book recommendations?!?!?! - public post
so ... most of our books are still in storage, so greenchimes and i have been haunting the stacks at our local library lately, and i've been trying to expand my reading horizons. i'm looking for book recommendations of any kind. some of my tastes and recommendations follow, but feel free to recommend something that might seem out of character.
sci-fi and fantasy: i haven't read too much of it, and there are so many badly written books out there. i adore douglas adams' hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, and j.r.r. tolkien's hobbit/lord of the rings (though i haven't gotten to the silmarillion or others yet). lately, i've been reading and enjoying books by sheri s. tepper, arthur c. clarke, isaac asimov, robert heinlein, lois mcmaster bujold, and naomi novik. i've also enjoyed neil gaiman's american gods (and) anansi boys, ursula k. leguin's work including the first 3 earthsea books, most anything by orson scott card, the first 4 books of frank herbert's dune series, charles ingrid's sand wars books, larry niven with jerry pournelle: lucifer's hammer (and) footfall (not so much niven's solitary work), gregory maguire's wicked.
horror/thriller: i adore stephen king and poppy z. brite. dean koontz is my favorite "brain fluff" in this category. i've enjoyed books by peter straub, christopher rice, anne rice, chuck palahniuk, michael crichton, robert mccammon, edgar allan poe, robin cook, james patterson, bret easton ellis' american psycho, brian lumley's necroscope saga, laurell k. hamilton's anita blake books, and most anything i've read with well-done vampires. tom clancy is okay to good, but a dense read.
romance: i've read a few, but they hold less interest for me. they need to have a plot, not just sex. i think the anita blake books fall here, as well as the "love in vein" collections (edited by poppy z. brite), and a few other collections i have of vampire/supernatural erotic short stories.
other fiction: "classics" i've enjoyed include anthony burgess' a clockwork orange, j.d. salinger's catcher in the rye, aldous huxley's brave new world, and a host of others that escape my memory at the moment. anything by roald dahl is golden - his kids' books are delicious and the one book i have of short stories for adults (tales of the unexpected) is wonderfully disturbing.
i haven't touched comics or manga, mostly because i don't know where to begin to start. i'll take recommendations, but right now the budget's tight and i don't think the library has much, if any, of these. loans=good - see note 2 below.
i tend to avoid nonfiction, mostly because my reading is intended to be relaxation or an escape from the real world, but i'm not opposed to recommendations for good nonfiction. i'd be especially interested in books on paganism and related hoo-hah (astrology, mythology, divination ...), polyamory, sexuality, snakes, world religions, history that won't put me to sleep, sewing and costuming, or anything else listed in my "interests" section.
good *_challenging_* reads: charles dickens (i've read great expectations, and another 1 or 2), h.d. wells, bram stoker's dracula, mary shelley's frankenstein, gaston leroux's the phantom of the opera, victor hugo's les miserables.
kids'/young adult's books: *anything* by bill peet, dr. seuss, roald dahl, marguerite henry; richard adams' watership down, robert c. o'brien's mrs. frisby and the rats of nimh, j.k. rowling's harry potter books.
note 1: if you're recommending a series, *PLEASE* list the book titles in order - or at *least* the title of the first book.
note 2: if what you're recommending might be hard to find at the library: if you have and are willing to loan - great! - i'll treat them well, i promise. bookmarks only, no food/drink, no bending or folding or shoving in a bag - books are sacred to me.
note 3: this entry subject to change, as i read new books or remember others i've read.
sci-fi and fantasy: i haven't read too much of it, and there are so many badly written books out there. i adore douglas adams' hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, and j.r.r. tolkien's hobbit/lord of the rings (though i haven't gotten to the silmarillion or others yet). lately, i've been reading and enjoying books by sheri s. tepper, arthur c. clarke, isaac asimov, robert heinlein, lois mcmaster bujold, and naomi novik. i've also enjoyed neil gaiman's american gods (and) anansi boys, ursula k. leguin's work including the first 3 earthsea books, most anything by orson scott card, the first 4 books of frank herbert's dune series, charles ingrid's sand wars books, larry niven with jerry pournelle: lucifer's hammer (and) footfall (not so much niven's solitary work), gregory maguire's wicked.
horror/thriller: i adore stephen king and poppy z. brite. dean koontz is my favorite "brain fluff" in this category. i've enjoyed books by peter straub, christopher rice, anne rice, chuck palahniuk, michael crichton, robert mccammon, edgar allan poe, robin cook, james patterson, bret easton ellis' american psycho, brian lumley's necroscope saga, laurell k. hamilton's anita blake books, and most anything i've read with well-done vampires. tom clancy is okay to good, but a dense read.
romance: i've read a few, but they hold less interest for me. they need to have a plot, not just sex. i think the anita blake books fall here, as well as the "love in vein" collections (edited by poppy z. brite), and a few other collections i have of vampire/supernatural erotic short stories.
other fiction: "classics" i've enjoyed include anthony burgess' a clockwork orange, j.d. salinger's catcher in the rye, aldous huxley's brave new world, and a host of others that escape my memory at the moment. anything by roald dahl is golden - his kids' books are delicious and the one book i have of short stories for adults (tales of the unexpected) is wonderfully disturbing.
i haven't touched comics or manga, mostly because i don't know where to begin to start. i'll take recommendations, but right now the budget's tight and i don't think the library has much, if any, of these. loans=good - see note 2 below.
i tend to avoid nonfiction, mostly because my reading is intended to be relaxation or an escape from the real world, but i'm not opposed to recommendations for good nonfiction. i'd be especially interested in books on paganism and related hoo-hah (astrology, mythology, divination ...), polyamory, sexuality, snakes, world religions, history that won't put me to sleep, sewing and costuming, or anything else listed in my "interests" section.
good *_challenging_* reads: charles dickens (i've read great expectations, and another 1 or 2), h.d. wells, bram stoker's dracula, mary shelley's frankenstein, gaston leroux's the phantom of the opera, victor hugo's les miserables.
kids'/young adult's books: *anything* by bill peet, dr. seuss, roald dahl, marguerite henry; richard adams' watership down, robert c. o'brien's mrs. frisby and the rats of nimh, j.k. rowling's harry potter books.
note 1: if you're recommending a series, *PLEASE* list the book titles in order - or at *least* the title of the first book.
note 2: if what you're recommending might be hard to find at the library: if you have and are willing to loan - great! - i'll treat them well, i promise. bookmarks only, no food/drink, no bending or folding or shoving in a bag - books are sacred to me.
note 3: this entry subject to change, as i read new books or remember others i've read.