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Recommended Reading, Abby Style
With links to author's sites. Click the names!
. . . and here's the latest books I'm reading.
Favorite Speculative (Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror) Authors:
These authors get my stamp of approval! If you admire some of the
following authors, then you may enjoy my
book reviews, and perhaps my
writing.
- Stephen King (I'm a #1 fan, but luckily for him, I'm not
a psychotic nurse)
aka Richard Bachman (even crazier than King, but it's the same guy we know and love)
- Robert Jordan
(I'm addicted to his Wheel of Time series)
aka Reagan O'Neal (competent
writing, but the characters of the Fallon historical fiction series lack charisma)
- George R.R. Martin (prose as engaging as Stephen King's; need I say more?)
- Anne Rice (always disturbing, and usually riveting)
- Richard Adams (If you even remotely enjoy fantasy, try Shardik and Watership Down)
- Lois McMaster Bujold (I really love what I've read from her so far)
- Greg Egan (hard science fiction with awesome characters and page-turning plots)
- Tad Williams (I am awed by his Otherland series)
- Octavia Butler (avante garde style, and strong characters)
- Jean Auel (her series was awe-inspiring when it began, but has lost momentum)
- Margaret Atwood (beautiful wordsmith)
- Richard Preston (mainstream, but he pulls you along)
- Jonathan Kellerman (I don't usually enjoy the thriller/mystery genre, but he's worth it)
- Dan Simmons (I imagine that his books will be considered timeless classics someday)
- Neal Stephenson (fresh style)
- Brian Lumley (the Necroscope series is highly entertaining, but avoid his attempts at science fiction)
- Dean Koontz (fun for airplane reading)
- Thomas Harris (he's good with suspense)
- Robert R. McCammon (When he's good, he's good)
- Daniel Keyes (Flowers For Algernon)
- Michael Crichton (he made science fiction popular in the 80s)
Favorite Classics:
- Alexandre Dumas (fast paced and suspenseful, like contemporary best-sellers)
- H.G. Wells (fun, fast-paced, with twisted characters)
- Edgar Allan Poe (master of atmosphere)
- William Golding (Lord of the Flies, you know?)
- Herman Hesse (engaging prose)
- J.R.R. Tolkien (father of modern fantasy)
- Mary Shelley (the fact that Frankenstein was written by an 18th century teenager is impressive)
Favorite Young Adult and Children's Authors:
- Steven Gould (you can't beat his fun, adventure and superhero stories)
- Philip Pullman (dark fantasy)
- John Bellairs (dark magic realism)
- L. Frank Baum (dark fantasy)
Here are some short stories by L. Frank Baum.
- Christopher Pike (a "Dean Koontz" for young adults)
- J.K. Rowling (fantasy)
- Roald Dahl (even his few adult books, such as The Story of Henry Sugar, are great)
- Lois Duncan (my first taste of good, worthwhile horror)
- William Sleator (my first taste of good, worthwhile science fiction)
- Judy Blume (I believe she's already Scholastic reading for most kids)
- Ellen Conford (what a great sense of humor, and lots of fun to read)
- E.B. White (gotta love Trumpet of the Swan and Stuart Little)
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I have mixed feelings about these authors:
- China Meiville (awesome atmospheric prose, but loose plotting)
- Tess Gerritsen (hit and miss)
- Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts (I've only read Daughter of the Empire, but plan on finishing the trilogy)
- Isaac Asimov (I enjoyed Nemesis and The Last Question.)
- Amy Tan (The Kitchen God's Wife was good, but forgettable)
- Anne McCaffrey (I dislike her style, her prose, and I find her plots too contrived)
- Charles Dickens (I must be crazy, but I was bored by A Tale of Two Cities)
- C.J. Cherryh (too much philosophy, not enough plot, but
I've only tried one book)
- Ray Bradbury (his short stories gave me many hours of entertainment)
- Jules Verne (bad translations aside ...)
- Douglas Adams (I finally read The Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy, and it was
too silly! But I recommend it to anyone who likes Monty Python.)
- Greg Bear (Blood Music is worth reading)
- Lewis Carroll (just a bit too incohesive and abstract for me)
- Mark Twain (there are so many contemporary authors to try with similar twisted senses of humor)
- Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game was a good read, but such a simple story that I had no desire to
read the sequels)
- Wally Lamb (She's Come Undone was a great work, though it was outside my favorite genres)
- J.V. Jones (great stuff for the fantasy fan)
- Patricia A. McKillip (Song For the Basilisk was beautifully written, but I haven't had an urge to try another by her)
- Peter Straub (I couldn't get into Ghost Story or Koko)
- Robert A. Heinlein (A masterful storyteller, but a little sexist and dated for my taste)
- Susan Kay (Phantom was well written, but less original than I'd hoped)
- Caleb Carr (one of the few authors who can powerfully convey the ambience of another era)
- Tom Clancy (I was pleasantly surprised by Patriot Games, but maybe that was just
because my expectations were so low after hearing so much bad press about him)
- Toni Morrison (Sula was beautifully written, but there is an incohesive quality to
her work reminiscent of Clive Barker)
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Thumbs Down:
These are the authors whom I will never buy another book by. If you
are a fan, please don't be offended! I fully recognize that this is a matter of personal taste, and has
nothing to do with how talented the author actually is.
- Dan Brown (I feel as if he talks down to the readers)
- Ayn Rand (The Fountainhead was too much philosophy, and not enough character or
plot)
- Clive Barker (Lord of Illusions; Nightbreed, and several short stories until I
realized how bored I was)
- Frank Herbert (great story, but lots of telling without showing)
- George R. Stewart (Earth Abides was an influence on Stephen King, but not on me)
- Guy Gavriel Kay (as with Frank Herbert, I found The Summer Tree to be lacking in
enthusiasm)
- Alfred Bester (just too 1950s for me)
- Herman Melville (Moby Dick is a pretty dry read)
- James L. Halperin (The First Immortal and The Truth Machine had me, then
lost me)
- John Grisham (he's actually a talented writer, but I find his subject matter to be
boring and preachy)
- John Saul (I unfortunately read his books until I discovered Stephen King)
- John Steinbeck (he was required school reading)
- Poppy Z. Brite (I was unable to empathize with any of her protagonists)
- R.A. Salvatore (Reading The Crystal Shard was like reading a literary version of a Saturday morning cartoon.)
- R.L. Stine (I read his Fear Street books compulsively until I discovered
Christopher Pike)
- Stephen Donaldson (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant was promising until I began
to hate the protagonist)
- Terry Brooks (The Sword of Shannara seems to be a wooden imitation of Tolkien's
Middle Earth)
- Terry Goodkind (The Wizard's First Rule series also failed to captivate me)
- V.C. Andrews (Flowers in the Attic; Sweet Audrina...too much incest, not enough
interest)
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All material Copyright © 2008 Abigail Goldsmith, except where otherwise noted.
All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced or reprinted without prior written permission from the author.
Document updated: 08 August 2008 - 07:42:33
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