Favorite Novels

Books with characters and/or locales worth returning to, time after time.
Listed in no particular order.

The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien. The big daddy, the one that got me hooked on fantasy.

The Prydain Chronicles, Lloyd Alexander. One of several YA books (series, actually) that is still a delight to read.

The Dark is Rising Sequence, Susan Cooper. Newberry Award winning fiction worth reading. Contemporary fantasy set in the UK.

Harry Potter, Books 1-5, J.K. Rowlings. If you haven't heard of these, you've been living under a large rock.

His Dark Materials Series, Phillip Pullman. Entirely too deep to be just for children.

Perdido Street Station & The Scar, China Mielville. I'm not much for description; I usually skim right over it. But, at times, Mielville's weird and wonderful world grabs me even more than his characters.

The Iron Dragon's Daughter, Michael Swanwick. Unquestionably dark, a great escape for those tired of perfect, always benevolent elves.

The War of the Flowers, Tad Williams. Thematically similar to Swanwick's tale, a human(?) struggles to survive in a harsh fairy world.

The War for the Oaks, Emma Bull. A recent discovery even though it was written in the eighties.

A Song of Fire and Ice, George R. R. Martin. I don't read much epic fantasy anymore, but the Martin's complex characterization has me hooked.

Fool's Gold Trilogy, Jude Fisher. Another recent discovery, filled with engaging characters, in particular, a strong female protagonist.

Stephanie Plum Series, Janet Evanovich. The Divine Ms. E.
Sage advice on her web page is what actually got me to commit my stories to the page. Wacky, fun, contemporary mysteries, with a heroine who is a departure from the bitter, angry detective type.

Sunshine, Robin McKinley. Oddly, the only vampire novel on my list. I never read much in the genre until after I wrote my novel. Yes, there are other good examples of the genre, but Sunshine's story stays with me.