Looking for new book series

[Elsi]

Emelie, you've gotten a lot of recommendations which are similar to Twilight and Harry Potter, but I thought I'd throw out a few which you might find similar to the Turnham Malpas "Village" series. A classic series available right here at MobileRead would be the Chronicles of Barsetshire by Anthony Trollope. A review at Victorian Web says

Barchester is a cathedral town in imaginary Barsetshire of mid-nineteenth century England. Each of the six novels — beginning with The Warden, and continuing with Barchester Towers, Dr. Thorne, Framley Parsonage, The Small House at Allington, ending with The Last Chronicle of Barset — takes us to a different part of the county. In each, we meet the local parsons and the parishioners, the wealthy and the poor, the titled and those without rank or fame, and in each reappear some of those whom we met before. In each, a heart-rending romance, a deserved or undeserved misfortune, a striking personality or downright politics, catches our interest and our sympathy, our contempt and even anger. And in the last novel, almost all of the important personages of the first five, are drawn together and allowed a final curtain call, and for almost all, in some way or other, the problems which so haunted them while their story was being told, are finally being solved, or, quite simply, their dreams come true. Yes, even Dr. Proudie, the henpecked bishop, finds unexpected relief.

A more contemporary series is the Mitford Series by author Jan Karon. The books feature an Episcopalian priest, Father Tim, and his small village in North Carolina. The series of nine novels -- At Home in Mitford, A Light in the Window, These High, Green Hills, Out to Canaan, A New Song, A Common Life: The Wedding Story, In This Mountain, Shepherds Abiding, and Light from Heaven -- have sold over 25 million copies. These books are available for the Amazon Kindle and may be available for other readers.

You might also enjoy two series by author Miss Read -- Fairacre and Thrush Green -- each a fictional English village. The principal character in the Fairacre books, "Miss Read", is an unmarried schoolteacher in a small village school. Thrush Green, nearby to Fairacre, is based on the small English town the author lived in during WWII. There are 17 books in the Fairacre series and 15 in the Thrush Green series; several omnibus editions combine 3 or more books into one publication. I did not find electronic versions of these books, but did not search any UK stores.

One other series that I can heartily recommend are the Miss Julia books by Ann B. Ross. Currently, there are ten volumes in this series, with the 11th due out in 2010: Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind, Miss Julia Takes Over, Miss Julia Throws a Wedding, Miss Julia Hits the Road, Miss Julia Meets Her Match, Miss Julia's School of Beauty, Miss Julia Stands Her Ground, Miss Julia Strikes Back, Miss Julia Paints the Town, Miss Julia Delivers the Goods, and Miss Julia Renews Her Vows. In the first book, we meet Miss Julia, a 60-ish new widowed woman whose husband has left her financially well off, but totally unprepared for much more than throwing the occasional tea party. The situations she gets into are hysterically funny and I've really enjoyed each of the books in the series. All but the first are available for the Amazon Kindle.

[chlorine]

The Accursed Kings (Les rois maudits) series, by Maurice Druon, is a fantastic historical fiction series about the kings and royal families of France in the era before the hundred years' war.
I'm not usually into this kind of books so I was reticent, but read it when a friend _strongly_ suggested it, and now I can't thank her enough. Though the topic might seem dull, Druon excells at making the historical figures come alive, with their loves and hates and motivations and fears, and making you feel strongly for them.
A captivating series which makes me regret that history was not taught (teached?) to me in this way.

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

TOTALLY THE DRESDEN FILES!!! It's a series by Jim Butcher (the first is Storm Front). It's about a guy who is a wizard for hire. There are 11 books so far and they are like crack, seriously.

If you want to get an idea what they are like, it was a short lived TV show (good, but SciFi decided to cancel it). Anyway the episodes are available on Hulu.

What she said!! I've gotten so many people hooked on Dresden it's not funny. It's only been a short time since the 11th book came out, and one friend keeps pestering me to know the release date for the 12th. Jim Butcher also writes the Codex Alera series. That's more fantasy, and I think only five or six books.

[lilac_jive]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

What she said!! I've gotten so many people hooked on Dresden it's not funny. It's only been a short time since the 11th book came out, and one friend keeps pestering me to know the release date for the 12th. Jim Butcher also writes the Codex Alera series. That's more fantasy, and I think only five or six books.

It comes out in April! It's called "Changes."

Ooh and I saw Butcher leaked the first line, wanna know? Be warned, it will make the wait harder.

