My son wants a book... so to avoid shipping I need two more. ( practical)

Recommend a book to me: for me!)
[Edited 1/11/09 21:25pm]

This one is awesome:


Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician.



It's a story about a black man in the 1950s who is a magician and he finds himself joining an Alabamian circus troup that call themselves "the Magic Chinese circus".

There are no chinese people in this story--It's a very hard book to describe.
But what I can say is that so far from reading it, it's enchanting, hilarious,
and at times heartbreaking.

how old is he?

Imago said:

Thankfully, you sent The Count of Monte Cristo! Help already!

Muse2NOPharaoh said:

One book, I guarantee he will love:




The central characters are all children, but they're bred to go to war (child warriors) in a future century.

Ender must decide between his own programming (to be a war machine), and what's in his heart. It's a story of personal redemption.
One of the best books I've ever read.

It's a dude's book---a science fiction thriller, but it also works as literature. One of the reasons I love it. It transcends the genre it was written in.

errant said:

Ive got his, I need one for me... Hit it!

Chicken soup for teenagers

Muse2NOPharaoh said:

Dave Barry's Money Secrets.

It will have you in stitches.

Imago said:

Wow, I'll look it up...

My son is hooked on the Rangers Aprentice series....

Muse2NOPharaoh said:

The second book, Speaker for the Dead, also won HUGO and Nebula awards when it was released.


And the coolest thing about Speaker for the Dead, is that it's nothing like the original, more complex, and just as good. It's like it continues the story, but has a very different story to tell.

It's like the Harry Potter series in that it's character driven and you fall in love with the characters. I actually felt really sad when reading the last Ender book (book 4), and excited when he wrote 3 more Ender books (Centered around a supporting character named Bean).

Trust me, your son will love these books.
Enders Game, as I mentioned before, is one of the best books I've ever read.

something contemporary?


try the Kite Runner. or Devil In The White City. or Density of Souls. or the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. those are ones i like a lot recently.

for your son... has he read the "His Dark Materials" trilogy? it's good. smart kids/young adult lit.

errant said:

NICE! only have the first. Thank you!

errant said:

Sweet! Thanks love, I cant wait to tell him I have back ups.

Imago said:

Im so excited... hes been dependant on one author for so long. Now I have 2 others to propose.

If he's into fantasy;

Garth Nix's The Keys To The Kingdom series. Six books of seven are now released and kept me VERY happy over the last few years.

Grade 5-8-Arthur Penhaligon's school year is not off to a good start. On his first day, he suffers an asthma attack while running cross country and dreams that a mysterious figure hands him a key shaped like the minute hand of a clock. However, when he wakes up, he still has the key. That's when strange things begin to happen. Mister Monday dispatches terrifying, dog-faced Fetchers to retrieve it, a bizarre sleeping illness sweeps the city, and only Arthur can see the weird new house that appears in his neighborhood. The seventh grader knows it all has something to do with the key, one of seven elusive fragments of the Will to which he has become heir apparent, and a mysterious atlas. When he ventures inside the house, he meets more strange characters than he could have imagined, none of whom are what they seem. And, of course, he must battle Monday, who will do anything to get the key back. With the help of the key, Arthur must fight his way out. The first in a seven part series for middle graders is every bit as exciting and suspenseful as the author's previous young adult novels. Readers will eagerly anticipate the sequels. (from Amazon)

Also, Philip Reeve's Hungry City Chronicles are fun. About a world where cities are mobile and hunt eachother for material. GREAT adventures

From www.fantasticfiction.co.uk (one of my favest sites);

The great Traction City lumbers after a small town, eager to strip its prey of all assets and move on. Resources on the Great Hunting Ground that once was Europe are so limited that mobile cities must consume one another to survive, a practice known as Municipal Darwinism.

Tom, an apprentice in the Guild of Historians, saves his hero, Head Historian Thaddeus Valentine, from a murder attempt by the mysterious Hester Shaw -- only to find himself thrown from the city and stranded with Hester in the Out Country. As they struggle to follow the tracks of the city, the sinister plans of London's leaders begin to unfold ...

anything by H.G. Wells

I've had a huge fantasy spree the last three years and I am loving it. I think it's funny the most adventurous fantasy is children's literature. The adult 'fantasy' is becoming awfully predictable. The last series I truly enjoyed was Otherland by Tad Williams.

ANyone has good new fantasy tips for me?

Imago said:

I've been thinking about starting this series. The only things holding me back are 1) I don't know if I'm in the mood to start a new multi-book saga, but 2) I've heard that Orson Scott Card is a radical neo-con. I have no evidence for this except that all of the comic book fans were up in arms when he started writing Iron Man (which would be a great book for a neo-con to write, actually).

Is this true? Does it come through in the work? I don't mind. If it's good, I don't really care what viewpoint it espouses in its subtext. Just wondering if it's something I should be prepared for.

errant said:

A what?


I am too lazy too google it.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. http://www.amazon.com/Ani...0060852550

How about the Bible?

errant said:

great series

i even enjoyed the movie- although it did have kidman in it

HamsterHuey said:

fantastic fiction is a great site. a customer at work put us on to it- a great resource when u work in the book trade

prb said:

We used it a lot at the wbookstore I used to work at as well, esp for all the series, that often don;t have any logical numbering to them.

anything by Wally Lamb.
The second book after The Kite Runner--A Thousand Splendid Suns (fantastic)

Stephen King's new one. Its really good.

An old 1970's book--Dairy of a Woman Surgeon. very good too.

bluesbaby said:

HamsterHuey said:

comes in very handy 4 that

Muse2NOPharaoh said:

how about "wishful drinking" by carrie fisher? i got it for darin for xmas and he said it was a hoot.

http://www.amazon.com/s/r...l+drinking