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Monday, January 10, 2011

My Father's Challenge

My Dad first introduced me to specfic. I'm not sure if he really intended for me to love it enough to want a career writing genre, but he certainly wanted to share his love of it with me. He started me off easy, with the Pern series and the like.

Over the years he tailored his recommendations to what I liked - fantasy epics, dragons, and love stories. He kept the military science fiction filed away. Last year I read Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement and didn't hate it. Entirely.

So, for my 26th birthday, he gave me a challenge: a box full of books, not one published after 1988, which all fall under the category "should have read."

Gulp!

First I have to finish Graceling, his pick for best book of 2010. But then, nothing stands between me and this monster undertaking... I'll keep you updated as I go! This list appears in chronological order by first publication date:

  • The Empire of Isher by A.E. Von Vogt
  • Beast Master's Planet by Andre Norton
  • Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson
  • The Planet Savers by Marion Zimmer Bradley (the Darkover series)
  • Glory Road by Robert Heinlein
  • A Trace of Memory by Keight Laumer
  • Deryni Rising by Katherine Kurtz
  • Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings
  • Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook
  • Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey
  • Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon
Have you read any, some, most of these?
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5 comments:

  1. EFKelleyJanuary 10, 2011 at 1:14 PM

    I like your dad. Based on his reading list he's a man of taste and class.

    I've read most. Liked most. Except for Black Company. Ugh. But I think Pawn of Prophecy is my favorite. Good stuff there.

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  2. earthlingJanuary 10, 2011 at 3:28 PM

    I like my Dad too :) I'm definitely stoked to read Pawn of Prophecy! I'll have to ask you, after I read Black Company, what you didn't like about it... now I'm even more intimidated by it, haha.

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  3. AmyJanuary 20, 2011 at 10:56 PM

    I didn't know you were blogging again!

    I haven't read *any* of those books, except maybe the Lackey. I've heard of ... some of them? Most of the authors, anyway.

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  4. CaitFebruary 26, 2011 at 2:36 PM

    I've never read any of these, but I've heard of a lot of the authors. One of my high school friends adored Mercedes Lackey and read her entire collection. I read one book (Oathbound), but couldn't seem to get into it. Good luck with the list, though. It sounds like fun.

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  5. earthlingMarch 7, 2011 at 10:01 AM

    Thanks Caitlin :) I've been a little slow to get started, admittedly. Only finished one so far, le sigh. It will happen though!

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