Anyone read harry potter series?
 

Just wondering if you can recommend something similar. I liked them, but April LOVED them. I'd like to get her something similar for Christmas to tide her over until book 6 comes out. I'm just looking through amazon now but I;m not really into fantasy - more horror, thrillers - so I'm a bit lost. Any suggestions?

kristian - although the Harry Potter series were kinda unique in that they were originally written for the younger crowd - they caught on in the adult world because of the humor that was written at the adult level that the younger crowd didnt understand :)

the two series I can think of are both available at Amazon:

The Chronicles of Amber (there's 10 of them I believe) that you can get all in one book - by Roger Zelazny - they have a fantasy theme and the magic - although be careful as another author then wrote some other books carrying on after the author died as well as the authors son

The other would be the Xanth series by Piers Anthony - there are about 24 of these - I believe A Spell for Chameleon was the first in the series - a lot of humor and magic and a similar hero or lead character

Linkster,

Those are GREAT suggestions, just the kind I'm after. I'm just exploring through them on Amazon now. If I can find something she loves as much, with 10 or 24 in the series, she'll be in heaven this Christmas. I just hope it means I don't have to make the dinner! :)

I would read them but I am not GAY :)
Not that there is anything wrong with that.

John Irving is the way to go. :)

|jester|
Yes you are :D

I've read some of his: world according to garp, cider house rules, witches of eastwick (wait that was updike). :)

Okay cool, just ordered Chronicles of Amber. Still looking through books by Piers Anthony because A Spell for Chameleon is only available second hand. Might get her the second hand and, if she likes it, get others forc christmas.

oh, and just ordered this baby . for my spoilt daughter corinne. :)

A Prayer for Owen Meany
And
The Hotel New Hampshire

kristian - yeah that first book is almost impossible to find "new" without just going ahead and getting it in a series type package

I like those phones - just got ARS to buy me 2 of the 400s two weeks ago with some of my points - had to pay the full price since I already had a Cingular plan - but hell - I figured they were well worth it (and a nice little bonus LOL)

I have read every book from Garp to that India book which name I can't remember just now, but after that I haven't read much. Looking computer monitor some 10 hours a day is enough.

But, he is one of the best writers in America.

Big fan of Irving here too. The thing about him is, the first 200 or so pages are a bit slow, then the story picks up and you discover that the subtle stuff from the beginning is actually quite important.
I've never seen films based on novels do less justice to the book than those made from Irvings work. Of course, the movie would have to be about seven hours long to encompass one of his books.

Here's a tshirt for all of you Harry Potter fans.

Kristian,

If you're looking for fantasy novels, then you should look at Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.

had to add to the thread after seeing the john irving comments!
uw is right--if you've only seen the movies based on his books, then you've missed a lot. garp, hotel new hampshire, cider house rules, and especially a prayer for owen meany (probably my favorite book of all time) are amazing.

jim--if you haven't read the water method man (one of irving's earlier books--i believe his third), you should check it out. it's freakin' hilarious!

also, infinite jest by david foster wallace is a great book for anyone not put off by 1000+ pages--it's more than worth the time!

Great suggestion. :) I'm just looking through discworld both on amazon and google. On his website, Pratchett says that you can pretty much jump in reading any book, so I'm looking for the earlier ones as well as his most recent (going postal, I think). Anyway, thanks mate!