what is/are your favorite series of books?

[urquie]

i love the anticipation of having another good book to read. so, what are some of your favorite books in a series?

i just read "the beekeeper's apprentice" and was so pleased to see it was the first in a series. here is a blurb about it...

The narrator of The Beekeeper's Apprentice, Mary Russell, is a brilliant but unhappy young woman, recently orphaned and now heir to a sizeable estate, who literally stumbles over the retired detective in the middle of the Sussex Downs. When she and Holmes meet, she is fifteen and he is fifty-four, but the two form an instantaneous friendship which soon becomes a partnership as he begins to teach her the art of detecting. They pursue a succession of cases together, but what began as a pleasant diversion swiftly turns into a deadly game of chess with a mysterious, ruthless enemy from Holmes's past.

[psophia17]

Easy - Jean Auel's Earth's Children series.

Clan of the Cave Bear
Valley of Horses
The Mammoth Hunters
Plains of Passage
Shelters of Stone

The last one was published in 2001 (or 2002?), about 10 years after the previous one, so goodness only knows when the sixth and final book will get done - they are so amazing.

[JLiebCamm]

I liked the Jan Karon Mitford series. They were really quaint and just made me feel good. Of course, the Harry Potter series is also a favorite. I also like the Patricia Cornwell Kay Scarpetta series. They're fluff reads but very compelling.

[JLiebCamm]

I liked the Jan Karon Mitford series. They were really quaint and just made me feel good. Of course, the Harry Potter series is also a favorite. I also like the Patricia Cornwell Kay Scarpetta series. They're fluff reads but very compelling.

[August Mom]

Sue Grafton's alphabet mysteries are good ("A Is for Alibi", etc.).

[jasabo]

I love Janet Evanovich's series. I saw today that she has #11 out now so I'll have to pick it up. Totally brainless reading - I love it!! :)

Lisa - mom to 2 yr old twin boys

[TonFirst]

Petra, I have to laugh. Not at you - but I always giggle when someone mentions that series of books.

See, I was an ambitous reader from a young age - at six, my favorite thing to read was "Reader's Digest" - and one summer when I was bored during a visit at my grandmother's farm, my father had apprently had enough of my griping, so he plunked me down on the sofa with the thickest book in the house, which happened to be "Clan of the Cave Bear."

I was eight. Eight!

So, anyone who has read those books knows why I must giggle when I see any mention of those books, because those books have, to be blunt, some pretty raunchy sex scenes. Obviously, my father had no clue that those scenes were in the book, and presumably in the other books, because when he picked the book up a few years ago, he was horrified that he'd let me read the book at such a tender age.

(And it's probably not surprising that, at age twelve, I couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about Judy Blume's "Forever.")

[mamalia]

LOL...this sounds like MY story. I picked up Valley of the Horses one boring summer. My mom was so excited that I wanted to read a novel as an eight year old she rushed to our storage room to find the Clan of the Cave Bears for me to read first. I was so impressed by all of her fussing that I finished it and wanted more...thus began my love affair with books! :) And yes the sex scenes are definitely "R-rated," I guess my mom listened to my grandfather's advice "Let them read whatever they want, as long as they're reading, that's what's important."

On your original post: my all time favorite series was/is Anne of Green Gables. I can't wait to read DD from the illustrated version I found.

[aguinn]

i liked the "beauty" series by a.n. roquelaure (pseudonym for anne rice). it's dirty and bad!

i really liked stephen king's gunslinger series until the end of the last book... although, he did warn the reader not to continue! my bad!

i also like the "his dark materials" series by philip pullman (starts with "the amber spyglass"). it's a children's series, but i liked it anyhow!

and, as a pp said, the harry potter series! next book comes out in july!

;)amy
proud momma to DS
and cutie #2 due 9/9/05 - it's a BOY! (Please come earlier! School starts on the 12th!)

http://lilypie.com/baby2/030729/1/5/1/-5/.png[/img][/url]

"Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see." ~ Neil Postman

[mudder17]

The beekeeper's apprentice sounds like a great series. I love anythign with Sherlock Holmes, so this sounds like it would be quite interesting.

