Guessed authors

[j4]

It's my mum's birthday in August, and she usually has a book wish-list which she gives to my dad, my sister and me in case we can't think of anything else to buy her. Now while I don't really mind buying stuff off the list, a) it seems a bit daft given that she's quite happy to buy them for herself anyway, and b) there's always a lot of faff between the three of us as to who buys what, sometimes resulting in duplicate copies. I'd quite like to get her something that she wouldn't buy for herself, i.e. something she might not even know exists, but should like anyway.

So, knowing that there are a fair few SF/Fantasy geeks reading this, I'm turning to you guys for help. Things I know she has read and enjoyed recently:

[edited to include suggestions that I know she's already got/read]

• Pratchett (funny how it's always the obvious ones you forget to mention)
• Katherine Kerr (? I think she's got some of these)
• Terry Goodkind
• Ursula Le Guin
• Mercedes Lackey
• Raymond Feist
• Julia Gray, The Guardian Cycle series
• Robert Jordan, Wheel of Time series
• Guy Gavriel Kay, pretty much everything AFAICT
• Robin Hobb, "Assassin" / "Fool" series
• Marion Zimmer Bradley
• Sheri S. Tepper
• Barbara Hambly
• Elizabeth Moon
• Diana Wynne Jones
• "Bridget Jones" :-)

Can anybody recommend anything that someone who's liked all these might enjoy? (Apologies in advance if I end up saying "I think she's got/read that", I can't remember everything that's on her shelves...) Ideally I want to avoid authors she's already buying everything by, because it's just too easy to duplicate stuff.

NB it doesn't have to be Fantasy (you know I don't really do genre anyway!) but she doesn't read that much SF and I've not had that much success finding non-genre things that she likes... at least, I lent her a huge stack of books a while ago and she wasn't wildly enthusiastic about any of them. Open to suggestions, though.

Comments

totally off, but

[vinaigrettegirl.livejournal.com]

She might really like David Nobbs's "Going Gently" (he's the originator of Reginald Perrin, amongst other things). It's a very lively and satisfying read, and as it includes humour, elements of fantasy and the surreal, more than one wise woman, and insight, it might be a memorable birthday book.

She might also like "Notes from Overground" ('Man is born free but is everywhere in trains'), by 'Tiresias', which is fantastically funny and can be returned-to over and over again.

Re: totally off, but

[j4.livejournal.com]

"Notes from Overground" sounds fantastic, definitely one for me if not for her... I should ask for recommendations for other people more often! (Not that I actually need to lengthen my reading list any, but hey ho.)

Not sure about the Nobbs book (for reasons I can't quite put my finger on), but I'll have a look. Thanks for the suggestions.

Re: totally off, but

[vinaigrettegirl.livejournal.com]

OVERHEARD CONVERSATIONS

Enquirer, pointing at visibly empty seat: "Is this seat occupied?"
Person in adjoining seat: "I gather it is."

At least thirteen curses on the train (anti-kontakion), all ending with the phrase 'anathema sit'. We have an entire, invented, N Oxford family based on that phrase alone.

It's a very powerful book.