What is Your Favorite Guilty Pleasure books ?

[Hobbit]

I loved the Earthsea series..That ending was brilliant!

Ah but did that include the fourth book (Tehanu?) that seemed to divide so many?

 

[Royce Melborne]

Ah but did that include the fourth book (Tehanu?) that seemed to divide so many?

Oh... Although I have read them all, I am now not sure which one I was thinking of now as I read them all out of order ... So if I say; the one that ends with Ged on the beach finally facing what he had released into the world, would you know which one I was talking about? lol

 

[Sfinx]

Lots of LeGuin about to be re-released.... and in the UK Jack Vance is regularly being re-released as part of the SF Masterworks series. Good times...

Most certainly! I gobbled up everything by Vance (how cool is the Demon Princes series when you're 12 years old??) and LeGuin when i was young - although strangely enough, however much I loved her Earthsea saga (and later also her non-fiction such as her version of Tao Te Ching) i really do not like her SF works...but then there're always some Heinlein, Bear, Niven or Aldiss for the trip down memory lane

 

[Sfinx]

Oh... Although I have read them all, I am now not sure which one I was thinking of now as I read them all out of order ... So if I say; the one that ends with Ged on the beach finally facing what he had released into the world, would you know which one I was talking about? lol

I could be wrong (probably am) - but is the sequence of Ged facing / embracing his (own) shadow not in the very first volume (A wizard of earthsea)?

 

[Hobbit]

So if I say; the one that ends with Ged on the beach finally facing what he had released into the world, would you know which one I was talking about?

Yup.

however much I loved her Earthsea saga (and later also her non-fiction such as her version of Tao Te Ching) i really do not like her SF works..

I know others that have said the same.

For me, some Arthur C Clarke... Mary Gentle's ASH A Secret History and MR James' Ghost Stories should do it. But there are lots of others. I guess the Heinlein reread might count there as well.

 

[Sfinx]

Yup.


I know others that have said the same.

For me, some Arthur C Clarke... Mary Gentle's ASH A Secret History and MR James' Ghost Stories should do it. But there are lots of others. I guess the Heinlein reread might count there as well.

Re Heinlein: When I was about 15 or 16, To Sail Beyond the Sunset came out...very much captivated me (could be partly blamed on the cover ofc Would love to re-read it...no idea though whether / where i can get my hands on it

 

[Hobbit]

To Sail Beyond the Sunset came out...very much captivated me (could be partly blamed on the cover ofc

Presumably this is the US cover?

Our UK cover was much less risque!

Would love to re-read it...no idea though whether / where i can get my hands on it

Depends where you are, sfinx. Secondhand will probably be the easiest. I have a set of the Virginia Edition, so I'm lucky to have them all (hence the reread).

 

[Sfinx]

I indeed got my hands on the US version Now wondering whether i read it in Dutch or English...

Depends where you are, sfinx. Secondhand will probably be the easiest. I have a set of the Virginia Edition, so I'm lucky to have them all (hence the reread).

In the Netherlands; so shipping sometimes can be a barrier. But just found a copy (new at that) at Book Depository for EUR 7,68 incl. shipping!

 

[Royce Melborne]

I could be wrong (probably am) - but is the sequence of Ged facing / embracing his (own) shadow not in the very first volume (A wizard of earthsea)?

Ah... If so, that ending was very good lol! Although I do remember reading and enjoying all of the Earthsea books, that is the one really stand out moment that has really stayed with me over the years.

Yup.

Oh good!

 

[Vince W]

Battletech novels. Giant stompy robot war action. Some are dreadful, but some are pretty good.

 

[Royce Melborne]

The Ramage series by Dudley Pope is another series that I read just for the sear fun of it. A ship gets sunk in ever novel and there is always a pirate to out trick and it is brilliant fun!

 

[Timewalker]

I still really enjoy a lot of the old Dragonlance novels, which are not exactly the best written novels, but they still have a special place in my heart. Same thing goes for Eragon.

The Chronicles trilogy was based on a series of gaming modules (which I have), and at times it's painfully obvious in the novels where the map points are, and where the PCs' actions may or may not trigger a combat or whether or not they discover something.

That said, I loved the early Dragonlance novels - even cried and sniffled my way through one of the characters' death scenes - and I didn't even like that character!

I do recommend the modules if you're curious about the songs in the novels. Some of the modules include sheet music for them. The song Goldmoon sings that sets everything off has a hauntingly beautiful melody. Est Sularus is a song that's perfect for the organ (which is what I play). There are other songs as well. I recall that these are also available in the Leaves From the Inn of the Last Home book, as well.

Some of the later trilogies really got away from what attracted me to this series in the first place - interesting (but flawed) characters who go on an adventure to save the world.

 

[Michael B]

Stuart Slade's Big One series. I can really smell the gun smoke in them.

 

[Cicero]

The Xanth books of Piers Anthony

 

[Cicero]

The Time Keeper War series by Simon Hawk

 

[Ropie]

Would be something like the first 3 volumes of the collected issues of Alpha Flight by John Byrne. I loved it when I was 10 and I still love it now (and no, I'm not Canadian!)

 

[Cicero]

Doc Savage Man of bronze novel

 

[Raf]

Glen Cook's "P.I. Garrett" series.