I LOVE all of Robin Hobb's Series: There's the fools series, the liveship series and the trilogy sequel to the fool's series (the Tawny Man series). They're some of the most engrossing books I've read. :)

For something more light hearted, I love the #1 Ladies Detective Agency books. They're set in Africa and it's about a wonderful woman who solves mysteries in her town, but it's really about the culture and life in Africa as well. I really enjoy those books and need to read the latest one.

I have quite a few other series that I really enjoy, but their names escape me at the moment. I'll come back and post if I remember.

Eileen

http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/candle.gif for Leah

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_gold_12m.gif , 16 months & counting


http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/t/catcatcvi20040222_4_Kaya+is.png

[urquie]

i loved that series and that was the longest 10 year wait! i wonder how much of it was really spent on research? thank goodness most series come out quicker :)

[MelissaTC]

Well, they are definitely on the um...hot and heavy side...but I LOVE Bertrice Small's Skye O'Malley series and Skye's legacy. I am a sucker for historical romances. Skye O'Malley is strong, independent, intelligent, beautiful and adventurous. I love strong female characters and she is definitely one! The saga begins in 16th century England. I love how she butts heads with Queen Elizabeth I and the royals. I have also learned more than I will ever need to know about white slavery, harems and "the pox"...lol.

Titles include:

Skye O'Malley
All the Sweet Tomorrows
Love for All Time
This Heart of Mine
Lost Love Found
Wild Jasmine
Darling Jasmine
Bedazzled
Besieged
Intrigued
Just Beyond Tomorrow
Vixens

[psophia17]

I'm just glad that the last book was so amazingly good - the previous one was pretty dull, since Jondalar and Ayla had nothing else to do with their time than be raunchy...seriously, all their Pleasures were the same freaking scene, over and over again! Educational, yes (I didn't discover the series until I was 16, my Mom still hasn't read them ;)), but eventually I would just skip the sex part, it was too dull...

[tarahsolazy]

All those Mary Russell/Holmes books are pretty great! They are by Laurie R. King, and I've read them all. You'll like them.

I love series, too.

The Outlander books by Diana Gabaldon: Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, Fiery Cross?, and another to come this fall. These are really long, time-traveler fiction, have sex scenes ala Clan of the Cave Bear, but also some fascinating stuff about life in Scotland in the 1700s.

Elizabeth Peters' Egyptologist Amelia Peabody mysteries, starting with Crocodile on the Sandbank. That one is great, as are about 2/3 of the others. Kind of jumped the shark with the last couple, but oh well.

David Brin's Uplift books (sci-fi) Including the Uplift War, and about 5 other related books. Really cool premise.

Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern books (fantasy) loved these since I was eleven, read them maybe twenty times.

Orson Scott Card's Ender Wiggin books: Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide.

Kids book series:
Little House on the Prairie
The Great Brain
Trixie Belden
The Chronicles of Narnia
Anne of Green Gables
Tamora Pierce's Tortall books (more teens)

[jennifer860]

Hooray! I loved the Philip Pullman series, too :-)

[Emmas Mom]

Oh Eileen! I loved the Liveship series. I'm still a sucker for fantasy novels...David Eddings (my fav), Terry Goodkind, Robin Hobb, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and of course JK Rowling! :D I think I'll always be a kid (or young adult in some cases) at heart. lol

[RwnMayfair]

The Outlander books by Diana Gabaldon are really good - not what a lot of people think of as the typical romance novel, at least not in my opinion. :) It actually has a story to go with it that doesn't sound horribly cheesy. (I'm referring to the cheapie romance novels that are spit out like they come from a slot machine, just so no one thinks I'm insulting all romance novels.) I've reread mine so many times, the paperbacks are falling apart.

Both the Dragon Prince and Dragon Pawn series by Melanie Rawn are really good as well - both my husband and I really enjoyed these. They're fantasy though, so if you're not into fantasy novels they may not interest you. (I'm a big fantasy reader, myself.)

I really liked the Kushiel series (Kushiel's Chosen, Kushiel's Dart, and Kushiel's Avatar) by Jacqueline Carey. I can't really come up with a good way to describe them - the main character is basically a wealthy courtesan, but the books involve a heck of a lot more than just her profession. The writing is really well done, as well.

