Jane Lindskold is a reasonably new find for me. I browsed into her Firekeeper Saga and loved it. Since then I have slowly been working through her other novels. I like her writing style. I find the stories comfortably predictable enough to satisfy my 'potato-chip fiction' need, while still with enough surprises to keep me entertained. She grew up near D.C. with both parents as attorneys. You can see the influence of that in how she deals with politics in her books- not our world politics necessarily (like an Ayn Rand) but the character's world politics.
The Firestarter books are about a young woman raised by wolves who ends up back in human society dealing with the politics there. Loved these!
The Land of Smoke and Sacrifice novels are really interesting. They're novels based on the Chinese Zodiac and the real game of Mah Jong (not just the matching tiles thing we play on the computer). Only a couple of the books are out so far.
I haven't read many of her other novels. I LOVED Child of a Rainless Year and couldn't get through The Buried Pyramid so I guess I have no definitive answer on the quality of her other books. Be aware her novels are usually pretty lengthy. All over 200 pages, with the Firestarter ones closer to 500-700 pages each.
Here's her bibliography (c/o Wikipedia):
*once again title in red I have read
This is in an effort to rectify the embarrassing previous post where I plugged the recent book I had read/listened to by Neil Gaiman but thought I had already waxed eloquently about him and so neglected to tell you why you should AT THIS MOMENT be stalking him...
1. He's dreamy. He's won Hot Daddy Blogger a couple years running. I'm not usually into the artistic type but his crazy hair and penchant for black shirts leaves me all aflutter.
2. He wrote both The Graveyard Book and Coraline, two scary children's books. He's bringing back the ghost story for kids in a world where we white-wash everything but the violence and sex they see on TV. 3. He raises bees.
7. Wrote Death: The Time of Your Life, one of the few comics I've ever really liked. I love words so comics are hard for me but this one was beautiful. Also wrote The Sandman which I will one day force myself to read, knowing I will love it in the end. 8. Rescued a dog. When he found out the dogs owner considered the dog "a nuisance" he adopted him. Also has several cats.
9. Seems to have good, happy relationships with his daughters (I love a great dad). Also has a son- I'm assuming that's a good relationship too but I've heard about him less. Spoke very respectfully about his ex-wife.
10. Wrote Stardust and several other great novels, audio books, theater pieces, movies scripts and comics. Written about by Tori Amos in numerous songs.
For more information visit his website. Or his children's book website, Mouse Circus.
So lately I've been rereading some old favorites (this is what you do when you're trying to cut down on spending). One such favorite I'm rediscovering is Dick Francis.
Dick Francis was a champion jockey in Britain. When he retired he began writing thrillers, utilizing his knowledge of the racing world. I love his style! His protagonists generally have a couple things in common: brains and 'stiff-upper lips' emotionally. They're marvelous! They're not necessarily brilliant they just think clearly, especially in bad situations. I really admire that.
Dick Francis now writes in conjunction with his son, Felix. I haven't read any of the newer books they've written together but I will now make it a point to do so.
On a side note, his website is amazing. Very simple and easy to navigate but with all good information about the books. My favorite part was that aside from listing books by title he's also had his books listed by protagonist. Wonderful! Have you ever read a book and you can remember the main character's name but not the title? I certainly have. Also this make it easy to see if sequels have been written about your favorite hero (I discovered one I didn't know about for my favorite, Sid Halley).
Here are a couple of my favorites with blurbs from his site:
Odds Against Amazing what bodily injury could do for a man. A fall from a racehorse had left brilliant jockey Sid Halley dangerously depressed, with a wrecked hand and the need for a new career. And now a bullet wound was helping him find one. He'd been with a detective agency since his racing accident, but it wasn't until some two-bit hoodlum drilled a slug into his side that he was sent out on a case of his own. That was where he met Zanna Martin, a woman who just might make life worth living again. But it was an even-money bet that he'd be killed before she had the chance...
