I need your book recommendations!

[annathepiper]

Okay, so it’s a quiet Friday afternoon and work is quiet and I’m bored, so I turn to you, O Internet, for the answer to the following vital question:

I have a 15% Barnes and Noble member coupon! Since I can’t spend it on ebooks, what recently released print book should I spend it on?

Leave your answer in the comments! (And if your answer is seanan_mcguire’s A Local Habitation, I already bought that! Same for Carrie Ryan’s The Dead-Tossed Waves, the sequel to her awesome book from last year, The Forest of Hands and Teeth.) If you’re feeling particularly ambitious, check my Goodreads shelves for more pointers on what I already own or plan to buy.

ETA Sunday 11:01pm: A couple of you have answered this since Friday, so just in case anybody else answers this, please be advised that I have already spent the coupon. ;) Don’t let that stop you from offering recommendations for my later reference, though! But as I’ve also mentioned a couple of times in the comments, right now I’m in a mood to read stuff that actually isn’t urban fantasy, since I’ve had way too much of that in my reading diet the last few years and I’d like to vary my intake for a bit. Thanks!

Mirrored from annathepiper.org.

Comments

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

If you haven't already read it, and if you can find it (it's not always available anymore, Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds. Best Chinese fantasy novel EVER.

[annathepiper]

I've had this book recommended to me before, yeah. Though I fear it won't be available for purchase at a local B&N, that's for sure. I suspect I'd have better luck at Third Place, or perhaps ordering from Powell's. :)

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

Probably true, yeah. Or you could borrow mine, if you want; I have an extra copy for lending.

[annathepiper]

Thank you for the offer! I've got a bunch of borrowed books I still need to read, though, so I try not to add new ones to that pile.

I see Third Place's website claims they have a copy on the shelves, though; I may need to investigate that. Or see if the library has a copy. :)

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

That's a borrowed copy too, though!

[annathepiper]

Yeah, but in that case, it actually comes with a time limit. ;) Which makes it easier for me to remember to actually get it done!

We'll see, anyway; if the book's that awesome I think I'll probably want my own copy anyway. Like I said, you're not the first person I've seen sing its praises. :) And if Third Place has a copy cheap, I may just go ahead and get it!

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

Go for it. You won't be sorry. It's been my favorite book of all time since I was sixteen years old; I reread it about once a year still.

[annathepiper]

And that's high praise indeed. :)

[wildshadowstar.livejournal.com]

If you haven't read anything from Mercedes Lackey, I would recommend her.

[mojave-wolf.livejournal.com]

Justina Robson's Quantum Gravity series seems like it might be your kind of thing, and I really loved it -- action-oriented urban fantasy set in Seattle (granted,a very AU Seattle), butt-kicking cyborg heroine, Elvish lead singer in rock band (I know, that one's been done before, likely more than thrice, but she does it well and you like Elves), and writing that starts out good and keeps getting better as she goes along (at least through the first two books; the second in the series is my fave, tho).

[mojave-wolf.livejournal.com]

thought I'd look up a (slightly modified) quote from my lj:
As I immerse myself in Quantum Gravity book 3, Going Under, I feel the need to tell everyone I find this series delightful and am shocked it is not a massive bestseller. One of the books had a review that called it "what Tolkien might have written if he'd dropped acid and engaged in tantric sex". Don't think this is entirely on the mark (people reading these expecting lots of sex will be very disappointed, though there is lots of sensuality in a multitude of senses, and what few--very well written, totally purposeful, trippy as much as sexual-- sex scenes there are do have a mystical flavor to them). I would call them more "What would happen if Phillip K Dick wrote an urban fantasy series while watching the first two Terminator movies and reading a book on elvish rock bands along w/a tome on demonology and it was rewritten by Anne Sexton or Elizabeth Bishop or W.S. Merwin in a state of intensely pleasurable hypomania".

& la_Marquise_de, aka Kari Sperring, author of the also highly recommended (just not as sure if it fits w/your usual reading patterns; does "Dumas crossbred w/Tanith Lee" sound good to ye?) Living With Ghosts didst reply: I love those books. She hangs the moon.

[annathepiper]

I already have Book One of this series waiting for my attention on my To Read shelf, but thanks. :)

Though actually, these days I'm kinda branching out from urban fantasy; I've read way too much of it and I need to read other things now. But I'll get to this eventually. 'Cause yeah. Partial to elves!

[annathepiper]

Living With Ghosts sounds interesting, so sure, I'll check it out.

See my previous comment re: looking for things that aren't urban fantasy, anyway. General fantasy recs are good, and I like me some stuff with a touch of horror or creepiness to it sometimes too. But really, in general, my reading patterns can be summed up as "if it's a good story, chances are I'll be willing to check it out". :)

Adding Living With Ghosts to my To Read list!

[annathepiper]

Oh my, I have tons of Mercedes Lackey. Good thought though. :)

Though truth be told, I honestly haven't read much of her more recent stuff lately. I need to get caught up on her Elemental Masters series.

[mojave-wolf.livejournal.com]

I like me some stuff with a touch of horror or creepiness to it sometimes too.

If she's not there already, Caitlin R. Kiernan. Possibly best dark fantasy-bordering-on-horror writer alive.

More than a touch of the creepy, tho.

[gilroycullen.livejournal.com]

When does the Coupon expire? The next Harry Dresden is due in stores I think in the next week or two...

[annathepiper]

It's already spent! See my later post. :) I bought Justine Larbalestier's Liar.

And I am very well aware that Changes is about to come out, although I haven't yet decided if I feel like paying hardback prices for it. If I do, I'm likely to actually buy it in ebook form, and I can't spend Barnes and Noble coupons on ebooks anyway.

[annathepiper]

Yeah, I've heard as much about her. :)

[parabasis.livejournal.com]

If you like Urban fantasy, there's a series by Devon Monk that's pretty interesting - I'm new to the genre so not much of a judge of quality within it, but the universe she's created is interesting. She's local Pac NW and writes of Portland, Seattle, etc - which is unsettling but also kinda neat. The series is something like "Magic to the Bone," "Magic in the Blood," etc. There are 3 so far with a fourth coming soon and I think 9 planned overall in the series following the same main char. Anyway, I'd be interested in your response as someone who reads a great deal and who reviews the books in such detail. ^.^

[annathepiper]

I already have the first book of this series on my list to read, yeah.

Though see my comment elsewhere on the thread... actually, I'd kind of like to have recommendations for things that aren't urban fantasy, just because I've read way, way, way too much of that in the last few years, and I'd like to explore other aspects of SF/F for a while. :)