I enjoy any of the Valdemar series books by Mercedes Lackey. She has a bunch of Valdemar books, generally broken up into smaller sets of three that cover a certain character or characters, or a certain period in the history of Valdemar. Again, these are fantasy.

The Pern books by Anne McCaffrey are good as well (though the last one she put out really wasn't as good as the others, in my opinion). This is fantasy too - dragons, a far-off planet, an interesting history and people.

The Ghatti books by Gayle Greeno are also good, so long as you're fond of cats and fantasy. ;) Now granted, Ghatti aren't exactly cats, but it's the best comparison I can come up with without spending forever trying to explain them. There are two Ghatti series (each has three books), and I enjoyed both.

I'm currently reading "Wideacre" by Philippa Gregory, which is part of the Wideacre trilogy. It's really rather hard to put down, just because it's absolutely amazing what the main character will do just to stay on "her" estate. It's set in Georgian England. ("The Other Boleyn Girl" by the same author is also very good, but it's not part of a series.)

For children's series, I love the Anne books by L.M. Montgomery. I still read those occasionally to this day, and look forward to sharing them with my kids. The Little House books are always good. And I really like the Sally Lockhart trilogy (set in Victorian England) by Phillip Pullman (The Ruby in the Smoke, The Shadow in the North, and The Tiger in the Well). Phillip Pullman in general is a very good author. And of course, as others have mentioned, the Harry Potter books are really good. ;)

I'm sure there are others that aren't coming to mind as well. I read a lot, what can I say? ::grin::

-Melissa

Taran, November 20, 2003

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_emerald_18m.gif - Eighteen months!
http://lilypie.com/baby2/031120/0/5/0/-5/.png
http://lilypie.com/days/050821/4/0/0/-5/.png

[momtoemma]

Another vote for the Mitford books here. Isn't there supposed to be one more in this series released later this year or early next year? It's been so long, I can't even remember!

[jacobmatias]

I love books by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I got one to listen on tape got hooked. It is very fast paced and their Agent Pendagast is very much like Sherlock Holmes. They have diferent characters moving from book to book.

[nitaghei]

Not a true series, I think - but P G Wodehouse is one of my all time favorite writers. The Jeeves & Bertie Wooster books are the best known, but I love the Blandings Castle series as well.

I do read a lot of murder mysteries (my junk reading) - and there are several good series.

For historical - my favorite is the Brother Cadfael books by Ellis Peters set in the 12th century. The first book is "A Morbid Taste for Bones." She has another series with George Felse that's 20th century, which is also pretty good. One of the books in this series is set in New Delhi, which I thought was pretty cool. :)

Elizabeth Peters's Amelia Peabody books are pretty good.

There are some well-written mysteries with the dog world as background. My favorites are Susan Conant's Holly Winter series, starting with "A New Leash on Death" - featuring obedience and Alaskan malamutes ;and Laurien Berenson's Melanie Travis series, starting with "A Pedigree to Die For" - featuring conformation and standard Poodles.

Nita (fleece is my friend)
mom to Neel, January 2003
dog mom to a PWD and a cocker (at the Rainbow Bridge)

[urquie]

yes, the mitford series was very nice. nice like "little house on the prairie" on think, however it's been so long since i've seen that show. nothing in there to be embarrased by if someone was to pick up your book and see what you're reading. :)

[urquie]

those were my "bed-rest" books! very mindless and entertaining. i often had to explain to dh why i was giggling :)

[amp]

The only real ongoing series books I still read are basically thrillerish/murder books. My favs are...

James Patterson (Alex Cross)
Jonathan Kellerman (Alex Delaware)
Patricia Cornwell (Kay Scarpetta)


There are a few others that I will occasionally read, but don't really keep up with. These 3 series I tend to pick up as soon as they are released and tend to be the only ones I buy in hardcover. I can't possibly be expected to wait!

ETA: Oops, the other one I read and love is more in keeping with my current reading choices (chick lit/fluff): the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella.

