J. K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997)

This is on my Best 100 list of children's books to read.

I read the first three books in the Harry Potter series at least once a year. They're part of my comfort-books collection - the books I read when I am ill or unhappy or just suffering from an overload of world misery. I keep it to the first three because nothing really bad happens in them. My favourite characters aren't culled from the plot and the stories are more about fun than saving the world.

I love the imagination that went into creating the wizard world - pumpkin juice, butter beer, every flavour beans, pictures that move and owl's delivering mail. I know there are similarities between this series and Jill Murphy's The Worst Witch, but it doesn't make their world's any less enjoyable. I love them both.

In this book Harry Potter learns he's a wizard, gets sent off to Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, makes friends, eats lots of good food, makes enemies, flies on a broom and encounters a misunderstood villian who really just wants to be loved - Voldemort. Fun.

Dr. Seuss - Green Eggs and Ham (1960)

This is on my Best 100 list of children's books to read.

Anyone who has a little brother (or sister) will immediately recognise Sam-I-Am's pestering ways and know that until you give in the torment never ends!  I really enjoyed the rhyming and repetitive nature of the storyline. It would make it easy to read, yet feel like you'd achieved something great (considering how long the book is) if you were a child. I enjoyed it as an adult.

Yet, no amount of pestering would ever get me to try green eggs and ham, particularly after they'd been waved under the funnel of a steam train and dipped in the ocean. Yuck! The pictures are interesting, but it's the words that make the book. They stay in your head like a song-and-dance act, jiggling around all happy and bright. That's the best thing words can ever do.

Maurice Sendak - Where the Wild Things Are (1963)

This is on my Best 100 list of children's books to read.

I never read it as a child and that's just sad because it is so much fun! I want to dress in a wolf suit and sail away to a magical island forest with lots of impossible creatures who make me Queen!!! I've always wanted to be an autocrat and have a wild rumpus, making lots of noise and mayhem.

The pictures are beautiful. My favourite is when his room has been transformed - "his ceiling hung with vines and the walls became the world all around...".

The book teaches imagination and how you can have fun, even when you're alone - well, until you get hungry.

Michael Pryor - Moment of Truth (2010)

This is book 5 in Michael Pryor's incredibly addictive The Laws of Magic series. The story is a mirror-world of our own in the early 1900s before England and Germany were at war. It has many similar historical aspects as the problems between the countries escalate until an assassination leads to war declared. The difference between our world and Albion is the existence of magic.

Think barely-post-Victorian, devious political plots, an evil 'wizard' and countries in danger - this is the daily life of Aubrey, George and Caroline. They're Albion's best hope for survival - a magic-user, a journalist and a suffragette. No, Albion isn't doomed - not yet.

It's hard to explain how exciting these books are without giving away any spoilers. The dialogue is fast and witty, there's no unnecessary fillers and it's hard to put the book down until the last page is read. Even then I was thinking about the story for weeks after and now I'm anxiously awaiting the next book. They're truly a seriously great read.

Jim Butcher - Changes (2010)

This is Jim butcher's 12th novel in his Dresden Files series. I love the books and I love the short-lived television series based on the character, Harry Copperfield Dresden. His father was a Stage Magician, hence the name Harry Copperfield - nothing to do with Harry Potter at all. And you needed to know that because Dresden is a wizard, just not the fluffy high school kind. Dresden is a cross between an old-style private detective (think Sam Spade) and the mythical Merlin. He hunts the things that hunt everyday people and he'll protect them against demons, fae, vampires, werewolves and other wizards - for a fee or just because he should.

Butcher is a strong writer, he's had to be to keep the series going for 12 books. I don't think the recent books are as good as the first 6, but they're still a fun ride into darkness with a knight in shining armour by your side. I like the dry sense of humour he brings out in Dresden. The character is life-worn and thinks he's seen it all, but it doesn't stop him from doing the right thing, even though he'd rather turn his back on the things that go bad, instead he fights against them and leads others into the fray. It's a good read. He's the classic hero, even though he doesn't want to be. He's the perfect leader, even though he'd rather be anywhere but where the drama is. I enjoy the character a lot. He reminds me a little of Indiana Jones with a dash of a John Wayne cowboy thrown in. He's the hero on the white horse, trying to right the wrongs because there's no-one else who will.

