Letter to a Friend

Question from a friend: I'm finding a lot more time to read. Have you read the Twilight Series. It is a fun romance/drama/horror? I'm almost done so if you have any good books to recommend, let me know.

Answer for a friend: Oh man, did you ask this of the right person at the right time (or the wrong person at the wrong time depending on how you look at it - I'm about to give you an eyefull:)!?!? I looooooooove to read and am always reading and almost always thinking about new books. On top of that I'm back into my own writing which has sent me zipping around cyberspace getting writing/author tips and so I have been reading a ton of author/book news. To do the best possible job I can it'd be great if you told me what kind of books you enjoy reading. Or rather, if you like a lot of stuff but there are certain things you don't want to read just tell me those so I don't suggest anything that is outside of what you prefer to read.

Anyway, to answer your original question I have not read the Twilight series. I am very familiar with them, their author, etc. I really like young adult (YA) fiction, and I really like fantasy but I often don't enjoy books that are set in high school. I don't mind if the characters are high school age but I need them to be in a setting other than high school. However, I may eventually give these a try. I'd love to hear what you thought of them.

As for some suggestions I highly recommend The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (YA fantasy). This book began a series so there are two books that follow. They are set in a fictional history that is inspired by the terrain of the Greek coastline. I have read each book in the series at least three times. I really like them. :)

If you like historical fiction, Katherine by Anya Seton is very good. It is well-written, well-researched and a true to life 'fairytale' love story. It always makes me feel like a giggly school girl. Another historical fiction book I like (and not at all a love story:) is Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield

I'm not usually a big fan of memoirs but The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls was really interesting to me.

Two good non-fiction books I have read recently are:
Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

A few fiction titles that I think are very good are:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay [Ed. Note. I no longer recommend this book]
Pretty Birds by Scott Simon
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

Ok, this was probably more than what you were expecting! I tried to give a variety depending on what you are in the mood for. Let me know if you want more (hehe) or rather just some more suggestions in a certain genre. Also, I'm on goodreads.com so if you're interested in sharing book ideas there I can send you an invite to join...I think.

Ah, happy *sigh*! I love talking about books. I miss my book clubs and I miss having a great variety of English language books. However, since the library here [Utrecht, Netherlands] has foreign language sections at all I should probably not complain.

Happy reading!