[JoeD]

Originally Posted by Danny Fekete

You might try some of the Ender's Game books by Orson Scott Card (definitely try Ender's Game if you haven't read it); I enjoyed what I read, but I found couldn't finish the series.

I'll second that. Although the rest of the series isn't as good imo.

There's a complementary series based on the character "Bean" called the Shadow Saga. The first of which Ender's Shadow is a retelling of Ender's Game from a different point of view and is on a par with Ender's Game for enjoyment. Well worth reading if you liked Ender's Game. The remainder of the Shadow Saga is actually pretty good too.

Kinda wish I hadn't given away my books, although I doubt I'd reread the entire series, wouldn't mind reading the first of both again. Had a mass clear out of my 20 years worth of books recently, the extra space is great, even though it was hard to part with so many books. Friends and Family loved the freebies though :P

Ooh! The His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, recommended with much urgency and no reservations. (Look for The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass, in that order.) This may be a good chaser to series like Harry Potter or Twilight.

Tempted to get Twilight since it's on 100% rebate, may do so tonight.

As for Harry Potter, love the films, but sadly not available as an eBook and having finally cleaned house, I've no intention of starting another physical collection If the Tolkien estate can release The Lord of the Rings as an eBook, there's hope J.K.Rowling will change her mind.

Also, though it's not technically a series, because it's so long and the characters are so appealing, I found myself mourning the end of Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson as if I'd just lost a lot of good friends in a bus accident.

This is in my list of books to read, took a punt on it with some micropay dollars recently (bought the halo series of books Since I bought it from fictionwise, I've a 10% off coupon code, if you want it PM me (although you might want to check with Danny first, since he recommended it). Same goes for the Halo Series if anyone is interested in that.

Then, there's always Douglas Adams...

I don't believe there is anyone left who hasn't read his books

[JoeD]

Guess I can put the credit card away again, Twilight doesn't appear to be on 100% micropay anymore. Saved me some money at least and there's no way I'm paying > $10 for an ebook, no matter how good it is.

[FizzyWater]

Michelle Sagara has a really good series out right now - all the books start with "Cast..." (the newest one just hit Fictionwise today, woo-hoo!)

[BlackVoid]

I recommend the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. Very strong characterization with a good story.

[sminarovich]

I really enjoy Jasper JJorde, particularly, the Thursday Next series...fun, a little off the wall, better when you recognize classic literature...but not necessary.

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

It comes out in April! It's called "Changes."

Ooh and I saw Butcher leaked the first line, wanna know? Be warned, it will make the wait harder.

Nooooo!!!!! Dana Stabenow is the world's WORST at that, she posts sentences on Facebook and I just wanna throttle her. Makes the waiting three times as bad.

[komugi]

Just read 1-10 of The Dresden Files, quite good and entertaining if you like mystery/fantasy set in modern day.

[jes1]

If you like the Dresden Files, you might like Simon R. Green's books of the Nightside. They are fun quick reads.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

What she said!! I've gotten so many people hooked on Dresden it's not funny. It's only been a short time since the 11th book came out, and one friend keeps pestering me to know the release date for the 12th. Jim Butcher also writes the Codex Alera series. That's more fantasy, and I think only five or six books.

#12 should be released April 2010.

[lmarie]

Great thread! In a different genre (I read mysteries, mostly) I've been working my way through Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody series. Peabody is a Victorian egyptologist/sleuth who spends much of her life in Egypt with her archaeologist husband and her precocious son. Peters' has a doctorate in Egyptology so there is a lot of good historical and archaeological information in the books. One problem is that a few of the books in the series aren't available as ebooks, so I've been switching back and forth between my Cybook and large print versions (which seem, for some reason, to be the only copies of some of the titles available in my library).

[griffonwing]

For Sci Fi I would suggest The Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison. From Wikipedia -- The Stainless Steel Rat is anti-hero James Bolivar diGriz, who goes by many aliases, including "Slippery Jim" and "The Stainless Steel Rat". He is a futuristic con man, thief and all-round rascal. He is charming and quick-witted, a master of disguise and martial arts, an accomplished bank robber, an expert on breaking and entering, and (perhaps most usefully) a skilled liar. A master of self-rationalization, the Rat frequently justifies his crimes by arguing that he is providing society with entertainment; and besides which, he only steals from institutions which have insurance coverage. He displays a strong morality, albeit in a much more restricted sense than is traditional. (For example, he will happily steal, but deplores killing.)

For Fantasy-Fiction - Pratchett's Discworld was already mentioned, but not the Xanth series, by Piers Anthony. Robert Asprin has the Myth series, and also a sci-fi setting with the Phule series.