Fun Fiction

[thekarens]

I've re read The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings series almost every year since I was 8 (now 43) so that's what in currently reading along with Tad Williams Dragonbone chair series.

[Catrin]

I've re read The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings series almost every year since I was 8 (now 43) so that's what in currently reading along with Tad Williams Dragonbone chair series.

I've read it many times since I was about 9 or 10 myself. Am currently doing it again as a read-along in a group of FB friends. The Dragonbone Chair series sounds interesting, will have to put it on my list!

[Crankin]

I started reading the New Yorker to keep up with my English teacher colleagues! I always felt like I wasn't a "real" English teacher, since my degree is in Special Ed, with an English minor. I finagled my way into the certification (actually, I was National Board certified in Language Arts, more work than I've ever done) Some of them were published authors! I've always loved writing, and always been a reader, but I don't really love some of the classics. I do like Shakespeare (taught A Midsummer Night's Dream for years and produced a dramatic version several times), but I really like the American classics. I took a class in the American short story, which was one of the best classes I've ever taken.

[indysteel]

I love short stories, Crankin. She's Canadian, not Anerican, but I highly recommend any of Alice Munro's collections. She's one of my favorite writers. You've probably read her a time or two (or more) in the New Yorker.

[Irulan]

I also really enjoyed the first two of the Outlander series, but I never got around to the rest.
Historical fiction is my favorite genre.
My go-to books for fun is the Master & Commander series by Patrick O'Brian. My father told me about them years ago and I've read the entire series a couple of time now. They are just fantastic - you just fall right in and sail along with the story (so to speak).

If you liked Patrick OBrien, you might like Bernard Cornwell. His Richard Sharpe series is along much similar lines but with slightly less flowery writing. It's set in the Napoleonic wars, with Sharpe being promoted in the trenches from a private/grunt foot soldier who grew up in a brothel to an officer for saving the Duke of Wellington's life. There's class conflict, lots of adventure, realistic and authentic war action, and of course a little romance (these are NOT romance novels) because Sharpe is a ruggedly good looking and arrogant. Sean Bean played him in the BBC series. It's not cerebral, but it is fun.
I really like Historical Fiction a lot. Some of my favorite authors are Bernard Cornwell, Sharon Kay Penman, and Wilbur Smith.
Bringing Up The Bodies is loaded onto my Nook but I havent gotten to it yet. I'm trying to think of what other author had a version of Cromwell's story that I really enjoyed, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment.

[missjean]

Oh, I've read all of the Sharpe series too! They are also excellent. I have not looked into the other authors but I've added them to my book list.
Another great series, but with a humorous ribald twist are the Flashman books by George MacDonald Fraser. Fraser takes Flashman, a nasty character in the book Tom Brown's School Days, and inserts him into real stories from the 1800's English history. He is a coward, a cheat, and a cad, but very charming & handsome and he always comes up smelling like a rose. They are written as Flashman's memoirs, and my Dad (he recommended these books also) told me that when the first book was published back in the early '60s some reviewers thought it was non-fiction.

[Irulan]

MIssjean, you are the only other female I've run into that's a Sharpe fan! I think of it as guy's bathtub reading, or the male equivalent of a bodice ripper, hee hee. You know there are Richard Sharpe drinking games and appreciation societies?
Another author along these lines is Arturo Perez-Riverte, translated from the Spanish. Captain Alatriste is our hero and the first of the series carries the same name. Viggo Mortenson played him in the one (so so ) movie made from the books. He's more of a retired solider/swashbuckler who in in secret service to the King. I love Bernard Cornwell, and have read everything he's done.

Flashman books by George MacDonald Fraser.

{runs to go look up on Goodreads} Oh! Sounds like fun! Thanks!

[Crankin]

Wow, I think I must be the only one here who doesn't like mystery, adventure, sic-fi, fantasy, etc.

[indysteel]

I like some mysteries well enough, but I'm also not an adventure, sci-fi or fantasy reader. No offense to those that are; I've just never gotten into those genres.

[thekarens]

Wow, I think I must be the only one here who doesn't like mystery, adventure, sic-fi, fantasy, etc.

I actually know very few women who are into sci-fi/fantasy. In fact, reading through this thread I was surprised at how many here do read it and no, I don't think the Twilight series counts

[Jolt]

Wow, I think I must be the only one here who doesn't like mystery, adventure, sic-fi, fantasy, etc.

I'm not into most of that stuff either...as far as adventure goes I do like reading real-life adventure stories (mountain climbing, survival stories etc.) but not so much fictional ones. Never did get into sci-fi despite going to a college where it was very popular with other students (we were all a bunch of nerds!).

[missjean]

the male equivalent of a bodice ripper, hee hee.

Good one! :-)

Captain Alatriste looks interesting - added to my list.
Let me know what you think of Harry Flashman.

[Catrin]

I actually know very few women who are into sci-fi/fantasy. In fact, reading through this thread I was surprised at how many here do read it and no, I don't think the Twilight series counts

That is why there are so many genres to choose from I swing from Russian classics to Sci fi & fantasy With some history mixed in.

I agree, the Twilight Series do not count

[snapdragen]

My brothers taught me to read before I started school, I cut my teeth on Ray Bradbury. It was a long time before I read anything but Science Fiction.

I've just started Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand be Dammed! I needed something funny after the Silo series.

[Catrin]

Fantasy is such a broad genre - you have everything from sword/sorcery to retelling of fairy tales to alternate worlds such as Terra d'Ange (Jaqueline Carey's Kushiel's Dart series). And then there's the line where fantasy and sci-fi blur...

I consider each to be part of the same gene (different parts of a whole)-but that could be an over simplification on my part.