Book Recommendations (Was Question to the Northerners)

[Kathryn Cawte]

Hannah Pasisz
>
> New to the list btw. I joined sometime last week but hadn't finished book
5 so I was lurking... trying to avoid any posts that may spoil me. Finished
it up this morning and feeling a sort of emptiness... any recommendation for
a new series of books? I read them rather fast so I like to read series of
books preferably to one shot stories. Going to Barnes and Noble tomorrow. I
didn't like what the counter girl suggested last time I was there so I
thought I'd pose it to the group here.

K


There's an author called Kelley (I think) Armstrong (K Armstrong anyway even
if I have the Christian name wrong) who writes modern fantasy/horror, in the
style of Laurell K Hamilton but not as repetitive in the language (I love
LKH's books but she is very repetitive in her style and the Anita Blake
books are starting to resemble Mary-Sue type fanfiction). So far there are
two books out Bitten (about the world's only female werewolf) and Stolen
(which is still about the werewolf but introduces us to witches and
half-demons). The third is due out in February.

Having just finished criticizing Laurell K Hamilton's writing style the
Anita Blake books *are* a good read (they're pretty fast paced and
unputdownable, I usually only spot the problems once I've finished), about a
Vampire Executioner in what is basically 20th Century USA but with the
addition of all the supernatural creatures you can think of. Her other books
('A Kiss at Twilight' and 'A Caress of Shadows') are fantastic (although
bear out my Mary Sue comments since the heroine is yet again a short female
who has mystical powers and many sexy men chasing her, LKH is afaik a short
female ...) and the third one of those is also due out next month some time.

The Eoin Coiffer (again I'm not sure about the name) books are good, they're
usually found in the older children's section but I think they're great.
Very amusing. The first one is Artemis Fowl, I forget what the sequels are
but I think the follow the HP titling convention with Artemis' name being in
the title of all of them. He's a ten year old criminal genius fighting
against (or with in some cases) LEPRecons (Lower Elements Patrol Recon -
basically the fairy version of SWAT).

If you like mysteries, especially historical mysteries, the Matthew
Bartholomew Chronicles by Susannah Gregory are fantastic. He's a doctor of
medicine teaching at Cambridge in the early medieval period who keeps
getting dragged into solving murders by the Senior Proctor who is a friend
of his. They're often full of politics and conspiracies (university level
politics rather than nation level) but written from the pov of someone who
just wants to teach medicine in peace and quiet and wishes people wouldn't
keep involving him in these things.

Patricia Cromwell writes fantastic modern mysteries, although I prefer the
earlier ones in the series and, living alone as I do, actually couldn't
sleep with the lights off after a couple of them. She's a fantastic author.

Oh and I just discovered the CSI novels. The two I've read are great -
although the author insists on pairing Sara and Gil as investigators which
is annoying for those of us who are watching the current season and
*praying* that the SS GEEK LOVE goes the way of the Titanic. Sara has
recently been working my very last nerve!

Or you could always go back a while and look for less recent books such as
anything by Agatha Christie or Ngaio Marsh or Dorothy L Sayers.

That's just off the top of my head anyway, I'm sure there are lots of other
series I love, but those are the first few I could think off.

K