ratcreature | looking for book recs...

My to-read pile of actual books is getting rather smallish. I mean, I still haven't read Water Logic by Laurie Marks, and Amazon assures me that my copy of the newest Dresden Files will get to me in the near(ish) future, but I'm looking for recommendations what to read after that. And since my f-list is much more widely read than me, I thought it can't hurt to ask.

As for what I'm looking for, the most important thing for me to enjoy a book is that there is at least one likable main POV character to identify with. Generally I can't stand books where the hero is a jerk, or you end up hating everybody. I also dislike ambiguous endings. There are exceptions to that, but in general I prefer plots to be resolved when the book ends, unless it's setup for the sequel. Also, I prefer there to actually be a plot with stuff happening rather than all internal and relationship conflicts. And for the plot to make sense and have not too many holes. OTOH I can overlook slightly clunky language (see the above example of the Dresden Files, though the later novels aren't quite as bad as the earlier ones). I guess I'm rather lacking in avantgarde sensibilities...

As for genres, I like sf and fantasy, unless the worldbuilding sucks, but I also like mysteries, though not so much the serial killer genre. Thrillers rarely do anything for me, nor does romance as the main plot. Another of my quirks is that I don't cope well if a ton of characters are introduced in quick succession. I have nothing against an epic scale in principle, if characters are added slowly, but I don't remember names easily, something which results in me being confused a lot with a certain kind of mystery for example, where you'd be introduced to a dozen people over a few pages.

So do you have any suggestions for me?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hi, random person here who followed a link to some comic-rantings...and found your journal. Shall be friending you if you don't mind.

Holly Black is awesomeawesome fantasy--Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside is a great sort of grunge-punk faerie tale series. There's romance, but it's not the...point of the stories, I guess.

I'm going to ditto Diane Duane--really thoughtful impressions of reality within the sf.

I really like Mercedes Lackey's stuff--all of it, though it varies from modern-day supernatural mystery to historical fantasy, to her own fantasy worlds.

Um, if you haven't found Terry Pratchett (I can't imagine such, from how cool you seem), find and read all the Discworld books immediately. Humor/fantasy/parody/awesomeness.

Diane Wynne Jones' books are generally considered YA, but Dark Lord of Derkholm and its sequel, Year of the Griffin, are great takeoffs of the problems of the hackandslash generic fantasy/fantasy RPG.

Digital Knight...I can't remember the author's name, but it's a fun vamp/werewolf/normal guy stuck in the middle book.

Robert Asprin for classic fantasy/scifi humor in the Myth series and Phule series.

The Hounds of the Morrigan...again, author's name escapes me. Great look at Irish mythology.

Eyah, I'll bugger off now. ^_^ Cheers.

Thanks for the recs. In fact I haven't read Pratchett, mostly because from osmosis of people talking about Discworld the books didn't sound like something I'd enjoy, because I generally don't like parody, and I heard they have footnotes, which I loathe in fiction. Also when I was curious once about the series, I saw a timeline for a suggested reading order and chronology that was a horrible complicated diagram, iirc, and seemed quite convoluted, so that I backed away before even figuring out which would be the first to try to read if I wanted to read Discworld. (Somehow I can deal with convoluted timelines in comics, but in books it's a deterrent. *G*)

And I don't mind being friended, though I don't friend back automatically.

Well, you can always read "Good Omens" to start with. It's not Disc, but it's a good sample of his writings (and a collab work with Neil Gaiman). I really consider Pratchett to be one of the greatest scholars of human nature out there--I made my Philosophy prof read some of his stuff after taking a Philosophic Themes in Literature class from her. It's parody, but it's very clever and British (and you get used to the footnotes--they're part of the humor, really). Um...It's 7 am local time and I haven't actually slept yet, so I apologize if I sound a bit loopy. I really am going to bed now!

Butting in to say that agree with the prev. comment - "Good Omens" is an awesome book; fun, nicely paced, immensely quotable (I know of bunches of icons to prove it *g*) and the main characters are even slashable! What more could any fangirl want in a book? ;-D

Also, I've never read Pratchett, but I adore Neil Gaiman. If you like dark worlds and everyday guys turned heroes and the occasional fable or myth or children's rhyme reference, "Neverwhere" is FTW. I love it to pieces.

His "American Gods", a but heavier, and more with the mythical themes transplanted to modern times, is not an easy read, but golly, once I made it past the difficult middle parts the rest was a joyride. :-)

Also, I randomly wanted to ask you if you wanted to be a co-mod at

sgagenrefinders. I suppose I will have to hunt down

nopoetry to confirm it, as she's the original owner, but it would take a load off my back if you were authorized to wave your modly authoroton over folks who need moderating. Or something of the sort. :-)

Thanks for the recs, I have actually gotten Good Omens from my library, so it's probably going to get read soonish, after I finished the new Dresden Files which has finally arrived with me from Amazon. As for Neverwhere, I have the comic version on my comics-to-read pile.

WRT

sgagenrefinders, thanks for the offer, but I'm afraid I'm not cut-out for reliable co-modding. My interest in fandoms sort of cycles in unpredictable ways, and while I'm currently mostly into SGA that may change, also I sometimes gafiate for months. I mean, it's been a while since that last happened, so people meeting me more recently might not have noticed, but for example during 2004 and 2005 I tended to drop out of communication for months at a time, for more than half of either year in total (not the drama kind of leaving fandom or anything, I just get out of the habit of posting, and sometimes I can't deal with commenting on other people's posts, so before I know it, six months have gone by... *g*)

Nevermind then, guess I'll remain a single mod for now. (Also, you've been in the fandom about two years longer than me, so I definitely couldn't have noticed your absences. :-) )

Also: Neverwhere has a comic version? Woah, I didn't know about that. I will need to look it up; I've been avoiding tracking down the miniseries so far, as the book is just not something I feel would make a good TV transfer, but a comic... that's intriguing. Thanks for the tip-off!

It was a BBC tv series first, also written by Gaiman. The book is a novelization of that, though there are expansions and changes from what I've heard. In turn the comic is based on the novel, not on the original tv series.

...Well. I feel like a right dolt now, although I do admit to not looking up much about the books I read usually.

looking for book recs...

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