Summer Talking Meme #7

[lost_spook]

liadtbunny asked: What would you recommend as a good, amiable fantasy or not very sci-fi sci-fi novel?Now, I am so out of date on reading generally, let alone SF and Fantasy, that it would be laughable if I even tried to answer this question. However, I am pretty sure that you, my marvellous, book-loving flist will be able to, and with ease

Comments

[persiflage_1]

By "amiable" does liadtbunny mean not-Grim-Dark? (Nothing too violent and/or hopeless

[liadtbunny]

Thanks! I shall investigate:)

[persiflage_1]

Welcome, enjoy, and good luck with not getting sucked in! :P

[gillo]

Seconded!

[liadtbunny]

'Guards, Guards' was one of the first Pratchett books I bought. I didn't write my name on it, maybe I should have? You're right it is good:) It's a good place to start with for early Pratchett.

[lost_spook]

Aha, sorry - I thought you sounded as if you'd been recced him once too often and had noped off on The Colour of Magic or something. I should have known better than to think the universe would keep two people with such great senses of humour apart!

You probably should write your name on it, though. I think so. ;-D

(Also, I'm sorry about kind of dropping you in it here! It only occurred to me once I came back that I kind of had. But my flist are v nice and well-read, so you should get some much better suggestions than me and my list of doorstop 90s fantasies I got fed up with and stuff you probably already read growing up!)

[liadtbunny]

The first Pratchett book I read was 'Witches Abroad' which is also a good one to start with - worked for me! Who is the other person with a sense of humour apart from Pratchett(boom-tish)?

And now I have to read all the books!;p

[lost_spook]

It's a very good one! :-)

And, ha, well, you did ask, and if I was well my list would have been very long all by itself. But mostly YA!

I did once at uni read an amusing fantasy about a hero who got a magic sword that was nothing but trouble and he mostly wanted to get rid of it, but couldn't. However, I can't remember its name, which is a shame, because I'd love to know if it was written before or after the Tough Guide...

I have in my LJ reads been hearing a lot about The Goblin Emperor and another one called Sorcerer to the Crown, which both sound as if they ought to be good amiable fantasies, but with the caveat that I can't tell you personally!

[evelyn_b]

The best and most amiable fantasy novel is Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees. I have to go now, but I will come back and type up some excerpts for you (if you haven't already read it).

[liadtbunny]

Thank you:) No, I haven't heard of it:)

[lost_spook]

I've never heard of that, either!

[evelyn_b]

"Among the Chanticleers' lumber there was also no lack of those delicate, sophisticated toys - fans, porcelain cups, engraved seals - that, when the civilisation that played with them is dead, become pathetic and appealing, just as tunes once gay inevitably become plaintive when the generation that first sang them has turned to dust. [. . .] Master Nathaniel seized one of the old instruments a sort of lute ending in the carving of a cock's head, its strings rotted by damp and antiquity, and, crying out, 'Let's see if his old fellow has a croak left in him!' plucked roughly at its strings

[jaxomsride]

Well I would suggest Pern but judging by the icon above, she already knows.

I'd second the Bujold books.

Dianne Wynne Jones is a good author, not to mention Joan Aiken. They might be classed as children's authors but they do tell a good story.

My daughter has recommended M C A Hogarth she writes sci fi that is not at all heavy on the sci.

[liadtbunny]

:-)

I've not heard of M C A Hogarth, so that's one for the collection.

[singeaddams]

I'm writing light YA fantasy. Tell her to wait half a year and I'll get something to her!

[lost_spook]

By the looks of things, the resulting reading list should tide her over till you're ready. ;-)