Books and Stuff

So, we were talking about books and writing and reading in class today, and the idea of book lists/recommendations came up, so I decided that I would take a look at my book list.  The first thing that told me this could be an issue was when had to dig into a folder of files that were transferred from an old computer and never converted into the updated formats.  Definitely it has been six years since I updated the list, and I can definitely tell.  It is very much a younger reader, and while many of the books are ones that I still love, it is the love of nostalgia, not the love that says this book is super important and everyone needs to read it.  So, the list you are going to see here is spontaneous and hopefully interesting to you.  Genres range from science fiction to fantasy to young adult to horror to literary to mystery.  I tend toward fantasy and sci fic, both "adult" and YA, but I branch out when something catches my attention.

(Note: These are recommendations mostly because I really liked them and I hope that others will like them, too, not based on books I feel are "important" because of what they have to say, though some of these fall into both categories.  Also, they are in no particular order.)

On Writing--Stephen King
Contact--Carl Sagan
Catch Trap--Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Dark Tower series--Stephen King
The Telling--Ursula K. LeGuin
pretty much anything by Patricia McKillip, but The Riddle-Master of Hed is one of my absolute favorites
Dune--Frank Herbert
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo--Stieg Larsson
Ender's Game--Orson Scott Card (the rest of the books in this series are good, too)
His Dark Materials trilogy (starts with The Golden Compass)--Philip Pullman
Harry Potter (because I can't not put it on a rec list)--J.K. Rowling
Abhorsen trilogy (begins with Sabriel)--Garth Nix
The Word and the Void trilogy (begins with Running with the Demon)--Terry Brooks
The Mists of Avalon--Marion Zimmer Bradley
If I Pay Thee Not In Gold--Mercedes Lackey and Piers Anthony
Possession--A.S. Byatt (mystery/romance/literary all rolled into one!)
The Giver--Lois Lowry
The Farthest Away Mountain--Lynne Reid Banks
Bel Canto--Ann Patchett
American Gods--Neil Gaiman
Anansi Boys--Neil Gaiman
Brokeback Mountain--Annie Proulx (short story--much better than the movie, if you were wondering)
Sphere--Michael Crichton
Dracula--Bram Stoker
Pride and Prejudice--Jane Austen
A Madness of Angels--Kate Griffin
Memnoch the Devil--Anne Rice (this comes in the middle of the series, but is my favorite of the Vampire Chronicles)
Hannibal trilogy--Thomas Harris
Practical Magic--Alice Hoffman
Fight Club--Chuck Palahniuk
Jumper--Steven Gould (yes, the movie was based on this, but very very very very loosely)
The Old Man and the Sea--Ernest Hemingway
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies--Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Darkly Dreaming Dexter--Jeff Lindsay (the first Dexter book, a bit darker than the show, which I liked)
The Road--Cormac McCarthy
Hero--Perry Moore
Good Omens--Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Stardust--Neil Gaiman
Imajica--Clive Barker (sometimes found as two volumes)

Okay, that's it for now.  Hopefully you find something you like on there, or maybe you disagree with me on some of them, either way, let me know if you read (or have read) any of these, I would love to hear what you think of them.