Reader’s Delight
January 24, 2008 · Written by Melissa Donovan
The other night I finished a whirlwind read of every single book in Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series
I have plenty of other favorites, and I’m not limited to just one genre. I’ll read almost anything — fiction or nonfiction, sci-f, fantasy, mystery, comedy, drama, romance, adventure, poetry… You name it, I’ll read it, if I haven’t already. Actually, there are so many books out there, I usually feel like I’ve barely skimmed the surface. But I have my favorites:
Catcher in the Rye
Holden Caulfield is the most vivid character to ever grace the pages of a fiction work. I read this classic for the second time a few years ago, and for a couple of days after I finished it, I kept expecting Holden to come walking around the corner at any minute. That is great literature, and perfect characterization. J.D. Salinger is a master. I also enjoyed Franny and Zooey
Jazz
Toni Morrison is better known for her controversial novel, Beloved
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Childhood Favorites
I wouldn’t be a reader, let alone a writer if it weren’t for all those books I gobbled up as a child. I used to stay up way past my bedtime, lying on the floor, my head poking just outside my bedroom door trying to catch some light from the hallway. I used to tell my parents I was scared of the dark and needed the hall light on, but I really just needed some light to read by.
Staying home sick from school wasn’t so bad, because I could read the Little House series
What About You?
Okay, now you know all my reading secrets, so you’ve got to tell me yours! What are your favorite books and why do you love them so much? Do you have a single favorite that stands out above the rest? Are you a sci-fi geek like your Writing Forward hostess, or do you lean toward trashy romance novels, cutting edge technological thrillers, or wild and crazy adventure stories? Got any recommendations? Leave a comment folks!
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Ha, when I saw that cover, I was cheering. I love that series. Another series you should read is Melanie Rawn’s Dragon Prince (and the Star something or other), David Eddings (he has a few), and Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels trilogy (amongst others).
I also love Anne Rice, Dan Brown, early Piers Anthony… Oh god, I have tons of books. I have one full 20 x 20 room that is lined with bookcases, and one more bookcase in each room of my home, including two in the basement.
For the most part it’s the books from my adolescence that I enjoy reading over and over again: Anne McCaffery’s Dragon Singer, Wangerin’s Book of the Dun Cow, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, and Watership Down.
There are a few others, though. Books by Oliver Sacks, David Brin and Connie Willis deserve more than one read (I think I’ve read Bellwether 10 times).
I’ve been a huge fan of Anne McCaffrey’s since high school. I’ve been disappointed in the Pern books written with or by Todd, but that doesn’t change the fact that the series is one of the most enjoyable around. (Or well, that’s what I think.) She’s one of the authors that still crops up regularly on my reading list–along with David Eddings, Sharon Shinn, Sharon Lee/Steve Miller, Mercedes Lackey, Sean Russell . . .
I’m one of those strange people who never really loved Catcher in the Rye, but loved Salinger’s OTHER books. I couldn’t tell you why, I just do (grin).
And, children’s books? Yes, to EB White. Yes, to Laura Ingalls Wilder. Yes, to Wrinkle in Time. And then also yes to LM Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Diana Wynne Jones, Elizabeth George Speare, Nancy Bond….
Really, you know, I could keep going indefinitely.
Wow, I’m so excited you guys are fellow Anne McCaffrey fans! I just LOVE LOVE LOVE her. Right now, I’m reading her biography. One of the things I miss most about college is reading and then discussing the works. I should really join a book club…
@James, I am a sick book collector. A few years ago, I started collecting hardcovers of my favorites. I have books everywhere and spend way to much money each year on them. Thank goodness for the local bookstore, which buys used copies. And thank you for the recommendations!
@Roni, I love to reread my favorite books from childhood. Somehow I never got around to reading Watership Down, though I do have a copy. I’ll have to bump that up on my reading list. Thanks
@Deb, That’s funny; I’ve been rather pleased with Todd McCaffrey’s work on the Pern series. What don’t you like about it? I just love Pern. Wish I could go there. Now you all know what a huge geek I am
Well, that’s o.k.
Thanks you guys, for lots of new authors and titles for me to look into. I’ll have to go update my ever-growing Amazon wish list. I’ll have to do another “Reader’s Delight” post in the future. This is fun. Heheh.
I have really enjoyed books by Jonathan Franzen, Kim Stanley Robinson, Peter Hamilton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Charles Dickens and many others.
I love books that go into a lot of detail about the life of a character - to the point of describing their daily life. Even sci-fi can do this really well (e.g. the Mars Trilogy by Robinson).
Ah, I love reading too. I wish there was time to read ALL the books out there. I’m sure there are countless gems I haven’t even heard of.
I was a huge Roald Dahl fan as a child. Dr. Seuss, Brothers Grimm. My kids and I adore Lynley Dodd.
I also love all of the Eddings brothers’ works. MacCaffrey of course, Robert Jordan, Isobelle Carmody, Christopher Paolini (read the books, avoid the movie), Traci Harding, Jane Austen (love the books and the movies/mini series), J.R.R Tolkien (LotR movies are almost better than the books), Terry Brooks.