Whip Hand Sid Halley had one good hand and another made of metal. Five hundred pounds of horse had landed on him, directly ending his career as a brilliant jockey - and indirectly ending his marriage to the woman he loved. He had become a private investigator, quite a good one, though his new life could never erase the haunting memories of his past glories. But it was only when the wife of one of England's top trainers came to beg his help in preventing some foul play at the track that Sid Halley began to know what being haunted really was...
Twice Shy Twice Shy is different from any other book Dick Francis has written - because instead of just one point of view, there are two narrators. One is Jonathan Derry, a mild-mannered Physics teacher who through a turn of fate ends up in possession of a computer program that can predict which horse will win a race. The second is William Derry, Jonathan's younger brother, who is working as a manager of an American millionaire's English horses. The second part of the book takes up about ten years or more after the first. Everything centres around the computer program - what it does and who wants to get their hands on it?
Shattered When jockey Martin Stukely dies after a fall at Cheltenham, he accidentally embroils his friend Gerard Logan in a perilous search for a stolen videotape.
Logan is a glass-blower on the verge of widespread acclaim for the originality of his work. Long accustomed to the frightful dangers inherent in molten glass and in maintaining a glass-making furnace at seldom less than 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, Logan is suddenly faced with terrifying threats to his livelihood, his courage and, finally, to his life, as he seeks to find the truth. The final race to the tape throws more hazards in Logan's way than his dead jockey friend could have imagined.
Here's a bibliography (from wikipedia):
***I've colored in red those I know I've read. Due to similarities in plot line (i.e. horses, jockies) it's actually difficult to remember from the short blurbs if I've read each book. I know I've read and enjoyed more than I have marked but...***
The Sport of Queens 1957 autobiography
Dead Cert 1962
Nerve 1964
For Kicks 1965
Odds Against 1965
Flying Finish 1966
Blood Sport 1967
Forfeit 1968
Enquiry 1969
Rat Race 1970
Bonecrack 1971
Smokescreen 1972
Slayride 1973
Knockdown 1974
High Stakes 1975
In the Frame 1976
Risk 1977
Trial Run 1978
Whip Hand 1979
Reflex 1980
Twice Shy 1981
Banker 1982
The Danger 1983
Proof 1984
Break In 1985
Bolt 1986
Hot Money 1987
The Edge 1988
Straight 1989
Longshot 1990
Comeback 1991
Driving Force 1992
Decider 1993
Wild Horses 1994
Come to Grief 1995
To the Hilt 1996
10 LB. Penalty 1997
Field of Thirteen 1998 short stories
Second Wind 1999
Shattered 2000
Under Orders 2006
Dead Heat 2007
Silks 2008
Even Money 2009
So anyway...in general I would recommend him to anyone.
Rae, nicknamed Sunshine by her stepfather, is the baker at her family’s coffeehouse. She’s happy getting up at 4 am to make cinnamon rolls for the breakfast rush, and dealing with people and food all day. But one evening she needed somewhere she could be alone for a little while, and there hadn’t been any trouble out at the lake for years.
She never thought of vampires.
Until they found her.
I really need to read this book later when I’m not pregnant. It was written in a style very close to stream of consciousness, which isn’t my favorite style. However my real problem was that everything wasn’t wrapping up etc. like I wanted. Normally that’s not a huge problem, you know being actually surprised by a book but right now it was almost depressing to me. I would definitely recommend it and will read it again when I’m not so unstable…
The Smile – Donna Jo Napoli
From Amazon.com:
The identity of the woman the world calls Mona Lisa has ignited speculation since Leonardo da Vinci created her portrait and left it untitled, unsigned, and undated. In this richly embroidered romance set in Renaissance Florence, Napoli imagines the young life of the woman behind the famous smile. Thirteen-year-old Elisabetta, the daughter of a wealthy silk merchant, is starting to think of marriage when Leonardo da Vinci, a family friend, introduces her to young heir Giuliano de’ Medici. Political turmoil that escalates into war threatens the young romance, though, and Elisabetta is caught between her passionate attachment to Giuliano and her dutiful obligations to her family.
