Recommendations

[summers.65 at osu.edu]

No: HPFGUIDX 9337


Aha! As a professional Borders bookseller I find my skills called upon in a
moment of crisis!

Recommendations.  For those "if you like HP" folks.

In the Intermediate/Young Adult fiction category:

1.  The series by John Bellairs series beginning with "The House with a
Clock in Its Walls."  It's about a young orphaned boy who goes to live with
his uncle who turns out to be a wizard, along with his neighbor Mrs.
Zimmerman.  Follow the adventures of Lewis Barnevelt and his best friend
Rose Rita Pottinger through "The Figure in the Shadows" and "The Letter,
the Witch and the Ring."  They're quite different in tone than HP and much
shorter, but cool.  The first book also boasts illos by Edward Gorey, the
second by Mercer Mayer.

2.  The "So You Want to Be a Wizard" series by Diane Duane.  It continues
with "Deep Wizardry," "High Wizardry" and "A Wizard Abroad" though the
order in which those should be read escapes me at the moment.

3.  "Holes" by Louis Sachar.  Newbery Award winner, standard
recommendation.  Cool book.

4.  They're hard to find, but the "Fell" series by M.E. Kerr are still some
of my favorite books, though they're Young Adult.  The first is "Fell,"
then "Fell Back" and "Fell Down."  The adventures of eighteen year old John
Fell, paid to impersonate a rich man's son at an exclusive boarding school.
Fell, an aspiring chef, is a very cool character.

5.  One of my fave books as a kid was "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs.
Basil E. Frankweiler" by E.L. Konigsberg.

6.  If you never read *all* the Oz books, get started.

The Pullman series has already been mentioned.

In the for-grownups category:

1.  The books by Philip (first name unsure) Maguire are great.  The first
is "Wicked," the true story of the Wicked Witch of the West.  Her
childhood, how she became so evil.  His new book "Confessions of an Ugly
Stepsister" I haven't yet read but it looks equally cool.

2.  If you're into the multi-volume sword and sorcery genre, you could
start one of the two major series in that genre:  the Robert Jordan Wheel
of Time series (first book Eye of the Storm, number 9 just came out last
month) or the Terry Goodkind Sword of Truth series (first book The Wizard's
First Rule, number 6 (?) just came out a few months ago).

3.  For sheer hilarity and biting satire, Terry Pratchett's books are
priceless.  Start with "Soul Music" in his Discworld series.  "Small Gods"
is one of my favorites.

4.  "Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett is also hysterical, and
managed to be so while being about the Apocalypse.

5.  Some other general authors to try:  David Brin (he's continuing the
Foundation series and "The Postman" is amazing tho the movie sucked), Lois
McMaster Bujold (Mirror Dance is a work of genius), or course our own Peg
Kerr, Tad Williams, and the incomparable Tim Powers ("The Anubis Gates" is
one of my favorite books).  Orson Scott Card was the first genre author I
embraced, and if you can find "Wyrms" it's amazing.  Don't be put off by
the weird title or the bad cover illo.  If you haven't read the Ender
series (first book Ender's Game) then get moving!  Though she's not
classified as a genre author, I love Margaret Atwood.  Start with "Cat's
Eye."

Some other books I recommend that might not be in the SF/F genre:

1.  "The Alienist" by Caleb Carr
2.  "The Adventures of Kavalier & Klay" by Michael Chabon
3.  Any book by Jane Hamilton (start with "A Map of the World")
4.  Anything by Patricia Highsmith (she wrote "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and
its many sequels)...she's fabulous
5.  "Midwives" by Chris Bohjalian
6.  John Irving is considered by many to be the greatest living American
author...my favorite is "A Prayer for Owen Meany" though "The World
According to Garp" and "The Cider House Rules" are also great.
7.  "White Teeth" by Zadie Smith.  The best first novel I've read in a long
time.
8.  "She's Come Undone" by Wally Lamb.
9.  "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro is a great book.  Haven't
read the new one.

If you've never read Stephen King (don't give me that look, he's a great
storyteller), I recommend you start with a good yet short one, like
"Misery" or "Gerald's Game".  "Dolores Claiborne" and "Gerald's Game" are
something of a matched set.  Don't dive into "The Stand" right away though
most consider it his best work.  "It" is also very good and complex, though
pretty gory.  "The Bachman Books" are also really good, but skip
"Roadwork."

Hope that gets you started.  :-)

Lori


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Lori   "Hi-Keeba"  Summers

     "There are some places where the road keeps on going."
                --Bud Parker

Last movie seen:  "The Cell"
Discman's spinning:  "Bad Hair Day" Weird Al Yankovic
Nighttable:  "The Lost Continent" by Bill Bryson
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