Monday, November 17, 2008

In Search of Good Fiction

I, alas, am in the tragic position of having little or no fiction to read. I have plenty of non-fiction, but living completely on that is like living on...tofu. Nutritous, but not always very tasty. (Although I do find it helpful for my writing- more on that in another post.)

So I'd like to ask for good book recomendations. From my book list at the bottom of this blog you can see what I've already read and what sort of books I prefer. I'm generally pretty open to differant genres- only I don't do horror. At all.

I like historical fiction, although I'm open to good present day or anything with a fantasy element. (Maybe not outright fantasy though- unless it's REALLY good. So often fantasy is poorly concieved and written). In particular, giving the time of the year, I'd be interested in any young adult/adult historical fiction dealing with the Pilgrims and the Mayflower. All the books on the subject in my house are for preteens or teens and at this point in my life, not really satisfying anymore. ;)

So...anyone want to come to my rescue?

10 comments:

Clare said...

I've actually been a little short on fiction, too. My interests have naturally been moving more towards the non-fiction realm. The only piece of fiction I've read recently is 'Father Elijah' by Michael O'Brien, and I didn't care for it.

Before that it was 'War and Peace,' which was a good read, but very long and not exactly light-weight fiction!

Some of my favourites, though:

- 'Don Quixote' by Cervantes
- 'The Man Who Was Thursday' and 'Manalive' by G.K. Chesterton
- 'Belinda' by Hilaire Belloc (it's out of print, and thus hard to find, but it's a hilarious satire, and so sweet at the same time)
- 'East of Eden' by John Steinbeck (honestly, not so very well written, but I love the story anyway)
- 'Wives and Daughters' by Elizabeth Gaskell
- 'The Unknown Shore' by Patrick O'Brian, and the Aubrey-Maturin series
- 'Brideshead Revisited' by Evelyn Waugh
- anything at all by P.G. Wodehouse

Erin said...

If you like Beauty you should try some of Shannon Hale's books. Start with Goose Girl or Book of a Thousand Days.

The Real Katie said...

- The Love Comes Softly books by Janette Oke

Any book by Beverly Lewis

An Old Fashioned Girl (and Little Women!) by Louisa May Alcott

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Any book by Nicholas Sparks

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

My Antonia by Willa Cather

Hope I helped! ;)

Victorian Rose said...

I noticed that you like medieval stories, so might I suggest The Squires Tales by Gerald Morris? He does marvelous retellings of Arthurian legends that are witty and entertaining, and there are several books in the series. The first one is what named the series; The Squire's Tale.

Matthew Bowman said...

I've tried leaving a comment twice on this thing, and each time it eats what I have to say. I'd had a long list of suggestions for you. I'll just email them to you. Actually, I'll email a whole book to you. ;)

Holly said...

I agree with Erin.

Also, Blood Red Horse, by K.M. Grant.

Rose Marchen said...

'The Three Musketeers'!!!! (By Alexandre Dumas) VERY good book! Full of handsome guys, beautiful ladies, adventure, danger, intrigue, fun, and guys who are in love with other guys' wives!

I hear that "The Robe" (I don't know the author) is very good.

"Fabiola" is very good too.

Christina said...

Try out the Uglies, Pretties, and Specials series by Scott Westerfield. Don't let the titles put you off- they're really good, and well thought out.

Matthew Bowman said...

Really? I took a look at that in the bookstore, as either the title or the cover caught my eye (I can't remember which, and they're both fairly striking). I read the back-cover text for some of them, and found myself concluding that they were fairly shallow in scope. I completely forgot about them until you mentioned them. I suppose I'll take another look at them -- I'm always in favor of good teen fiction, but it's so very rare these days.

Elena, I'm sorry I still haven't sent those two emails I owe you. I'm still up from that all-nighter I mentioned to you last night, though, so I think I have an excuse at the moment. ;) I'll try to get to that as soon as I can, I promise.

Elenatintil said...

First a broad thank you to you all for the suggestions! I appreciate them!

Mamselle Duroc- I actually had just picked up a P.G. Wodehouse at the library before reading your reply! Great recommendation! I've gone ahead and gotten a few more! I also checked out Brideshead Revisited, which looks like it should be interesting and stimulating.

Erin- I've read Goose Girl- although that's one that deserves a reread. I still need to track down Book of a Thousand days. Thanks for reminding me!

Katie- We have similar tastes in books! What did you think of "My Antonia"? I must admit that I've never read any Nicolas Sparks, but he seems to write good stories so I should really pick them up at some point.

Ayrmaiviel- Oooh- those sound quite good! I love good retellings of Arthurian legands!

Cuileann- what is Blood Red Horse about?

Rose- Have you not read the Robe yet? One of my favorite books! What is Fabiola about?

Christina- Hmmm...seems as though I remember there being a discussion about that series over on the Fairy Tale Novel forum...I can't remember what the verdict on them was, though.

Matt- Don't worry! If there's anyone who understands the stress of this time of year (and School Deadlines) it's me. No need for apologies (although I appreciate knowing that you haven't forgotten).