Old School Wednesdays Want YOU: Suggestions Edition

Nadine

Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce.

I read that trilogy last year and I still can’t believe how underloved and unknown it is. Plus, judging from what you guys like, I believe you will love the series. Book 2 was my favorite of the trilogy but they each possess an abundance of charms and magic and originality.

TeresaN

The Vorkosigan series is fantastic, and the Cordelia’s Honor omnibus and first two books about Miles (Young Miles omnibus) have held up really well.
I also love the Perilous Gard, so well-written and a great, very sensible female protagonist.

For new suggestions,
Fantasy: Sharon Shinn’s standalone romantic fantasy “Summers at Castle Auburn”
Science Fiction: Sharon Shinn wrote a retelling of Jane Eyre set in the future called “Jenna Starborn”, really interesting take on class dynamics as personhood dynamics
Also, if you haven’t read any of Sharon Lee and Steve Miller’s (husband and wife team) Liaden Universe books you really should. Start with “Cordelia’s Honor” or the “Agent’s Gambit” omnibus, fantastic settings, interesting language and cultural system, nice romantic aspects without overwhelming the actual action and plot

de Pizan

I’d be interested in your reviews on the Sarah Tolerance series, Perilous Gard, and the Theodosia series. And Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton has been on my to read list forever, so also that.

And a few others: Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn, Emergence by David Palmer (this is out of print though), Young Wizards series by Diane Duane, Tillerman cycle and Kingdom series by Cynthia Voigt.

Andrea

C J Cherryh’s “Angel with the Sword”. [It’s SF which reads like fantasy.]

In Merovingen, a watery canal-laced city, much like Earth’s Venice, society is segregated along class lines between the lower and upper cities. Against her better judgment, Altair Jones, 17, rescues an unconscious man from a canal near her poleboat. She is fascinated by Mondragon’s good looks and elegant ways and begins to fall in love with him. Even though she knows there is no future for a water rat like herself with such a man, she decides to watch over him and rescue him from his enemies; enemies who turn out to be the most powerful people in the upper city…

Emm

I think I see The Fox Woman on the edge on Anas shelf? If so, I would very much recommend it 🙂 I read it a few years ago after reading “The Other Ana’s” review on Things Mean A Lot, and just fell in love with the writing. Kij Johnson also has some of her short stories free to read on her website which give you some idea of her style, although her range is quite wide so some would be more indicative than others…

Elaine

The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle
The Once and Future King by T.H. White

And I second Lark’s Robin McKinley suggestions (to which I would sneakily add Sunshine .

Anne M Leone

I second Lenore; you will LOVE Fingersmith! Such an amazing book: Victorian London, thievery, disguises, lesbians–it’s got everything, and a page-turning plot to boot!

And SINCE YOU ASKED!, one of my all time favorites, from when I was growing up, is Margaret Weis’ The Lost King, first in the Star of the Guardians trilogy. It’s adult space opera with a strong female character, diversity, romance, aliens, and lots of passion and humor. Weis is better known for her pairing with Tracy Hickman to write the Dragonlance books, but I can’t believe more people haven’t read The Lost King.

Megan

Out of all the reading I did as a teenager, three books really stuck with me:

The Merro Tree by Katie Waitman (her book The Divided is good as well)
The Wood Wife by Terri Windling
Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith

It’s been more than a decade since I’ve read any of those, so I can’t really say WHY I loved them so much, but they were all good enough for me to remember the name (and keep copies of the books, which is very rare for me).

Tami

Oh, and not to be a wet blanket, but I’ve heard some very … moving arguments against the way the Vorkosigan Saga plays out. I’ll definitely be looking for your reviews on that one. =]

whimsyful

I really recommend Cordelia’s Honor and the rest of the Vorkosigan Saga. Point of Honour was well written and had a good concept, but it left me a bit cold.

Some other books I’d love for you guys to review:
* Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher — a high fantasy/intrigue series set in a world that’s a mix of Avatar the Last Airbender and Rome. First book is a bit slow, but it picks up very quickly from there.
* The Old Kingdom/Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix — fantasy zombies, a very creative and well thought out magic system and awesome ladies.
*Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword
*Tamora Pierce’s Trickster’s Choice and Trickster’s Queen

AnimeJune

FOR BOTH OF YOU, I’d love it if you read Amanda Hemingway’s THE GREENSTONE GRAIL, first in the Sangreal Trilogy. It is a FANTASTIC YA trilogy that uses Arthurian iconography in a really original way. It’s also a YA series that makes the hero’s parent an actual, living, breathing character with flaws and motivations, instead of just a constant hindrance or supportive figure.

For Ana’s TBR, I cannot recommend TEMERAIRE enough. The worldbuilding is absolutely astonishing.

For Thea’s TBR – I read SPIN and quite enjoyed it.

Jill

I was going to request Feed by M.T. Anderson, and then I saw Ana already had a copy on her shelf! Definitely give that a try. It’s one of my favorite dystopian/scifi books in YA because it’s just so unbelievably smart.

I’ve also had Fingersmith on my own TBR shelf for a while, so I’d be interested in your thoughts on that.

Finally I know you two tend to read speculative fiction, but for the best of contemporary YA (with super strong, hilarious heroines), maybe look into E. Lockhart’s books if you haven’t yet? Her Ruby Oliver series is hilarious, but personally I think The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, in which a girl at an old-boys club-esque boarding school begins a feminist uprising, is excellent.

Kate K.F.

Looking at your TBR piles reminds me of some books that I’ve been meaning to read but haven’t yet.

I’m going to just echo a lot of people on Vorkosigan as I read the latest one a little while ago and am doing some rereading. Those books are a happy place for me.

Garth Nix is wonderful and I adore the Abhorsen Chronicles but some of his standalones are great as well. I think you would get a lot from Ragwitch and Shade’s Children, the first one is a take on a portal adventure with a touch of the Snow Queen story and the second is one of the few dystopians I enjoyed. They’re not really my cup of tea but he made it work.

