What to read after Harry Potter
Once the shock of reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for the fifth time in a row wears off, some readers may be wondering what they can read next. So why not start a meme of suggestions?

Here are the rules:

1. You must copy and paste the directions, rules, and the list so far into your blog and then add three (and only three) books to the list.

2. These three book must NOT already be on the list so far. They must be fantasy or science fictional in nature that those who enjoyed Harry Potter may also enjoy. You must provide your name and a link to your blog and/or website so that people may contact you to ask for more information about the books, if they want. They must be books that you have actually read yourself.

3. You cannot recommend a series; instead, recommend the first book in the series. Terry Pratchett's Discworld would NOT be considered a series; but Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time would. Use your best judgment about whether you're recommending a series or not.

4. You must label the books as either YA (young adult, suitable for the younger fans of Harry Potter) or A (adult, suitable for the not-so-younger fans of Harry Potter). Please be clear about this. It will be understood that anything labelled YA is also recommended for A.

5. If you are an author, you CANNOT recommend your own books. (You can however hound your friends into recommending your books.)

6. Providing a link to information about the books you are recommending is optional.

So far, these are the recs:

Patricia Bray pbray recommends:
1. Diana Wynne Jones's Charmed Life (YA)
2. Susan Cooper's Over Sea, Under Stone (YA)
3. Lloyd Alexander's The Book of Three (YA)

Patricia's picks are books that are marketed as YA, but that she first read and enjoyed as an adult. Much like the Harry Potter books, come to think of it.

Janni Lee Simner janni recommends:
1. Lene Kaaberbol's The Shamer's Daughter (YA)
2. Robin McKinley's The Blue Sword (YA)
3. Tamora Pierce's The Magic in the Weaving (Circle of Magic, Book 1) (YA)

(All books that are, one way or another, about learning magic.)

Joshua Palmatier jpsorrow recommends:
1. S.C. Butler's Reiffen's Choice (YA)
2. Jim Hines' Goblin Quest (YA)
3. Patricia Bray's The First Betrayal (A)

ETA:
Alex Jay Berman alexjay recommends:
1. Alma Alexander's Worldweavers (YA)--about learning magic despite yourself; despite being a bust at being he seventh child of a seventh child, and what a Potterhead would call a "Muggle".
2. Diane Duane's So You Want to be a Wizard (YA)--a very up-to-date, very American take on the schooling of new wizards and their first clashes with Evil. Perhaps even better than the Potter books for young adults, as it offers a very good reason why Evil exists and continues to exist. (first in a trilogy)
3. Either Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow or Italo Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveler (very much A)--we've already got them hooked on the drug of reading with Potter; now it's time for them to start mainlining the hard stuff ...

Maggie's suggestions:

1) Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (Adult, but can be YA depending on the YA.)
2) The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (The first in a series -- all ages.)
3) A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (All ages. A classic, and about a different kind of magic. Also, another first in a series.)

And, of course, since this is me and I can't stick to the rules EVER, evidently, I will also point you to

4) Neil Gaiman's Stardust, which isn't exactly along the same lines, like L'Engle's book, but is certainly close enough and enjoyable enough to fit in. (YA and Adult.)

****

Netta's choices:

1. Shadow Castle by Marian Cockrell (YA.) for years, this book was out of print, but it's back. it was my favorite book when i was eight to ten years old (and to this very day, actually.) it was written in 1945, and there such a wistfulness about the story that still tugs at me.

this may very well be my most favorite opening sentence to a book:

"If she hadn't gone exploring in the deep, dark forest, Lucy might never have met the little dog at all."

2. The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet (YA) by Eleanor Cameron. this is a first book in a series (but it stands on its own) written in 1954. it's cute, charming, imaginative, and i loved it -- love it still.

3. Spirits of Flux and Anchor (A) by Jack Chalker. this is also a first in a series, again it stands on its own. the juxtaposition of magic/science and the power dynamics involved just blew my mind when i first read this. throw in religious overtones, the struggle between genders and planetary economics and it is a unique and thought- provoking reading experience.


and since Maggie doesn't have to follow the rules, i don't see where i do, either:

4. Black House (A) by Stephen King and Peter Straub. i fell in love with Jack Sawyer in The Talisman, but BH is a stand-alone book and better than the first.

---

Scout's picks:
1. Alan Mendelsohn the Boy from Mars, by Daniel Pinkwater. (YA) Out of print in individual form, but available again as part of a five-book mega volume. This story of nebbishy middle-schooler Leonard Neeble and his Martian (really?) friend Alan Mendelsohn has the boys learning mind control, attaining State 26, and finally helping the citizens of Waka-Waka overthrow the dictatorial monster. Side trips abound, to Hergeschleimer's Oriental Gardens, past Fafner the dog, and to the chili parlor for a bowl of aptly-named Green Death Chili with corn muffin and a cup of fleegix. Tell 'em Samuel Klugarsh sent ya.

2. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger (A). A very different twist on the idea that love transcends time; a painful, confusing and lyric story that wrenches the gut over and over. Totally consuming and worth it.

3. Ishmael, by Barbra Hambly (YA). This is a ridiculous Star Trek novel which posits events that would happen should Spock be tortured by Klingons and sent back in time to Seattle during the late 1800's. He is found in the woods by Aaron Stemple (a person who really lived in old Seattle) and lives among the characters from the TV show "Here Come the Brides". I kid you not. Still, a decent example of the franchise novel, and you already know what all the characters look like. Pure cheesy goodness, and not for anyone without a sense of humor, about both themselves and the whole Star Trek mythos.

Hey! I followed the rules! Phhhbbbttt. :)