Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Since I'm Going to Be Heading to the Bookstore Anyway...

...because Kevin has talked me into purchasing at least the first book in the Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever series, I wanted to throw out the question to our Realm denizens, what REALLY good children's or teens books have you read lately? Anything I should have on my list? Ken and I are writing an action/adventure, we're sending off a picture book to publishers, we've written a fantasy, and Dorkman was a contemporary piece of juvenile literature. So as you can see, my interests run the gamut -- I just want good books.

My son, who is about to turn eleven, has raved to me about the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan, and I've ordered four of the five of those from his Scholastic book brochure from school along with three of Mike Lupica's sports fiction books, which I'm very interested to read. Along with those, I ordered the last Potter book - haven't read that yet (nor the sixth, although I've seen the movie). Please let me know if you've read any of these, and, if so, I'd like to hear thoughts without spoilers.

However, I always like to go and get something in kid's fiction that I'm totally psyched to read. Let me hear a few titles with a blurb or two about why they were great to you. And though I'm more interested in kid's lit because that's what we write, if there's just something in adult fiction you can't help but get off your chest because it's sooooooooooo good, then let me hear that, too. We can't get to them all in The Realm Book Club, can we? Pretty please, then, shoot me with your bow of ideas and send an arrow through my heart!

5 comments:

Joanna Ruth Meyer said...

I just finished reading "The Hunger Games," which was really good despite being on the NYT bestseller list. :-) It's a YA dystopian sci-fi thriller about a brutally fatal reality TV show.

And I have to take this opportunity to plug Megan Whalen Turner's Queen's Thief series, which includes The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia, respectively. Most subtle, intelligent plotting EVER. Realistic fantasies with a fair dose of political intrigue inspired by ancient Greece.

And if you've never read Diana Wynne Jones' Howl's Moving Castle (I hadn't until last Christmas), by all means do so at once!

Rich said...

Thanks, Joanna!

Btw, for informational purposes, I didn't write this little fact in the post, but Friday evening is probably when I'm going to have time to go -- although, obviously, I could go back but I'd rather just make one trip -- so I'm taking comments up until tomorrow around 5:00 p.m. I should probably make that an editor's note. Also, I'm willing to spend between $30 - $40 to stay in budget, so I'm gonna be limited in that way. There's one other little factoid, but maybe I'll do a short post on another quirk I have - so I'll just leave this teaser here.

All that said, so far, the list to choose from reads:

Lord Foul's Bane (Donaldson)
The Hunger Games (?)
The Thief (Whalen Turner)
Howl's Moving Castle (Wynne Jones)

Last note: With series (such as Donaldson's and Whalen Turner's) , I'll just start with the first volume for now. If no one else chimes in, that's my list.

Again, many thanks, Joanna, and although I probably should know, can look it up, and it may be on your site (and I'll check), I still thought I'd ask - who wrote The Hunger Games?

Anonymous said...

Read Airborn by Kenneth Oppel. Jamie and I love it. I second the Howl's Moving Castle. I have a copy of it around here somewhere and it's very dog-eared.d

I found Robin McKinley's Dragonhaven at the flea market on Saturday for $3. I grabbed it! (no, I haven't read it, yet. I'm working on Irreplaceable by Stephen Lovely right now.)

WandaV

Rich said...

Okay, I'll be heading to Barnes & Noble shortly.

Lord Foul's Bane (Donaldson)
The Hunger Games (Collins)
The Thief (Whalen Turner)
Howl's Moving Castle (Wynne Jones)
Airborn (Oppel)

Since that's the list, I can probably get all of those. Thanks, Joanna and Wanda (and Kevin). Much appreciated!

Rich said...

Okay, I've started into The Hunger Games. The first chapter was pretty good, so I'm into it.

Because I could only get The Hunger Games in hard back, I only got three books and ended in the over $30 range. However, like I mentioned in the post, I also went in for about the same amount in Carson's Scholastic Book Club, so that's it for books until I get thru all these... unless I'm just dying for something.