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| The book of three / |
| Alexander, Lloyd. |
| The beginning of the adventures of Taran, the Assistant Pig Keeper who wants to be a hero, and his friends. The entire series is filled with rich characters and humor and a real sense of good vs. evil (No cartoon villians here). You don't have to be young to enjoy this classic series of books. |
| Children's Fiction ALEXAND |
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| The black cauldron. |
| Alexander, Lloyd. |
| Second in the series. Deals heavily with the concept of Sacrifice and what really makes a hero. What would you be willing to give up in order to stop evil? Darker than the first book, there is still moments of humor mixed in. A real treat. Not a difficult read, but very enjoyable. |
| Children's Fiction ALEXAND |
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| Taran Wanderer / |
| Alexander, Lloyd. |
| Fourth in the series and my personal favorite. This is a story of Identity. Taran goes on a personal quest to find out the truth of his birth. Who are his parents? What happened to them? And the most important question of all, "Who am I, then?" The concepts here are deep without being too complex. A real coming of age story. |
| Children's Fiction ALEXAND |
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| The castle of Llyr / |
| Alexander, Lloyd. |
| Third in the series of Taran & his friends. Lighter in tone than the previous book, Taran must come to grips with his feelings for Eilonwy as she is shipped off to the Isle of Mona for training in how be a lady. More romantic than previous books without being too mushy for younger readers. |
| Children's Fiction ALEXAND |
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| The high king / |
| Alexander, Lloyd. |
| The last book in the series. Everything comes together in a final battle of good vs. evil. Draws from all previous books and brings back both old friends and enemies in one great tale of fantasy. More fighting than in previous books but without being too graphic in the details. |
| Children's Fiction ALEXAND |
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| Centaur aisle / |
| Anthony, Piers. |
| My favorite book. Part of the Xanth series, it has it all: magic, humor, romance, and adventure. Dor must peril the dangers of Mundania(our non-magic world) in order to save the king and queen. In the process, he learns to trust himself and falls in love. While the rest of the Xanth series is pretty good, this one outshines them all. I can reread it over and over again. Some of the humor is bawdy, but without being too risque. If it were a movie it would be more PG-13, I guess. Not for younger kids. |
| Adult Fiction ANTHONY |
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| Killing floor / |
| Child, Lee. |
| First book of the Jack Reacher series. Very good. Not for children. Besides the violent way Jack settles "problems", he also has a mature relationship with a local cop. I read this because of the Tom Cruise movie, and while Tom doesn't match Lee's description of Jack Reacher, he did have the right mindset. I'll be interested in reading more of this series eventually. |
| Adult Fiction CHILD |
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| Murder on the Orient Express : a Hercule Poirot mystery / |
| Christie, Agatha, 1890-1976 |
| The classic Hercule Poirot mystery. 13 people on a train and one of them is a murderer! Poirot uses his "little grey cells" to solve the case. There is a reason this excellent book has been adapted so many times on TV or in movies. M. Poirot is a funny looking man, but with a shrewd and critical mind. As always, Christie recreates the atmosphere of the early part of the 20th century when trains were still the primary means of travel. |
| Adult Fiction CHRISTI |
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| And then there were none / |
| Christie, Agatha, 1890-1976 |
| Also known as Ten Little Indians, this mystery has 10 strangers (each of whom has a secret of their own) trapped on an island where they are being killed off one by one. No familiar detective (Marple, Poirot) due to the setup. This book is a classic. |
| Adult Fiction CHRISTIE |
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| Murder is easy / |
| Christie, Agatha, 1890-1976 |
| "Why it's very easy to get away with murder," the old lady said on the train, "when no one would ever suspect you." A chance encounter on a train with a little old lady sets a young man on the path to unravel a series of murders in a small town. Once again, not done with her more familiar detectives but I think this book is my favorite of Christie's. |
| Adult Fiction CHRISTI |
