Thursday Book Recs

Recently, Tracy Grant wrote on History Hoydens about series that you can’t stop talking or thinking about, that draw you into their world, painting a complete universe so vividly that you feel like you’re living in it with the characters– and very anxious to know what will happen next. The last time I had that feeling was with Elizabeth George’s Lynley books, which I stumbled upon very, very late into the series. Right now, my latest obsession is Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Clare Fergusson series, about an Episcopal minister in upstate New York who finds herself drawn into a series of murder investigations in the local community. As luck would have it, I accidentally started with the fifth book instead of the first, but I loved it anyway– which tells you something about how great the series is.

Have you come across any series recently that have blown you away?

30 Comments

  1. Rebecca on March 26, 2009 at 11:55 am

    I just finished reading the second in Tasha Alexander’s Lady Ashton series and I love it so far! Oh, and Colin Hargreaves isn’t too bad, either. 😀

  2. Korri on March 26, 2009 at 12:43 pm

    I love “City of Bones” by Cassandra Clare. It sucks you right in to their world. It is the first in a trilogy. The second book “City of Ashes” is just as good. The third and final book “City of Glass” just came out a couple days ago and I can’t wait to read it. Also, “Elantris” by Brandon Sanderson makes you feel like you’re right there with the characters.

  3. Susan on March 26, 2009 at 3:21 pm

    For the Jane Austen fans, I would recommend Austenland by Shannon Hale. I found it to the best among those geared toward Mr. Darcy “groupies”. The author does a wonderful job incorporating the Regecy age into modern day. There are references to other Austen works as well. Humor, romance, men in breeches and cravats. What could be better?!

  4. Stacie Andrews on March 26, 2009 at 4:24 pm

    If you want a series that will leave you craving the next book, then I recommend these two: Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson novels and her Cry Wolf series. Not only do you get attached to the characters, but addicted to the story. I am also addicted to J. R. Ward and her Black Dagger Brotherhood series. These books keep you on the edge of your seat! Her in-depth male characters are dark, and sexy, but they are hilarious when they get around each other. Also, the heroines are amazing and kick butt too!

  5. Korri on March 26, 2009 at 5:03 pm

    I love the Mercedes Thompson series! I’ve recently found another series by Ilona Andrews. The first book is called “Magic Bites”. And, of course, the “Twilight” series is amazing. Along with Stephenie Meyer’s adult book “The Host”.

  6. AngelB on March 26, 2009 at 6:56 pm

    For light reading, Jane Feather’s Cavendish Square series (A Wicked Gentleman, To Wed a Wicked Prince) series has me hooked. 3rd book just came out this and I can’t wait to read it.

  7. Katelin on March 26, 2009 at 7:09 pm

    I’m addicted to Dianna Gabaldon’s Outlander series. She’s created such a richly detailed world and characters you can really fall in love with.

  8. AngelB on March 26, 2009 at 7:10 pm

    I can’t type any more: comes out this week. Sorry

  9. faith on March 26, 2009 at 8:30 pm

    Melisa Marr’s “Wicked Lovely” is the first in an urban fantasy YA series. It sucked me in to that whole urban fantasy scene. I don’t think I would have picked it other books in the genre’s if it wasn’t for that one.

    Also the Maisie Dobbs mystery series led me back to my love of mystery novels. I don’t think I would have picked up a couple of other mystery series if not for that one.

    So many books, so little time.

  10. Elizabeth aka Miss Eliza on March 26, 2009 at 10:01 pm

    I second the Maisie Dobbs books, they’re so much fun!

  11. Alison on March 26, 2009 at 11:44 pm

    I started reading Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse books in anticipation of the show True Blood, then wound up giving up on the show but continuing on with the books. Love ’em. I’m trying to ration them so they’ll last me a while, but it’s really hard not to just read them all back to back.

  12. Elizabeth aka Miss Eliza on March 26, 2009 at 11:47 pm

    I’ve read the Sookie books back to back several times. I would also suggest Charlaine Harris’s Harper Connelly series, I feel it’s actually better than the Southern Vampire books and is just straight up mystery (for those not into the whole vamps and werewolves), there are already 3 in the series and the 4th is coming out in the Fall.

  13. Kristen on March 27, 2009 at 8:28 am

    The Sacketts series by Louis L’amore. His are the only books that I’ve ever seen my dad read (except for some genelogy related things). I started reading through them when I was in high school and had already read everything else in the house. I feel in love with them. I know westerns aren’t usually a girl thing, but I would recommend them to anyone. (also- his book “The Walking Drum” isn’t a western- think 12th century Europe- but it’s a really well done book)

  14. Laura on March 27, 2009 at 12:56 pm

    I love Janet Evanovich’s number series,from One for the Money through Fearless Fourteen and her between the numbers books featuring the same characters are equally great. They are set in modern-day Trenton,NJ, they’re full of fast paced mystery and romance and best of all they are hysterically funny!

  15. Elizabeth aka Miss Eliza on March 27, 2009 at 3:56 pm

    I love Lisa Lutz’s Spellman Files series, so much fun about a family of PIs in San Francisco.

  16. Jennifer Dahle on March 27, 2009 at 4:30 pm

    I love The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. It’s the first book of the Thursday Next series. The author describes it as “a literary detective thriller with romantic overtones, mad-inventor uncles, aunts trapped in Wordsworth poems, global multinationals, scheming evildoers, an excursion inside the novel Jane Eyre, dodos, knight-errant-time-traveling fathers, and the answer to the eternal question: Who really wrote Shakespeare’s plays?” It starts slow, but if you stick with it you’ll love it!

