Book recommendations
Mar. 24th, 2008 05:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dimity_blueA discussion with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
leesa_perrie got me thinking. Whose books would you recommend, and why?
If anyone's interested in my recommendations, they're under the cut.
For me, I'd recommend:
Detective fiction:
Dorothy L. Sayers. She's one of the best writers of detective fiction out there, IMO. Lord Peter Wimsey (her main hero) is a multi-faceted character who's ably assisted by his manservant Bunter. I also adore the love story between Peter and Harriet Vane. My favourite Peter and Harriet book is Busman's Honeymoon, which features their wedding, honeymoon, and the discover of a dead body in the house they've just bought. My favourite Peter book? I think Murder Must Advertise, which has Peter going undercover in a copywriting firm to track down a murderer. He also deals with drug pushers and impersonates his own cousin (who doesn't actually exist).
Ellis Peters. EP wrote a series of 21 books featuring a 12th century monk called Cadfael who investigates murders with the help of Hugh Beringar. The books are set against of the backdrop of an English Civil War (the Empress Maud vs. her cousin King Stephen) so are fascinating from a historical point of view too. EP also wrote a pile of modern mysteries, the best of which is (IMO) Never Pick Up Hitchhikers. I won't spoil the plot as I know Leesa is going to be reading it at some point, but it's well worth reading.
Fantasy:
David Eddings. While I'm not so keen on his other series, the Belgariad is, IMO, pretty good. It's a very typical hero on a journey type saga, but there's a lot of characters (so pretty much everyone will find someone they like), and lots of adventures and magic and mystery on the way to the happy ending. The Mallorean is the sequel to the Belgariad, and it feels a lot like a rehash to me, with the 'quest' being the rescue of the hero's kidnapped son.
Sci-Fi:
Isaac Asimov. For some reason, I don't particularly enjoy his Foundation series, but his Elijah Baley (detective/Sci Fi) series is wonderful. In the first book, (The Caves of Steel), Elijah is a policeman who ends up partnered with a very human-looking robot in order to investigate the murder of a 'spacer' (a human who was born and grew up on another planet). The book deals with the tensions between spacers and Earth-bound humans, as well as anti-robot hatred. It's also a cracking good story.
The other two books (The Naked Sun/Robots of Dawn) have Elijah travelling to two different spacer worlds in order to investigate a murder on each of those with the aid of Daneel Olivaw (the human-looking robot from the first book). Elijah is severely agraphobic, as are most Earth-bound humans as they all live in domed cities, so he's forced out of his comfort zone and has to deal with that as well as find the killer before he's chucked off the planet with his career in ruins.
There was also a short story that had Daneel Olivaw seeking Elijah's help with a mystery, but they didn't feature in any other books, sadly. :o(
Autobiographical/about cats:
Doreen Tovey. She wrote about her life growing up with an eccentric grandma (Life With Grandma), her early life with her husband (Roses Round the Door), then a small stack of books about her life with her husband and their Siamese cats, starting with Cats in the Belfry. The books are hilarious in places, and heart-wrenching in others as she also deals with losing her cats. In Waiting in the Wings she writes about her husband's death as well. Her books make me cry, but I still re-read them.
Historical romance
Georgette Heyer. IMO, no other author has come close to writing this genre as well as GH did. Her heroes and heroines vary from handsome or beautiful to plain, tall to short, heroic to not very brave, and romantic to extremely practical - sometimes in the same book!
The books themselves also vary. There are a few that are straight-forward romance with a plot that's basically designed to get the hero and heroine together, but more than a few are deeply involved with plots that twist and turn, and sometimes make you wonder what on earth is going on! Yet, they all work out in the end.
There's also a lot of humour in the books too. In one book, The Convenient Marriage, Horatia (the heroine) was kidnapped. Yes, awful name. She hates it too. Anyway, she hit her kidnapper over the head with a poker, escaped into the street, and hurried to get home. Fortunately for her, she ran into her brother and his friend. Unfortunately for her, they were both drunk, and her brother (who totally missed the point that she was kidnapped) thought it was a bit unseemly that she's been going around bashing lords over the head with a poker, then walking home by herself. Not the done thing!
