Night Circus is fantastic. Some, but by no means all of Ursula L'Guin's work is very fine. The Left Hand of Darkness, The Lathe of Heaven, the whole Earthsea series, and The Dispossessed are all very fine.
I like: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, by Susan Clarke; an alternate English history in which magic is real but declines only to be rediscovered during the Nepolianic Wars told in a period style; Crooked Little Heart, by Anne Lemot, a growing up story about a teenage girl who cheats at tennis for fear of losing when she is ceded to win; just about anything by A.S. Byatt; The Warden, by Anthony Trollop, about a very good, moral, and timid clergyman---and hardly news as it's so old; The Once and Future King, T.H. White; even after all these years Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame, a childrens book for grownups; Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt, another children's book for grownups about why everlasting life might not be such a good thing. . . can I just do a top 100 and call it half done?
I like: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, by Susan Clarke; an alternate English history in which magic is real but declines only to be rediscovered during the Nepolianic Wars told in a period style; Crooked Little Heart, by Anne Lemot, a growing up story about a teenage girl who cheats at tennis for fear of losing when she is ceded to win; just about anything by A.S. Byatt; The Warden, by Anthony Trollop, about a very good, moral, and timid clergyman---and hardly news as it's so old; The Once and Future King, T.H. White; even after all these years Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame, a childrens book for grownups; Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt, another children's book for grownups about why everlasting life might not be such a good thing. . . can I just do a top 100 and call it half done?
If there is a god, I want to believe that there is a god. If there is not a god, I want to believe that there is no god.
