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've read the Chronicles of Narnia and we really liked them but it took me 2 years to do it! The only thing I didn't care for was the in-depth description of every little thing... (we walked past a bush, that was covered in berries and the color of red and overlooking a forest which was near the land of ..blahh blah).. sometimes his descriptions were entire paragraghs! ha

I absolutely LOVE the Harry Potter books but I don't want to limit my son's exposure to books to only fantasy or sci-fi or whatever. 

Does anyone know of any other series that are really good?  i.e. We read all of Louis Sacher's book and they were great! 

how old is son?

on the other hand, my genra exposure is rather self limited anyway... but i'll see what i think of...

He's 10  yrs old (11 in February).. 5th grade.   Thanks!!

some books i like non  fantasy/scifi... Hatchet, Holes(think you already mentioned Sacher), Where the Red Fern Grows, My Side of the Mountian... but i am mainly a fantasy girl...anyone else?

I guess I lean more towards fantasy too because I'm looking at The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Golden Compass, Eragon..

How about Charlie Bones or Percy and the Olympians? Ever read those?

Also, are you supposed to read the Hobbit after the Lord or the Rings or before?

Some non-fantasy/non-sci-fi books that I've read are Tangerine, the aformentioned Holes, Maximum Ride (series), Monster, Stargirl, Speak (which was actually very good, just a little too stereotypical of high schoolers), and many other books of basically the same teenage genre. They're very easy to find, but it's difficult to come across the really good ones. Most are filled with gossip, crushes, hate for school, promotion of drugs/drinking/smoking, blah blah blah. All the things I detest about my age group, essentially. Which is why I go for the fantasy. Speaking of which, has anyone read Ender's Game or any of its parallel cousins? That was a FANTASTIC book, even though it was sci-fi (not my favorite genre).

Lol I'm rambling now, but I also need to include that some classics/historicals are worth picking up. Especially Pride and Prejudice, Ragtime, Shakespeare, Alas Babylon (EXCELLENT novel), and anything Mark Twain.

Okay I'm done now ;D

You're not rambling! haha  Yes, I actually have a few in my Amazon wish list that I want to buy him fro xmas.. Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Last of the Mohicans and Uncle Tom's Cabin to name a few.  Thanks everyone!  Good suggestions.

Original Post by jenniferthepennifer:

I guess I lean more towards fantasy too because I'm looking at The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Golden Compass, Eragon..

How about Charlie Bones or Percy and the Olympians? Ever read those?

Also, are you supposed to read the Hobbit after the Lord or the Rings or before?

 

 The Hobbit is a prequel to LOTR, it explains how the ring comes into Bilbo's possession.

For your son, how about Because of Winn Dixie (about a dog), White Water by PJ Peterson, Hatchet by Gary Paulson and his other books about the continuing adventures of Brian, the main character of Hatchet.

Thanks Shrpshootinstar!  I think we'll try the Hobbit and LOTR next.. He's seen the movies but I'm ashamed to say that we've (I've) never read them!

Ok guys, get this...and I DIDN'T eat any because it's full of fat and stuff but my husband found a recipe and I made for him something called "Hobbit Pie".

YIKES!!

---,---'-><@ RAL 

food made of hobbits, or food made for hobbits i wonder?

There was a book "leaves from the tree of last inn..." or something like that that i read in jr high that had some fasintating recipies (goblin stew...hafling potatoe pankakes, things like that)  i made for my family.  it was writen for the Dragon Lance Series... when they were almost new if you can believe that. :)

Oh Ara, PLEASE post the recipe!!! I would love to make something called Hobbit Pie!!!

EDIT: And you're welcome, Jennifer :)

Hehe I like this post. A lot. =]

For those of us who are fans of Wizard Harry Dresden, Jim Butcher's new book will be released next week on October 14th.  It's called "Welcome to the Jungle" and is a graphic novel set before the events in "Storm Front".

Jennifer - what about the Lemony Snicket series?  I have not read them all but I adored the ones that I have read.  My brother and sister-in-law are not readers so I had to read anything new that I wanted to give my nieces before doing so and swearing that it was appropriate for them.  Don't remember what age I started that series for them but thinking around 10 and I think that they would probably appeal more to a boy than a girl. 

I have a 2 1/2 year old who wants to sit in my lap and read every day and I cherish these times.  I also have all the HP books read and stored for him.  I am going to take the same approach with him to reading that my mom took with me.  If he can read the words then he can read the books.  The library lady used to have a fit at some of the books that I checked out but I ran thru the kid's section in a few months.  I probably shouldn't have read Harold Robbins at 12 or 13 but I didn't understand all that I was reading anyway.....

How about the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew books?  Not sci fi but good mystery reads none the less......Agatha Christie, too.  I think I had read all her books by the time I graduated from HS and I have a leather bound collection of them still.

Heehee, you and me, Betsy!  I was reading Dean Koontz at 12 years of age...my 18 year old cousin lended them to me, under the condition of not telling my parents! :)  Excellent suggestions...I haven't thought of the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew in ages.  Another good series is the Encyclopedia Brown books.  I've also heard good things about the Magic Treehouse series for smaller children.

Just found out one of my favorite authors has a book series for preteens! His name is Garth Nix and the series is called Keys to the Kingdom.  Thus far there are six books out, with one more in work.  These are geared towards 9-12 year olds.

So, if you're here, chances are pretty good you like scifi stuff :)  Just an FYI for those of you who haven't seen it, Ironman (recently to dvd) with Robert Downey is pretty good!

Another CCer, Lily42, reminded me of Christopher Moore today.  His books are offbeat, humorous and not a little wacky.  In short, they're great.  His works include Lamb, Fluke, Coyote Blue, A Dirty Job, Blood Sucking Fiends, Love Bites, The Stupidest Angel, and a couple others.  It's worth checking out.