[urquie]

"#1 ladies" are fun! i'm not sure why i haven't gotten around to reading the last one yet - i've had it for a while.

i think i especially like it because it reminds me of when i was backpacking in botswana and that general region. it was one of the places we wanted to go before having babies :)

[urquie]

i was just trying to remember the name of the outlander series. those were very hard to put down. i'm glad to know there is another coming out. hopefully they'll give a good refresher on the characters - it's been a while.

[urquie]

thanks for all the great suggestions. i got a few reserved at the local library - i'm number 1794 of 2031 holds on the next harry potter and 926 of 955 holds on the next janet evanovich. it will be a long wait! think i better add some more books that aren't so new!

[Zana]

pretty varied, but here they are

Childrens (that I still read :)): Anne of Green Gables, CS Lewis Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter (July 16th is the day!!)

SF/Fantasy: Isaac Asimovs Foundation, Tolkien LOTR, Ursula Guins Earthsea, Anne Rices Vampire chronicles and David Eddings

Crime: Elizabeth Georges Inspector Lynley, Agatha Christie, JD Robb

Humor: Sophie Kinsellas Shopaholic, Wodehouses Jeeves and Wooster, and not sure if this counts but I love Calvin and Hobbs!!

Others: Alexander Dumas Three musketeers

[Zana]

sorry... double post

[babystuffbuff]

>Not a true series, I think - but P G Wodehouse is one of my all time favorite writers. The Jeeves & Bertie Wooster books are the best known, but I love the Blandings Castle series as well.

Oooh, yes, I love Wodehouse! My dad introduced me to Jeeves and Wooster, and the adoration grew from there. :) And the BBC series with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie is excellent.

I enjoy Harry Potter probably way too much for a person my age (do NOT like the movies though!). I can't wait for the next one!

Also, if you like historical fiction like I do, Ann Rinaldi is super. The books aren't a series, I guess, because each one is about different characters in a different time period, but I really enjoy them.

Sarah

[rottiemom]

OMG the "Kushiel" series! I love to read & my better half is a big fan of sci fi & fantasy. I always tease him because I don't really care for much of that. He gave me Kushiel's Dart and I couldn't put it down. I devoured the whole series...truly gripping stuff.

I like Charlaine Harris' mysteries. She has 3 different series that I know of- Aurora Teagarden, Lily Bard and Sookie Stackhouse. The first two heroines are your "average" gals (Aurora's a Librarian, Lily's a housekeeper) but Sookie is a telepathic barmaid working in a small Louisiana town that's got a hefty dose of vampires & weres.

Also the Robin Hudson mysteries by Sparkle Hayter. The first few of those are great.

Once I find an author that I like I tend to track down every one of their books & devour them. One of my all time favorites is Sara Bird. Her novels are a delight to read. Everyone here might especially enjoy the Mommy Club but top of my list is The Boyfriend School. I've read it so many times that I practically know it by heart and would gladly read it again. Her novels are all stand alone, not part of a series but great stuff if you want a quick escape.

Not that I have ANY time to read anymore...


Nina

[lmariana]

I used to read more than I do now, but my favorite series that I always go back to are the Chronicles of Narnia and the Harry Potter series. Love them both! They are both quick reads.

Mariana
Owner of HappyDayBaby
Mom to Gabe, 8/03
www.heinzandmariana.com

http://lilypie.com/baby2/030814/1/5/0/-5/.png

http://lilypie.com/days/051017/1/21/0/-5/.png

Join the BBB Preggo Pals!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PreggoPals

[alexsmommy]

I got hooked on these during DS's newborn (sleepless) period - it was the only type of novel that my brain could process. Now I am re-reading them and as much as I enjoyed them, I realize that that there were entire passages my tired brain didn't process so I am getting to enjoy them a second time.
Alaina
Alex 2-4-03

[babystuffbuff]

>ETA: Oops, the other one I read and love is more in keeping with my current reading choices (chick lit/fluff): the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella.

See, all my books are still in storage from the move, so I forget about all the best ones! I really enjoy Shopaholic, too, and I was fortunate enough to be in London last summer and to get the newest one a while before it was released in the US. I loved shopping at Waterstone's there -- DH finally had to drag me out of the store before I spent all of our traveller's checks on books!

Sarah