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Old 05-25-2010, 12:20 AM   #3
Shkspr
College Benchwarmer
 
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Amarillo, TX
The traditional path for readers of Harry Potter/Twilight fiction moves next to P.C. Cast's "House of Night" series, which is up to seven books right now. It's aimed squarely at that same demographic - paranormal romance without the sensuality factor associated with adult romantic fiction. It's a series appropriate for most older teens (if they're not going to be shocked by fellatio, anyway) but with lots of older fans. Ms. Cast also writes adult romances/urban fantasies with a subtheme of immortality/pantheons of gods.

Other popular genre authors of interest currently include the Sookie Stackhouse mysteries (the book series on which True Blood was based), Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series, and the early work of Laurell K. Hamilton (the Anita Blake series). The later novels in this series get increasingly sexually graphic, which may or may not be something your wife finds enjoyable in her fantasy reading. If she does, the work of Christine Feehan, Sherrilyn Kenyon, and J.R. Ward are essentially erotic novels with lots of action.

Keep in mind, from a literary standpoint, none of this stuff is "good". However, for someone whose frame of reference for enjoyable fiction is J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer, this is the type of thing they enjoy reading next. And much of it is reasonably serviceable - even the Anita Blake series took a couple of books to fly off the rails.

As far as sports fiction goes, there aren't a whole lot of series books out there. There's even less current fiction out there on sport in general. One series that I found enjoyable that is likely still on current shelves is Harlan Coben's book series featuring Myron Bolitar (Drop Shot, Fade Away, Back Spin). Twenty years ago, Bolitar was the Great White Hope in the NBA Draft, a Duke All-American who was supposed to be the next Larry Bird. In his first NBA scrimmage, his knee gets wrecked in a collision with his college rival (the next Magic Johnson), and Bolitar's career is over. He goes into the military, joins the CIA, meets a Wall Street trust fund baby named Win (imagine Niles Crane as an amoral psychopath), and gets his law degree. As the series opens he is working as a sports agent but finds his other skills necessary to help his clients stay out of trouble.

Then there are the usual suspects among sports fans: Shoeless Joe, The Natural, Dan Jenkins' novels, Robert Coover's Universal Baseball Association...but you're probably going to be looking in the used stacks for those. When it comes to good sports stories, I find a season review much more engrossing than a fiction story. Anything by John Feinstein is a good read, except the baseball crap. Halberstam's A Season on the Brink or Jim Bouton's Ball Four should be on your list.
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