Jess' Book List

Terri Windling & Ellen Datlow
The Year's Best Science Fiction (Editors)
The 'Once Upon a Time' Anthologies
	Snow White, Blood Red
	Black Thorn, White Rose
	Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears
	Et Cetera
The Fairy Tale Series (Editors)
	Sun, Moon and Stars - Steven Brust
	Jack the Giant Killer - Charles DeLint
	The Nightingale - Kara Dalkey
	Snow White and Rose Red - Patricia Wrede
	Tam Lin - Pamela Dean
	Briar Rose - Jane Yolen
The anthologies are full of  good short stories and each
story has a new name, a new author, who you can look
for more work by if you like them.
The fairy tale stories are a big part of the attempt to integrate
these stories into new settings, new wardrobes, and give them
new meanings.

Terri Windling all by herself
Woodwife
Bordertown (Editor)
Armless Maiden (Editor)
Woodwife was intended to be the third book in the Brian Froud
Trilogy-books based on his fairy artwork. It's really a left turn
from what I was expecting.
The BorderTown books are titled 'Elfland meets rock and roll' and
that's probably close enough. This 'shared world' is what got her 
involved in her work with children, especially runaways. Many of the
books are out of print.
	Life on the Border
	BorderTown
	BorderLands
	Finder (Emma Bull)
	Never Never (Emma Bull and Will Shetterly)
	EverWhere (Emma and Will again)
Armless Maiden is like the other anthologies except in that it's a
benefit project for her runaways and the stories are about surviving
childhood. Warning: this book is not light reading.

Tanith Lee
Electric Forest
Red as Blood-Tales from the Sisters Grimmer
This last one is out of print, and if you find one grab it. Tanith Lee
writes a lot of things, and I'm certain I could recommend more if I
could find them. These are the two I remember.

Lord Dunsany
The King of Elfland's Daughter
This is an older story, from the last century, already taking a new 
look at fairy stories. It's sort of like Into the Woods, in that it asks
'Okay, now that you've gotten your wish, what now?'

McKinley
Deerskin
Another fairy tale book. It's all about recovering from childhood
molestation and can be preachy at times, in the tradition of Lackey.

Lackey/Guon - Called to Tourney trilogy
Knight of Ghost and Shadows
Called to Tourney
Bedlam Boys, a Prequel
Speaking of Lackey, this is the writing of hers I will recommend. It's
not as preachy as her bird series (Robin and Finch, Eagle and Hawk,
Four and Twenty Blackbirds, something like that). It's about elves and
magic returning to the world and all that urban fantasy schtick. The main 
thing that I found annoying about this was that the relationship between 
the two men seemed forced and wooden.

Ellen Kushner
Swordspoint
So of course the next book I read was this, in which the relationship 
between the two men is lovely and wonderful and well written. It's a
sort of Dangerous Liaisons but with more action.

Neil Gaiman
Smoke and Mirrors
NeverWhere
Good Omens
Neil Gaiman has an amazing skill with words. I've been told he has some
fine comic books as well, but I haven't looked for myself yet. Smoke and
Mirrors is lots of short stories, including a delicious Angelic murder mystery.
NeverWhere is epic archetypical Urban Fantasy. Good Omens is very funny.

Brust
Agyar
Gypsy
Phoenix Guards
I know you've gotten part of this list. But these are the titles that I think you
would best get along with. Phoenix Guards is a wonderful tribute to Dumas
who I will plug later in this list. He's a fine storyteller, and a charming fellow.

DeLint
Little Country
Memory and Dream
Cats Have No Lord
Somewhere To Be Flying
Another author I expect you've been exposed to. His Newford stories are
popular for good reason. He's a strong force in the Urban Fantasy genre,
and clearly has great affection for his characters. The term Magical Realism
has been used on him, so that people besides SF/Fantasy fans can read him.