Seconding anything Diana Wynne Jones’, I’d recommend Hexwood, The Homeward Bounders and any of her short story collections. I love Chrestomanci but I know the books can be an acquired taste. She’s one of those authors that does a lot of different things which can make her tricky as the variety means she has something for everyone, but its hard sometimes to get the right one.

Have you read anything by Cinda Williams Chima, she’s one of my favorite YA authors who creates fascinating worlds. The Heir Chronicles which are contemporary and The Seven Realms’ which is high fantasy. She just gets teens.

I’m reminded that I keep meaning to read more Jo Walton as I loved Among Others, but haven’t known where to start on her other fiction.

Oh and Kij Johnson is fantastic. I’ve read The Fox Woman and Fudoki and they’re two books that I’m constantly recommending out to people.

Tami

Thea – <3 Cimerone! I pretended my cat-of-many-years was one of Morwen's kittens when I first got him.

I did share the Cooper books with a friend who just didn't get into them, but my husband agrees with me and we've got the whole set on our bookshelf (and that is HIGH praise, as I have severely curtailed my need-to-own when it comes to books. Moving four times in as many years will do that to a body.)

I loved that Cooper's books showed her having romantic relationships with NOT a soul mate AND that her capstone romance was so very well done. No insta-romance here! Bull through those first two prologues … the spelling gets readable as soon as Bekah's voice takes over the book. =]

*twirls at Hunter's book love* Make sure you have both available! The first one ends on a ridiculous cliffhanger. Also, the second one intros another cast of characters and it's a little off-putting at first, but she ends up being one of my favorite voices.

… and now I want to pick them up and read them again, too! *grin*

Mary Anne

Oh my God – how could I skip Emma Bull?! She is one of my alltime favorites. I gobble anything and everything she writes, which is not nearly enough. And each thing she has written is so different from the last. For urban fantasy – War for the Oaks. Dystopia (but so much more) – Bone Dance. Sci fi – Falcon. Western fantasy – Territory. A historical collaboration with Steven Brust called “War and Neccesity”. “Finder” is a borderlands/modern elves gem. And she started this genuis web project with some other really good scifi fantasy writers (Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette to name a few) called Shadow Unit. Criminal Minds with a twist. Check out Emma Bull, if you haven’t read her.

Shweta

I see that you have Ursula Le Guinn’s Earthsea series lined up. I would say please read ASAP! They are fabulous high fantasy books by an author who knows how to keep the reader hooked. You might feel that in comparison to recent fantasy titles the plot is a little less sparkling (sometimes even predictable)but once you get into the rhythm of her story telling you’ll just want to read them all!

Franki

Dreamhunter by Elizabeth Knox, an Australian author.

The Dalemark Quartet by Diana Wynne Jones (Especially the last book!)

Gerd D.

I would love to hear about this book:
“Fires of Nuala” by Katherine Kimbriel

because, as for suggestions I would like to put down:
“Night calls” by Katharine Eliska Kimbriel, which I simply adored back when it came out.

“Lives of the Monster Dogs”, by Kirsten Bakis.

and for something older, I’d say “The other people” by Pat A. Brisco, is worth a read, it’s a very early Urban Fantasy style novel with a werewolf PI.
Not exactly great literature, but so much fun. 🙂

Tami

I can do more, right? *wink*

Summon the Keeper by Tanya Huff. HILARIOUS. Talking cat (naturally), adorable non-alpha male love interest, and schizophrenic hole to hell in the basement. I did not like the rest of the series as much, but this first read was a FUN fun ride.

Gates of Fire by Stephen Pressfield. Neither fantasy nor sci fi, but rather an epic retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae. The book was good, but the audio book was even better. GLORIOUS way to spend a long road trip, listening to all those lovely Greek words from such a talented voice actor. This book punched me right in the gut and then TWISTED. So so good, and I normally don’t read outside the fantasy genre. (Geek side note, that voice actor from the audiobook version? That was the guy who played the first/old The Master from Dr. Who. Dang straight I picked that out of his voice when I watched the episode! *fist bump*)

Mercedes Lackey is a guilty pleasure of mine, starting with the Arrows of the Queen (Heralds of Valdemar Trilogy) and including the first book in the Bardic Voices series (The Lark and the Wren) and the Black Swan (retelling of the Swan Princess). What Lackey misses in plotting, she makes up for in characters and magical worlds.

Right! And then the book that started me on this “how could I have forgotten” journey … Spider Robinson’s The Callahan Touch. Yes, it’s part of a series. No, it is not the beginning of the series. It’s one of my favorite books of all time though, and I believe it stands well on its own while still encouraging you to want to go out and read the stuff that came before it (which was mostly collections of short stories). Sci-fi with fantasy twists about a very special kind of bar — the one you only find if you really need it. Plenty of laughs (especially if you like puns) with a goodly portion of hard-hitting serious threads as well. This is the book I use to intro folks to the series itself, though my husband will argue that book one is more than sufficient to do that. It’s got time travelers (who are required to pay with cash) and aliens and cluricaunes and bad jokes and great coffee and irish whiskey and GOOD PEOPLE. Much much love.

I’m done.

Probably.

*sheepish*

Kim

The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee & Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

Tami

Jaime – Oddly, I read the So You Want to be a Wizard series and enjoyed it, but loveloveloved Deep Wizardry far and above the others in the series.

