Welcome to my page dedicated to Favourite Books! These are a collection of my all-time and most recent favourites. If you have read these and feel that there is a book you think I would enjoy because of similarities in plot, writing style, or genre (particularly if it is about Dragons!) please let me know.

Recent Favourites

Dragons Can Only Rust / Dragon Reforged
By Chrys Cymri. This 2-part series is the tale of Gonard, and his search for a soul. But this isn't an easy task for a robot, particularly in a harsh world that tries to judge him at every turn. A very touching story with a wonderful ending, and my only wish is that there were more story to read!

Assassin's Apprentice / Royal Assassin / Assassin's Quest
By Robin Hobb. A 3(?) part series titled "The Farseer Saga." These are the work of an extremely talented writer - I have heard that "Robin Hobb" is the pen name for Megan Lindholme. This incredible fantasy epic contains enchanting mystique, grandeur and royalty, betrayal, humility, true love, and unrelenting loyalty. This is one of those tales that flows on the strength of the style of writing alone. If you're squeamish about reading these books because of the title, fear not. I would not call these works "dark fantasy."

The 3^rd book recently came out in softcover, and provides many startling revelations about the story and characters. Is this the last book in the series? Who knows! As a whole, the Farseer Saga is a delightfully tangled and unpredictable plot, with rich character development throughout. The only flaw in the writing style is that the author tends to repeat herself tends to repeat herself, within the same book. A bit annoying, but not a frequent occurence.

Fiction

The Tales of Herbie Bookbinder
By Herman Wouk. A favourite that I like to re-read every few years. It reminds me of all that I disliked about Summer Camp, and some of the things I wish I could have done while there! :)

Watership Down
By Richard Adams.

Fantasy - Dragons

Dragonsbane
by Barbara Hambly. This is still my favourite of all dragon literature, for more reasons than I can explain. Morkeleb is, to me, the epitome of the Black Dragon. Hambly has taken an interesting approach to dragon lore, dragonsbanes, and dragon superstition by shedding a different viewpoint on the contrast of storybook hero versus real-life humble protector.

Where Dragons Lie / Where Dragons Rule
by R.A.V. Salsitz. Two of three books in the "Rangard Series." I recommend these to any avid dragon-phile reader.

The Shadow of his Wings
by Bruce Fergusson. This continues to be the best story I have ever read. Our main character is humbly unheroic, but despite himself is still a hero. In an attempt to save his country and all that he loves, he must do the improbable - secure the help of an uncooperative and spiteful guardian beast, the Erseiyr. The book's back cover has an excellent description of the contents, and is absolutely not understated: "A tale of love and loathing, betrayal and trust, glory and jealousy, and spectacle." This book delivers!! The ending of the story has to be the best of any tale I have ever read.

Pit Dragon Series
by Jane Yolen. If you are guessing by the author's name that these are young adult fiction, you are right. But don't let an ascribed readership title turn you away - the storyline is wonderful. Go read them!

Dragon Rigger
by Jeffrey Carver. I first read the short story titled "Though All The Mountains Lie Between" found in the anthology Dragons of Darkness and was very excited to see a full-fledged novel appear several years later.

Bully and the Beast
short story by ...

Science Fiction / Fantasy

Kiteworld
by Keith Roberts. A hard read, but well worth the time. Probably in the top five of my all-time favourites.

Cowboy Feng's Space Bar & Grill
by Steven Brust. Fast moving plot with very colourful characters. Bitter, sarcastic, and generally good reading for anyone who's feeling peculiarly cynical about relationships.

Jhereg, Yendi, Taltos, Teckla, Phoenix
by Steven Brust. Five of the seven books in the "Vlad Taltos" series. If you like Zelazny's writing (particularly Jack of Shadows or the Amber Series) you'll probably like Brust's works. The books were written out of chronological order according to the story, and there's no one right way to read them... but here's what I recommend: Read 11 page introduction in Jhereg first; then read (in order) Taltos, Yendi, the rest of Jhereg, Teckla and then Phoenix. The latest two books are, in my opinion, a great disappointment. They are called Athyra and Orca.

The Folk of the Air
by Peter S. Beagle. This is one of those stories where the plot takes a sudden and unexpected righthand turn every other page. If you're a member of a recreationist society (such as the SCA) you might be insulted by the book's denigrating tone towards such groups.

Graphic Novels

Cvltvre Made Stvpid
by Tom Weller. Subtitled: "a misguided tour of illitureature, fine and dandy arts and the subhumanities." Outrageously funny parodies and spoofs of our "civilized" culture. There are excerpts from his other novel, "Science Made Stupid" found at this web site.

Elfquest
by Wendy and Richard Pini. My collection goes only as far as graphic novel #7. I am not very pleased with the later works, written, scripted and drawn by a multitude of authors. If I were to have a favourite character, it would have to be Kahvi.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
by Hayao Miyazaki. Proclaimed by many to be the best Japanese graphic novel epic ever written.