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| By the pricking of my thumbs / |
| Christie, Agatha, 1890-1976 |
| A Tommy and Tuppence mystery. This actually was the first time I encountered this husband and wife detective team. A lot of fun. Like Nick and Nora from the Thin Man, although Tuppence does more sleuthing than Nora ever did. Funny and clever, this book made me want to read more about Tommy and Tuppence. |
| Adult Fiction CHRISTIE |
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| N or M? / |
| Christie, Agatha, 1890-1976 |
| Another Tommy and Tuppence mystery. This one with more than a little espionage. Like I said before, I love this sleuthing couple and their way of interacting with each other. |
| Adult Fiction CHRISTIE |
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| A murder is announced : a Miss Marple mystery / |
| Christie, Agatha, 1890-1976 |
| Agatha Christie is a master of ambiance. Reading one of her mysteries is like being transported back in time. Miss Marple, a cunning old lady with a nose for trouble and a shrewd judge of character, reads about an ad in the local paper where a murder is announced. She goes to unravel what the mystery is all about. Miss Marple is one of Agatha Christie's standard detectives. The books are not too long and they keep you interested all the way through. |
| Adult Fiction CHRISTI |
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| The secret adversary / |
| Christie, Agatha, 1890-1976 |
| Another Tommy and Tuppence mystery. These two are my favorite of Christie's detectives, although Miss Marple and M.Poirot are excellent, too. Something about the way they interact with each other makes me smile. |
| Adult Fiction CHRISTIE |
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| The ropemaker / |
| Dickinson, Peter, 1927- |
| A very interesting take on magic makes this book a surprisingly good read. I liked the cover art so I picked it up. It is the combination of ancient rituals with restoring fading magic bindings. |
| Teen Fiction DICKINS |
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| King's man : [a novel of Robin Hood] / |
| Donald, Angus, 1965- |
| Told by Alan Dale, this Robin Hood tale has more history and intrigue than the usual Robin Hood story. In this version, Robin was an outlaw before and then joined Richard on his crusade which earned him his title and lands back. But when Richard is captured on the way back from the Holy Lands and John makes a play for the crown, Robin must again become an outlaw to stop John's plans. |
| Adult Fiction DONALD |
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| The big big big book of Tashi / |
| Fienberg, Anna |
| A rare find. This book is a collection of stories about Tashi, a clever and brave boy from a far off land. Back in his homeland, he had many strange and wonderful adventures and encountered many mythical and magical creatures. But he always kept his head and used his courage and cleverness to outsmart his opponents and saved the day. He befriends a local boy, Jack, who he tells all his wonderful stories to. What I found most fun about this book was the reaction of Jack's parents. Rather than dispute the truthfulness of Tashi's stories, most of which border on the fantastical, they simply accept them. Jack's whole family loves to sit around and listen to "Tashi stories" as they call them. I especially liked this book because it emphasizes quick thinking and courage as solutions to problems rather than violence. A fun read for the whole family. |
| Children's Fiction FIENBER |
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| The 2nd big big book of Tashi / |
| Fienberg, Anna |
| The second big big book was not as good as the first big big book. Tashi as always is clever and brave, but the introduction of Jack's Uncle Joe and Uncle Joe's girlfriend were distractions the stories didn't need. |
| Children's Fiction FIENBER |
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| Marked for death / |
| Forbeck, Matt. |
| The first book in the Lost Mark trilogy. This is an Eberron book. Eberron is one of the dungeons & dragons campaign settings. Unlike most D&D settings, Eberron is not your traditional fantasy world. While the elements are all there, the flavor is more pulp fiction and film noir than medieval feudalism. They use magic like we use science and had a magical industrial revolution there. So there are magic trains and flying airships and magical manufacturing guilds. In this series, a man fights to save his kidnapped stepdaughter who may or may not have the lost dragonmark of Death. It's a chase book with many twists and turns. |
| Adult Fiction FORBECK |
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| Prince Valiant. Vol. 1, 1937-1938 / |
