Audience Participation.

I made the comment to a friend of mine the other day that I haven't read a "new" book since the last Harry Potter book came out. And by "new" I mean "new to me". I mean, yeah, I re-read Timothy Zahn's Star Wars trilogy (well, the first one if he's written more than one), but I've owned that series since I was in High School. So, this is where the Audience Participation comes in.

Recommend a book that you think I would like. I'll toss out a few that I have read and enjoyed.

Murder for Beltene by Sandra Brewer. This is a fun book. It is self-described as "A mystery with fantasy lingerie". This is a relatively accurate description. There really are two mysteries in the book. One is the mystery of a dead body found in the woods, which is further complicated by how it could have possibly gotten into those specific woods. The second is the mystery of the Beltene family in general. Unlike a lot of books, where the "mythology" of the book is laid out in drab exposition at the beginning of the tale, the history of the family (and the fantasy lingerie) is presented to us during the actual narrative. The writing is very conversational and the world feels lived in. It's not the best mystery in the world (the big reveal was a big WTF moment for me, followed immediately by an "oh shit I missed all the clues" which I noticed upon second reading), and it's not High Fantasy. It's our world, with just the right bit of the fantastic thrown in.

Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest. I have a slightly unfortunate confession to make. I have not read the latest edition of this yet, and it's next on my actual reading list. I have two editions of this. One is the original MadPirate edition, which is signed. The second is the new, expanded edition and is unsigned. The first words of description I could find after reading the original was, "This is what early Anne Rice books would have read like if it didn't take her 20 pages to describe the moss on the trees! All of the vivid imagery without bogging you down." I'd say more, but the reviews on the page will do a much better job than I could.

I like the earlier books in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles and a couple of the later ones. Pandora was really good (technically not part of that series) and Merrick (which was several shades of awesome) made me wish I could have actually sat through the first book of the Mayfair Witches series, but I just couldn't make it through. I enjoyed the original V.C. Andrews books. You know, the ones before the © happened and it became an OLD MAN writing them. My Sweet Audrina was an excellent book, and one that I continue to enjoy reading when I manage to find it. I am a superhero fan, so feel free to recommend some graphic novels, but those are really really fast reads for me.

So now it's your turn. Give me some ideas!