Nothing of what she thinks.
I thought about doing the ten first lines thing, but first lines are overrated. So here are 19 books you should read and why, with their first lines, just in case you feel differently. Books listed in alphabetical order by author.
1. Falcon, Emma Bull. Emma Bull is a great author, although I think War for the Oaks is overrated--it's good, but not her best thing. Bone Dance is a fascinating study of gender and energy, and Finder is a novel of the Borderlands with an engaging, sympathetic protagonist. Falcon is one of those great sci fi novels where pieces of the protagonist's past return, and what happens to Niki at the end is just marvelous. First line:
The sky was low and gray and looked hard enough to ring if struck.
2. The Rising of the Moon, Flynn Connolly. Nuala returns to her native Ireland to find that it has become an oppressive society controlled by the church. She refuses to go along peacefully. Great feminist sci fi with some f/f subtext. First line:
After fifteen years of self-imposed exile, Nuala Dennehy came home.
3. Dancer of the Sixth, Michelle Shirey Crean. A piece of Dancer's past shows up, and she has to confront the events that led to her rise to the place of second in command of the Sixth Service. Girls who kick ass and a het romance I like. First line:
The shouts sounded like murmurs to her numbed ears, murmurs far away and having nothing to do with her.
4. Tam Lin, Pamela Dean. A retelling of the Tam Lin ballad set on a Midwestern college campus. Thoroughly likable characters, the Classics department as the Faery Court, and a large part of the reason I chose to learn Greek. First line:
The year Janet started at Blackstock College, the Office of Residential Life had spent the summer removing from all the dormitories the old wooden bookcases that, once filled with books, fell over unless wedged.
5. Sable, Shadow, and Ice, Cheryl J. Franklin. Marita's ties to her Affirmist family, her Mage School, and her brother, who is in turn tied to Prince Hiroshi's and Andrew's technological revolution, conflict. First line:
Summer's oppression ends at last, mused Aroha, as a gust of cold wind wrapped his silk Mage robe around his legs.
6. The Psalms of Herod and its sequel The Sword of Mary, Esther M. Friesner. Yet another post-apocalyptic world, this one which takes Herod's Slaughter of the Innocents in all the wrong ways. One girl, Becca, dares to defy the social order. First line of The Psalms of Herod:
The baby was still crying on the hill when Becca came back from the milo fields.
First line of The Sword of Mary:
"Becca, wake up!"
7. The Assassini, Thomas Gifford. Killer priests, dead nuns, and a lawyer who's tied to it all in ways he doesn't realize. It's a bit predictable--I figured out the last piece of the puzzle long before Ben Driskill did--but the fascinating look at the Catholic church--with its society of killer priests--was enough for me to keep the book. First line:
He looked like a bird of prey, all black and swooping against the silver sheen of ice.
8. Slow River, Nicola Griffith. Nicola Griffith is not a very good author--I don't care about most of her characters and she has a severely fucked up sense of timing--but Slow River is worth reading for its fascinating use of verb tense. Lesbians in the future. First line:
At the heart of the city was a river.
9. Valor's Choice and its sequel The Better Part of Valor, Tanya Huff. Military sci fi with a female protagonist who totally kicks ass. More fascinating when you get to the end of each book and find out which real battle from history Tanya Huff based her plots on. First line of Valor's Choice:
A writer and philosopher of the late twentieth century once said, "Space is big."
First line of The Better Part of Valor:
"And the moral of the story: never call a two star general a bastard to his face."
10. The Band Never Dances, J.D. Landis. One of my favorite teenage rock star books. Drummer Judy Valentine finds her band. First line:
I can remember what it was like before I was born.
11. Mara, daughter of the Nile, Eloise Jarvis McGraw. Silly young adult romance set in Ancient Egypt. Mara's a slave girl who takes on a role as a double spy and then falls in love with one of her employers. There's something about it that I love. First line:
Nekonkh, captain of the Nile boat Silver Beetle, paused for the fiftieth time beside his vessel's high beaked prow and shaded his eyes to peer anxiously across the wharfs.
12. China Mountain Zhang, Maureen F. McHugh. I read Kelley Eskridge's Solitaire (an excellent book, but not one I've owned long enough for it to make this list) this weekend, and it led me back to China Mountain Zhang. In the future, the United States has had a worker's revolution. One of the consequences of this new world order is that homosexuality is not allowed, which causes problems for Zhang, who is gay, but that's not what the novel's really about. Definitely one of my most highly recommended books. First line:
The foreman chatters in Meihua, the beautiful tongue, Singapore English.