| Foster, Harold R. 1892-1982 |
| Hal Foster is a master of cartooning. The way he blends real places and real events into his fictionalized version of King Arthur and his knights of the round table. The story revolves around Prince Valiant, the son of the deposed king of Thule (basically Norway with a little Sweden). In this volume, Valiant grows from a small boy playing in the swamps to a brave knight of Camelot. And he has a lot of adventures along the way. |
| Adult Nonfiction Book 741.56973 F 2009 |
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| Prince Valiant. Vol. 2, 1939-1940 / |
| Foster, Harold R. 1892-1982 |
| I call this one Prince Valiant versus the Huns. After he helps his father regain the throne of Thule, he goes off to Europe for adventure and finds the Huns have overrun Europe. While Valiant doesn't take on Attila the Hun, he does fight against several hordes of Huns with his typical style of cleverness and valor. While Valiant is a great fighter, it is his intelligence and wits that set him apart. He often wins by tricking his opponents or turning them against their allies. |
| Adult Nonfiction Book 741.56973 F 2010 |
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| Prince Valiant. Volume 3, 1941-1942 / |
| Foster, Harold R. 1892-1982 |
| Prince gets bored easily and is always on the lookout for more adventure and a good cause to fight for. He also like happy endings and will often set couples up for romance and marriage, much to the chagrin of his friend and mentor, Sir Gawain. In this volume, he encounters his future bride to be, Aleta, and loses his magical Singing Sword. His journey to find Aleta and get his sword back take him all over the Middle East and Africa. |
| Adult Nonfiction Book 741.56973 F 2011 |
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| Prince Valiant. Vol. 4, 1943-1944 / |
| Foster, Harold R. 1892-1982 |
| The return to Thule. After several years of adventuring, Prince Valiant gets homesick and travels home to Thule. Along the way, he stops off in England to help King Arthur with another invasion of Saxons. But once home, he has no peace since Aleta's beauty haunts his dreams so he sets out to have her undo her "enchantment" on him. |
| Adult Nonfiction Book 741.56973 F 2011b |
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| The coming of Conan the Cimmerian / |
| Howard, Robert E. 1906-1936 |
| I read most of these stories in other volumes that are out of print now, but there is nothing quite like Howard's Conan stories. Conan is so primal and larger than life. Whether it is robbing an evil priest or killing some weird monster or fighting a group of soldiers, Conan stands apart as a true epic hero. It is fantasy mixed with adventure and horror. Not for the faint of heart, though. Howard's monsters are weird and gross and the violence is pretty graphic. Not recommended for children. PG-13, at least. |
| Adult Fiction HOWARD |
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| The eye of the world / |
| Jordan, Robert, 1948-2007. |
| First book in the Wheel of Time series. This is epic fantasy at its best. History, they say, moves in cycles like a great wheel. The Dragon, the most powerful male magic-user, is set to be reborn and the forces of evil are determined to destroy him before he can. The rest of the world is also against him, as the very power he gains eventually drives him crazy and could unmake the world. Jordan creates a mythology and world as rich as Middle Earth, although some of his creatures seem very similiar to what Tolkien created. (Orcs and Wraiths by a different name) The story is engaging and the characters are deep. You can really feel the tension as the story builds. |
| Adult Fiction JORDAN |
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| The great hunt / |
| Jordan, Robert, 1948-2007. |
| Second in the Wheel of Time series. Rand learns more about his destiny and begins to control his inner power. While I enjoyed this book, I got bogged down in the end and haven't continued. The story and the tension keeps building without much hope of a happy ending.(I'm big on happy endings) Will Rand go crazy? Or can he change his fate? Only one way to find out, I guess. Still, it was very well written. |
| Adult Fiction JORDAN |
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| The tombs of Atuan / |
| Le Guin, Ursula K., 1929- |