Same as my comments for Sunshine. This book was beautifully written, the characters were amazing and yet I was sad when it ended. Not just sad but unfulfilled. Obviously my pregnancy hormones want Disney-style endings.
The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan’s Curse – Rick Riordan
From his website:
What if the gods of Olympus were alive in the 21st Century? What if they still fell in love with mortals and had children who might become great heroes — like Theseus, Jason and Hercules?
What if you were one of those children?
Such is the discovery that launches twelve-year-old Percy Jackson on the most dangerous quest of his life. With the help of a satyr and a daughter of Athena, Percy must journey across the United States to catch a thief who has stolen the original weapon of mass destruction – Zeus’ master bolt. Along the way, he must face a host of mythological enemies determined to stop him. Most of all, he must come to terms with a father he has never known, and an Oracle that has warned him of betrayal by a friend.
OK this is possibly the level of intellectual stimulation I can stand right now because I loved these! I picked up the first one the beginning of this week and bought the next two a day later (there are 5 in all).
I have always loved greek and roman mythology (see side *note/story at bottom) and these books are really effective at teaching the myths and drawing you into the characters at the same time.
I loved the website and while I was on it I found the following. Has anyone read this book/series? Is it good? It sounds way cool.
The Maze of Bones - Rick Riordan
Amy and Dan Cahill know their family is big, but they don’t realize how big until their grandmother Grace’s funeral. Relatives arrive from all over the world by special invitation. In Grace’s last will and testament, she issues this challenge:
For your inheritance, you may have the first of thirty-nine clues. The first team to successfully put together the clues, which are scattered across the world, will discover the secret of Cahill power and become the richest, most important people in history.
Or you may take one million dollars in cash right now and walk away.
Amy and Dan take the challenge! Soon, they are catapulted into a dangerous round-the-world race for the thirty-nine clues. They will explore every continent, and delve into the strangest, darkest chapters of world history to find the secret origins of their family. Other teams will try to eliminate them by any means necessary, because in this treasure hunt only one team can win, and there are no rules.
The 39 Clues will feature ten action-packed books. The first, The Maze of Bones, is written by Rick Riordan, who also designed the story arc for the entire series. The 39 Clues experience also includes trading cards and a huge on-line game which will allow you to become a member of the Cahill family and compete for amazing prizes! Each of the 39 Clues books will be written by a different author. The second, One False Note, is available as of December 2, 2008, and was written by Gordon Korman. Check the 39 Clues website for further information about the series.
*OK so in 6th grade we did a big unit on Greek/Roman Myths. I loved it. At the end of the unit we had a Greek and Roman Fashion Show. All the girls wanted to be Aphrodite except me- I wanted to be Athena. So, of course, I was picked to be Aphrodite. It’s one of the only costumes my mom has ever made that I didn’t scream about not being movie set quality. It was an sleeveless sheath style dress in really silky blue material and trimmed with a cool design in gold thread. Way to go Mom!
This was one of two pictures I could find of her. Kind of cute I think. Obviously several years old.
If you like fairy tales you'll love Robin McKinley. Even besides her subject matter, her writing style just screams fairy tale. I've read some of her books several times and one of them I can never quite tell if I love the story or not but it still calls to me (Deerskin).
Ok I'll tell you my real mixed feelings about Deerskin. I think I love it but I don't know if I'd recommend it, certainly not to just anyone. It deals with an awful rape (I think they're all awful but this one is really bad). It also deals with a love of dogs, and having 3 I definately understand that.
I love her strong women characters. They start out less than ordinary and become great with the help of, but not controlled by, men. I noticed as I looked at her bibliography I haven't read any of her recent books- I must repent!
She is married to author, Peter Dickinson. Here's a quote from an article about him, "Many of his protagonists are female. He says, "...women are more observant. I think that girls are much more aware of social matters than boys, and therefore make much more interesting observers."" What a cutie.