Anonymous

The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino
Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner

April

So I was adding the ginormous list of books to my even more ginormous TBR list (why yes, it is more than 2,000 books, why do you ask?) I kept thinking of others that would be fun to look back on. Most of the ones I thought of are definitely not YA though. Here are a couple of oldies but goodies:
The Soprano Sorcerous (Spellsong cycle by Modesitt)
Spellsinger, Alan Dean Foster
Stranger at the Wedding, Barbara Hambly

Deb

I’m late to the game with John Bellairs and Elizabeth Peters mysteries, but I am so glad to be on this ride now. And bonus — with Old School series, there is less of a change these books will have long holds lists at my library.

eliza

i would love to see you guys review an enola holmes book. the series is by nancy springer, and it starts with ‘the case of the missing marquess’, which i don’t think is the strongest, but it’d do in a pinch (the second is ‘the case of the left-handed lady’, which is where i accidentally started the series, and it caught me up quite well).

but i see some books on your shelves that i have both read and loved (bloody jack, chalice), and that i am very curious to hear your opinion of because i’ve been meaning to read them (feed, terrier).

Anonymous

I cannot wait to see reviews of “The Forgotten Beasts of Eld” and “Temeraire” I loved these stories!

-James Thurber –“The 13 Clocks” (only in Print, I think)
-Stephen R. Donaldson –‘Mordant’s Need’ Duology (‘Mirror of her Dreams” and ‘A Man Rides Through’)
-Stephen R. Donaldson — ‘Daughter of Regals and other stories’ anthology.

Samantha

Ooh, I’m going to enjoy fantasy buying all these wonderful books!

A Pack of Lies by Geraldine McCaughrean
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
The Girl in Times Square by Paullina Simons

Gerd D.

@Samantha: Yes, yes, totally second “Annie on my mind”, such a squee worthy romantic novel.

de Pizan

Thea, it looks like Abebooks might be your best bet for Emergence. The cheapest editions on there run $10-15. Everywhere else is far far more expensive.

Estara

Oh for a way to edit…
Anyway:
I am dittoing the following books

The Merro Tree by Katie Waitman (a Thea book, I think)
Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith
C J Cherryh’s “Angel with the Sword” (If you start the Foreigner series you won’t stop)
Liaden Universe Space Opera
Tamora Pierce’s Protector of the Small quartet (YA fantasy)
Stranger at the Wedding by Barbara Hambly
Any Emma Bull

I’m not sure whether to second Michelle West’s Hunter’s Duology, although it would be a fairly short entry into her marvellous world building and characters, or tell you guys to go for the Sun Sword books right away, as well as the House War series which actually mirrors the Hunter duology from a different viewpoint and then significantly expands on that. West – in any of her books – always has amazing women at the centre, who build or protect or avenge their own version of family ties amidst the epic plot. I love her books. She usually writes really long books and I wish her books were even longer.

Oh right, and Diane Duane’s Tales of the five/Tales of the Middle Kingdom which she has rereleased in ebook – that’s a Thea series again.

hapax

@Ana — I thought you were a MWT fan, but I just wanted to make sure. (Have you read the short stories in INSTEAD OF THREE WISHES? If not, they’ll fit in the OSW time-frame; and all the incipient awesomeness of the THIEF series is nascent there. I remember when it first came out, and I immediately put her name on my “Authors to Watch” list.)

Also, I missed the rec of the Liaden series by Lee & Miller upthread; enthusiastically second this one as well. Do start with AGENT OF CHANGE — I suspect that Ana, especially, will find in herself a desperate desire to run away from home and live with the Turtles.

Jaime

Tami – Actually, I agree with you, Deep Wizardry and High Wizardry are my favorites. The first book in the series is a solid novel though, with one of my favorite moments being a certain discovery in a library.

Megan no h

Holy moly, I wish I had got to this post earlier in the day, because now there are SO MANY COMMENTS TO READ. Which reminds me, before I say anything else, OMG ANA, READ THE BOOK THIEF, READ ITTTTTTTTT!

Okay, to my recommendations! And I am trying to go very old school with these!

I want to second (third? N’th?) John Christopher’s Tripod Trilogy. LOVED it. I heard the prequel is trash though, so you can skip it. Just make sure you get to The City of Gold and Lead. SO GOOD. (MG/SF/60s)

Also, have either of you read Tuck Everlasting? Such a short, beautiful book and one of my favorites. Don’t let the crappy movie version with Rory Gilmore dissaude you! Natalie Babbitt was an amazing children’s writer. (MG/F/70s)

Black Unicorn (and its sequels) by Tanith Lee was one I really loved when I was younger. Just re-read the first two and I thought they held up well! (YA/F/90s)

Enchantress From the Stars by Slyvia Engdahl. SO good and I’ve yet to meet anyone whose read it/heard of it. SO under-appreciated! (YA/SF/70s)

I’m assuming one of both of you has read Jonathan Strange (if not, GET ON THAT). But Susanna Clarke’s collection of short stories (The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories) is SO GOOD too and few people seem to have read it.

And now to go WAY OLD SCHOOL. As far as (non-genre) classics go, I’d love to see someone review the Emily of New Moon books by L.M. Montgomery, since they don’t get nearly the amount of love the Anne books get. And they are amazing. Also, I’d LOVE to pimp out the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. They don’t get nearly as much love as some of their contemporaries. The first four are childrens, but the rest are set in high school and college.

@de Pizan/Thea/EVERYONE – I CANNOT recommend Thriftbooks enough. Their backlist/out of print selection is AMAZING and everything is usually a straight 4 bucks (shipping included). I checked and they even have Emergence.

Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard

I’m having so much fun reading everyone else’s recommendations! I’m bookmarking this page so I can keep checking back. (And my TBR list is getting longer and longer…)

But how on earth did I miss that Ana has The Perilous Gard in her pile? YES! One of my all-time favorite books. (I also love The Sherwood Ring, by the same author, but it is a very different book from The Perilous Gard.

