetts -- and, I'm sorry, but I Just Don't Get It.  No sense of humor, me.

Ditto, Gaiman.

And, having read the first Niccolo, after which I was depressed for a month, I have strong doubts that I'll ever seek out the Lymond books, though many people whose taste I respect adore them.

Comments

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Looking at your list, I was about to recommend books by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller... :-)

[threeringedmoon.livejournal.com]

The Lymond books are better.

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

Probably you have read a *lot* more Bujold than just _Memory_ -- _Curse of Chalion_ was OK, _Paladin of Souls_ was outstanding; _Hallowed Hunt_ too redictable, though also OK.

I need to get Westerfield's _Peeps_ ....

[noiseinmyhead.livejournal.com]

I forgot _the time traveler's wife_ Audrey Niffenegger.....

_Inkheart_ by Cornelia Funke....


Donna Andrews bird titled mysteries....

and touchstone books....

[noiseinmyhead.livejournal.com]

ooo and Nancy Kress _the Prince of Morning Bells_

and _Fool's Run_ Patricia McKillip

[liadan-m.livejournal.com]

since it's not on the list,

Heart of Gold by Sharon Shinn (suffers from the same...ending issues as most of her works)
The Last Dragonlord by Joanne Bertin (Which I thought was pretty durn good the first run through, and the second time, 5 years later, I'm having a harder time with the cliches and some of the plot devices. OTOH, it's still very, very good for a first novel and I wish she would write the third.)

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

LOL!

[arkessian.livejournal.com]

Agreed -- I read Lymond first and adore it; I can't finish even the first Niccolo.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

The Lymond books are better.

Every who loves them says so. I suspect it's like Tryst, which I adore and is one of my Perfect Books, but which apparently squicks manyMany people.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Probably you have read a *lot* more Bujold than just _Memory_

I've read a lot of Bujold, but possibly not as much as you assume. My favorite is Brothers in Arms, which is, coincidentally, the first Bujold I ever read. A Civil Campaign makes me want to break things. I read about a third of Chalion in a bookstore, but it wasn't persausive enough to talk me into taking it home...

Re: and touchstone books....

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Fool's Run, really?

Could you explain what it's about to me, please (no, this is not a joke)?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Heart of Gold by Sharon Shinn

I knew there'd was another Shinn that I'd read! Thank you. Yes, endings do seem to be difficult for her.

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

A Civil Campaignis sort of a study in humorous sadism. The dinner party scene, which many fans think is the height of humor ... isn't.

A problem with reading all of anyone's work is that patterns first emerge, then grate. Over a haul of 30 or 40 books there are things that a reader comes to dread. Spider Robinson is a good case in point -- if no character of his ever again belly laughs until tears fall, I'll be thankful.

[schulman.livejournal.com]

Is this the recommend thread now?

Going a bit further afield, Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories is delightful. Two parts Arabian Nights, one part Little Nemo in Slumberland, shake vigorously.

There's also a new novella-length DWJ just out, The Game. It is, unsurprisingly, about a young girl from a large, powerful family with all kinds of secrets that she has to unravel in order to save everyone. Not as good a variation on the theme as The Pinhoe Egg was, but pleasant and short.

Re: and touchstone books....

[noiseinmyhead.livejournal.com]

future earth - moon and mars coloneies well estabishled
bar, band, mass murderer, detective who lost his wife in said mass murder, spacestation prision, twins, music as keys, alien telepathicly connected to one of said twins, mayabe no I can't explain but I reread it frequently,and have since I was sixteen something just clicks.....

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

Oh! One of my absolute favorites is Orbital Resonance by John Barnes. You may want to save it until after you are done telling about Theo; still, it is a book that will stay with you.

[queenmaggie.livejournal.com]

Hard to find (they were published eons ago) but; Ru Emerson:"To the Haunted Mountains, Go" "In the Caves of Exile" and "On the Seas of Destiny"
also, a separate stand alone book, "The Princess of Flames"
"Silverlock" by John Myers Myers...just for the fun of picking out the classics one recognizes.

[elektra.livejournal.com]

The sequel, The Last Days, is readable, but not nearly so innovative as Peeps.

Re: and touchstone books....

[noiseinmyhead.livejournal.com]

OK , better focused now. A band is asked to play at an orbiting space prision that happens to contain the worst mass murder in history.

[readinggeek451]

I can't even read the dinner party scene. I've sort of skimmed over it every time.

[(Anonymous)]

Burton
from Montreal, Canada

Have you read Fool's War by Sarah Zettel from about 1997. It's one twisty space opera/mystery.

[chappysmom2.livejournal.com]

Glad to see Sharon Shinn on your list, if only because I love them so much.

Ooh, and Silverlock! I adore Silverlock--even used it as a screen name back on "Bitnet" in college.

I meant to mention Connie Willis's "To Say Nothing of the Dog," too--a strange sort of book, kind of, but very fun, and very readable, once the author gets over his time-lag where nothing makes sense (to him or to the reader).

I have to say, though, that I actually prefer the Niccolo series just a tad bit more than the Lymond series, but love both of them. I've read both series four times through and always find more that I've missed. I will say, though, that the first Niccolo book doesn't exactly flow . . . The second one, though, is one of my favorites of the series.

Diana Wynne Jones' "Deep Secret" is pretty entertaining, too--real magic coming through to a sci-fi convention . . .

[sparkylibrarian.livejournal.com]

Garth Nix's Abhorsen series is very enjoyable-- it's one of my comfort rereads. And Tokyopop just translated the first volume of The Twelve Kingdoms: The Sea of Shadow by Fuyumi Ono-- only slightly awkward, very readable, and recommended as well. She's got a fascinating universe going.

My boss is currently enjoying The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, a YA novel set in WWII-era Germany. I am waiting for her to finish it now. And there was a big list of books that I bought recently, and I can't remember a one of them. Has anyone suggested Jonathan Stroud? The Amulet of Samarkand?

[debmats.livejournal.com]

How about Michelle Sagara's Cast in Shadow or Cast in Courtlight?

[sraun]

I distinctly remember mentioning E.E. "Doc" Smith's Skylark books - given the Delameters, I'm surprised that you don't have them on your 'already read' list.