Books (not dog-related)

ome of my favorite books, that have little to nothing to do with dogs! They aren't necessarily "Great Literature," but I enjoyed reading them (I left off a few books that I read, but didn't care for, and I'm sure there are many more that I haven't read and will love). There's a snippet of info on some, but this page would be way too long if I included reviews of all (plus I've read them over several years time, and would have to reread in order to write accurate synopses). Some authors have other books, but I've tried to stick to the ones that I've actually read. Some are probably out-of-print (mores the pity), but hey, that's what used book stores are for. Enjoy!

King Arthur

Marion Zimmer Bradley

• The Fall of Atlantis - orignally published as 2 separate books, Web of Darkness & Web of Light
• Ancestors of Avalon (actually by Diana Paxson)
• The Forest House
• Lady of Avalon
• The Mists of Avalon
• Priestess of Avalon
• Return to Avalon - not a MZB book, collection of stories
• Grails: Quests of the Dawn - another story collection

Jack Whyte

• The Singing Sword
• The Skystone
• The Eagle's Brood
• The Fort at River's Bend
• The Saxon Shore
• The Sorcerer: Metamorphosis
• Uther
• The Lance Thrower

Mary Stewart

• The Crystal Cave - Merlin
• The Hollow Hills
• The Last Enchantment
• The Wicked Day - Mordred
• The Prince and the Pilgrim - main characters not "famous"

Diana L. Paxson

• The Book of the Sword - Hallowed Isle
• The Book of the Spear - Hallowed Isle
• The Book of the Cauldron - Hallowed Isle
• The Book of the Stone - Hallowed Isle
• White Raven - Tristram & Essyllt

Parke Godwin

• Firelord - Arthur
• Beloved Exile - Gwenhwyfar

Sharan Newman

• Guinevere
• Chessboard Queen
• Guinevere Evermore

Peter David

• Knight Life - King Arthur in modern New York
• One Knight Only

Patricia Kennealy-Morrison

• The Hawk's Gray Feather - King Arthur in the future
• The Oak Above the Kings
• Hedge of Mist
• The Silver Branch
• The Copper Crown
• The Throne of Scone
• Blackmantle
• The Deer's Cry
• Crusade of Fire - anthology, contains one story

Molly Cochran & Warren B. Murphy

• The Forever King - another King Arthur in modern Times
• The Broken Sword
• The Third Magic

A. A. Attanasio

• The Dragon and the Unicorn - delightful mishmash of many mythologies
• The Eagle and the Sword
• The Wolf and the Crown
• The Serpent and the Grail

Nancy McKenzie

• Queen of Camelot - originally published as The Child Queen & The High Queen
• The Grail Prince - Galahad
• The Prince of Dreams - Tristram & Essyllt

Anne Eliot Crompton

• Merlin's Harp
• Percival's Angel
• Gawain and Lady Green

Bernard Cornwell

• The Winter King
• Enemy of God
• Excalibur

Irene Radford

• Guardian of the Balance - this is King Arthur, the rest of the series is later (the cover illustrations are amusing - the artist obviously saw pictures of Irish Wolfhounds, but has never seen one in real life to know how BIG they really are!)
• Guardian of the Trust - King John
• Guardian of the Vision - Queen Elizabeth
• Guardian of the Promise - also Queen Elizabeth

Rosalind Miles

• Guenevere: Queen of the Summer Country
• The Knight of the Sacred Lake
• The Child of the Holy Grail
• Isolde: Queen of the Western Isle - Tristram & Essyllt
• The Maid of the White Hands
• Lady of the Sea

Judith Tarr

• Kingdom of the Grail

J. Robert King

• Mad Merlin
• Lancelot Du Lethe
• Le Morte D'Avalon

Robert Holdstock

• Celtika - Merlin with Jason (of Golden Fleece fame)
• Iron Grail

Alice Borchardt

• Dragon Queen
• Raven Warrior

John Matthews

• The Song of Arthur: Celtic Tales from the High King's Court

Sarah Zettel

• In Camelot's Shadow - Gawain
• For Camelot's Honor - Geraint

Mythological Theme

Marion Zimmer Bradley

• The Firebrand - Cassandra of Troy

Diana L. Paxson

• The Wolf and the Raven - Wodan's Children
• Dragons of the Rhine - Wodan's Children
• Lord of the Horses - Wodan's Children - have not been able to find yet!
• Master of Earth and Water - (with Adrienne Martine-Barnes) The Chronicle of Fionn Mac Cumhal
• The Shield Between the Worlds - (with Adrienne Martine-Barnes) The Chronicle of Fionn Mac Cumhal - missing this one!
• Sword of Fire and Shadow - (with Adrienne Martine-Barnes) The Chronicle of Fionn Mac Cumhal
• The Serpent's Tooth - King Lear

