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penmageThis is stolen shamefully from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
katallen, over here. I filled it out for her and had so much fun I decided to transport the game over here so we could play in my journal too.
The Game:
If you could recommend ten books (or series) to a friend, what would they be and why? Make a list of ten. We could all easily make a list of 100, but that wouldn't be any fun, because then you couldn't invite others to do it too.
The Rules:
1. You must list why you think friends should read them.
2. You cannot list your own books, but you can list a friend's.
3. You can list them in comments or provide the link to your page in comments if you prefer.
4. You cannot list a book that I listed or that another responder already listed.
5. There's no point in including Harry Potter, because I don't think there's anyone left that hasn't read them.
The Caveat:
As I mentioned in this post, my list of "best books ever written" changes pretty regularly. These are the books that are at the top of my list right now. No promises about an hour from now, and certainly no promises about tomorrow or next week.
The Books:
1. The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay. Because I just read it, and it is fat and dense and painful and beautiful. It's a fantasy without being fantastic, and it's everything, everything that's right about fantasy, without most of the things that turn some people off from fantasy.
2. The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt. It's one of the best middle-grade novels I've ever read. It's one of the best books I've ever read, too. It made me laugh and cry--on the subway, both. It's utterly memorable and smart and gave me a new hero, who is twelve years old. Whenever I'm not sure what to do, I feel like I ought to ask myself, What Would Holling Hoodhood do?
3. Dreamhunter/Dreamquake by Elizabeth Knox. It's two books, but it reads like one book in two physicaly volumes. It's some of the smartest teen fantasy I've ever read, with very real characters and a brilliant brilliant brilliant ending that completely does justice to the complex and gorgeous plot and writing throughout.
4. Impossible Things by Connie Willis. It's a collection of short stories, and it's what speculative fiction should be. It's got funny and dead serious, and all of them are smart, smart, smart.
5. In the Garden of Iden (really, all of The Company books) by Kage Baker. Because they're a great, fun, stand-alone time-travel SF series, and when you read all of them they become something spectacular and ridiculously smart and detailed.
6. World War Z by Max Brooks. It's the zombie novel for people who are scared by scary books. It's a look at what would really happen, across all levels--social, political, military, across countries and social strata--if there really was a zombie plague. Brilliant and completely unforgettable.
7. Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge. It's an incredibly mature and intelligent middle-grade fantasy with a complex system of politics, government and religion. Yes, you read that right: a middle-grade fantasy that comments intelligently, enjoyably, and readably about politics, religion, and literacy. It also has a fantastic heroine and a homicidal goose named Saracen. And some of the best descriptions I've ever read.
8. Memory and Dream by Charles de Lint. It's hard for me to choose just one of his books, because they had such a formative impact on me and I loved them all so hard, but this was the first one I ever read, so it's going to be Memory and Dream. Aside from all the other things that are wonderful about his books--they tell you that magic can be real, and that magic is also a metaphor for unmagical things, and that doesn't make them any less magical. It tells you that there is great ugliness in the potential for magic, and great beauty in the natural world. Somewhere down the line his books started to get repetetive in their message, but it's still an important message to read--and he tells it with great power and beauty.
9. Yes Man by Danny Wallace. Yes Man is one of those bizarre books that's meant as a comedy, and it is hilariously funny--but it also actually really has the potential to change your life. It's one of those books that you read it and you want to embrace some of the ideas--not all of them, mind, but some--and you feel you'd be better for it. Danny Wallace's first book, Join Me! is much the same, but I read Yes Man first, so it makes the list.
10. Cymbeline by William Shakespeare. It's my favorite play, and I am a big Shakespeare fan. This play has it all--romance, death, mistaken identity, cross-dressing, fake poison, war, gods, a headless corpse, long-lost family, and an actual deus ex machina. And a lot of really clever lines. I love it to death. I think everyone should read at least one Shakespeare play aloud, and this one is my favorite.
katallen, over here. I filled it out for her and had so much fun I decided to transport the game over here so we could play in my journal too.The Game:
If you could recommend ten books (or series) to a friend, what would they be and why? Make a list of ten. We could all easily make a list of 100, but that wouldn't be any fun, because then you couldn't invite others to do it too.
