Recommendations for my booklist?

My pile of books at home is getting a little low. Do you have some suggestions to add to the list? They don't have to be fantasy or young adult fiction (although that's the phase I've been going through). What are your favourite books at the moment?

Thanks in anticipation!

Into White Silence - Anthony Eaton

Recommended for ages15-18.

Every now and then you stumble across a really unusual story, one which plays with story conventions, or challenges you to think in new ways about something you thought you understood. "Into White Silence" is an extraordinary book for both those reasons. It has a haunting power to it, dragging you back time and time again by some mysterious quality.

On a narrative level, it tells the story of Lieutenant William Downes and his companions onboard the doomed vessel "Raven", as it heads south to explore Antarctica in 1922. Their tale is one of "tragic future, of ice, ambition and madness". Inasmuch this story is like any other tale of Antarctic adventure, but for one difference. The narrator who retells their story is not an omniscient (all-knowing) powerful narrator. It is in fact the author himself, simply retelling a story he happened to stumble across during a holiday in the 1990's. This very fact adds so much credibility to the story, that you will be left reeling with the profundity of Downes' final words.

Although marketed as a work of fiction, every part of you will want to believe this book. In terms of its believability, it outclasses the majority of other books I've read. In terms of readability, you will need to have an interest in historical fiction to enjoy Eaton's discussions of ship life, although the human stories within the book will move even the most stubborn reader.

Recommended for people who enjoy fiction which could very well be true, ages 15 and over. This is because younger readers would probably get bogged down in the historical detail. Also because Eaton's descriptions of madness and the violence of ambition could startle kids under 15.

Lirael - Garth Nix

Recommended for ages 15-18.

This is the second book in Nix's "Old Kingdom" trilogy. As far as second books go, it maintained the original plot and concerns in 'Sabriel' and introduced another level of characters. On the down side, it was quite lengthy and not as engaging as the first book. Based 14 years after the events of 'Sabriel', 'Lirael' focuses on two new characters - Lirael, a Daughter of the Clayr who lacks the visionary gift of Sight, and Sameth, son of Sabriel and Touchstone, and Prince of the Old Kingdom.

Lirael and Sameth unexpectedly find themselves thrown on a quest neither is prepared for. To succeed, they will need to shoulder new responsibilities and follow the advice of two unlikely Free Magic mentors - Mogget and the Disreputable Dog.

'Sabriel' was an amazing read when I first found it four years ago, but 'Lirael' fails to live up to the action and suspense of the first. The main characters in 'Sabriel' are effectively sidelined, and even the evil which threatens to wipe out all forms of life is hardly explored. Also, the cross-hatching method Nix uses to meld the stories of Lirael and Sam in the early part of the book is disjointed and rudimentary. I would much rather have followed Lirael without the annoyance of Sam.

On saying all of that, the book does to a certain extent what Tolkein does in The Two Towers - he slowly pushes the reader deeper and deeper into a fantastical world of prophecies, visions and unexplored realms. Throughout this book you get the feeling that Nix is gearing you up for a complex and engaging third book which will use all of the subtle clues you have been gathering throughout 'Sabriel' and 'Lirael'. I hope this is true!

Recommended for ages 15-18 because of some of the fantasy elements which deal with the world of Death might creep out younger readers.