Recommend a book to read next?

[Maggie Mae]

I really like books that are part of a series, I like them to be "lighter" than, say, War and Peace. I loved Harry Potter & Song of Ice and Fire Series, didn't care much for Artemis Foul, like mysteries with strong women detectives, and books that have a little bit of humor. I'm not above reading YA Fiction, the last series I read was the Sammy Keyes novels, just waiting on the last few.

 

Thank you in advance!

[AtroposHeart]

The Discworld series

[Conuly]

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. Spreads into a whole series.

Murder with Peacocks (and series) by Donna Andrews.

[keen23]

It Takes a Witch by Heather Blake- Rather new series. It's a witchcraft mystery. Light, funny.

The Spellman series by Lisa Lutz- wacky family of detectives who live in San Francisco. Five books and counting. Izzy, the daughter detective is the primary character in the series.

The Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde- somewhat of a fantasy/mystery series. Thursday Next is an English book detective. There are dodos and clones, and it's strange but wonderful.

The Heather Wells mysteries by Meg Cabot are pretty good (except the 3rd book, it's bad).

[Just_Jane]

I am reading Beautiful Creatures. I had seen a preview for the movie and it seemed like something that would be a book. sure enough it was. It is YA fiction but it is surprisingly good. It's part of a series of books which means I'll end up reading them all.

[Bethella]

You could try the Twelve Houses series by Sharon Shinn- Mystic and Rider, The Thirteenth House, Dark Moon Defender, Reader and Raelynx, & Fortune and Fate. Fantasy with strong female characters and mystery/intrigue.

[wtfrenchtoast]

Libba Bray's trilogy, the name of which escapes me now, is pretty good. One of the books, I'm not sure which, is called A Great & Terrible Beauty. Aren't I helpful? ;)

I also really loved Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series.

Are you into so-called "chick lit" at all? Like Meg Cabot, Emily Giffin, etc?

[mpheels]

I'm working my way through the Sookie Stackhouse novels. I have to read a serious book first, then get to spend a week reading fluffy supernatural romance/mystery.

For serious books, recently finished Water for Elephants (loved it!) and The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (liked it, but very emotionally draining to read).

[Megan]

I am seconding Thursday Next - a series starring a female literary detective in an alternate universe in which the Crimean War never ended, literature is the most popular form of amusement, and time-travel exists. There's tons of fun references to books and history. They're very funny (and punny). They're especially great if you've read a lot of classic lit. The first book is "The Eyre Affair" (though the second - "Lost in a Good Book" is my favorite).

The Flavia de Luce books by Alan Bradley might interest you. Flavia is a precocious eleven-year-old who enjoys chemistry and getting even with her older sisters. They're set in the 1950s at a country estate in the UK. She's seeking to clear her father of a murder charge in the first book, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.

The obvious recommendation: Agatha Christie is brilliant. I prefer Poirot, but Marple is always amusing. Favorites: And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express, and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

Not much in the way of humor, definitely focus on a serious subject: the Millennium Series (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, etc.). Have the "mystery" aspect to some degree, I found them very engaging and quite liked Lisbeth, one of the main characters.

[RandomTrivia]

Mystery series:

Rita Mae Brown's series with Harry Haristeen (although the last 2 or 3 have had random "preachy" monologues shoehorned into the dialogue - and the main character is female, "Harry" is a nickname) - also her foxhunting mysteries with Sister Jane)

Susan Wittig Albert has 4 series - the China Bayles series, the new Darling Dahlias books, an older series in Victorian England written under the name Robin Douglas, and a finished series called Cottage Tales, with Beatrix Potter as the main character

The Daisy Dalrymple books by Carola Dunn (1920s England). Daisy starts out as an unmarried young lady (upper class) who scandalizes her mother by writing for magazines.

Suzanne Arruda's series with Jade del Cameron as the main character (1920s East Africa, I hope she finds a publisher for future books in the series)

Murdoch Mysteries - turn-of-the-last-century Toronto mysteries, by Maureen Jennings

Kate Carlisle's Bibliophile Mysteries

The Mrs. Pollifax books, by Dorothy Gilman. Mrs. P is an older widow who decides to walk into the CIA one day and apply for a job as a spy.

The Brother Cadfael mysteries, by Ellis Peters.

YA Fiction - I usually re-read Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising series this time of year. The main book takes place over the Christmas holidays. (Avoid the movie. I haven't seen it, but the reviews I saw were crap, and at least one actor did an interview where he seemed to be bragging that he'd never read the book because it was too deep or something. I was speechless.)

[NerdyHil]

If you want funny anything by A. Lee Martinez, and his stuff is super weird in a good way. I adore anything by John Scalzi if you want some great sci-fi.

[keen23]

If you want funny anything by A. Lee Martinez, and his stuff is super weird in a good way. I adore anything by John Scalzi if you want some great sci-fi.