13. Deerskin, Robin McKinley. Robin McKinley has written a number of wonderful fairy tale retellings. Deerskin is the best, although Spindle's End is growing on me. With the help of her dog, the Moon Lady, and a plain prince, Lissar heals from her rape by her father. First line:
Many years later she remembered how her parents had looked to her when she was a small child: her father as tall as a tree, and merry and bright and golden, with her beautiful black-haired mother at his side.
14. Silver Woven in My Hair, Shirley Rousseau Murphy. Another fairy tale retelling, this one my favorite Cinderella story. First line:
The night wind blew down from the rocky hills and swept the cobbled streets clean.
15. The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell. An unbelievable novel about faith and religion, which I sometimes frivolously think of as Jesuits in Space. A caveat: Do not read the sequel as it ruins the entire impact of this novel. First line:
It was predictable, in hindsight.
16. Crown Duel, Sherwood Smith. Previously published as two novels, Crown Duel and Court Duel, this is a great fantasy novel with, say it with me now, a female protagonist who kicks ass. Forget the additional short story at the end; it's not up to the standard of the rest of the book. First line:
I hope any of my descendants reading this know exactly what the Covenant and the Code of War are, but there is always the chance that my story has been copied by the scribes and taken to another land that will consider Remalna distant and its customs strange.
17. A College of Magics, Caroline Stevermer. Faris' wicked uncle sends her off to the College of Greenlaw, not realizing what, exactly Greenlaw teaches. Faris doesn't quite realize it herself, but there's a reason Greenlaw's graduates are called Witches of Greenlaw. First line:
Faris Nallaneen arrived at the gates of Greenlaw on the same day winter did.
18. The Merro Tree, Katie Waitman. Art, censorship, and interspecies romance. Excellent book. First line:
On every world, no matter how long the night or how deeply he slept, Mikk the performance master woke before dawn, his body eager for the elaborate dance he'd invented as an apprentice to keep his long limbs supple and his mind agile.
19. Bellwether, Connie Willis. I debated about this one, not because it doesn't belong on the list, but because I wasn't sure which Connie Willis book to put here. Usually, I give people Impossible Things, which is a collection of some of her excellent short stories. But Bellwether is my favorite of her books. Chaos theory, sheep, and true love, all in her best madcap style. First line:
It's almost impossible to pinpoint the beginning of a fad.
And there you have it. A more or less representative sample of my favorite books.
1. Falcon, Emma Bull. Emma Bull is a great author, although I think War for the Oaks is overrated--it's good, but not her best thing. Bone Dance is a fascinating study of gender and energy, and Finder is a novel of the Borderlands with an engaging, sympathetic protagonist. Falcon is one of those great sci fi novels where pieces of the protagonist's past return, and what happens to Niki at the end is just marvelous. First line:
The sky was low and gray and looked hard enough to ring if struck.
2. The Rising of the Moon, Flynn Connolly. Nuala returns to her native Ireland to find that it has become an oppressive society controlled by the church. She refuses to go along peacefully. Great feminist sci fi with some f/f subtext. First line:
After fifteen years of self-imposed exile, Nuala Dennehy came home.
3. Dancer of the Sixth, Michelle Shirey Crean. A piece of Dancer's past shows up, and she has to confront the events that led to her rise to the place of second in command of the Sixth Service. Girls who kick ass and a het romance I like. First line:
The shouts sounded like murmurs to her numbed ears, murmurs far away and having nothing to do with her.
4. Tam Lin, Pamela Dean. A retelling of the Tam Lin ballad set on a Midwestern college campus. Thoroughly likable characters, the Classics department as the Faery Court, and a large part of the reason I chose to learn Greek. First line:
The year Janet started at Blackstock College, the Office of Residential Life had spent the summer removing from all the dormitories the old wooden bookcases that, once filled with books, fell over unless wedged.
5. Sable, Shadow, and Ice, Cheryl J. Franklin. Marita's ties to her Affirmist family, her Mage School, and her brother, who is in turn tied to Prince Hiroshi's and Andrew's technological revolution, conflict. First line:
Summer's oppression ends at last, mused Aroha, as a gust of cold wind wrapped his silk Mage robe around his legs.
6. The Psalms of Herod and its sequel The Sword of Mary, Esther M. Friesner. Yet another post-apocalyptic world, this one which takes Herod's Slaughter of the Innocents in all the wrong ways. One girl, Becca, dares to defy the social order. First line of The Psalms of Herod:
The baby was still crying on the hill when Becca came back from the milo fields.
First line of The Sword of Mary:
"Becca, wake up!"