Bibliography:
Chalise (2008) Dragonhaven (2007) Sunshine (2003) Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits (2002) Spindle's End (2000) Rose Daughter (1997) A Knot in the Grain (1994) Deerskin (1993) The Outlaw of Sherwood (1988) Imaginary Lands (1986) The Hero and the Crown (1985)The Blue Sword (1982) The Door in the Hedge (1981) Beauty: A retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast (1978)
I've been trying to decide who to write about this week and I had almost decided on Walter Dean Myers except I haven't read enough of his book. I've read a lot of his books but he's written way more than just 'a lot'. I feel I can't do him justice until I read a few more of his books.
But I was thinking about him quite a lot so I decided to write about a book that mentions him and is written by Sharon Creech, another great young adult/children's author.
Love that Dog by Sharon Creech is a book I would recommend to everyone!!! It's a book in free form poetry about a little boy who doesn't want to write poetry cause that's a 'girl thing'. He is then surprised to find out that the journal entries he's been doing are poetry. They're simple and beautiful (and if I taught Elementary or Jr. High kids I would for sure read this book).
He eventually writes a poem called 'Love That Dog' modeled after Walter Dean Myers' poem, 'Love That Boy'. We get to meet Walter Dean Myers in the book and I can tell you I have seldom been so excited to meet someone in real life.
Anyway it's a short, easy read and teaches poetry and how simple it can be. In school I always hated the poetry sections because although I didn't mind reading poetry, I HATED writing it. I never felt like mine was good enough. This book would have helped me to feel differently.
Charlaine Harris does several series of books: Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire, Aurora Teagarden, Lily Bard "Shakespeare", Harper Connelly, and has done a couple non-series books. All of her books I would consider mysteries.
I was first introduced to her for her Sookie Stackhouse books, the ones she's most famous for. I love them. I will caution, however, that, as happens with most series vampire books, they're starting to get pretty questionable. The same thing happened with Laurel K. Hamilton. Her first books were really good but slowly they got more and more sexual until they were practically (in my opinion) erotica and I had to stop reading them. I might have to stop reading Sookie Stackhouse books soon. It just happens with the same vampire character in the same world with the same basic cast- all that's left if for them is to have sex with as many people as possible. Very Sad!
Don't let that steer you away from her other series however. I have never not liked a book I've read of hers. She just overall does an amazing job. She creates characters you love and root for and situations that seem real in spite of their obvious fantasy aspects (i.e. vampires). On an interesting note, Charlaine was raped when she was younger and so none of her books will ever have 'forced sex' put in a positive light. If you're familiar with a lot of fantasy/sci-fi books this is a relief to you also.
So here you go. A bibliography broken up by series. Remember ones in red I've read and loved. Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire
The Southern Vampire Mysteries is about a telepathic barmaid in northern Louisiana, named Sookie Stackhouse. Each book follows Sookie as she tries to solve mysteries involving vampires, werewolves and other creatures of the night.
Dead Until Dark Living Dead in Dallas Club Dead Dead to the World Dead as a Doornail Definately Dead All Together Dead From Dead to Worse
Aurora Teagarden
Aurora Teagarden, a diminutive Georgia librarian whose life never turns out quite the way she plans, ends up solving real mysteries. These have all been released before but are being rereleased now.
Real Murders A Bone to Pick Three Bedrooms, One Corpse The Julius House Dead Over Heels A Fool and His Honey Last Scene Alive Poppy Done to Death
Lily Bard "Shakespeare"
The heroine of the Shakespeare books is Lily Bard, a tough and taciturn woman whose life has been permanently reshaped by a terrible crime and its consequences. In Shakespeare's Landlord, the first in the series, Lily is caught at a moment when the shell she has built around herself is just beginning to crack. The books capture Lily's emotional re-entry into the world, while still remaining sound mysteries.
Harper's been struck by lightning and the experience has left her with a strange ability: she can find corpses and see how they died. Afterward, Harper and her step-brother, Tolliver Lang, make their living from finding the dead.
