I read and enjoyed both of those books (he managed to make even the technical, science-y stuff seem both plausible and interesting), but his writing style annoys the hell out of me! Every time someone talks, it's just "___ said." There's never a "remarked" or "joked" or "whispered" or anything else but "said." Drives me nuts. Seriously, open to just about any page in either book, and you'll see.Madge wrote:Ooooh, books I enjoy!
I don't read nearly as much as I should but I just recently finished re-reading "The Lost World" by Michael Crichton. Great read, that and "Jurassic Park". They're long books but definitely worthwhile particularly if you're like me and enjoy science-y stuff. Or if you liked the movies. The books are much better than the movie and far more graphic if you would enjoy reading some slightly more detailed accounts of how the dinosaurs maul everyone.
I liked The Handmaid's Tale, too. I love dystopian fiction. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a recent book in that genre and it's excellent -- very fast-paced and exciting, with a well-developed main character and lots of twists. The sequel, Catching Fire, just came out and is also very good. I'd highly recommend both of them, and can't wait for the third and final book to come out next year.
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta kind of defies description, or maybe it's just that no description I've seen does it justice, but it's excellent -- probably one of the best books I've read in a long time. It's somewhat of a mystery, and every plot point, every tiny thread, is resolved and/or tied into another in amazing ways. The last friend I loaned the book to read it three times before returning it... it's just that sort of book. I don't want to spoil any of it, so all I can say is: read it.
And of course, I will second the recommendation of the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman (although I think many NCers have already read and enjoyed these books!). Excellent, just excellent. I love the concept of daemons and how fleshed-out the world is, and I like how he skewers organized religion (but not belief itself, really -- read this great article about that).