Kevin's Watch

He's worth a try. His best book, though it's out of print, is Consider Phelbas. Excession was also a good book. They are both Culture books. The Culture is a galaxy spanning civilization where machines have computer sentient minds, and have rights equal to animate beings like humans. It forms the background for the books, though the characters from the seperate books don't interact. I havn't been able to get started on Look to Windward, another Culture book (I keep forgetting to put it in my briefcase to read on the train). In general they are well written, and you have to pay close attention to plot; which is not often easy if it deals with keeping plotting ships straight. The ships minds all have whimisical names like Fate Amenable to Change, and Anticipation of a New Lovers Arrival

Goodkind: Enjoyed the first two books but wasn't very impressed with anything after that.

Dark Tower: Love it! Can't wait for Wolves of the Calla this Fall!

Jordan: Can't stand it. Rambling and boring.

Pullman: Loved the "His Dark Materials" trilogy.

Once again I'll give a hearty recommendation for "Tigana" by Guy Gavriel Kay. Wonderful literature but hard to find.

I'm reading The Isle of Glass, by Judith Tarr. I'm almost finished with it and will be moving on to The Golden Horn, the second book in the trilogy.

I'm actually taking a pause from reading! But these are the things I'm planning on taking on my trip:
short story collections by
Dan Simmons
David Brin
Roger Zelazny
along with one or two Zelazny and Simmons novels.
My sons will be taking along Narnia and Amber.

Wow! Somebody else has heard of Judith Tarr! I've never found anything else by her, but I really enjoyed Avaryan Rising.

I just bought A Game Of Thrones and A Clash Of Kings and I'm about to start reading the first . After all I have heard about ASOIAF I couldn't resist them any longer.

You'll enjoy them.

Ahhh Infelice I envy you...I wish I could read them again for the first time !

I'm back in2 The Fall of Hyperion and writhing on the Tree of Pain--oh the xquisite agony! I'm going 2 try 2 fly through the rest of it (which is rare, Mongo read real sloooooow...) as I'm xcited 2 find The Hound and the Falcon (based on Turiya's recommendation) and take big slobbery bites o/o it!

Yay!! The Hound and the Falcon is great!

(Slobbery? honestly... )

I am reading Otherness, a short story collection by David Brin. The story I just read, Dr. Pak's Preschool was extremely creepy to me, about the way some scientists found a way to make babies work in utero.

I just finished reading Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix.

I just started reading The Riddle Master Trilogy.

And in between those, I am re-reading the EarthSea Cycle and The Ilearth Wars.

~MsMary~

I just went through both the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and the First & Second Chronicles again over the past few months. So, I guess I need to take a break from sci-fi/fantasy for a while.

Right now I'm reading Atlas Shrugged again for the ?th time and various historical non-fiction books...... oh ya that is all in addition to the normal heavy load of legal case reading for law school.

I just finished ASOIAF. Right now I'm reading The October Horse by Colleen McCollough, the 4th book of her Masters of Rome series. I saw on the Martin website that he is reading Helen of Troy (I think that is the name of the book ) by the same author. They are really wonderful books!

Duchess, I have heard you and danlo talk about Narnia and Amber. Could you elaborate please? Who are the authors and the books? I would like to read them.

C.S. Lewis wrote the Narnia books and Roger Zelazny wrote the Amber Chronicles--there's forums on both authors at the Hangar!

The Narnia books were originally written for children, but many adults adore them as well. I got them in a huge all-in-one edition for my younger son (age 10), and he read it twice while we were on vacation! In fact, he has requested that I track down any movies based on the books, especially his favorite, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. If either of your kids like fantasy, you probably can't go wrong having it in your house. You can also get the Amber books in a huge all-in-one edition called The Great Book of Amber. They are fun and adventure-packed. My older son (age 14) is enjoying them, so if you have younger teens on up, that book might get a good workout as well.

Thanks!

caamora, I love your sig - made me laugh out loud.

~MsMary~

Thanks!

You are quite welcome!
I am currently reading Harry Potter 5, at my younger son's special request.