7. The Assassini, Thomas Gifford. Killer priests, dead nuns, and a lawyer who's tied to it all in ways he doesn't realize. It's a bit predictable--I figured out the last piece of the puzzle long before Ben Driskill did--but the fascinating look at the Catholic church--with its society of killer priests--was enough for me to keep the book. First line:
He looked like a bird of prey, all black and swooping against the silver sheen of ice.
8. Slow River, Nicola Griffith. Nicola Griffith is not a very good author--I don't care about most of her characters and she has a severely fucked up sense of timing--but Slow River is worth reading for its fascinating use of verb tense. Lesbians in the future. First line:
At the heart of the city was a river.
9. Valor's Choice and its sequel The Better Part of Valor, Tanya Huff. Military sci fi with a female protagonist who totally kicks ass. More fascinating when you get to the end of each book and find out which real battle from history Tanya Huff based her plots on. First line of Valor's Choice:
A writer and philosopher of the late twentieth century once said, "Space is big."
First line of The Better Part of Valor:
"And the moral of the story: never call a two star general a bastard to his face."
10. The Band Never Dances, J.D. Landis. One of my favorite teenage rock star books. Drummer Judy Valentine finds her band. First line:
I can remember what it was like before I was born.
11. Mara, daughter of the Nile, Eloise Jarvis McGraw. Silly young adult romance set in Ancient Egypt. Mara's a slave girl who takes on a role as a double spy and then falls in love with one of her employers. There's something about it that I love. First line:
Nekonkh, captain of the Nile boat Silver Beetle, paused for the fiftieth time beside his vessel's high beaked prow and shaded his eyes to peer anxiously across the wharfs.
12. China Mountain Zhang, Maureen F. McHugh. I read Kelley Eskridge's Solitaire (an excellent book, but not one I've owned long enough for it to make this list) this weekend, and it led me back to China Mountain Zhang. In the future, the United States has had a worker's revolution. One of the consequences of this new world order is that homosexuality is not allowed, which causes problems for Zhang, who is gay, but that's not what the novel's really about. Definitely one of my most highly recommended books. First line:
The foreman chatters in Meihua, the beautiful tongue, Singapore English.
13. Deerskin, Robin McKinley. Robin McKinley has written a number of wonderful fairy tale retellings. Deerskin is the best, although Spindle's End is growing on me. With the help of her dog, the Moon Lady, and a plain prince, Lissar heals from her rape by her father. First line:
Many years later she remembered how her parents had looked to her when she was a small child: her father as tall as a tree, and merry and bright and golden, with her beautiful black-haired mother at his side.
14. Silver Woven in My Hair, Shirley Rousseau Murphy. Another fairy tale retelling, this one my favorite Cinderella story. First line:
The night wind blew down from the rocky hills and swept the cobbled streets clean.
15. The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell. An unbelievable novel about faith and religion, which I sometimes frivolously think of as Jesuits in Space. A caveat: Do not read the sequel as it ruins the entire impact of this novel. First line:
It was predictable, in hindsight.
16. Crown Duel, Sherwood Smith. Previously published as two novels, Crown Duel and Court Duel, this is a great fantasy novel with, say it with me now, a female protagonist who kicks ass. Forget the additional short story at the end; it's not up to the standard of the rest of the book. First line:
I hope any of my descendants reading this know exactly what the Covenant and the Code of War are, but there is always the chance that my story has been copied by the scribes and taken to another land that will consider Remalna distant and its customs strange.
17. A College of Magics, Caroline Stevermer. Faris' wicked uncle sends her off to the College of Greenlaw, not realizing what, exactly Greenlaw teaches. Faris doesn't quite realize it herself, but there's a reason Greenlaw's graduates are called Witches of Greenlaw. First line:
Faris Nallaneen arrived at the gates of Greenlaw on the same day winter did.
18. The Merro Tree, Katie Waitman. Art, censorship, and interspecies romance. Excellent book. First line:
On every world, no matter how long the night or how deeply he slept, Mikk the performance master woke before dawn, his body eager for the elaborate dance he'd invented as an apprentice to keep his long limbs supple and his mind agile.
19. Bellwether, Connie Willis. I debated about this one, not because it doesn't belong on the list, but because I wasn't sure which Connie Willis book to put here. Usually, I give people Impossible Things, which is a collection of some of her excellent short stories. But Bellwether is my favorite of her books. Chaos theory, sheep, and true love, all in her best madcap style. First line:
It's almost impossible to pinpoint the beginning of a fad.
And there you have it. A more or less representative sample of my favorite books.