Judith Tarr

• The Hound and the Falcon - originally published as The Isle of Glass, The Golden Horn and The Hounds of God
• The White Mare's Child
• Lady of Horses
• Daughter of Lir
• Queen of the Amazons - involves Alexander the Great

Juliet Marillier

• Daughter of the Forest - Sevenwaters
• Son of the Shadows - Sevenwaters
• Child of the Prophecy - Sevenwaters
• Wolfskin
• Foxmask

James A. Hetley

• The Summer Country - modern times with a dark Celtic twist
• The Winter Oak

Stephen Grundy

• Rhinegold - Siegfried and the Dragon
• Attila's Treasure - "take out" from Rhinegold
• Gilgamesh

Randy Lee Eickhoff

• The Raid - old Irish story
• The Feast
• The Sorrows
• He Stands Alone
• The Red Branch Tales

Evangeline Walton

• The Mabinogian Trilogy - includes The Prince of Annwn, The Children of Llyr, The Song of Rhiannon, and The Island of the Mighty

Seamus Heany

• Beowulf

Morgan Llywelyn

• The Horse Goddess - Epona
• Bard - Celts arriving in Ireland
• The Isles of the Blest
• The Red Branch - Cuchulain
• Finn Mac Cool
• Etruscans - Horatius (with Michael Scott)

Andrew Greeley

• Emerald Magic - anthology, includes stories written by Judith Tarr, Morgan Llywelyn, and many others

Historical Fiction

(primarily King Richard I, John I, and Edward I, but a few others too)

Morgan Llywelyn

• Druids - Vercingetorix
• Lion of Ireland - Brian Boru
• Pride of Lions - his sons
• The Wind from Hastings - King Harold
• Strongbow: The Story of Richard and Aoife - Red Eva & Strongbow (aimed at younger readers)
• Grania - Irish Pirate during the time of Elizabeth I
• The Last Prince of Ireland - Donal Cam O'Sullivan
• 1916 - The Irish Rebellion ( I don't usually read historical fiction this modern, but it's Morgan Llywelyn!)
• 1921
• 1949

Bernard Cornwell

• Stonehenge
• Vagabond - Quest for the Grail in 1347
• The Archer's Tale - Grail Quest
• Heretic - Grail Quest
• The Last Kingdom - King Alfred the Great
• The Pale Horseman - King Alfred

Judith Tarr

• Rite of Conquest - William the Conqueror (not generally someone I would choose, but very good)
• King's Blood - William's sons
• Queen of Swords
• Pride of Kings - Richard & John
• The Devil's Bargain - Richard in Jerusalem
• House of War - Richard in Jerusalem

Parke Godwin

• Last Rainbow - Patrick
• Sherwood - Robin Hood
• Robin and the King
• Tower of Beowulf
• Lord of Sunset - Harold of Wessex

Sharon Kay Penman

• When Christ and His Saints Slept - Queen Maude, mother of Henry
• Time and Chance - Henry II and Eleanor
• Here Be Dragons - Prince Llywellyn the Great & King John
• Falls the Shadow - Henry III & Simon de Montfort
• The Reckoning - Edward I & Llywellyn ap Gruffydd
• The Sunne in Splendor - Edward IV and Richard III

Edith Pargetter

• The Brothers of Gwynedd Quartet - contains Sunrise in the West, The Dragon at Noonday, The Hounds of Sunset, Afterglow and Nightfall

Jennifer Roberson

• Lady of the Forest - Robin Hood
• Lady of Sherwood

Elsa Watson

• Maid Marian - another Robin Hood

Juliet Marillier

• The Dark Mirror - Bridei Chronicles

Robin Maxwell

• The Wild Irish - Grania, the Irish Pirate

Alan Gold

• Warrior Queen - Boudicca, British Queen

Naomi Baltuck & Deborah Baltuck

• Keeper of the Crystal Spring

Anna Lee Waldo

• Circle of Stones - Prince Owain Gwynedd
• Circle of Stars - Madoc, son of Owain

Julian Rathbone

• The Last English King - King Harold
• Kings of Albion - War of the Roses

Norman Spinrad

• Driud King - Vercingetorix

Cecelia Holland

• Pillar of the Sky - Stonehenge
• The Kings in Winter - Brian Boru

Other Books

Julian May

• The Many-Colored Land - Pliocene Exile
• The Golden Torc - Pliocene Exile
• The Nonborn King - Pliocene Exile
• The Adversary - Pliocene Exile
• Intervention - Intervention
• The Metaconcert - Intervention
• The Surveillance - Intervention
• Jack the Bodiless - Galactic Milieu
• Diamond Mask - Galactic Milieu
• Magnificat - Galactic Milieu
• Perseus Spur - Rampart Worlds
• Orion Arm - Rampart Worlds
• The Sagittarius Whorl - Rampart Worlds
• Conqueror's Moon - Boreal Moon - new series
• Ironcrown Moon - Boreal Moon

