So many books, so little time!

Yes, AdyM!!! Anne McCaffrey is wonderful for science fiction that is "accessible" to your normal reader. My fav of the Pern series is "The White Dragon".

Can you guess that I read a lot of books, as I reply to lots of posts on this thread. My excuse is that I have no children and I used to commute an hour and a half each way to work on public transport. Plus the local library is very very good.

Ooh, where to start? I love mysteries, especially historical mysteries. I love, love, love Anne Perry's novels, the Monk series are my favorites, but I love the Pitt Mysteries, too. Peter Tremayne writes brilliant mysteries set in Ireland in the 600s. Excellent books and the main character, Sister Fidelma, is amazing.

I also love Robert Jordan. He is very descriptive, and characters reappear, and you think, who is this person? the books are worth it, though.

I am rereading Anne Rice's Vampire chronicles. I don't know how many times I have read them, they draw me in. She has such imagination, and is able to create another world.

I also read James Herriot's books many times over. I think I am on my 2nd or 3rd set of paperbacks. I can't think of too many other books which made me cry, but some of those did. And he had such a great sense of humor. I love his description, it makes everything so real.

Jan Karon's Mitford series is great for the spiritual side of things. Nice books about nice people who try to help each other.

There is a series by Phillip Pullman, aimed at adolescents, but really good fantasy for all. The books are The Golden compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.

One of my all time favorites is To Kill a Mockingbird. The movie is also great, with Gregory Peck a phenomenal Atticus.

I have to say, Anne Rice is definitely my favorite fiction author. Both the Vampire Chronicles and The Witching Hour are amazing. She got a bit too out there for me with the 2nd two in the Mayfair Witches books. Taltos was just strange. Some of her newer vampire books seem like she's rushing, but I still love her, and rush to get the new ones.

John Jakes is also one of my favs, even though I haven't read him for a very, very long time. He wrote the North and South series which was made into a miniseries with Patrick Swayze in the late 1980s (I think that's the right time frame). He writes in early American history periods, and incorporates a lot of the historical figures and events into his novels.

I am an avid book reader. I read constantly.. in the bath, smoke breaks, anytime. Even at work, I listen to audiobooks (burned onto MP3 CD's so I can fit 2-3 books on a cd). My favorite authors are Robert Heinlein, Robert Jordan, Anne McCaffrey, and Piers Anthony.

I've liked almost all of the Robert Heinlein books I've read. My favorite are the Lazarus Long tales. I'm currently reading "The Number of the Beast" again on breaks, and listening to "Stranger in a Strange Land" during work!
Robert Jordan is very good, he has a lot of detail, and uses little symbolisms that connect his world to the real one. Almost makes you believe that it's real, occuring in a millenium or so (maybe long after WW3?) I've been particularly dissapointed in his last two books though. Hope #9 is better!.
Anne McCaffrey is awesome. I like the Pern series, but I think my favorite series is the Rowan books. Also, "Dinosaur Planet" and the rest of that series is good (co-authored with Jodie Lynn Nye)

Piers Anthony's Xanth novels are great when I'm in a bad mood, or just want a quick read (takes maybe 2 hrs/book, and his incarnations books are great.

Whew! That was a long post!(for me, anyway) It's pretty obvious that books are one of my favorite subjects, isn't it

Heidi, I loved the Anne Rice book "The Witching Hour" and I really enjoyed "Lasher" but never was able to get into "Taltos" although I own it, it has never been read past the 4th or 5th chapter.

All I read is historical books. I am in my last semester of school and my major is history. Right now I am reading anything I can get my hands on about the American Revolution. I am doing my Senior Theses on it.

where the heart is..... you've seen the movies but the book is sooo much better. i read the book befor i seen the movie. i have actually read the book twice and own the movie. i fell in love with all the characters. books are always better than movies. read this book!



Novalee Nation has always been unlucky with sevens. She's seventeen, seven months pregnant, thirty-seven pounds overweight -- and now she finds herself stranded at a Wal-Mart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, holding just $7. 77 in change. An hour ago, she was on her way from Tennessee to a new life in Bakersfield, California. Suddenly, with all those sevens staring her in the face, she is forced to accept the scary truth: her no-good boyfriend Willy Jack Pickens has left her with empty pockets and empty dreams.

But Novalee is about to discover treasures hidden in Sequoyah -- a group of disparate and deeply caring people, among them blue-haired Sister Thelma Husband, who hands out advice and photocopied books of the Bible...

Moses Whitecotton, the wise, soft-spoken, elderly black photographer eager to teach Novalee all he knows...

and Forney Hull, the eccentric town librarian who hides his secrets -- and his feelings -- behind his world of books.

Novalee may be homeless and jobless, living secretly in a Wal-Mart, but she's beginning to believe she may have a future. Through all the touching and surprising adventures that lie ahead, she's going in the right direction.

Where the Heart Is puts a human face on the look-alike trailer parks and malls of America's small towns. It will make you believe in the strength of friendship, the goodness of down-to-earth people, and the healing power of love. And it will make you laugh and cry...every step of the way.