C.E. Murphy - Demon Hunts (2010)

Cate Murphy is one of my favourite author's. This is book 5 in her Walker Papers series.
The stories revolve around Joanne Walker, a Seattle police detective and reluctant, but powerful, shaman. Walker finds herself battling the forces of evil in the Seattle area as she attempts to do her job as a cop and protect people. Not that she goes looking for bad things, mostly they find her and she'd rather they left her alone. But her shamanic abilities are strong, if untrained, and it's like a beacon for things that go bump in the night.

The books are well-written. Murphy is big on detail and she never loses the aim of the story. There's no unnecessary detours or characters that appear for a few chapters and then suddenly disappear without explanation. It's hard to keep a series going and keep it interesting, especially when you need to come up with a new 'baddie' in every book, but Murphy succeeds.

Susan Cooper - The Dark Is Rising Sequence (1965 - 1977)

The Dark is Rising Sequence is a collection of five books by an incredible author. Cooper takes the Arthurian legend and gives it new twists and new life. I love these books. I've read them all once a year since I was 13. I know by heart the poems/prophecies that lead the children on their quests to find the items that will bond the Light together and make it strong for the final battle with the Dark.

There was a time before the Dark, when King Arthur ruled in Camelot. But, there was a betrayal and it allowed the Dark into our world. So, Camelot fell. And Light and Dark have battled ever since.

Still, there's the prophecy, that King Arthur will return when the world is in need, just in time to defeat the Dark. This is what the stories are all about, children standing between the world and the Dark, preparing for the return of the Pendragon.

The five books are:
Over Sea, Under Stone
The Dark Is Rising
Greenwitch
The Grey King
Silver On The Tree

"It has served its purpose," Merriman said. His deep voice rose a little, gained a hint of ceremony. "Its high purpose, for which it was made so very long ago. It has set us on the next great step along the road to keep the Dark from rising, and there is nothing more important than that quest."

Lisa Shearin - Bewitched and Betrayed (2010)

I've missed pure fantasy novels. Elves and magic-users, rogues and thieves, goblins and demons, it's all in this fantasy series. This is book four in the Raine Benares novels.

Raine is a seeker and a finder. If it's lost she'll locate it, whether it's an object or a person. She's an elf who comes from a long line of thieving pirates, but they're a close family. They stick by her and love a good brawl, especially in a brothel! And, since Raine is accidently bonded to a soul-sucking stone that every goblin and his demon wants to possess, she's often in the midst of a good brawl. Fortunately there's always a nearby tavern to take the edge off once the fun is over.

I can't say too much more without giving the best parts of the book away. The author is strongly descriptive and has a fantastic sense of humour. It's a great read. I really cannot wait for book five, but i'm trying not to send the author any "Hurry Up!!" emails... today at least.

Kristin Cashore - Graceling (2008)

Graceling is an interesting book. It tells the story of a girl gifted with the skill to kill and survive and how this influences her life and the people around her. There's a rite of passage style underlying the main plot where Katsa grows into her skills and is able to accept them peacefully. It's quite beautiful in parts and completely alien in others. But it all just keeps you reading.

I was slightly confused and disappointed with the ending. The two main characters fall deeply in love (Po and Katsa) but at the end, after everything they'd fought through, they just went separate ways and agreed to meet when they met. It felt a little odd. Like the tone of the book had changed. But that wasn't the first time. In a way it was like several books merged into one with large gaps in-between that blithely ignored character changes, mentally and physically. Not that this distracted majorly from the storyline. They were heroes and they risked their lives to protect the people of the seven kingdoms, and that is what it was all about. The character development seemed almost secondary to the fact that they were "big damn heroes" as a Whedon-ite would say.

Seanan McGuire - A Local Habitation (2010)

I was a big reader of Fae books when I was a child and teen, but I grew out of them as I got older. Recently I've rediscovered my enjoyment in them. I think it's because the Fae races have become more detailed. There aren't just elves and faeries, there are all different types and factions, just like humanity. This just seems more logical to me. If our lives are political and violent and complicated, why wouldn't theirs be?

I discovered McGuire last year when I was hunting online for new authors. All my favourite ones had no new books out and I was desperate for new fantasy/paranormal/mystery books. McGuire is brilliant! This is the second book in the October Daye novels. I'd been waiting for it for the last six months and it did not disappoint. I love how human October is. She has faults and weaknesses, she's lonely and out of her depth, but she keeps going and she tries to solve problems. Even when she knows they may kill her. But, this is purely surmising, I think the loss of her family drives her onwards, even in the face of death. She wants to live, but it seems like a part of her has lost so much and she cannot recover from it. It's dark deep inside her, so she keeps herself on the edge of her society, on the edge of the knife's blade, on the edge of life. I can understand her actions and I think the author must have a strong understanding of loss and how it shapes your life.

