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Post by Wyvernwings on Apr 30, 2007 16:52:43 GMT -5
I saw the What are you reading thread and new sooner or later a mod would pick that we need a separate thread to discuss which books we should read and why, so here it is!
WOOT! OK I read everything and everything and am generally the center of "What should I read" at school. But that's school and expecting you all to have wonderful things to say that no one else has every heard of!
So, what books out there should we read? Why? What genera?
My first suggestion. Heir Apparent, by Vivian Vande Velde (that's her real name not a writers name too!). Vivian Vande Velde (VVV as I will call her as I am lazy.) is a wonderful writer who focuses on young adults and older children's works. Heir Apparent is a wonderful story about a teenage girl from the future who gets caught in a video game. In this game there are hundreds of ways to survive, but billions of ways to die.
The twists and turns in this story will keep you on your toes and not sure who to trust. Most females I know find the heroine charming, tomboyish and utterly lovable with mini mun angst. *It is about a teen, so there is a bit of angst in the beginning but as we enter the plot it goes away.*
I'd give this story a 9 out of 10 and I'm a harsh grader!
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Post by Lady Mage on May 2, 2007 12:34:09 GMT -5
Man, I loved that story!!! Although I wouldn't actually call her from the future, but definately a world that is a little different. I really enjoyed it; I got it for Christmas several years ago, and I just gobbled it up. I sat in our armchair, turned music on, ate toffees, and soaked it in. Now whenever I listen to that CD (White Stones, by Secret Garden) I remember what was happening in the book when I was on that song. And if you've read other Vivian Vande Velde and didn't like her, don't worry, because this is one of her only books I read and liked.
For the moment, I would recommend Mercedes Lackey as an author, particularly her book "Exile's Honor". I also would recommend Tamora Pierce's books, and if you read them soon, any fanfiction you write can be entered in the fanfiction contest. Deadline, May 15. So hurry and get your copies NOW!!! I highly recommend both of these wonderful authors, and have read nearly all of their books myself.
Love,
mage
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Post by Wyvernwings on May 2, 2007 13:28:39 GMT -5
AAAHHH! I love most of VVV's works! None as much as Heir but I love them none the less.
Jane Yolen. If you like Rowling, most of her ideas seem to have come from one of Yolens series. But I personally am obsessed with her Pit Dragon Trilogy. Not to be confused with McCaffrey (Tod) is writing now. *Grumbles on that*
Well I'm on the school comp so I should head soon!
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Post by Meluivan Indil on May 8, 2007 15:53:05 GMT -5
I really need to do some serious reading. I've been missing out on so many good authors since I found fan fiction.
Anyhow I have two Author's to suggest from two different genre's. An old favorite of mine is Cynthia Voight. She wrote a trilogy that I read when I was a teenager. I don't remember the exact name of the trilogy but one of the books was called Dicey's Song and was my all time favorite Young Adult novel. It centered around a girl named Dicey who traveled halfway across the country to find their grandmother, with her younger siblings, after they were abandoned by their mother.
The Second is in the Fantasy Genre since it is my favorite Genre. I'd suggest Sara Douglass. She is an Australian Author, who has written several books now in three different series. My favorite series is The Wayfarer Redemption. It is based in a fantasy world that is just as amazing as Tolkien's Middle Earth. Their are three different races inhabiting this world that don't trust each other but must band together to face a fourth race that can destroy them all. The detail and personal interaction between characters is very gripping. It's extremely hard to put them down.
M.
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Post by LadyRiona on May 8, 2007 16:25:04 GMT -5
Actually, M, the series that "Dicey's Song" is in, is a REALLY long series called the "Tillerman Cycle". I have about two of them. *gets up to check how many there are in the series* There's seven of them, and I have the first and third, "Homecoming" and "A Solitary Blue". Another good one of Voight's is "Izzy Willy-Nilly". It's about a girl that was in a tragic car accident and had to have part of her right leg amputated, and how she copes with that.
But yeah, I like her, she's pretty good.
Another teen author I'll recommend for our young ladies is Sarah Dessen. She has quite a few novels for young adult women and I have read every single one of them. All of her stories are about young women in their middle and older teenage years, dealing with what life throws at them. It goes from a girl trying to bury her past of being overweight, trying to start over new for a summer all the way to a girl learning that sometimes "perfection" can be a little imperfect. They are all wonderful books and I recommend them, but if you are sensitive to language then there are a few titles I'll NOT recommend, as Sarah Dessen is not afraid to use the "F" word.
A publishing house I REALLY like is the "PUSH" house. All of their stories are "older" young adult fiction, and the plotlines are things that teenagers really do struggle with these days: depression, drugs, s*x, peer pressure, fitting in...you name it. Needless to say, they're really angsty, but good stories nonetheless. A lot of them have language as well.
A book I purchased and read when I was in Alaska last year, called "A Mango-Shaped Space", by Wendy Mass, dealt with a younger teenager who has something called "synethesia". It isn't really a disorder or anything, but it's where whenever she heard or felt something, then she would really see colors. An example was whenever her dad was renovating the house, when he hammered in some nails, she would see dull gray circles in her vision. The book is her letting out that secret and trying to cope with how people treat her after finding out.
Hmmmm....that's all I can think of that's actual books, but I'll have more later.
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Post by Meluivan Indil on May 8, 2007 22:01:18 GMT -5
Thanks for that info, Ri. It's been so long since I looked her up that I didn't know she'd went any farther past Solitary Blue. I read Homecoming, Dicey's Song, and Solitary Blue when I was in high school. But I think I read Dicey's Song first for some reason. I loved all three of them though. I'll have to see if I can get the rest in the series.
M.
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Post by Wyvernwings on May 9, 2007 14:10:03 GMT -5
Rachels Tears. We just had a speaker from Comombine come in and talked about it to us. It was sad and one of my good friends is reading the books. I recomend it to all sorts of people out there, but it's a bit graphic. Still it's sort of like a true Pay it Forward.
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