“Best Bets”
The following “best book” suggestions are taken from Joyce Sarick’s Readers’ Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction, published by the American Library Association in 2001 and are intended as a supplement to recommendations by our staff and patrons.
If you like “Adventure,” try something by Clive Cussler, Nevil Shute, W.E.B. Griffin, Louis L’Amour, or James Clavell. Theses authors are ranked among the best in the field of adventure writing. Also consider great individual titles like The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett, Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian, Sharpe’s Triumph by Bernard Cornwell, River God and Birds of Prey by Wilbur Smith.
“Fantasy” readers might enjoy anything written by Orson Scott Card, Terry Goodkind, Mercedes Lackey, Patricia Wrede, or Jane Yolen. Some outstanding fantasy titles include: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett, The Gunslinger or The Stand by Stephen King, and Child of the Northern Spring by Persia Woolley.
If “Historical Fiction” is your thing look for works by James Michenor, Charles Frazier, Ken Follett, Michael Shaara, Mary Renault, John Jakes, Louis L’Amour, Jean Auel, Andrea Barrett, Dorothy Dunnett, Catherine Cookson, Diana Gabaldon, Colleen McCullough, or Thomas Pyncheon to name just a few. Individual titles that repeatedly show up as favorites include: The Walking Drum by L’Amour, The Sunne in Splendor by Sharon Kay Penman, Gore Vidal’s 1876, The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye, and The All-True Travels and Adventures of Liddie Newton by Jane Smiley.
Okay “Horror” fans we all know Stephen King, but have you tried Clive Barker, Shirley Jackson, H.P. Lovecraft, Dean Koontz, or Anne Rice lately? Look for titles like Hannibal by Thomas Harris, Watchers by Koontz, Night Light by Michael Cadnum, or The Reliquary by Preston and Child.
In the highbrow category of “Literary Fiction” anything by William Faulkner, Anne Tyler, J.M.Coetzee, Wallace Stegner, Toni Morrison, John Updike, Andrea Barrett, or David Guterson should be a great read. Remember, this is a huge and arbitrary category so some authors will appeal to you more than others. The same is true for outstanding titles like Plainsong by Kent Haruf, The Dancer Upstairs by Nicholas Shakespeare, The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow, The Shipping News by Annie Proulx, The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte or Ordinary Love and Good Will by Jane Smiley.
We want to hear from you “Mystery” readers and know we will because we’re going to leave someone out of this huge fiction category. Among the authors listed by Saricks as masters in the field of mystery writing, Robert Parker, Elizabeth Peters, Agatha Christie, Janet Evanovich, Tony Hillerman, Sue Grafton, Sharyn McCrumb, Jonathan Kellerman, and Lawrence Block. Titles range from the humorous cat books by Lillian Jackson Braun, to cook books by Dian Mott Davidson, to moody locales painted by Nevada Barr. Some special mention goes to Darkness by Dennis Lehane, Face of a Stranger by Anne Perry, Undercurrents by Ridley Pearson, and The Ragman’s Memory by Archer Mayor. There are whole anthologies out there devoted to cataloging mystery writers and their individual styles or let us show you how to use Novelist to find the perfect mystery read.
“Romance” readers we have some trouble with you because books can range from the innocently sweet to graphically explicit, so forgive us if we take a few minutes and beg your pardon if we suggest the wrong one. Well-known authors in this genre include Mary Balogh, Jane Anne Krentz, Amanda Quick, Julie Garwood, Georgette Heyer, and Jude Devereaux. Outstanding titles are The Rake by Mary Jo Putney, Enchanted and Jade Island by Elizabeth Lowell, The Last True Cowboy by Kathleen Eagle, and The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller. Tess Gerritson, Sharyn McCrumb, Mary Higgins Clark, Iris Johanson, and Judith Lansdowne are branching out into a sub-category called “Romantic Suspense” that you might want to explore.
“Science Fiction” fans will be thrilled by anything written Orson Scott Card, Octavia Butler, Isaac Asimov, or Ray Bradbury. But consider Kim Stanley Robinson, Monica Hughes, Ursula LeGuin, and Roger Zelazny too. Do we need to mention The Hitchhiker Trilogy by Doug Adams, Macroscope by Piers Anthony, Hyperion by Dan Simmons, The Mote in God’s Eye by Larry Niven, Timeline by Michael Crichton, or The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood?
“Suspense” is another orphan because so many of the authors cross genres. But here are some books that fit squarely into this category We’ll Meet Again by Mary Higgins Clark, Along Came a Spider by James Patterson, The Red Dragon by Thomas Harris, The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins, and A Simple Plan by Scott Smith.
The “Thriller” category could easily meld into Suspense or even Mystery but these authors and books were singled out by Saricks as the best hair-raisers: John Grisham, Lisa Scottoline, Robin Cook, Michael Crichton, Lawrence Block, Tom Clancy, Stephen Coontz, and John LeCarre. Some hot titles include Harvest by Tess Gerritson, The Third Twin by Ken Follett, The Andromeda Strain by Crichton, Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow, and A Calculated Risk by Catherine Neville.
“Western” fans love Louis L’Amour , Zane Grey, and Larry McMurtry but have you discovered Kathleen Eagle, Cynthia Haseloff, Janet Dailey, or Roseanne Bitner? Great books include Dancing at the Rascal Fair by Ivan Doig, Hombre by Elmore Leonard, Shane by Jack Schaefer, Aces and Eights and Journey of the Dead by Loren Estleman.
Readers who want to know about “Women’s Lives” will enjoy authors like Rebecca Wells, LaVyrie Spencer, Joanna Trollope, Terry McMillan, Maeve Binchy, Jodi Picoult, Elizabeth Berg, and Nina Bawden. Some memorable books include Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat, The Millstone by Margaret Drabble, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, London Holiday by Richard Peck, and After All These Years by Susan Isaacs.
And for a trip down memory lane, “Gentle Reads” are exactly what they sound like — good books, good plot, no surprises, no graphic language or salacious sex scenes. This category is represented by: Eudora Welty’s Delta Wedding, Paul Gallico’s ‘Arris Goes to Paris, Jan Karon’s Mitford series, Elizabeth Goudge’s Green Dolphin Street, Eva Ibbotson’s Song for Summer, Elizabeth Cadell’s The Corner Shop, and anything by Miss Read.
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