Marion Zimmer Bradley, Julian May, & Andre Norton

• Black Trillium - collaboration
• Lady of the Trillium - Marion Zimmer Bradley
• Golden Trillium - Andre Norton
• Blood Trillium - Julian May
• Sky Trillium - Julian May

Morgan Llywelyn

• The Elementals

Kristin Britain

• Green Rider
• First Rider's Call

J. K. Rowling (we must include Harry!)

• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
• Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages
• Ultimate Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry Potter & several related books - not by J. K. Rowling

Brian Jacques

• Redwall
• Mossflower
• Mattimeo
• Mariel of Redwall
• Salamandastron
• Martin the Warrior
• The Bellmaker
• Outcast of Redwall
• The Pearls of Lutra
• The Long Patrol
• Marlfox
• The Legend of Luke
• Lord Brocktree
• Taggerung
• Triss
• Loamhedge
• Rakkety Tam

Robert Asprin

• Another Fine Myth - funny, funny series
• Myth Conceptions
• Myth Direction
• Myth-Ion Improbable
• Hit Or Myth
• Myth-ing Persons
• Little Myth Marker
• M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link
• Myth-nomers and Im-pervections
• M.Y.T.H. Inc. In Action
• Sweet Myth-tery of Life
• Something M.Y.T.H. Inc.
• MYTH Alliances

J.R.R. Tolkein

• Any and all (this one is a given, hardly worth listing since everyone should have read him)

Books On Website Creation

I just had to list these somewhere, since they are such good books! I've read others, but these are the ones that I liked enough to buy, and refer to when I need to. There's a bit of description on each of these.

• Sams Teach Yourself HTML and XHTML in 24 Hours, just about any edition by Dick Oliver (co-author for newer editions). This is the first book that I used to learn web design. It's an excellent way to learn html - just decide what you would like to do first, and then follow along in the book, making changes to the "first page" as you go along.
• Web Style Guide by Patrick J. Lynch and Sarah Horton, who have a website at www.webstyleguide.com. I have the first edition, I'm sure the second is even better.
• Unusually Useful Web Book by June Cohen. Information on the book can be found by going to www.newriders.com/books/, and then putting the title into the search field (top of the page). There doesn't seem to be a good way to link directly to the page, unfortunately.
• Designing With Web Standards by Jeffrey Zeldman, who has a website at www.zeldman.com Excellent Book!
• Don't Make Me Think, by Steve Krug, who has a website at www.sensible.com
• Cascading Style Sheets, Designing for the Web, 2nd edition by Håkon Wium Lie and Bert Bos. As with the other book (no direct link), information can be found by going to www.aw-bc.com, and then putting the title into the search field (top of the page).
• Cascading Style Sheets, The Definitive Guide, 2nd edition, by Eric A. Meyer, who has a website at www.meyerweb.com. Very good basic info on using style sheets.
• Eric Meyer on CSS also by Eric A. Meyer (with a different website at www.ericmeyeroncss.com). This is more a "see what you can do" sort of book, rather than a "how to." It is full of tidbits of really good information. Also, More Eric Meyer on CSS (just came out - also good!) has a website at www.more.ericmeyeroncss.com)
• PHP by Larry Ullman (website at www.dmcinsights.com/phpvqs2). Really excellent book for learning PHP. The author has a forum set up on his website, and actually answers questions posed on it!
• PHP and MySQL also by Larry Ullman (website at www.dmcinsights.com/phpmysql). Covers some of the same stuff as his PHP book, but then goes on to talk more about using the MySQL database (also has a forum). There is now a 2nd edition of this book.
• Professional CSS: Cascading Style Sheets for Web Design by Christopher Schmitt, Mark Trammell, Ethan Marcotte, Todd Dominey and Dunstan Orchard
• Bulletproof Web Design by Dan Cederholm

A few more books. I didn't buy these, but I read them and found them quite good.

• Son of Web Pages That Suck, by Vincent Flanders , who has a website at www.webpagesthatsuck.com
• HTML Goodies, by by Joe Burns, who has a website at www.htmlgoodies.com
• Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed, by Jakob Nielsen, who has a website at www.useit.com
• Web Bloopers : 60 Common Web Design Mistakes, and How to Avoid Them, by Jeff Johnson, who has a website at www.web-bloopers.com