I just read Fuzzy Nation- it was ADORABLE!

[JesusFightClub]

Two authors who don't precisely write series (so you can pick up any and don't need to read in order) but write in a wee world they made, though in very different styles: Wendy Holden and China Mieville ;)

Ms Holden writes...um, I don't know what to call it, satirical chick lit? I am not much of a fan of chick lit (bit of an understatement there) but her books are actually amusing. If you're the sort of person who laughs at characters called things like "the Hon. Fizzy Slutt" and "Lavinia Bottoms-Upward" you will like her books. ;)

They poke fun at class and celebrity (she hates modern art too) but I strongly suspect that we would have little, politically, in common. Strangely enough she has a bit of socialist knowledge but then she makes bizarre mistakes like confusing the Red Flag and the Internationale...always wondered who she ran across to get the snippets she has. Still I recommend her books, they are utterly daft and she writes well. I like the bizarreness of them.

China Mieville, a bit more compatible ;) Anything the man has ever written, read it. He's a Trot like me (very like me in fact) but none of his books are anything but amazing fantasy and fiction. Set in an absolute spectrum of alternate universes and you can reread his books over and over again and find something new. The books have elements of politics but they aren't ranty, he's specifically said he never wanted to do that, and he wanted to play with concepts not politics. His short stories are the best place to start then you'll know if he's a writer you want to read on with. Not to everyone's taste but an amazing talent IMO.

(My mum read one of his books, "The City And The City". That is easily the best book I ever read. She, who normally likes things like Jane Austen and wouldn't read a fantasy or SF book if you paid her, even she loved it.)

[Dysfundamental]

The Spellman Files books are among my most favorite. M. C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin books might be to your taste; woman sleuth and lots of humor. Sue Ann Jaffarian's Odelia Gray books are pretty good in that vein.

[Ramona]

I also really loved Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series.

I enjoyed this too ~ which came as a total surprise to me, as I'd expected to hate it and was only reading it because I had nothing else at the time.

[Maggie Mae]

Libba Bray's trilogy, the name of which escapes me now, is pretty good. One of the books, I'm not sure which, is called A Great & Terrible Beauty. Aren't I helpful? ;)

I also really loved Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series.

I

Are you into so-called "chick lit" at all? Like Meg Cabot, Emily Giffin, etc?

I am, but I have to really be in the mood :)

Thanks again for all the suggestions! There are a lot of books on this thread I want to read now, plus retread the sookie books! :)

[lilwriter85]

I am reading Beautiful Creatures. I had seen a preview for the movie and it seemed like something that would be a book. sure enough it was. It is YA fiction but it is surprisingly good. It's part of a series of books which means I'll end up reading them all.

I just started reading Beautiful Creatures and I think it is good so far. I also found out about the series after seeing the movie trailer. From what I've read online from other readers, many people think they are better than other series like Twilight.

[PennySycamore]

I second the recommendation of the Rita Mae Brown mysteries featuring Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen. They are "co-authored" by her tabby cat, Sneaky Pie. Harry is the postmistress of Crozet, Virginia, a real town near Charlottesville. Harry has a female tabby named Mrs Murphy. Mrs Murphy and her BDFF (best dog friend forever), Tee Tucker, help solve the mysteries. Tucker is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. It sounds silly, but it works. The books also have some charming illustrations although the drawings are always from the point of view of Mrs Murphy and Tucker.

[Sweetpea1]

The Thursday Next series is awesome. Think The Hitchhikers Guide to anything Bronte.

[crazyforkate]

Tana French's novels. I haven't actually read them, but my friends are all raving about them, and they're getting a ton of praise. Bought "In the Woods" for my dad for Christmas.

[Mela99]

Dorothy Allison - Bastard Out of Carolina is amazing and brilliant. Her other novel, Cavedweller, is a weird story, but still good.

[Abi]

Not sure if it's already been said, but 'The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency' sounds like it could be something you'd like.

I think there's been about 13 books in the series so far.

I also love Agatha Christie, never get bored of her.

'And Then There Were None' (won't mention the previous, extremely un-PC titles :shock: ) is a pretty good one.

[fauxmenno]

The Cat Who... series by Lilian Jackson Braun was really good. But only up until about the 20th book; after that I think they were written by a ghost writer or something and failed epically.

[treemom]

I am reading Unholy NIght by Seth Grahme Smith right now. Not a series but a different take on the night of Jesus's birth.

Same guy who wrote Pride, Predjuidice and Zombies and Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.

[Aisling]

Tana French's novels. I haven't actually read them, but my friends are all raving about them, and they're getting a ton of praise. Bought "In the Woods" for my dad for Christmas.

Ooh, I was just about to mention that!

Faithful Place is great too, and she's got a new one out called Broken Harbour, which i am going to request at the library for a post-dissertation comedown