GH also wrote 12 detective fiction books. 11 of them are very enjoyable, and contain a lot of romance too. The 12th (Penhallow) was awful. That's one I won't re-read.
Humour:
P.G. Wodehouse. Not just his Jeeves and Wooster series, but also plenty of his 'one off' books. I have no idea how PGW managed to keep the plot straight while involving the most insane characters outside of Bedlam, but I'm glad he did and could.
Terry Pratchett. TP could also be listed under fantasy, but it's his humour I love. Talk about a warped version of our own world! I think my favourite characters are Death, and the Witches. Greebo (Nanny Ogg's cat) is totally adorable, and I love the Luggage and the Librarian too. Heck, I love all the characters TP comes up with! Favourite book? I haven't got a clue - so many of them are a fantastic (in every sense of the word) way to pass some time.
Classics.
Jane Austen. While I love Pride and Prejudice (including lots of TV/movie adaptations of it), I think it's rivalled by Persuasion, which doesn't receive nearly as much attention. In both case, happy endings for the good characters abound after a lot of complications, while the not so happy ones don't get their just deserts but they definitely don't get happy endings either.
Children's books:
Elinor M. Brent-Dyer. Especially her Chalet School series. EBD isn't the best writer in the world. She frequently contradicts herself one book to the next, and fans of her books track the 'EBD-isms' (as they're called) with gusto, but her books are still very, very enjoyable. The Chalet School series deals with a boarding school that begins in the Tyrol, moves to Guernsey after the Anschluss before WW2, then over to England, and finally ends up in Switzerland after the war. EBD doesn't shirk from dealing with the effects of the war, and her books really do have a feeling of being a little time capsule.
The series starts off in the late 20s, but has a 'sliding scale' of time in that the characters don't age in relation to the real world. Jo, one of the main characters who is featured in most of the books, is a child in the first book (The School at the Chalet). By the end of the 60s, she's about 40, and her eldest daughters are just leaving the school.
So, after all that rambling, what would you recommend?
leesa_perrie got me thinking. Whose books would you recommend, and why?If anyone's interested in my recommendations, they're under the cut.
For me, I'd recommend:
Detective fiction:
Dorothy L. Sayers. She's one of the best writers of detective fiction out there, IMO. Lord Peter Wimsey (her main hero) is a multi-faceted character who's ably assisted by his manservant Bunter. I also adore the love story between Peter and Harriet Vane. My favourite Peter and Harriet book is Busman's Honeymoon, which features their wedding, honeymoon, and the discover of a dead body in the house they've just bought. My favourite Peter book? I think Murder Must Advertise, which has Peter going undercover in a copywriting firm to track down a murderer. He also deals with drug pushers and impersonates his own cousin (who doesn't actually exist).
Ellis Peters. EP wrote a series of 21 books featuring a 12th century monk called Cadfael who investigates murders with the help of Hugh Beringar. The books are set against of the backdrop of an English Civil War (the Empress Maud vs. her cousin King Stephen) so are fascinating from a historical point of view too. EP also wrote a pile of modern mysteries, the best of which is (IMO) Never Pick Up Hitchhikers. I won't spoil the plot as I know Leesa is going to be reading it at some point, but it's well worth reading.
Fantasy:
David Eddings. While I'm not so keen on his other series, the Belgariad is, IMO, pretty good. It's a very typical hero on a journey type saga, but there's a lot of characters (so pretty much everyone will find someone they like), and lots of adventures and magic and mystery on the way to the happy ending. The Mallorean is the sequel to the Belgariad, and it feels a lot like a rehash to me, with the 'quest' being the rescue of the hero's kidnapped son.
Sci-Fi:
Isaac Asimov. For some reason, I don't particularly enjoy his Foundation series, but his Elijah Baley (detective/Sci Fi) series is wonderful. In the first book, (The Caves of Steel), Elijah is a policeman who ends up partnered with a very human-looking robot in order to investigate the murder of a 'spacer' (a human who was born and grew up on another planet). The book deals with the tensions between spacers and Earth-bound humans, as well as anti-robot hatred. It's also a cracking good story.