Eliza

Already on Your Shelves/List & General Comments

Fever Crumb – Soooo good. A friend insisted that I read this and I’m glad that I listened to her. The good news is that the third book in the Fever Crumb trilogy recently came out, so you don’t have to wait to find out what happens. Thea, these are prequels to the Mortal Engines series (which I still have to read), so you can read these first. Paige is correct that the Fever Crumb series are written for middle grade. If you like Philip Reeve, check out his middle grade space opera books (see Middle grade list).

Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos – Yes! So glad to see this on your pending list. I love Theodosia, a rather lonely soul, and the use of the Egyptian mythology. A very fun series that I hope Robin LaFevers returns to soon ‘cause I want to find out what happens next. I fear it has been neglected due to the popularity of her His Fair Assassin trilogy.

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters – I know a lot of folks are recommending but I have to say that I HATED it. I found the main character insufferable, arrogant, sexist and a complete busybody.

The Book Thief – Ana, read it! Your reluctance may be that it might not live up to its hype but it really does. LOVED it.

A Few of My Favorites Ever

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (2006). One of my all time favorites. It’s a delicious modern day Gothic for the book lover. A mysterious novelist, a biographer who lives above a rare bookstore owned by her father, twins, ghosts, orphans. What more could you want? Beautiful writing, it has that also. There are two heroines here: Vida Winter, a famous author, whose life story is coming to an end, and Margaret Lea, a young, unworldly, bookish girl who is a bookseller in her father’s shop. Vida has been confounding her biographers and fans for years by giving everybody a different version of her life, each time swearing it’s the truth. Because of a biography that Margaret has written about brothers, Vida chooses Margaret to tell her story, all of it, for the first time. At their initial meeting, the conversation begins:

“You have given nineteen different versions of your life story to journalists in the last two years alone. She [Vida] shrugged. ‘It’s my profession. I’m a storyteller.’ ‘I am a biographer, I work with facts.'”

The audio version narrated by Bianca Amato and Jill Tanner is fantastic, as would be expected from two such skilled narrators. (There’s an abridged version, which I originally purchased by mistake after reading the book, with Ruthie Henshall and Lynn Redgrave narrating that is also excellent so be careful when making your selection if you decide to go the audio route.)

Sometimes the Soul by Gioia Timpanelli (1998). Two novellas. In “A Knot of Tears” a woman’s locked up life is transformed by a parrot who tells tales. “Rosina, Not Quite In Love” is a lovely retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Oh, the language here is so beautiful.

“Sometimes the soul is tested. The body feels sore, the mouth dumb, the big red hands hang uselessly on their arms. Time passes. Surely the soul will have its way. It lolls. Time passes. And the soul waits.”

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960). I think this is one of the all time great American novels and gave us one of the best literary men – Atticus Finch. Scout Finch, daughter of the town lawyer Atticus, has just started school; but her carefree days come to an end when a black man in town is accused of raping a white woman, and her father is the only man willing to defend him. It explores issues of race, class and the loss of innocence. Great sibling relationship between Scout and her older brother Jem. For those audio book fans, Sissy Spacek narrates and, as expected, does a fantastic job. She brings the characters alive.

All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville West (1931). How often do you have a book where the main character is an 88-year old woman? Lady Slane, who near the end of her life is emancipated by her husband’s death. She has been the dutiful wife of a “great man” in public life, Viceroy of India and a member of the House of Lords. Her children plan to share her care between them much as they divide up the family property but, completely unexpectedly, Lady Slane makes her own choice, proposing to leave fashionable Kensington for a cottage in Hampstead that caught her eye decades earlier, where she will live alone except for her maidservant and please herself — for example allowing her descendants to visit only by appointment. Sharing much with Sackville-West, Lady Slane explicitly states that she is not a feminist and considers such issues to be questions of human rights, while acknowledging the more difficult position of women.

They Came Like Swallows by William Maxwell (1937). Not really a WWI novel, but it of that era and deals with the Spanish Influenza. Like the swallows in the poem by William Butler Yeats (from which the title comes), the lives of the four Morisons revolve around the mother. The story is told through three different people. First Bunny(8). When Bunny comes down the Spanish flu, his older brother Robert (12) becomes the narrator. In the concluding scenes, we do our thinking through the mind of the father. William Maxwell was the fiction editor of The New Yorker for over 40 years, and edited some of the great English writing literary talents of the time. Though this book is considered fiction, I think it’s semi-autobiographical as it reflects Wm. Maxwell’s childhood. His mother died of the Spanish flu when he was very young (like Bunny).

The Passion by Jeanette Winterson (1989). From the back cover: “Intertwines the destinies of two people: the soldier Henri, for eight years the faithful cook who follows Napoleon from the glory of Empire to Russionan ruin, and Villanelle, the red-haired daughter of a Venetian boatman whose webbed feet are a quirk of fate and whose several identities are created whole-cloth out of Venice’s compound of carnival, chance, and darkness. In Venice, both meet their singular destiny.” Combines several things I love: Venice, an unreliable narrator (as Villanelle says: “I’m telling you tales. Trust me.”), and magic realism (sort of).

“When passion comes late in life for the first time, it is harder to give up. And those who meet this beast late in life are offered only devilish choices. Will they say goodbye to what they know and set sail on an unknown sea with no certainty of land again? . . . And if they do, you will have to strap them to the mast as the boat pulls away because the siren calls are terrible to hear and they may go mad at the thought of what they have lost. . . .The third is to refuse the passion as one might sensibly refuse a leopard in the house, however tame it might seem at first. You might easily reason that you can easily feed a leopard and that your garden is big enough, but you will know in your dreams at least that no leopard is ever satisfied with what it’s given. . . .There is never enough to eat, never enough garden for your love. So you refuse and then discover that your house is haunted by the ghost of the leopard. When passion comes late in life it is hard to bear.”

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White (1952) – an American classic. This could go in the Middle Grade category but I have to put it in Favorites. This is the book that made me a reader. I can still remember being curled up on my big sister’s bed reading this book and sobbing my heart out. I was hooked on books ever since. The first sentence: “Where’s Papa going with the ax?” said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.”

