Books like War for the Oaks

This is the first book I’ve read where I truly believed in a world existing alongside our own.

One where the ordinary and the supernatural live side by side and quietly shape each other, even if they don’t fully realise it. I absolutely loved the humour.

It’s a remarkable book that made me feel like I’d been pulled into another world entirely. One that’s dirtier, stranger, more magical, and just a little bit beyond understanding.

The difference between urban fantasy and horror is that in urban fantasy, the supernatural elements may be benign, not scary. In Tea With the Black Dragon, the fantasy element is Mayland Long, a black dragon converted to Buddhism and transformed into human form to search for a Zen master. In San Francisco, he meets middle-aged Martha Macnamara, violinist and zazen practitioner, and assists her in looking for her daughter. Amateur detectives (one of them a dragon) vs. computer criminals; there’s no magic and not much violence.

Wizard is one of Seattle’s homeless magicians, a seer who tells the truth to those who need it, haunted by a nebulous menace and hiding from his past. Apart from its (often ambiguous) fantasy elements, it’s a beautifully-written guide to urban survival and to downtown Seattle (as well as the setting for my latest novels). 

This is a collection of wonderful short stories, not a novel. It was my introduction to de Lint’s Newford, the setting of many of de Lint’s later novels and collections, a fictional composite of the best aspects of several North American cities, where beings from different mythologies co-exist with humans and interact with those who believe in them. It's such a fascinating setting, and feels so real, that I wish I could live there.

We need a documentary made from this exquisite history of how rock and roll came to Great Britain by the redoubtable Pete Frame, best known for his intricately calligraphed and intensely researched Rock Family Trees. He walks readers through the rise of Tommy Steele and the 2I’s club in Soho, where Cliff Richards, England’s Elvis, and other nascent stars of the new sound were discovered. He skillfully entwines the strains of skiffle, trad jazz, and early British r&b into his narrative and brings to life early British rock and rollers such as Marty Wilde, Billy Fury, Vince Taylor, and others who never made their way across the Atlantic, setting the stage for the emergence of the Beatles and nothing less than an explosion of British culture on a global scale after the many long, dark years following World War II. This brilliant book is stuffed full of original research and… show more.

I adore this whole series by Marion Billet. It was hard to pick just one as the classical music, the four seasons, music from around the world, and nutcracker (to name some of the more music-based ones!) are just fantastic. They make babies, toddlers and even older readers react physically to the sound of the music they’re hearing and delight in the bright bold illustrations. They’re a great way to introduce different types of music or instruments. 

The rock and roll cats in this book are a particular favorite of mine, as I used to jive regularly in London until our teacher moved away to Nashville! I gifted this book to my two-year-old niece, and even her older sisters would all join in trying out different dance moves to the music. Great fun.

The Bible as far as I am concerned. As I was becoming a rock and roll fantastic in the early 80s, this was my go to source whenever encountering a new act that I hadn’t heard of. I would look up the new act, get an overview of their career and then dive in. It was always fun to see how they reviewed each album, using a scale of 1 to 5 stars. I bought every edition of this book (and will continue to do so, if they keep publishing them) and it was also interesting, and great feature of these books, that in each subsequent edition they would revisit their reviews and often change them, along with their star ratings.

Set in the 1990s alt/goth scene of Birmingham, Alabama – yes, it did have one – Silk was Kiernan’s first published novel, and it immediately attracted a loyal readership. Daria is trying to hold together a relationship and a band (the wonderfully named Stiff Kitten), while her junkie boyfriend Keith shoots up with his father’s antique rig. Meanwhile, weirdness is going on with local curio shop owner Spyder Baxter, whose pet black widow spiders aren’t her only arachnoid allies. This is a hard novel to describe, but for the right sort of reader, it will become a cherished one.

Rock star romances have been my jam since back when my teen bedroom walls were filled with Tiger Beat pinups. The beautifully-orchestrated banter that keeps the beat of a rock and roll love affair fraught with hit and miss encounters helps build the tension towards a satisfying crescendo. (Full disclosure: I begged author Kelly Kay to disclose her real-life inspiration, and it was exactly who I’d pictured!) The hotel pool scene where Meg and rockstar Ian do nothing more than talk (fully clothed) lives rent free in my head as one of the steamiest scenes I’ve ever read. 

This woman is a Hollywood icon, and her stories put you smack-dab in the center of every party, every hangout, and every living room, being seen and making the scene. She places you in the center of her head as she tells you her life story and who the players are.

We are center stage, hanging out at the Troubadour bar, a trendy lunch place, and she sets her lap on fire by mistake… all with wit and amazing insight into the time and iconic places surrounding her. I loved seeing these places through her experience and felt like I was in her world.