I miss her. Her son is trying to step into her shoes but not there yet by a long shot. Her characters were so…alive.
I have to admit I fell off reading the series after Todd took over. I was MAD when I read that he came up with the idea that any moisture would make firestone explode. I mean, come on! How could dragons chew the firestone without saliva? How could the workers prevent all sweat and moisture from touching the firestone…I could go on, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to read any of the ones that Todd wrote, I loved her stories so much. (even joined an online weyr for awhile and wrote my own pern adventures, I actually miss that group but I didn’t have enough time to do full-time work, online writing, and have a family at the same time)
2 Likes
Guess I’m an outlier, science, biographies and history mainly.
Favorite reads this last winter were;
They made America From the steam engine to the search engine. - Harold Evans. A chronology of the inventions/ innovations that were formative in the development of the US. An excellent read that taught me many things never taught in school.
Mark twain - autobiography
Arnold Schwarzenegger - autobiography
Elon Musk biography
Hot Seat - Dan Shapiro
Richard Dawkins - Brief Candle in the Dark
Beyond the Galaxy - Ethan Segal
Origins - Neil deGrasse Tyson
The Martian - Andy Weir
7 Likes
I’m interested in Elon’s biography. And one of these days I’ll remember to email support for a digital copy of Dan’s book.
1 Like
Something about that name rings a bell…
7 Likes
Need to add, any biography by Walter Isaacson and 1491 by Charles C Mann
2 Likes
I tend more to SciFi than fantasy, but here’s a list of books I’ve enjoyed over the past several years:
- Neal Stephenson - pretty much everything (the Baroque Cycle trilogy is a bit dense and not technically SciFi though.) Start with Snow Crash if you haven’t read his stuff yet.
- Ernest Cline - Ready Player One and Armada
- John Scalzi - I just read the Collapsing Empire, good story and I hope to see sequels
- Liu Cixin - The Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy (Three Body Problem etc.) is amazing
- Ian MacDonald - I’m on the most recent book in his Luna series right now; will have to go back and check out some of his other stuff
- Robert Charles Wilson - the Spin series
- Kim Stanley Robinson - Aurora and 2312
- S.J. Kincaid - the Insignia series
- Terry Brooks - Magic Kingdom of Landover series (oops I let some fantasy slip in there!)
- Cory Doctorow - not hard SciFi, but interesting and relevant social commentary
- Rob Reid - Year Zero is very funny
- Andy Weir - The Martian - looking forward to whatever he does next.
- A book called Hot Seat by a guy whose name I can’t quite remember…
- Marshall Brain - Manna - a short story with some interesting (if unlikely) predictions about our future regarding automation
I like to occasionally go back and re-read Heinlein (particularly The Moon is a Harsh Mistress) as well.
8 Likes
That’s good to know. Because currently I’ve only recommended it to friends in my age group. Haven’t recommended it to my kids though, for example. I wondered if the story relies too much on nostalgia to present a real adventure.
Thanks for that! And… Whataya mean “As a kid?!” I just watched it again 2 weeks ago!!! Okay… I finally convinced my 8-year old son to watch it. He was reluctant because “it looks old.” But he really liked it. Subsequently found out it’s one of my nephews’ favorite movies. Now they have something else to talk about besides Minecraft. BUT! I woulda watched it even if I was home alone. 
2 Likes
The Iron Druid series is great fun!
I like humor.
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy “Trilogy”- Douglas Adams
Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Chronicles of Pocket the Fool (and everything else he has written) - Christopher Moore
(The continuing adventures of Serge and Coleman) - Tim Dorsey
14 Likes
I probably didn’t get that same warm fuzzy feeling out of it but I dont think you need to have lived it to feel the nostalgia. It’s worked in to so many facets of the story that you can’t help but get it. Personally I’m also really into AR/VR and that helps
1 Like
I need to reread Adams I think I’m at an age to better appreciate it now
5 Likes
The Classics: Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, 1984, Wuthering Heights
The Modern: Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Shopaholic Series, Gang Leader for a Day, The Alchemist and all of Paulo Coelho books!
Highly recommend Gang Leader for a Day - it’s a fascinating true story base on the author (He was a grad student trying to understand the urban poor in Chicago, who befriends the leader of the Black Kings)
4 Likes
I was worried that nobody would mention Terry Brooks. He has been one of my favorite authors for years. Landover is good, but I particularly like the Shannara series, and it has been my favorite book series since I checked out The Sword of Shannara from the school library back in junior high. The world he has created is just amazing and for me is much more accessible than Tolkien.
My other favorite author is Piers Anthony, in particular the Incarnations of Immortality series which chronicles the various incarnations (Death, Time, War, etc…) as if they were jobs held by regular people. The first is about Death and is called On a Pale Horse. I highly recommend it.
4 Likes
I’m sure you’re right. I mean, the movie’s due to be released in exactly 1 year. With Spielberg producing. So it’s got to have mass appeal. Although I was very very very very disappointed to see on IMDB that Matt Frewer doesn’t appear to be playing “Max.” However, I did note that “Max” is missing from the cast list entirely. So either they’re not including the character in the movie, or there’s still hope I’ll see Frewer’s name attached.
1 Like
there are soooo many but here are some I really enjoy anytime I read them:
» douglas adams
» terry pratchett/ discworld
» eoin colfer/ artemis fowl
» agatha christie
» ben aaronovitch/ rivers of london
» bill bryson
» donna leon/ commissario guido brunetti
» robert van gulik/ judge dee
and roger graf/ philip maloney (german, but so far the most ironic detective I ever had the joy to read)
3 Likes
Hmm, let’s see…
- Harry Potter
- Harry Potter
- Harry Potter
Haha but seriously, this series has basically become part of my life. I remember reading the first one with my mom before bed when I was in first grade, she and I trying to hide the pre-ordered new book from each other when it arrived so we could finish it first, all the way up to going to the midnight premier of DH Part 1 my freshman year of college and now reading the illustrated versions after work. I have them all on my kindle and probably re-read them once a year
Poetic waxing aside, I also love-
- Artemis Fowl series
- Dan Brown series (except The Lost Symbol, just didn’t draw me in like the other three)
- Hobbit + Lord of the Rings
- The Count of Monte Cristo (HP aside, probably my favorite book ever.)
- His Dark Materials series, Phillip Pullman (apparently they’re making a tv show?? Let’s hope it’s better than the movie lol)
- Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Series (the first book is by far the best, imo)
- Animorphs. Oh man, I almost forgot about Animorphs!! My first major book addiction. I remember bringing ten books at a time home from the library, and I would just hate when they were missing a volume in between the ones they had. That ending, though, gah! I have a goal to eventually own every book in the series then binge-read them all back to back.
7 Likes
I’d be here all day if I tried to do anything resembling a comprehensive list. My absolute favorite series right now is the Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss, but wow, is waiting for day three difficult! And the series I always end up rereading is Discworld, by Sir Terry Pratchett (whom we lost much too soon).
2 Likes
Oh man I know I need that third book. I don’t know what I’ll do if he decides it needs a fourth. Or heaven forbid a fifth. I don’t have 90 years left in me to wait 
He’s made it pretty clear that the trilogy will remain a trilogy (although some stories may spill out into separate novellas or short stories, as has already happened) but once the trilogy is done he’ll write other stories set in Temerant. As to whether or not future ones will involve Kvothe, I don’t think he’s said one way or the other.
I just hope he gets the trilogy finished before he gets too wrapped up in the Lin-Manuel Miranda movie/TV show… we don’t need another Game of Thrones situation!
1 Like