Richard Bach
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Illusions: Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
Bridge Across Forever
Speaking of magical realism. I get the impression he's seen as a floofy
Newage (rhymes with 'sewage') author.  These three books, however, had
a profound impact on my developing spirituality, and I owe him a debt of
gratitude. It's a weird world out there, and this seemed to make sense to me.

Shinn
Archangel
This is a trilogy, which I haven't finished. It reminds me a lot of  McCaffrey in
that it seems targetted for 14-year-old girls and centers around a girl who falls
in love and spends the rest of the book angsting about whether she loves this
strong stoic figure or hates him. Very shoujo.

Anne Rice
Witching Hour
Vampire LeStat
More stuff I bet you've read. Most of her stuff I find to be like New Orleans;
too humid and languid. These two were her best reads, IMHO. In particular,
the Witching Hour, where throughout the book nothing happens. And it continues
to not happen. And yet you still feel compelled to keep reading because you know
that sooner or later something /will/ happen and you want to be there when this
build up is done.
"So how's the story?"
"Fine."
"What's happening?"
"Nothing. Can you be quiet, please? I'm reading."

Piers Anthony
On a Pale Horse
Like Mercedes Lackey, his body of work is generally one I avoid. However,
this story is one I'll make an exception for. He made his usual mistake, and
stretched this idea out into a multi-book series. Of course, it made him a metric
assload of money, so I suppose it might not have been too much of a mistake.

Ives
All In the Timing
Ives is a playwright Cari introduced me to by making me perform it with her
completely cold. This is a collection of his one-acts.
You. Must. Read. These. Clever, charming, and spit-up-your-milk funny.

Irving
A Prayer for Owen Meany
This is the guy who wrote 'World According to Garp' which I mean to read at
Some point, especially after reading this story. Christian magic and Love.

???
Haunted
I saw a movie recently called 'Haunted'. It's based on a book that I'd like to find
and read, but I need to hunt down the author's name and the title still. It's a really
creepy story about a guy who doesn't believe in ghosts. Except his little sister.

Tom Bodett
The End of the Road books
Tom Bodett, the pleasant homey voice of Motel Six, also writes about an 
Alaskan town, much in the style of Garrison Keillor except that he's funny.

Dave Barry
His columns, mostly.
His writing is guarranteed 100% fact-free. Booger jokes, absurd disjointed
trains of logic that surely must have influenced my sense of humour and
certainly not for the better. He's irreverent and goofy.

Stephen King
I have a note here to list 'some of his less horrific stories' so I'm guessing we
have talked about him in the past. Given that preface, I would point you toward
Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption
The Body
Eyes of the Dragon
Dark Tower
Hearts in Atlantis
I don't think of him as a horror writer. He writes about really interesting people
who often find themselves in horrific situations.

Christopher Moore
Blood Sucking Fiends
Practical DemonKeeping
Island of the Sequined Love Nun
I just love to read the words he puts together. He's wacky, in a sort of cross
Between Tom Bodett and Douglas Adams. He's written a book called Coyote
Blue which I'm looking for as well, but haven't read.

Douglas Adams
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
I assume you've read all the HitchHiker books you're interested in. This series
is a bit different, a bit more mellow and less zany.

Robert Adams
Watership Down
It's a story about bunnies. How can you go wrong? It's very good at getting into
the head of an animal and letting you look out, rather than turning the animal into
a smaller version of a human.

Diana Paxson - White Raven
This is a story about Tristan and Isolde in the same way that Mists of Avalon
is a story about Arthur and Guinneviere. But not quite as many pages.

Ian McDowell
Mordred's Curse
Merlin's Gift
Speaking of Arthur, Ian (a guy I know over the net) has written a very gritty, just
post-Romanic Arthur story from an unusual point of view.

Gael Baudino
Strands of  Starlight-five book series
Gossamer Axe
Baudino has the potential to be just as preachy as Lackey, and in fact may
use the same sledgehammer to ram home her moral lessons. However, she
also has some very nice words that make very lovely pictures.