October is a private investigator who lives in the human world and also works for her liege in the Fae world - one day she'll be following a cheating human spouse and the next she'll be locating a lost Fae. She's no ordinary changeling and her jobs never end with the expected outcome. Such is life when you're Faerie.

Garth Nix - Lord Sunday (2010)

This is the last book in The Keys to the Kingdom series - seven books in all. I've been looking forward to reaching the finish line for a year now. I was eager to find out what happened to Arthur, Leaf, Suzie and their friends/family. But once I got halfway through the book it became a struggle to finish it. I actually had to put it down for a week and read other books before I could read the second half. It was just like reading the books that came before it. Nothing new happened, it became overly predictable and Arthur began making the stupid mistakes that he'd outgrown in the third book. It felt like the author was weary of the series and just trying to extend it to novel length before he could write the final chapter - where everything sorts itself out.

Why does this happen in some long series? Harry Potter did it. How many fill in novels were there before we got to the final battle? Please. Don't start a long series unless you can make it great. It costs $20+ for a book - and no-one wants to pay that for a repeat of the books that came before it. This has put me off series. Anything over three books and I am reading library copies instead of wasting money on a possible dud. The Keys to the Kingdom was really disappointing and not a series of books that I would re-read, which is a pity since it began so strong.

Holly Black - Valiant (2005)

I really didn't like this book. It started out interesting, but it quickly slid into depravity and cruelty. It's a teen book, but it reads like the senseless horror of the worst of depraved reality that fills many adult books. It made me sad. Sad when the main character, Valerie, ran away from home. Sad when she began injecting faerie drugs. Sad when she forced herself into a home and tormented a strange family. Sad when she was cruel to strangers she'd pass on the street. Sad when her friend threw a kitten under a train and she did nothing but shrug. I don't like this book at all. I'm going to wrap it in red electrical tape and put it backwards on my shelf so I remember to never read anything from this author ever again.

It was full of so many dark things. Valerie's mother sleeping with her boyfriend. Valerie's anger and need to destroy. The homeless friends she makes who are lost and cruel. Their world that she willingly joins. The Fae who die, the Fae who revenge, the Fae who bind her to them. The whole book is full of dark deeds done by creatures who obviously have no conscience or feel no remorse. It was a tiring read. I kept going because I hoped that it would end happily or that some sort of good would come out of so much bad. But nothing came of it. Nothing at all.

It's a pity. The book had so much potential to be an interesting story before the plot suddenly changed and everything went black. The author calls Valerie an "angry angsty girl", but she was more than that. She was lost and cruel and hurtful. Valerie wasn't a character I could ever even slightly like. If you sit back and allow something cruel to happen you're just as much to blame as the person who commits the cruelty.

Not Valiant at all, Betrayal would have been a better title.

Aprilynne Pike - Wings (2009)

This was a really lovely book. I'm hoping there's a sequel - there would definitely be room for one.

The characters were sweet and real. They had their moments and moved through them like rational beings, no matter what danger they were in. They didn't do anything extraordinary that a teenager actually wouldn't do. It was very refreshing to read a book were the teens were overly nice, but quite normal too. The whole super-teen dealing with extraordinary circumstances with flair and precision gets sooooooooo boring. Puh-leez! As if! Go stand outside a high school one day and just watch... and the illusion vanishes. Teens know this too. They'll avoid books with over-perfect teens in them. It's just too surreal for them - like being discovered as the next supermodel/rockstar in the local grocery store. They'd daydream it, but honestly? It's not in their reality.

The main character, Laurel, is a faerie. These aren't your run-of-the-mill Fae in Grimm's Fairytales and the like that followed. Pike has created a beautiful new Fae world in which she's weaved old myths in charming ways. I could almost believe her view of the Fae world and the myths (I won't tell you which, it would spoil the story) are real and the fairytales I grew up with are wrong. Pike is just that good at weaving fantasy into reality. They merge seamlessly.

This book is full of mystery, danger and everyday life - as are the characters. It's a teen book, but I think any adult who loves fantasy or Fae would enjoy reading it.