The other two books (The Naked Sun/Robots of Dawn) have Elijah travelling to two different spacer worlds in order to investigate a murder on each of those with the aid of Daneel Olivaw (the human-looking robot from the first book). Elijah is severely agraphobic, as are most Earth-bound humans as they all live in domed cities, so he's forced out of his comfort zone and has to deal with that as well as find the killer before he's chucked off the planet with his career in ruins.
There was also a short story that had Daneel Olivaw seeking Elijah's help with a mystery, but they didn't feature in any other books, sadly. :o(
Autobiographical/about cats:
Doreen Tovey. She wrote about her life growing up with an eccentric grandma (Life With Grandma), her early life with her husband (Roses Round the Door), then a small stack of books about her life with her husband and their Siamese cats, starting with Cats in the Belfry. The books are hilarious in places, and heart-wrenching in others as she also deals with losing her cats. In Waiting in the Wings she writes about her husband's death as well. Her books make me cry, but I still re-read them.
Historical romance
Georgette Heyer. IMO, no other author has come close to writing this genre as well as GH did. Her heroes and heroines vary from handsome or beautiful to plain, tall to short, heroic to not very brave, and romantic to extremely practical - sometimes in the same book!
The books themselves also vary. There are a few that are straight-forward romance with a plot that's basically designed to get the hero and heroine together, but more than a few are deeply involved with plots that twist and turn, and sometimes make you wonder what on earth is going on! Yet, they all work out in the end.
There's also a lot of humour in the books too. In one book, The Convenient Marriage, Horatia (the heroine) was kidnapped. Yes, awful name. She hates it too. Anyway, she hit her kidnapper over the head with a poker, escaped into the street, and hurried to get home. Fortunately for her, she ran into her brother and his friend. Unfortunately for her, they were both drunk, and her brother (who totally missed the point that she was kidnapped) thought it was a bit unseemly that she's been going around bashing lords over the head with a poker, then walking home by herself. Not the done thing!
GH also wrote 12 detective fiction books. 11 of them are very enjoyable, and contain a lot of romance too. The 12th (Penhallow) was awful. That's one I won't re-read.
Humour:
P.G. Wodehouse. Not just his Jeeves and Wooster series, but also plenty of his 'one off' books. I have no idea how PGW managed to keep the plot straight while involving the most insane characters outside of Bedlam, but I'm glad he did and could.
Terry Pratchett. TP could also be listed under fantasy, but it's his humour I love. Talk about a warped version of our own world! I think my favourite characters are Death, and the Witches. Greebo (Nanny Ogg's cat) is totally adorable, and I love the Luggage and the Librarian too. Heck, I love all the characters TP comes up with! Favourite book? I haven't got a clue - so many of them are a fantastic (in every sense of the word) way to pass some time.
Classics.
Jane Austen. While I love Pride and Prejudice (including lots of TV/movie adaptations of it), I think it's rivalled by Persuasion, which doesn't receive nearly as much attention. In both case, happy endings for the good characters abound after a lot of complications, while the not so happy ones don't get their just deserts but they definitely don't get happy endings either.
Children's books:
Elinor M. Brent-Dyer. Especially her Chalet School series. EBD isn't the best writer in the world. She frequently contradicts herself one book to the next, and fans of her books track the 'EBD-isms' (as they're called) with gusto, but her books are still very, very enjoyable. The Chalet School series deals with a boarding school that begins in the Tyrol, moves to Guernsey after the Anschluss before WW2, then over to England, and finally ends up in Switzerland after the war. EBD doesn't shirk from dealing with the effects of the war, and her books really do have a feeling of being a little time capsule.
The series starts off in the late 20s, but has a 'sliding scale' of time in that the characters don't age in relation to the real world. Jo, one of the main characters who is featured in most of the books, is a child in the first book (The School at the Chalet). By the end of the 60s, she's about 40, and her eldest daughters are just leaving the school.
So, after all that rambling, what would you recommend?