| The second book in the Earthsea cycle, this one is my favorite and the only one to have cover art so that is why I included it. While "A Wizard of Earthsea" is great and "The Farthest Shore" is pretty good, The Tombs of Atuan is the best. Why? Because it is a tale of redemption. Tenar is a young girl who is taken from her home to become the reincarnated high priestess to the Nameless Ones, evil spririts that inhabit the caves of their island. She thinks this is her fate, until a certain wizard comes to the tombs to find a rare magical item. Neither of their lives will ever be the same. The sense of foreboding that Le Guin puts into the first part of the book is contrasted by the hope of the second part. A great book. Actually the whole series is. Start with A Wizard of Earthsea, though. It'll make more sense. |
| Children's Fiction LE GUIN |
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| Power divided is power checked : the argument for states' rights / |
| Lewis, Jason |
| The definitive book on limited government, Jason outlines how we have overstepped our Constitutional boundaries and why it is important to limit the federal government to just key national interests. He argues that we have surrendered too much power to the federal government and that has lead us to winner-take-all policies that limit our freedom and cause national strife. Good read. Well documented. |
| Adult Nonfiction Book JK325 .L49 2011 |
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| More guns, less crime : understanding crime and gun-control laws / |
| Lott, John R. |
| The premier book on gun control, Lott shows why adding more gun-control laws merely disarm honest citizens while doing nothing to stop criminals from getting them. He really has done his research and is well documented. It will surprise you. It sure surprised me. |
| Adult Nonfiction Book KF3941 .L68 1998 |
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| A game of thrones / |
| Martin, George R. R. |
| Martin is a master of medieval fiction. While the Seven Nations are fictional, Martin has their history and bloodlines and legends and everything that makes history... well, history. So it really takes you in. Also his characters, both heroes and villians, are all flawed. So be prepared to root for some of the bad guys and for the so-called good guys to do some pretty bad stuff at times. And whatever you do, don't read the Wikipedia article on this book. It will spoil the rest of the book and make it that much harder to finish. That's what I did. If I hadn't, I am sure I would have finished it by now, as I couldn't put it down before. |
| Adult Fiction MARTIN |
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| Mal and Chad. [1], The biggest, bestest time ever / |
| McCranie, Stephen, 1987- |
| Love this series. It is like a combination of Calvin and Hobbes and Jimmy Neutron, boy genius. Mal is a genius inventor who hides his intelligence so he can stay in the same grade as the girl he has a crush on. His one true friend is his dog Chad, who can talk, thanks to one of Mal's inventions. His super intelligence and his lack of social skills isolate him from his peers, so he tends to just hang out with his dog. Very well written. |
| Children's Fiction MCCRANI |
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| Storyteller / |
| Myers, Edward, 1950- |
| This was an excellent book about the power of stories. Both for good and for evil. Starts out like the Princess Bride with a grandfather telling a story to his grandson. None of his regular tales will do, so he tells instead about a young storyteller and what happened to him. It's a good read and very interesting, but it lacks much of the humor of everyday life. It explains propaganda in a way that even young readers can understand without actually using the word. |
| Children's Fiction MYERS |
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| Sail : a novel / |
| Patterson, James, 1947- |
| What starts out as a family bonding trip becomes a deadly game of survival. My brother recommended this book when I told him I was reading so much children's fiction. I can see why Patterson is so popular. This book was such a quick read, I read it in one sitting. Interesting characters that weren't perfect and a plot that kept me interested. I will definitely have to try another one of Patterson's books again. |
| Adult Fiction PATTERS |
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| Half upon a time / |
| Riley, James, 1977- |
| Modern girl travels to fairy tale land and gets Jack (the son of Jack & the Beanstalk's Jack) to help her rescue her grandmother, who might be the missing Snow White. An interesting take on what life would be like in a fairy tale world. Familiar characters like Red Riding Hood, Wicked Queen, Rapunzel, and the Huntsman are there, but the story plays out differently than the fairy tales and has a real-world perspective on fairy tale conventions. Very fun. Can't wait to read the sequel. |
| Children's Fiction RILEY |
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| Unveiled / |
| Rivers, Francine, 1947- |
