If you like Harry Potter, you might like...

I thought I'd start a thread where we can recommend books and movies to each other.

Several book series come to mind:

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher.  This is about another wizard named Harry, but it's more of an alternate reality type thing, where the police more or less know that there are vampires and magic workers out there, but pretty much choose to hide their heads in the sand.  Please note, these are not kids' books.  There's violence, cussing, and some hanky panky.  That being said, this is probably my favorite book series right now.

His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman.  Set in a parallel universe where people's souls exist outside their bodies in the form of animals called daemons.  These are marketed as kid/teen books, and in lots of ways they are, but...it deals heavily with theology and religion.  Might be your cuppa tea, might not.  I personally enjoyed them.

Of course I'm gonna mention the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer.  More or less for a teen audience, but I liked them, and I know ladies older than I that enjoyed them as well.  Meyer also has a new book out called The Host, which I have not read yet.

The Danny Valentine Series, by Lilith Saintcrow (yep, that's her real name).  Dante Valentine is a female bounty hunter living in an alternate future.  These are for adults/young adults, not kids.  There's plenty of violence, the main character cusses a lot, and there's some hanky panky.  The story gets monotonous but all in all I enjoyed it.

"I just want to tell you how happy I am that you're here and if I personally can do anything for you please feel free to ask and there are many many people that are professionals on here that are willing to help if you just ask."

Lol was that part meant for me??

Oh I LOVE the Dresden files.  I want to get it in audio because someone told me that James Marsters (Spike from Buffy) read them so I could definitely get into that!!

---,---'-<@ RAL

Mmmm....James Marsters! *happy face*

I know, pretty, huh??  Did you see him with darker hair in Smallville ****SIGH****  Whatta babe.

All of mine to all of yours,

---,---'-<@ RAL

He has a nice voice, too.  I bet he's a wonderful narrator.   I also hear Tim Curry does an excellent job on the audiobooks he narrates.

Oh wow yes, I'm sure he does.  He has such a unique voice.  No matter what he says I'll always hear him saying "I'm just a sweet Transvestite...." (snicker) am I showing my age, here?

All of mine to all of yours,

---,---'-<@ RAL

Heh, Rocky Horror Picture Show is timeless!  Nobody does Frank N Furter like Curry.

NOBODY!  Agreed!  When my ex was in the Navy my sons had RHPS parties in my living room after the video came out.  They'd play the movie for a bunch of their friends and all sit there and do the lines.  Got so bad I was doing it too.

All of mine to all of yours,

---,---'-<@ RAL

AHAHAHAHAHA!

Now the lyrics to "Science Fiction" are stuck in my head! Argh!

In unrelated news:  Two more days till the new Chris Paolini book is released!!!

Ok.  Tell me about Chris Paolini.  Who's that.  What did they write?  Would I like it?

All of mine to all of yours,

---,---'-<@ Ara  

If you liked HP, you'd probably like Chris Paolini's books.  It's more of a fantasy type genre, with dragons and elves and such.  His first book, Eragon, has already been made into a movie.  His second book, Eldest, came out in 2005, I think.  The third book is coming out this friday, and there will be a fourth book in the series, which as yet is untitled.  See the link below for more info.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Paol ini

Hmm.  I wonder if my husband has any of his stuff.  I love to look through my husband's books he feels that every book deserves to live forever so he has a TON (his genre is actually sci fi but he's got some fantasy stuff too).  Of COURSE I love any fantasy books.  I guess what appealed to me so much about HP was how it encouraged kids that had never read before to READ.  How can that be a bad thing?  

And of course, there was the whole thing about them making witches the good guy for a change, but that's a whole other story.

All of Mine to all of Yours, ---,---'-<@ Ara

Aradia (or do you prefer Ara?),  your poor hubby is suffering from book-related packrat-itis.  I have the same condition.  Unfortunately, there is no treatment ;)

Regarding HP getting the children to read: I worked in a book store during the height of Harry Potter mania...there were kids in there who had never read an entire book for fun in their lives, begging mom and dad to "please buy me all of them!".  I have never seen such a thing before, and JK Rowling has my personal gratitude for all eternity.  And yes, it was refreshing to see the witches and warlocks protrayed positively :)

A small side note:  OMG OMG Supernatural Season 4 premeire is tonight! 

