Sunday, July 29, 2012

Fantasic Books You Must Read!

With 5-plus decades of reading under my belt, I thought it would be fun
to hopefully introduce some of my favorite books to younger readers!
These are books now typically off-the-radar, but so darn good that they
ought to be part of every bibliophile's collection~

Forever Amber by Kathleen Windsor:
Historical romance extraordinaire, set in 17th century England,
during the Great Fire of London and the plague years.

Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine:
Paranormal/historical romance/time-travel via hypnosis.
Everything written by this author is terrific, but this particular novel
is my personal favorite.

Knight In Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux:
Time-travel/historical romance - this one has it all, magnificiently
presented with just the right amount of humor. Where other books
have long come and gone, I've had this one on my shelf for years and
there it shall stay. Prepare to have a box of tissues handy.

The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee:
Epic. Probably my true first YA dystopian/romance read.
Imaginative, beautiful, and everyone will love this book.
Ditto on tissues.

Wonderful vintage *horror/fantasy* authors- look for
anthologies featuring stories by:
Manly Wade Wellman
Oliver Onions
H.P. Lovecraft
E.A. Poe
William Hope Hodgson
Richard Matheson
Ambrose Bierce
Algernon Blackwood
M.R. James
H.H. Munro [Saki]
H.G. Wells
Jules Verne
Robert E. Howard
Daphne du Maurier

Books I keep meaning to get from the library:
The Dome by Stephen King
Night Surf/The Stand " "
The Woman in The Dunes by Kobo Abe

More vintage books you may not have heard of that are fun/interesting reads:
Coffee, Tea or Me - by Trudy Baker and Rachel Jones/Donald Bain
Barefoot Boy With Cheek, I Was a Teenage Dwarf {Dobie Gillis},
The Feather Merchants, etc by Max Shulman
My Brother Was an Only Child, Benedict Arnold Slept Here, etc
by Jack Douglas
How To Get a Teenage Boy and What To Do With Him
When You Get Him by Ellen Peck
Chickie by Elenore Meherin

My favorite *clean* MG/YA paranormal series:
The Dreamhouse Kings by Robert Liparulo

Best historical/autobiographical MG/YA series:
Little House Books series by Laura Ingalls Wilder (with daughter Rose)
I believe there are 9 books in this series, - The Long Winter is superb,
and you will never look at winter the same way again!

Beloved *current-day* series I could never bare to part with:
Beautiful Creatures series (Caster Chronicles) by Stohl and Garcia
Forest of Hands and Teeth series by Carrie Ryan [please, Carrie - just ONE more book!!]
The Fallen series by Lauren Kate

Favorite *bathroom* reading material lol :
Archie comics digests
MAD magazine [well ... d.u.h.]
How to Survive a Horror Movie by Seth-Grahame Smith

Okee ... I tired now. So. What are some of your long-standing
favorites? AND ... what's the oldest fiction in your personal library?









2 comments:

  1. Well- you have give me a lot of books to add to my list. I haven't read many of these! I love The Little House series and have read them all. I have also read Verne and Poe.

    I love The Pillars of the Earth (HF), Memoirs of a Geisha, The Handmaid's Tale, The Red Tent, Wonder by RJ Palacio. My oldest book is probably Little Women or Jane Eyre. My fairytale collections are pretty old, too. :)

    ~Jess

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  2. @DMS - I forgot the Pillars of Earth! (love my Sci-Fi, too)
    My old copy of Little Women, from when I was a grade-schooler, I gave to my grown daughter, and she has read Memoirs of a Geisha and really enjoyed it.

    Wuthering Heights is also a must (*Heathcliff*) lol
    Wish I still had my fairytale anthologies, pretty neat that you still have yours <3

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