Book meme, via <span lj:user='castleclear' style='white-space: nowrap;' class='ljuser'><a href='https://www.dreamwidth.org/profile?user=castleclear'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://www.dreamwidth.org/profile?user=castleclear'><b>castleclear</b></a></span> : comments [laramie]

One way in which this list might be more fun (or useful) might be by noting books we read that we liked; for instance, I read MOBY DICK (*yawn*) only because it was required reading in High School; ditto, for PRIDE & PREJUDICE, but I happen to love the latter and have reread it many times, along with everything else by Jane Austin that I could find.

JONATHAN STRANGE & MR. NORRELL I'd never heard of before this list, but after having Googled it, it looks at least moderately interesting. Is it?

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I loved "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" and highly recommend it. Especially the author's sensibility about magic. It helped me through a period when my lower back went out on me and I was stuck in bed and under a lot of stress.

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Thanks! I'll add it to my TO READ list--and then hope I get around to it soon. :-)

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I couldn't read it. It felt like Little, Big which I also couldn't read. I'm a lot better at SF than fantasy.

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Hmm, I never read Little/Big; however, I did read Little Big Man (since I loved the movie--and of course the book was even better), but think I'm safe in assuming that Little/Big and Little Big Man are two completely unrelated novels.

I read a lot of fantasy and enjoyed it quite as much as science fiction when I was younger (teens-20's). I still enjoy a good fantasy novel from time to time, but like everything I read now, including S-F, it has to be REALLY GOOD. Of late, however, I'm not sure where the "good" S-F has gotten to. Most of it now seems to be fantasy dressed up as S-F. S-F I really liked from the 90's includes Michael Swanwick's VACUUM FLOWERS, and I still love Isaac Asimov's short stories, and will likely always have a nostalgic place in my heart for Robert Heinlein's Juvenal SF novels.

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Yes, definitely unrelated. A lot of people really like Little, Big -- it has a non-magical person marrying into a family with magical things. But I like things to happen and this is almost all description.

There are a lot of SF authors I like, but the one I read immediately when I get a new book is Jack McDevitt.

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Thanks, I'll look for his work.

Additionally, I still enjoy the occasional, brilliantly written children's fantasy novel, such as Edgar Eager's HALF MAGIC.

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I just finished that set, let's see... my review (http://mjlayman.livejournal.com/118848.html) and many comments.

I like a lot of good kid's fantasy -- Diane Wynne Jones, Diane Duane, Terry Pratchett, etc. I was reading the Eager, though, because I only read kids books for a couple years when I was a kid, and now people talk about them.

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Marylee, I enjoyed reading your review. HALF MAGIC was the only Edgar Eager story I read and it definitely sounds like one of the better ones. Like many of your friends commenting on your review, I also read a large number of the traditional children's books, such as Ivanhoe, Horatio Hornblower (yawn), etc. My first S-F book was in grade school in 4th or 5th grade (circa 1970); I've wished for years that I could remember the title of it, because I remember it being pretty good. In Junior High I came across Sylvia Louise Engdahl's ENCHANTRESS FROM THE STARS, Isaac Asimov (both novels and short stories), and other "real" science fiction.

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For Really Good SF I'd recommend Charles Stross. Accelerando and Glass House for starters.

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Thanks! I'll look for this too. :-)

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laramie

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