The Rules:
1. You must list why you think friends should read them.
2. You cannot list your own books, but you can list a friend's.
3. You can list them in comments or provide the link to your page in comments if you prefer.
4. You cannot list a book that I listed or that another responder already listed.
5. There's no point in including Harry Potter, because I don't think there's anyone left that hasn't read them.
The Caveat:
As I mentioned in this post, my list of "best books ever written" changes pretty regularly. These are the books that are at the top of my list right now. No promises about an hour from now, and certainly no promises about tomorrow or next week.
The Books:
1. The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay. Because I just read it, and it is fat and dense and painful and beautiful. It's a fantasy without being fantastic, and it's everything, everything that's right about fantasy, without most of the things that turn some people off from fantasy.
2. The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt. It's one of the best middle-grade novels I've ever read. It's one of the best books I've ever read, too. It made me laugh and cry--on the subway, both. It's utterly memorable and smart and gave me a new hero, who is twelve years old. Whenever I'm not sure what to do, I feel like I ought to ask myself, What Would Holling Hoodhood do?
3. Dreamhunter/Dreamquake by Elizabeth Knox. It's two books, but it reads like one book in two physicaly volumes. It's some of the smartest teen fantasy I've ever read, with very real characters and a brilliant brilliant brilliant ending that completely does justice to the complex and gorgeous plot and writing throughout.
4. Impossible Things by Connie Willis. It's a collection of short stories, and it's what speculative fiction should be. It's got funny and dead serious, and all of them are smart, smart, smart.
5. In the Garden of Iden (really, all of The Company books) by Kage Baker. Because they're a great, fun, stand-alone time-travel SF series, and when you read all of them they become something spectacular and ridiculously smart and detailed.
6. World War Z by Max Brooks. It's the zombie novel for people who are scared by scary books. It's a look at what would really happen, across all levels--social, political, military, across countries and social strata--if there really was a zombie plague. Brilliant and completely unforgettable.
7. Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge. It's an incredibly mature and intelligent middle-grade fantasy with a complex system of politics, government and religion. Yes, you read that right: a middle-grade fantasy that comments intelligently, enjoyably, and readably about politics, religion, and literacy. It also has a fantastic heroine and a homicidal goose named Saracen. And some of the best descriptions I've ever read.
8. Memory and Dream by Charles de Lint. It's hard for me to choose just one of his books, because they had such a formative impact on me and I loved them all so hard, but this was the first one I ever read, so it's going to be Memory and Dream. Aside from all the other things that are wonderful about his books--they tell you that magic can be real, and that magic is also a metaphor for unmagical things, and that doesn't make them any less magical. It tells you that there is great ugliness in the potential for magic, and great beauty in the natural world. Somewhere down the line his books started to get repetetive in their message, but it's still an important message to read--and he tells it with great power and beauty.
9. Yes Man by Danny Wallace. Yes Man is one of those bizarre books that's meant as a comedy, and it is hilariously funny--but it also actually really has the potential to change your life. It's one of those books that you read it and you want to embrace some of the ideas--not all of them, mind, but some--and you feel you'd be better for it. Danny Wallace's first book, Join Me! is much the same, but I read Yes Man first, so it makes the list.
10. Cymbeline by William Shakespeare. It's my favorite play, and I am a big Shakespeare fan. This play has it all--romance, death, mistaken identity, cross-dressing, fake poison, war, gods, a headless corpse, long-lost family, and an actual deus ex machina. And a lot of really clever lines. I love it to death. I think everyone should read at least one Shakespeare play aloud, and this one is my favorite.
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