Book Recommendations?

[Patti L.]

Yeah, that's true too.  Good stuff, but not "I feel like crap, I'm visiting old friends" type stories.

[savannahc]

http://www.unboundworlds.com/2018/05/the-100-best-fantasy-novels-of-all-time/?ref=PRHE467AC5E3A53&linkid=PRHE467AC5E3A53&cdi=13F0CB1E5E4609D7E0534FD66B0A73BA&template_id=9261&aid=randohouseinc9560-20

Doesn't work anymore This one does though! https://reedsy.com/discovery/blog/best-fantasy-series

[pondhawk]

That one lists them alphabetically. Thanks for posting!

One thing I have learned from gardening, which applies to books as well, is that my best-of lists do not necessarily track with other people's lists. But I have found some great books from lists like that.

[Patti L.]

Ain't that the truth?

[Patti L.]

https://www.tor.com/2019/02/12/sleeps-with-monsters-quiet-novels-about-changing-the-world/

[pondhawk]

The older I get, the more I appreciate those kinds of books. Another example that springs to mind is Robin McKinley's Chalice. Not everyone likes it, but those who do, love it.

[Patti L.]

I don't know if I love it, but I do like it, unlike the Pegasus books by her, or the Dragon reserve thing. Those were DNF, which shocked me.

[pondhawk]

I only managed to finish Dragonhaven by skimming 3/4 of it. The voice of an American male teenager is apparently a bit too much of a stretch for her. I have three brothers and she most definitely did not nail it. Why she thought such an allegedly intelligent kid would think and write so wretchedly is beyond me. I did read the first Pegasus; did she ever follow up on that cliffhanger? Not that I felt compelled to go in search of it if she did.

[Patti L.]

I know she was working on it, but her husband, Peter Dickenson, had his final crisis and died, and her already bad health got worse; she's got what used to be called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and it went more or less out of control at that point, and one of her dogs died, and for some reason she owns 3 houses in the same general neighborhood and I think has been trying to sell one.... not a good time for writing fiction for her.

[pondhawk]

Well, that's a lot on her plate. If she decides not to finish it, I won't complain. She can always write something else.

[Patti L.]

She's apparently writing a grieving memoir, more or less by accident.

[pondhawk]

I'll read it if she publishes it.