Superheros (sort of)

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (2000). Okay, technically not a superhero book but it is about the early days of comic book (the Golden Age). Joe Kavalier and his Sammy Klayman. Joe escaped from Prague with the help of his teacher Kornblum by hiding in a coffin leaving the rest of his family behind. Under the name “Sam Clay”, Sammy starts writing adventure stories with Joe illustrating them, the pair create the Escapist, an anti-fascist superhero who combines traits of (among others) Captain America, Harry Houdini, Batman, the Phantom, and the Scarlet Pimpernel. This book won the Pulitzer Prize. Chabon went on to write The Escapist comic books.

Modern Literary Novels

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry (2007). I love stories with an unreliable narrator (as you can tell from my recommended books) and Towner is one of the best. The book starts out -“My name is Towner Whitney. No, that’s not exactly true. My real first name is Sophya. Never believe me. I lie all the time….” Towner Whitney, the self-confessed unreliable narrator of The Lace Reader, hails from a family of Salem women who can read the future in the patterns in lace and who have guarded a history of secrets going back generations. Having left her hometown of Salem, Massachusetts, fifteen years ago under troubling circumstances, psychic Towner Whitney reluctantly returns after her eighty-five-year-old great-aunt Eva suddenly disappears.

The House of Forgetting by Benjamin Alire Saenz (1991). An earlier adult novel by the author of Aristotle and Dante. Seven year old Gloria Santos is taken by Thomas Blacker from the barrio of El Paso, Texas to Chicago. There, in the home of the respected writer and academic, Gloria is raised to be a refined, educated young woman. For more than 20 years, she is confined to Blacker’s house and only occasionally allowed in the garden. As she reaches adulthood Gloria grows more aware that her situation is unacceptable.

Fatelessness by Imre Kertesz (2004). Okay, this one won’t be light. It takes place in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. Gyorgy Koves, a 14-year old Hungarian Jew, is imprisoned in Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Gradual starvation and what he experiences as grinding boredom become a way of life for him, yet Gyorgy describes both Buchenwald and its guards as “beautiful”; as he asks “who can judge what is possible or believable in a concentration camp?” Gyorgy also comes to a sense of himself as a Jew. At first, he experiences a strong distaste for the Jewish-looking prisoners; he doesn’t know Hebrew (for talking to God) or Yiddish (for talking to other Jews). Fellow inmates even claim Gyorgy is “no Jew,” and make him feel he isn’t “entirely okay.”

End Part 1

Eliza

Part 2

World War I

A Very Long Engagement by Sebastien Japrisot (1994). This book is much better than the movie, so if you saw the movie don’t dismiss this book. In January 1917, five wounded French soldiers, their hands bound behind them, are brought to the front by their own troops, forced into the no-man’s land between the French and German armies, and left to die in the cross fire. Their brutal punishment has been hushed up for more than two years when Mathilde Donnay, unable to walk since childhood, begins a relentless quest to find out whether her fiance, officially “killed in the line of duty,” might still be alive. Tipped off by a letter from a dying soldier, Mathilde scours the country for information about the men. As she carries her search to its end, an elaborate web of deception and coincidence emerges, and Mathilde comes to an understanding of the horrors, and the acts of kindness, brought about by war.

World War II

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Ann Barrows (2008). Because you loved the Montmaray novels – they both occur during WWII and deal with Nazi occupation of islands off the coast of England (one real (Guernsey) and one fictional (Montmaray). Though I love an epistolary novel, I resisted this one for a while even though I’d regularly pick it up in the bookstore and then had the book in my hands after my sister gave it to me. I finally read it when I needed a small paperback to throw in my purse to read on the bus and train. It’s a quick but delightful read. As London is emerging from the shadow of World War II, writer Juliet Ashton discovers her next subject in a book club on Guernsey–a club born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi after its members are discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island.

The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys (2002). A story of the Land Girls. Set in early 1941 in Britain, a young woman gardener named Gwen Davis flees from burning London for the Devon countryside. She has volunteered for the Land Army, and is to be in charge of a group of young girls who will be trained to plant food crops on an old country estate where the gardens have fallen into ruin. Also on the estate, waiting to be posted, is a regiment of Canadian soldiers. For three months, the young women and men will form attachments, living in a temporary rural escape. No one will be more changed by the stay than Gwen. Ms. Humphreys is a poet and her use of language is reflected here.

Mysteries

Guido Brunetti mysteries by Donna Leon. Take place in Venice, usually include wonderful descriptions of Italian food (you’ll be hungry reading these) and each book tackles some form of social issue without being preachy or didactic. I love Guido and his wife’s relationship. If you’re a fan of Friday Night Lights, it has the same mutual respect and realism as that of Coach and Tammy Taylor, y’all. If you know how much I love FNL, you’ll know that ‘s the highest compliment I could give. First book: Death at La Fenice

The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith. This series of books follow Precious Ramotswe, Botswana’s one and only lady private detective. It’s more about the characters than the mysteries. A series of vignettes linked to the establishment and growth of Mma Ramotswe’s No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency explore the conditions in Botswana. These books are light and lovely. Very simple language but the characters are fully developed and draw you in. One word description is respect. The characters are respected, women are respected, and they respect each other. This is not often found.

The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz. This is the first book of a series of six books so far. The mysteries aren’t the main point of the book. It’s really about the crazy, eccentric Spellman family who are private detectives and their friends and acquaintances. Meet Isabel “Izzy” Spellman, private investigator. This twenty-eight-year-old may have a checkered past littered with romantic mistakes, excessive drinking, and creative vandalism; she may be addicted to Get Smart reruns and prefer entering homes through windows rather than doors — but the upshot is she’s good at her job as a licensed private investigator with her family’s firm, Spellman Investigations. Invading people’s privacy comes naturally to Izzy. In fact, it comes naturally to all the Spellmans. If only they could leave their work at the office. To be a Spellman is to snoop on a Spellman; tail a Spellman; dig up dirt on, blackmail, and wiretap a Spellman. These books are funny.