Where The Heart Is

Bren.1 Nooooooooo!!!!!! :laughing: I DETEST "To Kill a Mockingbird"!!! :laughing2: We studied it at school and it kinda took all the fun outta it!! I know all about the story though.... it was drummed into me for an exam!!
I have to say, I love "A Midsummer Nights Dream" by good ol' Shakespeare, now I know not many people like this one as its kinda confusing, but (yet again) we had to do it in school, and I just loved it, once it was all explained and understood, its a wonderful story (Lots of fairies and magic)

Another book I also LOVE is "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" by Thomas Hardy... fantastic (just beware though - this book IS depressing!!)

Flimflam - I really like White Dragon as well, but I have to say I like the ones about the Harper Hall the best

Myste - Piers Anthony is excellent - did you read his Fate series (On A Pale Horse, Bearing an Hourglass etc)?

Mag - I agree that the Sword of Truth Series gets a little tedious.

I have to say - one of my fav series is Tad Williams Sorrow, Memory and Thorn series with Green Angel Tower in it.

adymarie - I liked the first two/three books of Memory,Tower and Storm series, but I was very disappointed by the ending.

Another author that I think has a great way of building a story only to throw the towel in at the end is Stephen King. Some of his books are just so good until you get to the end and it just lets you down. I know, most people really like him, so I will watch out for the eggs being whipped over my head.

Bodlover - although I have never read Midsummer by Shakespeare, the stuff I have read (mostly in school) was quite enjoyable once you got through all the thees and thous .

a_loveless_gem - I enjoy David Eddings too. My only problem, the books are too short!!! I wish he would dig in and give me more!!!

Myste - Hang in there with Jordan. I agree Book 7 was a bit slow going, and 8 it seemed like he just stopped in the middle of the book and sent it off to the publisher, but trust me when I say it, book 9 - Winter's Heart....dear god. The end will blow you away. I can't wait for Book 10.

Jamie, You have given me hope with book 7 of Wheel of Time. I have been in the middle of it for a long time now.

Bod, I also read Mockingbird in school, I think the story is so moving and full of truth. I also love Shakespeare, although I liked the one with Beatrice and Benedict which Kenneth Brannagh made into a movie. And I can't remember what it is called!

Beatrice and Benedick - was "Much Ado about Nothing" I think!! ANd yes - love it!!

Yes! That's the one, I can't believe I couldn't remember it. I also thought the movie was brilliant.

Indeed it was!!! and I had to think about it... try to remember the characters in his stories!! Its a looong list!!! :laughing: I alwasy love the names he uses too, esp. in Midummer Nights dream... Lysander, Demetrius (sp?!?),Helena, Hermia, Titania, Puck, Oberon.. etc (I wanted to call one of my puppies Oberon, but hubby didn't like it....sheesh!!!)

7cozycats....I agree. I read "Where the heart is" and loved it, too! I also liked the movie, although the characters were different, the abused nurse wasn't even a black woman! But it was still good, just not as good as the book! (are they ever??)

bren.1 - Keep going, I swear that Book 7 does get better, it has a decent ending. Book 8 is good, but feels too clipped, like I said kinda like he sent it off to the publisher before it was finished, but 9. Dear me. Book 9 is amazing. You can tell he is starting to tie up the loose ends, and the end is fan-freaking-tastic!!!

and bren and bod - I totally agree Much Ado About Nothing was a great film. I have yet to read the play, but one of these days I swear I am going to indulge by dream of reading all of Shakespeare's plays. I wish I could find someone to pay me to read things. I would be a happy camper. BTW, slightly off topic (sorta) I LOVED Shakespeare In Love. What a great film, with lots of inside jokes to some of his plays. Great movie. Anyhoo, back to books.


I think my second favorite series is certainly Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. I remember I joined a book club and got the first book 'Outlander' for like a dollar, and I didn't read it for a couple of years after I got it. Then I ran out of new reading and picked it up. I could have kicked myself after I started getting into it. It was great.

Another book that I enjoyed was required reading for my high school Psychology class: I Never Promised you a Rose Garden by Joanne Greenberg. It is this great story about a young woman who spends a couple years in a mental hospital. It is told from her point of view, so you get to expereince her thought processes. It is a great look into the insane mind. Also in the same class we read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Jack Nicholson was in a movie based on the book, think he won an award, not a bad movie, but the book was great. The authoer is Ken Kesey.

Sorry to prattle on so .

Ok - I did something silly. I went to the book store during my lunch. The new Mercedes Lackey Valdemar series (book 25) is out. I collect this series in hardback. I just spent $35 Cdn on "Exile's Honor". I can't wait to read it!

she dedicates (and lists the names) of NYFD crews lost in 9/11 attacks.

IMHO...

Any Stephen King
Any Dean Koontz
Any John Saul
Any Mary Higgins Clark
Any Jeffrey Deaver

Jamie, Yes, where can I get paid to read. Talk about a perfect job.
And yes, Shakespeare in love was a great movie. Shakespeare used the English language like no other writer. I remember reading a few in high school. When I read him in college, I realized what he really meant in some of the lines. Oh my, talk about an eye-opening experience.