I've recruited one of my co-workers into the cult of commuting books-on-tape listeners, and promised I'd ask for some recommendations for her.

She likes science fiction. She loved The Doomsday Book, His Dark Materials, all the Harry Potters, Passage, and To Say Nothing of the Dog. (IIRC, she did not enjoy Bellwether.) She has a special love for anything involving time travel. (I can't remember if I rec'ed The Eyre Affair or not. )

She also likes historical fiction. Liked Master & Commander, found The Game of Kings to be too, too dense.

Suggestions?

Well, you can recommend more Patrick O'Brien, if she liked Master and Commander. Or Gillian Bradshaw, Judith Tarr, Mary Renault, Edith Pargeter -- all good historical novelists.

There's always Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy (I hated the last one - the fourth one, that is).

Java, I'd be shocked if it were on tape, but some years ago I found an old copy of Anthony Adverse, a book written in the '30s (big bestseller, too) about the adventures of the title character c. 1800. It's a huge (over 1200 pages) sprawling thing that I can't put down. Written by Hervey Allen.

There's always Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy (I hated the last one - the fourth one, that is).

Aside from its major flaws, a total retcon...

Loved Golden Compass & Subtle Knife, especially the daemons and how they were shapechangers, but only for children. This was the kind of story that made me wish I were a painter so I could do portraiture of all the characters. How could I not love the armored polar bears and witches riding pine branches, dressed in fluttering black rags?

Looking forward to Inkheart. I gave a copy to my niece & nephew for Christmas and look forward to borrowing it when I visit this summer. They got such huge kick out of Thief Lord.

I've just finished my first Sheri S. Tepper novel, The Visitor. I am hating to put it down; I want portraits of the Council of Guardians. I can see I will have to read more Tepper, stat.

As for historical fiction with a side of supernatural influence, I really enjoyed Judith Merkle Riley's Oracle Glass and The Serpent Garden. Oracle is set in pre-Terror Paris and the heroine is a young girl making a career of fortune-telling; and Garden is about a young English painter of minatures, and the angel of Art who assists her in outwitting a demon.

Loved Golden Compass & Subtle Knife, especially the daemons and how they were shapechangers, but only for children.

I, too, loved this. I have very, very mixed feelings about the Dark Materials Trilogy. I absolutely adored The Golden Compass, but The Subtle Knife did not sit well for me. For one thing, something that happens to Will pushed a major squick button for me. For another, I read it at a time in my life where Pullman's portrayal of God (I have little trouble with his portray of organized religion) was like constant nails-on-a-chalkboard.

I want to re-read the books, but I think I would be able to turn on the "this is a novel, Pullman does not think about things the same way I do" filters more successfully.

I can see I will have to read more Tepper, stat.

I hate her. I think I hate her because I used to love her, and feel very betrayed.

I loved her YA stuff (Jinian Footseer, IIRC, etc). And then some of her adult stuff was engaging too. And then I landed in one of her screeds (Fresco, I think -- I keep calling it Fiasco in my head) and I'm mad at her for sucking me in with her reputation and then beating me repeatedly with an argument I basically agree with anyway.

Tepper wrote some wonderful books, but most of her most recent books have had agendas that she wrapped around giant hammers and kept thwacking you on the head with them.

I'm in the corner with Ginger, somewhere close to ita, on Tepper.

I really enjoyed Judith Merkle Riley's Oracle Glass and The Serpent Garden. Oracle is set in pre-Terror Paris and the heroine is a young girl making a career of fortune-telling; and Garden is about a young English painter of minatures, and the angel of Art who assists her in outwitting a demon.

How weighty are these? I think my brain has been sucked out by the spawn. I'm embarrassed to admit that right now I'm not up to literary or brilliant; just interesting and of a higher caliber than the average Harlequin. These sound really interesting to me though.