John Le Carre – If you like spy thrillers, do try some of his well-known works such as The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. George Smile is one of the best characters to arise out of the Cold War spy thrillers. He first appeared as a minor character in Le Carré’s earlier works(The Spy Who Came in From the Cold) and then went on to be the main character in the Karla trilogy, of which Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is the first and probably most famous. You do not have to read earlier novels to follow the events in the Karla trilogy but they do add to your understanding. If you like classic spy novels, you’ll love these. I did but then I’m a sucker for a good spy novel. With the end of the Cold War there aren’t that many spy novels anymore.

The Constant Gardner by John Le Carre. This is a departure for Le Carre who normally writes spy thrillers. He’s a master of writing tense situations and creates wonderful characters. A consummate storyteller. The book opens with the gruesome murder of the young and beautiful Tessa Quayle near northern Kenya’s Lake Turkana – the birthplace of mankind. Her putative African lover and traveling companion, a doctor with one of the aid agencies, has vanished from the scene of the crime. Tessa’s much older husband, Justin, a career diplomat at the British High Commission in Nairobi, sets out on a personal odyssey in pursuit of the killers. Tragedy elevates Justin Quayle, amateur gardener and ineffectual bureaucrat, seemingly oblivious to his wife’s cause, when he wakes to his own resources and the extraordinary courage of the woman he barely had time to love.

Non-Fiction – The Dare Category.

A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel (2001). I love this book and give it out to everyone. It really captures small town America. Somehow Haven Kimmel can keep the story in the memory and voice of a third grade girl without an adult sensibility and later understanding inform it. It remains in a completely self-involved world of a small child. This is a girl who pretty much was allowed to run wild but was dearly loved by her family and neighbors. Kimmel evokes her childhood as vividly as any novel in a collection of vignettes comprising the things a small child would remember: sick birds, a new bike, reading comics at the drugstore, the mean old lady down the street. The truths of childhood are rendered in lush yet simple prose; here’s Zippy describing a friend who hates wearing girls’ clothes: “Julie in a dress was like the rest of us in quicksand”; or, regarding Jesus, “Everyone around me was flat-out in love with him, and who wouldn’t be? He was good with animals, he loved his mother, and he wasn’t afraid of blind people.”

She Got Up Off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel If you liked Zippy, its sequel (which Haven didn’t intend to write but did so after everyone asked her about her mother at book readings and “if she ever got off the couch”), is equally as good. The difference is that Zippy is older and is developing an awareness of others and what’s happening to them. We follow Zippy from one story to another, but this is really her mother’s book: the poignant tale of a woman who found a way to save herself and set a proud example for her daughter.

Cod by Mark Kurkinsky (1997). A book about cod? Believe it or not, this is a fascinating read. Mark Kurlansky has written a fabulous book–well worth your time–about a fish that probably has mattered more in human history than any other.

YA Science Fiction

Chaos Walking Series by Patrick Ness – Thea, I think you’ve probably read these books. Ana, if you haven’t read them since your review of A Monster Calls, you should read them. There is strong dialect in the book but, like Blood Red Road, once you’ve become used to it, it makes sense and pulls you into the story and you really don’t notice it after a while.

Middle School

I already gave lots of middle school recommendations many of which could fit under the Old School banner as well. I won’t repeat them here but can second the Tamora Pierce love, plus the recommendation for the Tillerman cycle by Cynthia Voigt (see my raving about Homecoming). Another shout out for Enchanted Forest series by Patricia C. Wrede (go, Cimerone!) Here are a few more that I left out:

Home of the Brave (2007) by Katherine Applegate – I was not a huge fan of this year’s Newberry Award book, The One and Only Ivan (dodges fruit), but this earlier book Ms. Applegate deserves to be better known and more widely read. It’s a lovely, gentle, honest story but don’t confuse gentle with bland. Kek, an African refugee, is confronted by many strange things at the Minneapolis home of his aunt and cousin, as well as in his fifth grade classroom, and longs for his missing mother, but finds comfort in the company of a cow and her owner. Oh how I love Kek and his cousin.

Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer (mentioned by earlier posters). For when you finish the Sally Lockhart mysteries and want another Victorian era series. This one is for a younger set. Enola Holmes is the much younger sister of Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes. She’s raised by her mother, a staunch feminist and free spirit. What I loved about this series (6 books) is that because of her mother and upbringing she has progressive views for her time but are firmly rooted in her time. The author avoided overlaying 21st century sensibilities on an earlier century. Also, she is able to give her female character agency without rejecting all females who do not share her beliefs or feminine roles in society.
First book: The Case of the Missing Marquess (2006) – On Enola’s fourteenth birthday, her mother disappears, and Sherlock and Mycroft, Enola’s brothers, conclude that her mother left on her own choice. Enola is devastated, but eventually discovers elaborate ciphers written by her mother, Enola finds that her mother left considerable resources for her to escape. When Mycroft insists on having Enola go to boarding school and learn to be a proper lady, she decides to run away to London instead.

Larklight, or, The revenge of the white spiders!, or, To Saturn’s rings and back! : a rousing tale of dauntless pluck in the farthest reaches of space by Phillip Reeve (2006). The first book in Philip Reeve’s middle grade space opera trilogy. In an alternate Victorian England, young Arthur and his sister Myrtle, residents of Larklight, a floating house in one of Her Majesty’s outer space territories, uncover a spidery plot to destroy the solar system.
— Book 2: Starcross, or, The coming of the moobs!, or, Our adventures in the fourth dimension! : a stirring adventure of spies, time travel and curious hats (2007). Young Arthur Mumby, his sister Myrtle, and their mother accept an invitation to take a holiday at an up-and-coming resort in the asteroid belt, where they become involved in a dastardly plot involving spies, time travel, and mind-altering clothing.
— Book 3: Mothstorm : the horror from beyond Georgium Sidus! (2008). Reports of a strange phenomenon at the fringe of the galaxy and its connection to one of Father’s old friends send the entire Mumby family, accompanied by Jack and other friends, to a far-off planet where they must find a way to prevent a new invasion of the solar system by giant moths. I haven’t read this one but have listed it to be a complete.

