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People are always
asking me for suggestions of good books to read. (And, of course,
I'm always pleased that my opinion is considered valuable.) Well,
that can be a daunting task -- asking a confirmed bookworm to
tick off reading recommendations. This page is in answer to those
requests.
Below you will
find a selection of books that I've enjoyed and wish to recommend.
I've also included lists of some of my favorite authors. All
books can be ordered through amazon.com,
using the hyperlinks beneath the titles.
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Science
Fiction
The
Hyperion Series by Dan Simmons
 Hyperion
by Dan Simmons
This Hugo award-winner
is the first in the series. A brilliant
futuristic Canterbury Tales told in vividly descriptive prose.
Simmons has created, with great detail, an entire civilization.
Farcasters allow people to traverse lightyears, thus eliminating
"time debt" between worlds. And enemies are not so easily
recognizable. I had a very hard time putting this book down --
in fact, I glowered at anyone interrupting my reading. Easily
one of my favorite science fiction novels of all time.
Coverblurb:
"On the world called Hyperion,
beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man there waits the creature
called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those
who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it.
In the valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures
move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all. On
the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims
set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to
the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate
hope -- and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity
in his hands."
ORDER
THE BOOK
Also be sure to read
the other Hyperion volumes (click on the covers to order):
 
Read
other Dan Simmons novels.
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Fantasy
The
Morgaine Novels of C.J. Cherryh
 Gate
of Ivrel by
C.J. Cherryh
I'm very picky about
the fantasy I read -- avoiding whenever possible stories about
elves, fairies and dragons. Not my cup of tea, sorry. I like gritty,
dark fantasy. The Morgaine novels walk that narrow line between
fantasy and science fiction -- which, for me, adds to their appeal.
That, and I'm a big C.J. Cherryh fan. Once you read anything by
Cherryh, you will go in search of her entire catalog. But these
novels are a good place to begin.
Cover blurb:
"Scattered about the galaxy
were the time-space Gates of a vanished but not forgotten alien
race. In their time, long before the rise of the native civilizations,
they had terrorized a hundred worlds -- not from villainy but
from folly, from tampering with the strands that held a universe
together. Now the task was to uproot these Gates, destroy their
potency for mischief, take horror out of the hands of the few
who hungered for power by misuse of the Gates. This is the story
of one such Gate and one such world."
ORDER
THE BOOK
Also be sure to read
the other Morgaine volumes (click on the covers to order):
 
Read
other C.J. Cherryh novels.
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Mainstream/Literary
fiction
I read twice as much
literary fiction as I do science fiction/fantasy novels. I couldn't
possibly have enough server space to list all
of my favorite titles. And I'd really like to do that
-- especially given that most midlist fiction seems to end up
in the remainder bin. Not because they're terrible, but because
the majority of the reading public just doesn't know about them.
These are not novels destined to be made into block-buster movies.
But they're damn good reads.
 The
Shipping News
by E. Annie Proulx
A Pulitzer Prize winner -- and
deservedly so. This is the story of Quoyle, failed distributor
of vending machine candy, failed all-night clerk in a convenience
store, and third-rate newspaper man. When his flaky wife skips
town and leaves him with two recalcitrant daughters, he decides
to begin a new life in the vastness of Newfoundland. With his
aunt, Quoyle renovates the old family home in Newfoundland and
eventually learns of the Quoyle family's infamous past. Proulx's
amazing prose shifts adroitly from pathos to pastiché in this
highly engaging novel.
ORDER
THE BOOK.
Also order other E. Annie Proulx volumes:
Postcards,
Accordion
Crimes, Heart
Songs and Other Stories, and Close
Range: Wyoming Stories.
 The
Beet Queen by
Louise Erdrich
A boy, his sister
and baby brother are abandoned by their mother at a county fair
in the 1920s (she takes off with an "aeronaught" named
The Great Omar). Orphans now, the novel follows each sibling's
separate journey through life. A poignant, intensely interesting
novel which will remain with you long after you've closed the
cover. I read this book fifteen years ago, and there are scenes
which still pop up in my memory.
ORDER
THE BOOK
 The
Bean Trees
by Barbara Kingsolver
On her way to Oklahoma,
a plucky young woman named Taylor becomes the instant "guardian"
of a small Cherokee child. The toddler is literally forced upon
Taylor by the child's mother (who appears to have been abused).
Taylor later finds evidence of abuse on the child's body. She
names the child "Turtle" because, swaddled in blankets
with only her head peeking out, the small girl looks as if she's
peering out from under a shell. Taylor discovers the strength
within herself as she cares for the abandoned child.
ORDER
THE BOOK
And when you're
done with that one...
Read t he sequel:
Pigs In Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver
Taylor now fights
to keep custody of Turtle (whom she has grown to love so fiercely).
Members of the child's tribe are determined to have Turtle raised
by a Cherokee family. But the child knows only Taylor as her mother
-- and Taylor loves the little girl as if she were her own flesh
and blood. Now Taylor must decide which is best for the girl --
and herself.
ORDER
THE BOOK
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