Grave Sight Grave Surprise An Ice Cold Grave
Non-Series
Sweet and Deadly A Secret Rage
*I have not included anthologies she has short stories in* Also, most series information was gotten off of wikipedia.com
Amelia Atwater-Rhodes had her first novel accepted for publication when she was 14. I first read her story, "In the Forests of the Night" several years ago and have since read all her 'stand alone' novels. Just this past summer I read the first book in her Kiesha'ra series and I loved it so I can now fully recommend her. Honestly everything she write feels very simple and just flows easily until you're completely surprised you're done.
Bibliography (ones in red I've read and loved):
In the Forest of the Night Demon In My View Shattered Mirror Midnight Predator
A couple of years ago I took Young Adult Literature, and I immediately knew my true calling. It was now my eternal duty to read all young adult books and then recommend them to every young and old adult around. I'm serious! I love young adult literature! By my count of the 6 authors I have blogged about, 3 1/2 are young adult authors (Kelly Armstrong gets to be 1/2 and 1/2).
Let me list the reasons I love them so much:
Normally the language and questionable scenes are way less (notice I bold-ed normally, some can be much worse than adult books).
They don't try to impress you- Sometimes I honestly feel as I'm reading an adult book that the author is trying to show me how smart he is, or how many big words he knows. I don't mind big words but I do mind when they're so obvious that they draw my attention.
They're funny- Seriously even the real downers are usually pretty funny since even if they don't mean to be you can still laugh and rejoice you're not a teenager anymore.
Their authors are way cool!- For real. I never cared about authors until I became serious about young adult books. I honestly don't care about the life of Ernest Hemingway. It doesn't affect my reading of his stories one bit. But young adult authors are way fun and use this new fangled internet things to keep in touch with their fans. I can talk to some of my favorite YA authors easily- I just shoot them an email.
They are brave in facing real issues- Just like the young adults these books are about, the books themselves actually touch real issues mostly, in my opinion, not exaggerating them.
So enough of my nonsense here's Louise Rennison!!!!
Louise Rennison is from England. Half of the fun of her books is that I honestly don't know most of what the characters are saying. It's like when I was in Australia and my boss wanted me to take with me the... I wasn't sure. Eventually through him walking over to it, I realized he meant the trash can, which he was apparently calling the 'wheely bin'. Seriously.
Her books are written in journal style from the perspective of Georgia Nicholson who we meet as a 14(?) year old. She is dumb. Not in a stupid way but in a way of everything revolving around her and seemingly simple things blown way out of proportion. So pretty much a teenage girl (hey I can say it, it hasn't been that many years). Boys, of course, are a topic thoroughly explored and honestly it's just hilarious.
In one scene in the first book, Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging, (PS Angus is her cat)Georgia goes to a snogging instructor (read sneaky teenage boy). While this seems ridiculous to us a girl in my YA Lit class swore this was not unusual in Britain. She grew up in Ireland and had her first kiss from a snogging instructor. I know!!!
Anyway, the boys in my YA Lit class hated it. They all thought it was worthless and dumb but I have rarely laughed so hard. I read it aloud to Nate when we were engaged and honestly couldn't get through a part, I was laughing so hard.
The 8th book just came out and I read it and loved it. Nothing can be as good as the first but they're still funny. Here's the snogging scale:
The New and Improved Snogging Scale
.5
sticky eyes (Be careful using this. I’ve still got some complete twit following me around like a seeing-eye dog.)
1
holding hands
2
arm around
3
goodnight kiss
4
kiss lasting over three minutes without a breath (What you need for this is a sad mate who’s got a watch but no boyfriend.)
4.5
hand snogging (I really don’t want to go into this. Ask Jas.)
5
open mouth kissing
6
tongues
6.5
ear snogging
6.75
neck nuzzling
7
upper body fondling – outdoors
8
upper body fondling – indoors (in bed)
Virtual number 8
(When your upper body is not actually being fondled in reality, but you know that it is in your snoggees head.)
9
below waist activity (or bwa) (Apparently this can include flashing your pants. Don’t blame me. Ask Jules.)
10
the full monty (Jas and I were in the room when Dad was watching the news and the newscaster said, “Tonight the Prime Minister has reached Number 10.” And Jas and I had a laughing spaz to end all laughing spazzes.)