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (2002). In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patrón, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States.

A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer (1996). While fleeing from Mozambique to Zimbabwe to escape an unwanted marriage, Nhamo, an eleven-year-old Shona girl, struggles to escape drowning and starvation and in so doing comes close to the luminous world of the African spirits.

Newsgirl by Liza Ketchum (2009 – just makes it). Amelia’s family has in San Francisco in 1851, hoping for a new life in this gold rush town. But they are nearly penniless. Amelia discovers that newsboys can make a fortune selling East Coast newspapers. So in spite of their warning – “No girls in our gang!” – she cuts her hair and dresses as a boy. Then an unexpected and harrowing balloon flight drops Amelia in the gold fields. Suddenly facing more adventure than she ever imagined, Amelia resolves to find her way back to her family and to make a living as a newsgirl.

Kerry D.

Oooh, I’m going to play too.

From Ana’s shelf I heartily second:
*The Owl Service
*The Perilous Gard
*The Bell at Sealy Head

Seconding those other posters have mentioned:
*Sydney J. Van Scyoc, especially the Daughters of the Sunstone trilogy
*Stephen R. Donaldson, Mordant’s Need duology (now in a single ebook)
* Patricia A. McKillip, The Riddlemaster Trilogy
* David R. Palmer, Emergence
* Elizabeth Marie Pope, The Sherwood Ring
* Philip Reeve, Larklight trilogy
* Robin McKinley, The Blue Sword/The Hero and the Crown
* Diana Wynne Jones, anything really

I’d also like to add:
*Doris Egan, Ivory trilogy (The Gate of Ivory, Two-Bit Heroes, Guilt Edged Ivory)
* Kate Elliott, Jaran series, especially the first one (Jaran, An Earthy Crown, His Conquering Sword, The Law of Becoming)
* Zenna Henderson, People stories
* Patricia A. McKillip, The Changeling Sea (my favourite by her ever, but they all tend to be good)
* M. S. Murdock, Vendetta and Dynteryx (first has just been released as an ebbok, so hoping the second will be soon too)
* Jennifer Roberson, Chronicles of the Cheysuli
* Midori Snyder, New Moon (it’s the first of a trilogy but I never got to the last two which are Sadar’s Keep and Beldan’s Fire)
* M. K. Wren, Phoenix Legacy (Sword of the Lamb, Shadow of the Swan, House of the Wolf)

Amanda

I can’t explain how MUCH I love seeing my favorites suggested by so many other people!

*Same comment on Sirena. Didn’t particularly enjoy it, but I did love Zel by the same author.
*Huge fan of Robin McKinley. LOVE Beauty, also aforementioned Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword. I also really adore Deerskin, which is incredibly dark, but gorgeously written. Definitely a fairytale for adults.
*Cynthia Voigt’s Jackaroo and On Fortune’s Wheel (I favor Jackaroo!)
*Anything by Cameron Dokey, but especially The Storyteller’s Daughter (retelling of The Arabian Nights)
*East by Edith Pattou… also Fire Arrow (my favorite hardened and human female heroine). I wish she had more books published, she’s one of my all-time favorites.
*A hearty second to the Tanith Lee Claidi Journals series. Same reaction, here: not what I expected, but was thoroughly entertained.
*Patricia McKillip: LOVE THEM ALL. But especially In the Forests of Serre, which I think is her very best. It’s a heady mix of Russian folktales with characters I adore. Also the most complex and possibly horrifying-yet-lovely version of Baba Yaga I’ve read, yet.
*Madeleine L’Engle: A Ring of Endless Light. I loved this as a teen and it holds up well to time.

I’m also bookmarking this page! Can’t wait to see what everyone continues to suggest, and to keep an eye out for what you’ll be reviewing!

Amanda

… also, yes Cimorene! My favorite anti-princess! Books 1 & 2 in particular.

Kerry

Michelle – Oh yes on the Patricia F. Service books. In recent years, the first two books (Winter of Magic’s Return and Tomorrow’s Magic) have been combined into a single book titled Tomorrow’s Magic. That is now followed by two others, Yesterday’s Magic and Earth’s Magic. The original two remain the best, but the other two are still a decent read.

Eliza

Michelle – Sarah Caudwell mysteries are so funny. Love them. Thank you for reminding me.

Thea – you’re making me blush. Thank you for your kind words. As to budget issues, I’ve cut myself off cold turkey on buying books for two years and have been using the library (though occasionally I’ll sneak into a bookstore just to get a hit of the new book smell). It really helps that we have a fantastic library system and if they don’t have the book, we can request the book from a large number of the libraries throughout California.

Ana and Thea – Are you interested in short stories? I have several I can recommend but have found that they’re like cilantro – people either love or hate them without any middle ground. (btw -I like both)

Hannah H

Thea, read Terrier and Chalice! Ana, I’ll cast my vote for Cordelia’s Honor and Sandry’s Book.
As for my own recs, So You Want to be a Wizard is a middle-grade book that started my favorite childhood series. I am rubbish at making books that are good sound good, so here’s a quick quote from it.
“The city breathing, burning, living the life thy had preserved. Ten million lives and more. If something should happen to all that life- how terrible! Nita gulped for control as she remembered Fred’s word of just this morning, an eternity ago. And this was what being a wizard was about. Keeping terrible things from happening, even when it hurts. Not just power, or control of what ordinary people couldn’t control, or delight in being able to make strange things happen. Those were the side effects- not the reason, the purpose.”

