Wednesday's Game: Favorite Series

[Carci]

I love a good series!  You can get lost in one book after the other for days or months at a time. 

List your favorite series, it's main character, the author, the genre, and the name of the first book in this series....

I'll start with my 'very' favorite:  the Cork O'Conner series by William Kent Krueger...

Genre: highly moral, family based outdoor mysteries (does that make sense?)

First book in series: Iron Lake  (be sure to start at the beginning)

Here's a link:  http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/k/william-kent-krueger/

 

What's your favorite series?

[Lip Service]

A series that I have really enjoyed is the one written by Eliot Pattison about the inspector Shan Tao Yun who is ethnically Chinese and take place in Tibet (where the Chinese have behaved as invaders and undermined the culture of the Tibetan society). The books take the form of murder mysteries with unique locale which the author is quite familiar and is able to convey much of the history and flavor of that country and what it is going through.

The first book is called "The Skull Mantra", it won an Edgar award

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&f...

The author has another series, also murder mysteries but set in Colonial America, I have not read any of those

[Mandy Muffin]

Of course, the most popular series of the past couple of decades is the Harry Potter series by JK Rawlings.  I started reading them with my teenage daughter when the first couple of books came out.  After then, I had to get a copy of the latest of the seven in the series as it hit the shelves. I am no Potter-junkie but I did enjoy the adventures of the the little wizard and his friends. 

[Carci]

Another favorite of mine is the Alex McKnight series by Steve Hamilton.  Set in Paradise, MI on the banks of Lake Superior, Alex is a PI (former Detroit cop) who solves all the murders & mysteries in the area.  The series has lots of interesting side characters and is very well written with good, believable endings.

First book in this highly recommended series is A Cold Day In Paradise.  It won the 1999 Edgar & Shamus awards for best first novel.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/steve-hamilton/

I just discovered that #10 is coming this month so I'm off to request it at the library.  :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Beezerette]

For light reading, I enjoyed "The Cat Who..." series by Lillian Jackson Braun.  Crime solver and newspaper columnist Jim Qwilleran and his sleuthing cats, KoKo and Yum Yum solve mysteries in Pickax, Moose County and other interesting places, with interesting characters along the way.

[Ursula]

Can't forget Alexander McCall Smith, who has several series going (when does this man sleep???).  Most are familiar with his No. 1 Ladies' detective Agency; did you know he's also writing a children's series about a young Precious Ramotswe?  My favorite continues to be the Isabel Dalhousie series, starting with The Sunday Philosophy Club. 

Here's a link to all his different series: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/alexander-mccall-smith/.  According to Fantastic Fiction, he has written 101 books and that doesn't count the non-fiction....he's also a professor of Medical Law.  Again I ask, when does he sleep????

[Carolyn Tewell]

McKnight!  Love the series.  Especially on Audio - as they get the local dialects.  Plus someone is always yelling at him or acting all frustrated and annoyed - and Alex just lets it all roll off.

Sorry I would so love to play here to the max - getting ready for DEEP WOODS - escape from packing, lifting, dragging, tossing out, donating - clutter control...for the big move 8/16

Michael Connelly - HARRY BOSCH!

First book - Black Echo, - so many more, The Black Box, Echo Park, The Closers, the Narrows, Last Light, City of Bones - and more - I have a list that I'm working on thru the library Audio Books.  His most recent - The Closers has Harry working on "cold cases" and that is the future of the series, I understand - now the dialog is very detailed - probably those who watch the police shows - CSI and the like will enjoy - my Brother for sure!  My Dan'l, not so much - 

I chose this Author as I listen more than read - his books other than a few early published are available easily at the Library on AudioBooks.

For a complete list:  www.michaelconnelly.com - has the Bosch series in order.~mlo

[Ioruach]

Harry Bosch, of course!  And McKnight and so many of the others mentioned.  What would all of us do without all of these great authors?

[Sono]

Years and years ago I read all of the Frank L. Baum "Oz" books.  There were thirteen or more volumes at our local library.  The books were very large (atlas size) books.  Back then I did not read when books were printed etc.  Those books have to have some years on them.  The library closed down and moved to a bigger building  in a more centralized location for the population of two areas.  I have often wondered what they did with those books.  What a treasure it would be to see the books again.

Another series I read as a young kid were all those biographies of famous people printed in those orange covered books which I checked out of our school library. 

[Ursula]

I remember reading those books, and although I can't help you find those books, I just discovered that both Amazon and Barnes and Noble have the entire collection available for their ereaders for the magnificent sum of 95 cents.  I'd always heard that you could get wonderful prices, if not for free, copies of the classics.

Thanks, Sono, I hadn't thought about the Oz books for eons, and now I can re-read them and share them with the younger generation.

[Carci]

Your mention of orange covered books reminds me of the Childcraft books we had as kids...  they were my first experience with reading since we didn't go the library back then.  I remember the first 2 volumes were nursery rhymes & other poetry. I still have that old set in our basement rec room on the book shelves.  The first 2 volumes were almost worn out from being read so much... first by my mother to me and then by me to my children. That probably sparked my loved of poetry as I had so many of the poems memorized.

When my grandchildren were born, my daughter loved them so much she asked for them and still has them.  I have the rest of the set... biographies, myths (I loved Pandora's Box), puzzles and 2 over large books of science and animal pictures.  As a child I carefully turned the pages until I got to the picture of the snake on it's nest of eggs... then I slammed the book shut and shivered...   LOL

[Lip Service]

One series that I have enjoyed but is not well know is by Martin Cruz Smith and his Russian inspector Arkady Genko.

The first book is well known Gorky Park which was made into a movie

There are eight books in the series

Arkady Renko is alienated from his Russian society very much like inspector Sha Tai Yun is alienated from his Chinese society in the Eliot Pattison series that I mentioned above 

[rapa]

Thanks for the reminder, Lip Service!  I bought GORKY PARK when it first came out, tucked it away never read. Have it now in my TBR stack.