C.S. Lewis
Narnia
Screwtape Letters
The Great Divorce
If you haven't read the Narnia books, then I wag my finger at you.
But I also like a lot of his writings on Christianity. He's one of the
few I can say that of.

Richard Fulghum
Everything I Needed to Know
It Was on Fire When I Lay Down On It
Another of  the few. Less scholarly in approach, and more 
anecdotal. A very comfortable and easy read.

Christopher Marlowe (But not *that* Christopher Marlowe)
The Death and Life of Miguel Cervantes
An entrancing biography in the Magical Realism style of the subject
himself, appropriately enough. Touching and poignant at times.

Laura Esquivel
Water for Chocolate
Speaking of magical realism. If you don't enjoy the book, give the
film a try anyway. This is a book that probably should come with Kleenex.

Joseph Heller
Catch 22
How do *you* stay insane in the middle of World War Two, when everybody
around you seems so much better at it?

Kurt Vonnegut
Breakfast of Champions
Cat's Cradle
Slaughterhouse Five
Tip reality over a little to one side. Then add bits and pieces to it
with a Magic Marker. Find bits you like and run them over and
over, like a fugue.

A.A. Milne
How long has it been since you read one of  the four children's books
of  his that are still in print? Not to somebody else, but for you. When
the world is hostile and I need to find my center, these books are
perfect warm-ups for it.

Lobel
The Toad and Frog books
Speaking of children's books, Toad and Frog Rule! Toad and Frog are
comfort reading for me, much like the Pooh books but with smaller words.

Christopher
The Tripod Trilogy
For younger readers, say middle school and up, in the style of  'Best Boys
Adventures' and 'Ripping Yarns'. But this is the high end of the genre, and
another series that I find myself re-reading even today. I bought the fourth book,
a sort of a prelude, which was nice for the back history but otherwise a
disappointing read.

Farr
I Never Came to You in White
I have no grounds for deciding that this is also a 'young readers' book, but I think
Of it as the flip side of the Ripping Yarns stories. It's a gentle, touching story about
a girl growing up told through her correspondence. Of course, it's made more
interesting by the fact that the girl is Emily Dickinson and grows up to be a rather
prolific poet.

James Herriot
The All Creatures books
Stories about an English country veterinarian. Homey and comfy. And also
terribly funny at times.

Classics-Books you Might Have Had to Read for English Class:

I have a huge list of these to recommend, but I trimmed it down a bit, trying
to hit only the really essential ones, the ones I just loved.

Shakespeare
Hamlet
Much Ado About Nothing
Twelfth Night
Richard III
Henry V
MacBeth
Othello
Of course, The quintessential 'classic'.
I'm sure you've read some of these. And there are other plays of his I'd recommend.
But I can't recommend them all, and I don't expect people to read all of the ones
That I think are good. These are, in my mind, the Greatest Hits.

E.M. Forster
Room With A View
Very very English. Howard's End is, in my mind, not as good, but if you enjoy
this story, then look for that as well. In fact, since the Merchant/Ivory films came
out, they can sometimes be found as a bound set.

Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility
Pride and Prejudice
Again, very English. Again, if you like these then look for her other works. Again,
lots of movies out based on these books.

Tolkein
Lord of the Rings
If you were required to read Tolkein in English class, then you probably had a
really cool ex-hippie for a teacher. I'm not as fond of  the collected works as a
lot of people are, but I do think that these three books are a good read, and also
very useful as 'cultural literacy' tools for hanging out with geeks. Not that you
would ever do that.

Callenback
Ecotopia
Another one of those ex-hippie classics. A 'what if political conditions allowed us
to actually do all those things we know are good for the Earth?' story.
 
Rostand
Cyrano de Bergerac
I haven't found a translation that I'm more fond of than others, but as you might
Have guessed, this story had a rather decided impact on me. A heroic figure who
Is convinced he's a sham, who would rather starve than bow his head to one he
Feels isn't worthy of his respect, who composes poetry impromptu and rides his
Passions and intuition with a saddle of wit. This fit right in with my Peter Pan Robin
Hood Errol Flynn aspirations.