Don’t get me wrong, there’s many other books I’d love for you to read and review, such as the Bone Key (Lovecraftian short stories), Dead Harvest and anything anything anything by Hilari Bell (especially the Farsala trilogy). However, if I needed to pick only one book that I thought you two would love, it would be this one.

Scarlett

Temeriare by Naomi Novik is fantastic!! Historical fiction is ALWAYS better with dragons and Ms. Novik does an amazing job.

Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce would be my next choice. Such a fun character and truly fantastic world. Such great writing.

Enjoy!

Estara

Kerry, since you recommended Kate Elliott’s Jaran and also enjoyed M.K. Wren (you’re the only other person I know who has read that – I still have the books on my shelves), I was wondering if you knew that she had written a sf trilogy in the Jaran universe only hundreds of years before that time, under her original author name Alis R. Rasmussen (the one-off fantasy under that name is also really good): The Highroad Trilogy.

Kerry

Estara – I have heard about the Highroad Trilogy, but never easily found copies. I’ll add them to my “grab if I see at a good price” list.

Kate & Zena

The Book Thief by Mark Zusak is one I loved. I struggled with the German, yes, but thankfully I have two parents and a brother who all took German (my mom spoke it fluently for a long while as we lived in Bamberg.) I highly recommend either looking up teacher notes (there are many online for the book) with the German translated out before you get into it.

Annie on My Mind.

Oh, and before I forget, @Ana, I still haven’t read Hush Hush (my library keeps running out; it appears to be rather popular. I will read that book because I know we had an ongoing discussion about it over the summer), but This is All: The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn by Aidan Chambers is a hefty book (816 pages), but incredibly good. It plays with how novels are set up, story structure, and Cordelia writes so honestly (it’s also written in epistolary form which I believe you love.) It flies by quickly. I read it in three days and cried horribly (pack tissues) and that much heft usually takes me a week. It should be more easy for you to access as it is a UK book (you have to buy it online here in the States.)

N. K. Jemisin

I see no one’s mentioned this one yet. I rather like Teot’s War and Bloodstorm by Heather Gladney, even though it’s 2/3rds of a 20-year-unfinished trilogy and I keep hoping the author will decide to finish it. Set in a weird secondary fantasy world that feels like north Africa, with steampunk-before-it-was-cool, and a protagonist who’s probably schizophrenic, and one of the loveliest homoerotic-subtext buddy relationships I’ve seen in awhile. The story follows a warrior who is plagued by visions, who vows to aid the lord of Tan in a battle against a vastly technologically superior enemy. The writing is a little opaque, but lovely, and the characters really make it. Probably out of print and hard to find, but I’m happy to lend my copies. 🙂

Eliza

Liz – I’ve read a couple of Joan Bauer’s books and enjoyed them. Hope Was Here is on my list to read and has now moved up based on your recommendation. My library has the Benjamin January series except for the first one, which is on order. Guess someone (was it you?) brought the gap to their attention. Once it’s in, I’m going to start the series. Lots of other great recommendations.

N.K. – my usually great library (and linked ones) failed me on the Heather Gladney books. Though disappointing, it’s okay since I like hunting through used bookstores and my self-imposed ban on buying books is almost up. If you recommend a book, I have to pay attention.

Temeriare books. I read the first 3 right in a row a couple of years ago and then kind of lost steam and haven’t picked up the remaining books in the series. Question for the fans: Should I continue? Does the series remain strong or does it fizzle out?

Tamora Pierce’s Books – I love seeing the different series that are each person’s favorite. Looks like each one has its fans, which just goes to show that her writing speaks to each person directly and indivdually. Alana will always be first my heart, so Song of the Lioness quartet is my favorite.

NJ

I recommend every single book I have (except for textbooks lol) check them out: http://www.mixnode.com/profile.php?username=nariman

Victoria Janssen

Wow, your TBRs have all kinds of awesome on them. for Ana, I’ll vote for THE PERILOUS GARD and THE TRICKSTERS and CITY OF BONES next. For Thea, POINT OF HONOR and FLORA SEGUNDA and the Vorkosigan books.

I second the rec for THE CHANGEOVER by Margaret Mahy. Also, maybe some Eva Ibbotson, if neither of you have read her? A Countess Below Stairs (1981), Journey to the River Sea (2001) are interesting ones.

Ruby

I’d really like to see you guys read some classic Sharon Shinn. I’m not talking about her angel books, but her Science Fiction. I loved Wrapt In Crystal and I think it would be a kick for you to read Heart of Gold because of the gender role-switching.

And anything by Mary Stewart. If you haven’t read Mary Stewart, you’ve been missing out!

Lozza

I’d like to recommend (what we’d now call) contemporary YA by Norma Klein, written in the 1980s. I feel like I often heard you all’s complaints about current YA (the instalove, the lack of female friendships, the obsession with the love interest, the absence of parents or really crappy parents, etc.) and think “man, these guys should try some old school YA.”
Norma Klein’s books are just incredibly… real. They feature normal, flawed teens dealing with normal teen stuff (ranging from the lighter “where do I want to go to college?” to the heavier “I got my girlfriend pregnant and she’s getting an abortion, how should I support her?”). The friendships and family relationships are varied and nuanced and important, and while some of the romances end sadly and others end well, there’s none of the “we are soulmates bound to be together forever” that you see so often in YA now. My favorite is “Just Friends,” but I think you’d find any of them good food for thought- just read through some of the descriptions on goodreads!

Michelle

Love Mercedes Lackey. The Last Herald Mage series is awesome, but there is a lot of drama/angst.

Rachel

Oh, sorry, I meant ‘Ana!’ The other is my sister’s name…

Curtissot

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