  17. Susan on March 27, 2009 at 4:37 pm

    Elizabeth (aka Miss Eliza), I agree with you on the Spellman Files. I love them. They are hilarious and well-written. I hope to start the newest one next week. Have you read it?

  18. Korri on March 27, 2009 at 5:13 pm

    “Jubilee Trail” by Gwen Bristow is a great western romance. “These Is My Words” by Nancy Turner great too.

  19. Stephanie on March 27, 2009 at 6:17 pm

    I also enjoyed the Sookie books by Charlaine Harris. My favourite series though is the Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong, if you like the whole paranormal/supernatural world. I hate putting them down. I also just finished reading book 2 in her new series about Nadia Stafford a female hitman. It’s really enjoyable as well.

  20. Elizabeth aka Miss Eliza on March 27, 2009 at 10:41 pm

    Susan, the new book is great! I loved it, though I think book 2 will remain my favorite, mainly do to the Doctor Who references. I actually got to meet Lisa Lutz at a book signing in Evanston last week and she was just as funny as the books and said there is to be 2 more books in the series, the next one will come out next March, and then there will be a bit more of a gap between that one and the last one.

  21. Stephanie Stoddard on March 28, 2009 at 3:02 am

    I just read three books by Anne Easter Smith. There 15th cent england books that are really historically accurate and on top are a great and entertaining read. they drew me in and i kept reading finishing the 600+ pages in a day. wonderful books. kinda a series but i highly recommend them. Went to her book signing tonight. Recommend PC to some there who were looking for similar things

  22. Tracy Grant on March 28, 2009 at 3:07 am

    Lauren, I love the Elizabeth George books too! I’ve been reading them since I stumbled across the first on the New Fiction shelf in the library years ago. Elizabeth George creates fascinating characters, both those that are only in one book and her ongoing characters who have rich, wonderfully complicated lives. I heard her give a workshop on characterization at a conference several years ago, and ever since I’ve been using her ideas to develop character profiles when I start a new book.

  23. Sheila on March 28, 2009 at 12:45 pm

    Maisy Dobbs fans will really like the Jade del Cameron series, by Suzanne Arruda. The setting in post WWI Africa is a nice change of pace, also has interesting male characters.

  24. AmyE on March 28, 2009 at 5:39 pm

    Lauren, your series comes to mind first. Miriam Grace Monfredo, whom I believe to be sadly under appreciated, has 2 series which are wonderful. The Seneca Falls Mystery series and the Cain series. The series’ are loosely connected. I highly recommend them. Both are historical mysteries, heavy on the historical.

  25. Rosie O. on March 30, 2009 at 8:55 am

    A few months ago I started to read mysteries again. Love a good mystery! I found author Donna Leon mystery series featuring her hero detective Commissario Guido Brunetti. Donna, born in New Jersey, has lived in Venice, Italy for 25+ years. To date she has written 16 Commissario Brunetti books. All take place in Venice, Italy with lots of local culture, problems (i.e. flooding), and lifestyle. Gotta love Guido, a sensitive intelligent detective and great family man. Page turning, realistic stuff with a good look at life and politics in Venice. Read 6, got l0 more to go – if I can find the old ones…..

  26. Debra Callaway on March 30, 2009 at 9:24 am

    Series I have loved and read over and over, (Other than yours), I love Johanna Lindsey’s Malory Family series, the Chesapeake Bay Trilogy (Plus One) by Nora Roberts, and I still occasionally read the first romance series I ever read (I was in my teens when I discovered them), the Angelique Series by Sergeanne Golon. Series from other genre I love also: the Honor Harrington by David Weber (sci-fi), The Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters and the William Monk series by Anne Perry (Mystery). Of all the series I have read Yours and the Angelique books and the are the only ones I have read all the books 5 times! And I never tire of them, they are fresh every time.

  27. Debra Callaway on March 30, 2009 at 9:25 am

    Series I have loved and read over and over, (Other than yours), I love Johanna Lindsey’s Malory Family series, the Chesapeake Bay Trilogy (Plus One) by Nora Roberts, and I still occasionally read the first romance series I ever read (I was in my teens when I discovered them), the Angelique Series by Sergeanne Golon. Series from other genre I love also: the Honor Harrington by David Weber (sci-fi), The Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters and the William Monk series by Anne Perry (Mystery). Of all the series I have read Yours and the Angelique books are the only ones I have read all the books 5 times! And I never tire of them, they are fresh every time.

  28. Korri on March 30, 2009 at 6:17 pm

    Juliet Marillier’s Sevenwaters trilogy is wonderful. She goes into such depth and detail.

  29. Renee on April 3, 2009 at 11:05 am

    Gone With the Wind…Couldn’t stop thinking about it for weeks afterward the first time I read it. And I’m still obsessed. It’s a long read, but that’s good because I didn’t want it to end. The movie’s a nice way to hold you over until your next re-reading. 🙂

    Also, I second the Gabaldon Outlander series. They definitely stick with you and you can’t help being immersed in their world to the point that it takes over your own!

  30. Devon Hernandez on April 6, 2009 at 2:19 am

    Series I have gotten sucked into and reread over and over and over again:

    Your Pink books 🙂
    Tasha Alexander’s Lady Emily Ashton books (3 so far, 4th comes out in September)
    Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels (15th comes out in June)
    Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga
    Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Mystery novels (I watched True Blood before I started reading the series, so I wouldn’t critique the show so much)
    Harry Potter 😀

Leave a Comment