I’m a fan of fantasy and sci-fi fiction but I’ll kill two hours of absent brain with a trashy romance. When I’m sick or can’t concentrate those romances are light but interesting enough to keep me entertained.
I’m in for the book club. New blog or new feature of Writing Forward?
@Rebecca: I also love Roald Dahl, but it’s his stories for adults that tickle me.
@Deb: I love Mercedes Lackey, too. I can’t even remember ow many times I’ve read The Last Herald Mage Series.
My favorite kids’ book is Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbit. My fourth grade teacher read it to us, and I remember the story about the family who would live forever and the girl who loved them breaking my heart in the best possible way.
My students are currently reminding me how much I love Shakespeare. The affair started when I read R & J in one night in high school, and now the kids and I laugh together reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Right now I’m reading The Brothers K by David James Duncan. It’s intricate, heartwarming, and truly funny. I’m even interested in baseball, when Duncan writes about it!
Last month my book club read The Next Thing on My List by Jill Smolinski. Light, but laugh-out-loud witty.
If forced to pick one novel as my favorite, I’d have to choose Vladimir Nabokov’s “Pale Fire.” It’s so funny and intricate and heart-breaking that it rewards every re-reading.
Some other personal favorites that aren’t known to a huge audience:
Kage Baker, whose novels about the time-traveling cyborgs of The Company constitute the best science fiction series of the past decade. Start with “In the Garden of Iden” and proceed
John Connolly, author of “The Killing Kind” and “The Unquiet,” for skillfully mixing elements of horror and mystery
Jonathan Carroll, one of the most idiosyncratic and deeply enjoyable fantasists. Read “The Land of Laughs,” if nothing else.
Charles Stross, whose blending of spy thriller and Lovecraftian horror is utterly hilarious in “The Atrocity Archives.”
And if you really like the Pern books, you should pick up Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series, which puts flying battle dragons in the middle of the Napoleonic Wars.
Hey! Lov catcher in the Rye too.
It’s kinda pessimistic but it’s just good!
Oh - and Stephen King. Honestly.
As a child, I loved anything Judy Blume and the Little House books I had were worn out. I adored Caddie Woodlawn, Nancy Drew, and Charlotte’s Web was another favorite. When I was small, it was Danny the Dinosaur.
Now, I love Janette Oke and too many others to mention.
Ursula K. LeGuin’s “Wizard of EarthSea” is what really got me obsessed with reading, back in 2nd grade. And Anne McCaffrey as well! Picked her up in 3rd grade… read that series until my copies disintegrated.
My favourite author is Gene Wolfe, particularly his five volume ‘Book of the New Sun’. Brilliant, his work is too outstanding for description. Not so much his newest few… but ‘New Sun’, ‘Long Sun’, ‘There are doors’ and ‘The Fifth Head of Cerberus’.
Other seriously outstanding authors whose work I enjoy: Mervyn Peak (Gormenghast), Michael Moorcock, Neil Gaiman, Patricia Mckillip, Elizabeth Hand, Kelly Link, M. John Harrison (’Signs of Life’, ‘Light’, ‘Viriconium’), Linda Medley, Umberto Echo (of course), Jeffrey Ford, Cory Doctorow (’Someone comes to town, someone leaves town’), Charles DeLint…I could go on. I have been told by high school english teachers that I read too much (oxymoronic statement, I declare!).
As a youngster, I loved reading Greek mythology and the Enid Blyton series, The Mountain of Adventure, etc.
Later I read every Hardy Boys novel I could find; then I moved on to Agatha Christie. These days, living in mainland China in a small city with no bookstores selling English literature, I’m feeling lost! I brought five books with me, thank Goodness. These five are like gold to me.
@Bruce, I took a class in Greek classics and LOVED it! I never did read the Hardy Boys, but I did read the Bobbsey Twins. Those were pretty good, and in the same vein, I think. Ah, there are some online resources that allow you to read books for free. Just do a google search for free literature. All the old classics are available and there are more and more new books online every day. Reading on the computer isn’t the best way, I know, but it’s better than not reading at all!
I never understood Catcher in the Rye. I just remember reading it and thinking “That is ONE MESSED UP KID”. He kinda creeped me out. Mabye that was the point of the book.
I’ve lost track of all my favorites, but the ones that immediately come to mind are:
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey,
Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck
Klondike by Pierre Berton
“The Archer” trilogy by Bernard Cromwell.
I also like Stephen King (especially his non-horror stuff), John Grisham and the entire series of Uncle Johns Bathroom Readers.
One book I detested was the “Great Gatsby”. My Grade 12 English Teacher made us analyze it for THREE MONTHS. It totally sucked the fun out of the book.
I just read The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford. It is a beautiful novel and I like how the whole story is told from the viewpoint of one of the characters. It feels like you’re privy to some secret.
I also just finished reading The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger. It is much like the movie but with much more detail. I really like how Junger put this book together. He didn’t know what happened to those guys on The Andrea Gail but he was able to get a good idea by piecing together many similar stories where there might have been a sole survivor or an eyewitness account.
@Sean, I haven’t read either of those books but they sound pretty good. Well, maybe not The Perfect Storm, since I have an aversion to stories with too much water. Although I did like The Abyss…