My review of Brisingr, 3rd Book in the Inheritance series by Christopher Paolini.

I am only about a third of the way done, as I just picked it up on Saturday, however, thus far I am impressed. (I will try to keep this spoiler free for those of you who haven't read it yet)  The first book was so-so, the second was ok, but Mr Paolini really seems to have hit his stride with the third book.  It picks up about four days after the last great battle in Eldest, after it is revealed to Eragon that Murtagh and his dragon are now under Galbatorix's control, and also that Murtagh is Eragon's brother (and you thought your family was dysfunctional!).  Eragon and his cousin Roran must rescue Katrina, Roran's betrothed, from the city of Helgrind, where she is held prisoner by the Ra'zac, who murdered Garrow, Eragon's uncle and Roran's father.  Meanwhile, the politicking continues between the Varden, Elves, Dwarves, Surda, the wandering tribes...

Anyway, I'm really pleased with it so far, and I hope some of you HP fans will give this series a try!

Actually a warlock  IS a negative character.  They are the "poisoner" that the Bible was referring to when people quote the Bible as saying "Suffer a Witch to Live" and it's actually "suffer a poisoner to live".  That part?  That's about warlocks.

Oops.  Sorry, I just threw that in there.

I didn't know anyone who worked in a book store at that time and now I do and that is special thankyou for sharing.  She has MY personal thanks too because she gave me and my sons something we could share together that wasn't television or school but was something we could all have in common that WAS based in reading.  It was (and still is) wonderful.

Ara, Aradia, tomato. too mah to, sameo sameo.  Makes me no nevermind as long as they get the name right in the creds

Thanks for the input though.  You definitely have my interest.

All of Mine to All of Yours

---,---;--<@ Ara(dia)

Really? I didn't know that about the "suffer a poisoner to live" part.  I wonder how "poisoner" got mixed up with "witch".

Am about halfway through "Brisingr" now and am still enjoying it, though I just know the author is going to leave this book off on some horrible cliffhanger just to make me suffer.

neat thread... i noticed several of my favs mentioned earlier, so i wanted to add a few.  Tad Williams has rarely disappointed me, but he does jump from genre to genre... for fantasy, he gave us the Green Angel Tower series,(starts with Dragon Bone Chair) for Science fiction, he contributes Otherworld saga.  he consistently has intriguing and complex plots with many well developed story lines and characters. 

and there are the old standbys by David Eddings... the Belgeriad and Malorean... he has several other sets too, and while they are all probably worth reading, i find him a little one note.  while i love the story in the ones i mentioned, i don't need the same characters and story again with slight variations in multiple other series.  from talking to other Eddings fans, it appears that which ever series you encountered him first in tends to be your fav, and the others all appear to copycat the first you read.  despite all that, he does a really excellent job with a fantasy adventure epic....

i could go on for quite a while, but i will stop for now and see what inspires me later:)

Coolness.  would this be a good place to jump in and add Marion Zimmer Bradley?  I have to admit I was a little upset with the "Prequel" to "Mists" (of Avalon) because the freaking character development looked like a soap opera over five years of castings and re-castings but I have never read anything to equal Mists any place by any body.  Marion was (I THINK she's passed over to the Summerland) one of the most insightful writers I've ever experienced.  I adore her and while she doesn't have the youth market that Rowlings has, for adults Marion sure can turn a phrase.

Just my two cents, which is about all it's worth.

Blessings all,

---,---'--<@ Ara

Finished Brisingr this weekend, and I am quite glad that I splurged on the hardcover.  I am really pleased with how the author has developed his plot and his characters, and he himself, I think, has improved as a writer.  He did, after all, write the first book in his teens, and I think you can see how he's grown from book to book.  I just hope he doesn't take another 2 years to write the last book in the series!  I am eager to see what he writes after the Inheiritance Cycle is finished.

i am glad to hear he is maturing.  my hubbie and i read the first one and were disappointed because we felt that his teenage voice was too pronounced for us.  it was like, well, yeah  a kid wrote it, and that is great, but had an adult written it, and it didn't have the kid gimmick, i don't think it would have done well.   we are still curious about the 2nd, and just saw the 3rd out... with good review, we may go ahead and get them to see his growth :)

i really enjoy Marrion, and have several of her books... but i find she is often harsh with her male characters... (yes, i criticize even those i love)