I would recommend these but caution against some questionable content- adults are much more likely to take offense than teens.
Bibliography:
Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God Knocked Out by My Nunga-Nungas Dancing In My Nuddy Pants Away Laughing on a Fast Camel Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers Startled by His Furry Shorts Love is a Many Trousered Thing
Well I was gone for most of July and then when I got back the thought of trying to update everything on my blog got so overwhelming I didn't do anything. So here goes...
I read The Book Thief quite a while ago and loved it. It's from the perspective of a young girl living with a German family during World War II. It is amazing. It had tons of surprises and was definately very emotional (which I'm sure you expected form a novel about that era).
Markus tells of why he wrote the book on his webpage:
"When I was growing up, I heard stories at home about Munich and Vienna in war-time, when my parents were children. Two stories my mother told me affected me a lot. The first was about Munich being bombed, and how the sky was on fire, how everything was red. The second was about something else she saw...
One day, there was a terrible noise coming from the main street of town, and when she ran to see it, she saw that Jewish people were being marched to Dachau, the concentration camp. At the back of the line, there was an old man, totally emaciated, who couldn't keep up. When a teenage boy saw this, he ran inside and brought the man a piece of bread. The man fell to his knees and kissed the boy's ankles and thanked him...Soon, a soldier noticed and walked over. He tore the bread from the man's hands and whipped him for taking it. Then he chased the boy and whipped him for giving him the bread in the first place. In one moment, there was great kindness and great cruelty, and I saw it as the perfect story of how humans are."
That's how the whole book is- filled with 'great kindness and great cruelty'.
Had this been his only book I would have blogged about him earlier but he's written other books and I felt I needed to read at least one more before I could recommend him as an author, not just recommend his book. So over vacation I read his book, The Messenger. It too was beautiful and touching and, in places, very hard to read. I cried with joy and sorrow while reading it and was convinced Markus Zusak wasn't just a one-hit wonder.
I have had some problems finding copies of his other books so I'll probably just have to buy them off amazon or ebay but I can't imagine that I won't love them.
Here's his Bibliography:
The Underdog (1999) When Dogs Cry- published as Getting the Girl in the US (2001) The Messenger- published as I Am the Messenger in the US (2002) Fighting Ruben Wolfe (2001) The Book Thief (2006)
Kelly Armstrong is another modern vampire/werewolf fantasy author. I really like her books. I would say they were another step in maturity above Patricia Briggs but still well below Laurel K. One of the things I love about her is her use of her website. She has monthly contests and journals, discussion boards and just over all tons of stuff. She's very available to her readers without letting them take over her life. She used to have several short stories up online but her publisher decided to put them into a book and so made her take them down.
Another thing she does that I really love is that she switches lead characters. Her first two books are from the perspective of the werewolves but in the 3rd book she switches to the perspective of a witch you met in the 2nd book. It's a really cool way to keep the same universe and not have your story lines get really boring or overly dramatic or sexual. In fact, the witch Paige who narrates the 3rd novel is someone you didn't particularly like in the novel before. What a great idea!
She is also releasing her first YA novel this year (July 1 in fact). There's a contest here to win a copy of it. You just have to share if you 'got' the ending of the Sixth Sense movie. I'm pretty excited. I have a feeling she won't 'dumb down' her YA lit and I always appreciate that.
Bibliography:
Otherworld Novels Bitten (narrator: Elena) Stolen (narrator: Elena) Dime Store Magic (narrator: Paige) Industrial Magic (narrator: Paige) Haunted (narrator: Eve) Chaotic (novella in "Dates from Hell", narrator: Hope) Broken (narrator: Elena) No Humans Involved (narrator: Jaime) Twilight (story in "Many Bloody Returns", narrator: Cassandra) Stalked (story in "My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon", narrator: Clay) Personal Demon (narrators: Hope & Lucas)
Nadia Stafford Novels Exit Strategy Made to be Broken (Spring '09)
Darkest Powers Trilogy - Young Adult The Summoning (July 1, 2008) The Awakening (May 2009)