| Nobody writes biblical fiction like Francine Rivers. She takes the stories from the Bible and fleshes it out more. She adds the cultural context and more of the human emotions that the Bible doesn't. This series is on the only women in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus, found in the first chapter of Matthew's gospel. Each woman displayed great faith and courage that earned them their place in the ancestors of Jesus. The first one is Tamar, Judah's daughter-in-law. Quick read, but moving and compelling. |
| Adult Fiction RIVERS |
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| Unashamed / |
| Rivers, Francine, 1947- |
| Second in this series, this one is about Rahab. Rahab is a key person in the battle of Jericho and because of her faith and support, she married an Israelite and became one of them. Like the Bible itself, Rivers doesn't gloss over the grittier parts of the story, but pulls them together into a moving account. Rahab is unashamed because she has been forgiven. |
| Adult Fiction RIVERS |
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| Unshaken / |
| Rivers, Francine, 1947- |
| Third in the series, this tale is about Ruth. As detailed in the book of the Bible that bears her name, Ruth was a Moabite who because of her love for her mother-in-law Naomi, followed her back to Israel and converted to Judaism. While caring for Naomi, she finds love again with Boaz, the son of Rahab, who was a close relative of Naomi's. This is my favorite story of the series. Very good. |
| Adult Fiction RIVERS |
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| Unspoken / |
| Rivers, Francine, 1947- |
| Book four of the series, this tale is Bathsheba's. Yes, that Bathsheba. As in David's affair that almost destroyed his kingdom. Her name is Unspoken because of her shame but she becomes the mother of David's son Solomon, who became king and ushered in a time of peace and prosperity. This is a story of redemption for Bathsheba who went from being an adulterer to being a godly woman who trained her sons to follow God. |
| Adult Fiction RIVERS |
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| Unafraid / |
| Rivers, Francine, 1947- |
| Last book in the series, this is Mary's story. Jesus's mother Mary was a woman who started out with great faith, but then doubted and finally came to faith in her son as her Savior. Rivers puts you in Mary's shoes and follows her story from beginning to end. This was a great series and it enhanced my appreciation for the Biblicial accounts. There is a study in the back if you want to use it as a personal devotion guide, but I just liked reading the stories. |
| Adult Fiction RIVERS |
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| Homeland / |
| Salvatore, R. A., 1959- |
| Book One of the Dark Elf Trilogy. This one covers Drizzt Do'Urden's early life growing up among the evil race of dark elves. This book shows how different he is from other dark elves, or drow. Not only does Bob (R.A. Salvatore) create a fascinating hero, but he also explores what an "evil" civilization would be like. A matriarchal society devoted to an evil deity. This trilogy is a prequel to the Icewind Dale Trilogy. Drizzt was such a popular character that Bob decided to tell his origin story in three books. Not for kids. |
| Adult Fiction SALVATORE |
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| Exile / |
| Salvatore, R. A., 1959- |
| Book Two of the Dark Elf Trilogy. Drizzt has left the dark elves behind and tries to survive alone in the Underdark. His family hasn't forgiven him and they still search for him while he fights an internal battle to keep himself from going insane. Explores the Underdark, the underground world full of monsters and evil races. Good read. |
| Adult Fiction SALVATO |
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| Sojourn / |
| Salvatore, R. A., 1959- |
| Book Three in the Dark Elf Trilogy. Drizzt decides to take his chances on the surface rather than dying alone underground. He travels the surface world until he can find a place he can call home. Makes friends and enemies along the way. A good ending for the trilogy, although the story continues in the Crystal Shard. There are at least a dozen Drizzt novels by R.A. Salvatore. All of them are good and full of adventure and magic. |
| Adult Fiction SALVATORE |
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| The prairie thief / |
| Wiley, Melissa. |
| This was a fun little book. A young girl's father is arrested for thievery and she sets out to prove he's innocent by finding the real culprit. Combines the real life struggles of life on the frontier with some folklore and fantasy elements. |
| Children's Fiction WILEY |
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