Recs

Below are a few of my favorite books. The list is somewhat arbitrary and skewed towards more recent reads.

Romance Fantasy Science Fiction Historical Fiction Mainstream

Romance

Welcome to Temptation Jennifer Crusie

My favorite Crusie, although Bet Me is a close second. Crusie pulls together all her strengths here with sharp funny writing, hot sex, murder mystery, and a great cast of characters. This book brought me back to reading contemporary romance. I picked it up after a friend of mine, who usually skips sex scenes, said Crusie’s are worth reading. And they are. As is the rest of the book.

The Shadow and the Star Laura Kinsale

Perhaps my most emotional read. A beautiful hero who carries the burden of his abusive past, and never quite recovers. Kinsale does not gloss over the consequences of Samuel’s childhood, nor does she allow it to overwhelm the book. There is a lot of humor and she has a light touch when it comes to the heroine, Leda, and her relatives. Forced marriage, tortured hero, virgin heroine, and jaguars come together to make this a wonderful read. (Interestingly, there are fans who don’t think much of TSatS and prefer Flowers From the Storm, my second favorite Kinsale. More intense—the hero is in real jeopardy—with less humor. Quaker heroine and dissipated rake. It works.)

Out of Control Suzanne Brockmann

It’s difficult to choose one Brockmann, but OOC is a good entry point. Humor, adventure, and early sex, which doesn’t always work for me, but does here. Fun romp. I find her characters immensely appealing. Gone Too Far might be my favorite Brockmann, but you need the previous books in the series. I also love Hot Target for its secondary gay romance.

Fantasy

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell Susanna Clarke

With a pitch perfect voice, Clarke recreates Regency England with magic. I was entranced. The two magicians of the title are not particularly heroic, but they’re wonderfully human. Humor, sinister fairies, well-realized magic system, love story, and fantastic plot. A little slow at the beginning. None of the above describes the book properly. Go read. Especially if you’re an Anthony Trollope fan.

The Time Traveler’s Wife Audrey Niffenegger

Poignant love story with a mainstream feel and yet it wouldn’t work without her time-traveling device. Henry’s Chrono-Displacement Syndrome wreaks havoc on his life, even while it allows him to visit Clare as a child. Extremely well-written, hard to put down, very romantic—I’m still a little in love with the hero.

Wild Seed Octavia Butler

I was so sad to hear of Octavia Butler’s death earlier this year. When my children were young I read Wild Seed, walking around the house with one eye on the book, the other on my toddler. I could not put WS down. It has been described as a vampire-shapeshifter story, among other things. Doro is an anti-hero and a killer. I could not believe how much I came to care for him at the end. Riveting. Disturbing. With a satisfying ending.

Science Fiction

Spin Robert Charles Wilson

Winner of the 2006 Hugo, Wilson marries cool science fictional idea, great characterization, and elegant prose to ask, what happens to Earth after the stars go out? Dysfunctional families, romance, aliens, and the compelling character of Jason, who strives, above all else, to understand what has happened. Spin gives you hard science fiction with depth of characterization.

Look To Windward Iain M. Banks

How to choose one Banks? LTW is a Culture novel, thus taking place in a science fictional world of AIs, faster-than-light travel, sentient space ships, and more. LTW has Banks’s trademark humor, high adventure, complex digressions, and weird aliens. It moved me to tears (I don’t often cry) as it deals with the personal cost of war. Read through to the end. The emotional payoff is extremely effective.

Warchild Karin Lowachee

Quick-moving engaging story told through the eyes of a young victim of war. Pretty boys, much angst, compelling aliens, intrigue, politics—Lowachee writes an adventure story with depth, and she does not flinch when it comes to Jos, his past and his future. CJ Cherryh fans will enjoy this.

Historical Fiction

The Lymond Chronicles Dorothy Dunnett

Gosh, what can I say. I’m a huge Dunnett fan. Our adventurer and ex-galley slave, Francis Crawford of Lymond, is brilliant, beautiful, wounded, brittle, and utterly compelling. Polyglot, musician, expert swordsman, leader of men, lover of Scotland. Read the first book, The Game of Kings, and let me know what you think. Be warned, I broke my heart on book four and it took me years to recover. But when I revisited this series, it was the most engrossing reading experience I’ve had. I was immersed in her world and characters. Book six is fantastic romance, but you need the previous books. (I also intend to reread The House of Niccolo and would love to find some Niccolo fans. I know of one: Sara Donati.)

Into the Wilderness Sara Donati

I found Sara Donati’s blog when she wrote an excellent series of posts about sex scenes. This is Elizabeth and Nathaniel’s story, set in turn of the century North America. Elizabeth has just arrived from England, Nathaniel was raised among the Mohawk. They are almost, but not quite, upstaged by Donati’s portrayal of Richard Todd who was, as a young boy, forcibly taken by his home and raised by the Mohawk who killed his mother. I read this while on a canoe trip which was fitting—Donati spends time exploring the wilderness of New York.

Mainstream

Crow Lake Mary Lawson

The book begins with a tragedy. The parents of a family of four, two older boys and two very young girls, are killed in a car accident. The boys decide to keep the family together and raise the girls. The sibling interactions are phenomenal and very moving. I did have issues with the present day story—the book alternates between past and present. This is Canlit and I’m not sure it made its way south of the border.

The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold

When I first heard of TLB—in which the narrator is raped and killed in the opening scenes—I thought, no way. But because she continues to tell her story while in heaven, the book is not overly weighed down by the tragedy. Sebold has an engaging, compassionate voice. Utterly readable even while it explores a very difficult subject. The positive buzz this book received is well-deserved.

Hateship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage Alice Munro

I’ve read all Alice Munro’s books. She is a superb writer, though not perhaps to everyone’s taste. The title story of this collection is more generous and less judgmental than most of her stories. Deft, compelling storytelling, generally set in her world of southern Ontario. She is part of my Canadian landscape.