Author's Shelf: F-L

Authors: L

Mercedes Lackey
I first got into fantasy novels by picking out at random a book when I was about 10. The book I chose had a nice white horse on the cover and looked interesting. Little did I know that I had chosen book three in a trilogy. I didn't realize it until one day I looked more closely at the cover and there it was: "Arrow's Fall, Book Three of The Heralds of Valdemar." I spent the next two years trying to find the first two books. I finally managed it and got myself hooked. I now own most of the books she has written, at least the older ones. Like many writers, she has started to write for the money and now churns out too many books at once to keep up with the quality of her earlier novels. In any case, I am very fond of these books and reread them a lot, which means I need to replace them sometimes...*sigh*

Madeleine L'Engle
She is one of the authors I read as a child, though I only read the series that started with A Wrinkle in Time. My third grade teacher read us A Wind in the Door, the second in the series. A Wrinkle in Time is probably one of my all-time favorite books. Part of the reason I liked this book so much is that my parents are astronomers, and so I got a big kick reading about things they knew something about. They were always willing to explain things to me. I didn't always understand, but they tried... A Swiftly Tilting Planet is the final story. I like this one even better than A Wrinkle in Time, mostly because of the really cool poem in there. And then there is Many Waters, the only book about Sandy and Dennys. And it had a very interesting premise, which made everything all right.

C. S. Lewis
As a child, I read the Chronicles of Narnia many, many times. I still read them when I need something light and silly. Now I realize how much of the stories refers to Christianity, but most of the time I was completely oblivious. This isn't necessarily bad...it just shows how easily I can suspend my disbelief. My favorite stories are, for some reason, The Horse and His Boy and The Last Battle. Most people I know like The Silver Chair and the first book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I do like those, but not as much.

Holly Lisle
My roommate at the time, Shawna, handed me Sympathy for the Devil when I was out of books to read. I thought it was hysterical; a great twist on the way Heaven and Hell are portrayed. Since then I have read one more Heaven/Hell book, the series which includes Fire in the Mist, and Minerva Wakes. The trilogy with Fire in the Mist, which I cannot remember the name of to save my life, is wonderful. It's about a girl who goes to the city to study at the university of magic, and runs into all sorts of problems. She eventually leaves and goes off to other adventures. Minerva Wakes is about a woman and her husband who have lost the magic in their relationship. Their jobs are boring, their kids are annoying, and there isn't any fire between them anymore. But now something is trying to kill them both, and neither of them knows why....

Anne Lodgsten
Another author that my roommate handed me. It's mostly young adult fantasy, but I enjoyed reading all about the stories. The main characters are wonderful and have all sorts of problems, right down to the normal adolescent woes, and they need to discover the truth within themselves.

Lois Lowry
I didn't read any of her books when I was the proper age (i.e., young adult), but I started reading lots of children's books to pass the time and picked one of hers up. A Summer to Die is probably my favorite one. It tells of a young girl who is not the pretty one, and who doesn't seem to do much right in the world. Then her older sister is diagnosed with leukemia and she has to find a way to say good bye.

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This page last updated 02/16/2000. If you have any questions/problems/comments/help, please write me.