Dumas
Three Musketeers (and others)
More French adventuring, with a wonderful sensual love of language and endearing
characters, as well as a captivating storyline.

Gaston LeRoux
Phantom of the Opera
More French stuff. Pulp writing that somehow survived to become a classic.
I'm sure you're familiar with the basic story, but it's so much fresher drinking from
the source.

Kay
Phantom
A modern telling of the story, and truly complementary. Written from the monster's
POV but maintaining the almost-torrid romance novel style of the original.

CyberPunk Stuff:

Gibson
The GodFather. This is the first name people drag up when they talk about
CyberPunk. And for good reason. He's established a lot of the concepts, laid
a lot of the groundwork, and sold a lot of the print that made the form what
it is today. But he has lawyers, so we can't say that too loudly. (:
Burning Chrome is probably a fine place to start sampling.

Sterling
Mirrorshades
A collection of short stories. He has other books out as well, but this was the
one that stuck out in my mind.

Gibson /and/ Sterling
The Difference Engine
SteamPunk. I love this genre. CyberPunk if it happened in Victorian England.
Babbage's Engine works, and perhaps too well. 

Neal Stephenson
Snow Crash
Zodiac
Not true CyberPunk but definitely has that flavour to it. Snow Crash has a
wonderful first chapter, but he has a habit of getting wrapped up in his really
cool ideas and losing the story. Zodiac is, in my mind, the first time I saw him
tell a really good story. 

Orwell
Animal Farm
1984
Also not CP but also has that flavour. I expect you've read these, but just in case
I put them on the list and say they are both musts.

Non Fiction (Yes, I do read these occasionally):

Stanford
The Legend of Pope Joan
Nothing terribly scholarly, really. A collection of legends and suppositions,
but still an engaging read and a tantalising myth and the chance that it might
all be true. I first heard about Pope Joan while studying the Tarot-allegedly
The Empress is influenced by her story-but this was one of the best gatherings
of available data.

Howard Zinn
A History of the American People
Assigned as a textbook by Doug Clark (my Marxist history/PoliSci teacher from 
LBCC), there are a lot of things covered here that usually don't get into 
classroom texts. Lots of talk about social aspects of things, the 'whys' and 
connections between events. One of my first looks at history as a flow rather 
than a collection of points.

Griffin
Black Like Me
A classic sociology read, and a classic undercover journalist story. In the midst of
the Civil Rights Movement, a European American takes on the appearance and role
of the oppressed for a more comprehensive understanding of their situation.

Hutchins/Kaahumanu
Bi Any Other Name
One of the first books I ever found that concentrated on bisexuals and their lives and
testimonials. By now it's probably old hat, but some of these stories were rather
fundamental in getting more familiar with my own sexuality.  

General recommendations:

Damon Knight
Damon Knight is considered one of the fathers of Science Fiction today.
His library is prolific, and his ideas are usually keen and sharp, even if some
of the stories did not date well over the past fifty years.

Harlan Ellison
Ellison is also prolific, the next generation after Knight. His stories tend to be
darker and occasionally a bit disturbing. He is unrepentant and strident and
opinionated and I terribly enjoy his writing. White Wolf is half-heartedly
issuing reprints of his work, in great big double-volume paperbacks.

Dashiell Hammett
The classic pulp detective film noir writer, the fountainhead from which all
others seem to spring. He has very chewy prose and interesting characters as
well as whodunit stories.

Gregory MacDonald
The Fletch books are his creation, and I bought every one I could find. If you've
seen the movies, you've seen his style watered down and slapsticked. His wit is
dry and absurd at the same time.

P.G. Wodehouse
Fry and Laurie performed the 'Wooster and Jeeves' series on PBS and this was
my introduction to P.G. Wodehouse.  He writes farcical stories about the upper
class at the beginning of the century, urbane Fitzgerald-esq characters and their
social entanglements. They are fall over hurt myself funny.