[lara hayward]

Hi. I'm new - coming on, actually, for some advice. I am looking for some suggestions for books to read. If you are willing to help, here is what I am looking for -

*sci fi or fantasy which is light but long, with many books (or a really long one), but they don't necessarily have to be sequential. If they were stand-alone, but all connected, that would be fine.

*But I would like books that are more about how people interact with each other, or the things they are doing, than about FIGHTING A BIG ENEMY. Examples that are perfect fits are the Pern books, or Heinlein's future history books.

*i.e., no big bad guys, fun reads but not deep or with some Satan character. (I do love some books like that - Tolkein, Jordan (though finish up already!), etc - but that isn't what I'm looking for now. Darkover, Zelazny are too dark for the sort of thing I'd like - I'd like to avoid gloomy or depressing.)

Can anyone help? Please? :-) Thanks!

(Oh, if mentioning a series, please list the books in order, as much as is possible, anyway. Also, a brief description about the books would be great too!)

Bye! - Lara :-)

(PS, please forgive if this posts numerous times - my computer keeps freezing up and I don't know if my posts are going through.)

[Erebus]

Hi, Lara, I'll give you the same advice I gave Mystical:
You may like to read through a few other posts to get the recommendations you seek (once the server's back up properly, that is!). In particular, you may find this one helpful: www.sffworld.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000687.html (http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000687.html)

It's always a good place to start with the many other postings and doing this also saves the need for members repeating their recommendations!

Cheers,

Neil

[This message has been edited by erebus (edited August 05, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by erebus (edited August 06, 2001).]

[lara hayward]

Thanks for that advice - I actually did read through some old posts, but it took so long that I wasn't getting anywhere. Add that to the fact that my request was so specific (rather than, say, "a good series" or something like that), I believed, and still do, that my request merited it's own post.

I tried to follow your link but was unable to. But I appreciate the effort.

Lara :-)

[Rob B]

lara:

If you haven't read Steven Brust yet, I'd highly recommend his Vlad Taltos books, the first 3 published about a year or so ago as an omnibus entitled The Book of Jhereg. I think Brust's homepage is www.dreamcafe.com. (http://www.dreamcafe.com.)

Once the server gets back to normal, check the "slippery edges" post.

[Erebus]

Sorry, Lara, there was a problem with the link, but it's fixed now. Whether you can get to the post or not depends on the server, which is still very slow at the moment. Good luck,

Regards,

Neil

[Barbarossa]

Another tip for you would be Terry Pratchett's discworld, 25 books now I beleive and still counting....
They can all be read as stand alones, even though there are several characters that appear in several books.

The early books were a parody on fantasy cliches, later books while still funny and still fantasy are more satirical and of a more subtle humor.

Good books to start are "Guards Guards", "Mort" or "equal rights".

BTW I second the Brust reccomendation, he's pretty good too.

[Rusty]

If you haven't already, try reading the Harry Potter books by J K Rowling. They are independent stories (4 books so far), easy reading, great fun and super characters. They are not just for children as most adults I know have read them also.
Start with the "Philosiphers Stone".

Otherwise the Pratchet recommendation above is good although I thought they lost a lot of humer by about the 10/12 books.

Enjoy.

[Lady Fox]

Here are some authors you might want to try. They have a lot of their story development centered around character interactions.

Melanie Rawn
Sharon Green
Fiona Patton
Anne Logston

[Barbarossa]

Rusty, this is a typical example of how different tastes. (Not implying that one is better or more justified than the other.)
I actually liked the more subtle humor of the later discworld books a lot more. I thought the series improved till about book 19 (i think) "interesting times). Since then it had its ups and downs but on a high level.

[lara hayward]

Thanks for the advice so far. I have read Brust, and he actually perfectly fits what I was asking for - I love his books, both the Taltos ones and the 3 Musketeers ones. But, alas, he is no longer new.

I found Discworld too plotless, though I did enjoy the Guards books. Mostly the characters were too papery. (As - Lani? - stated, boy don't I sound picky. :-) )

I did get some ideas from the first link, though the "slippery edges" one seemed to focus a lot on dark/gloomy/sort of horror sorts of things, and I definitely want light, more humorous, but with good characters. That is why Pern, Heinlein, Brust are good examples. No quests or coming of ages, but more people living their lives and the things that happen to them, without fighting the great satanic figure.

Lady Fox, can you give me ideas of which books or series of the authors you listed might be good to start with? And maybe which fit the above criteria best? (I do love good characters and their interactions, one of the reasons that Pern, despite its general fluffiness, draws me a lot. I love the people, and the lack of a sense of overwhelming doom.)

Thanks to all - I'm investigating. More thoughts are always welcome. :-) (I'm beginning a list, so that I can accumulate books that seem right as I come across them at used book stores, tag sales, etc.)

Lara :-)