[meteorite-list] List of Meteorite novels for gifts

[MexicoDoug]

Hola Listees,

Thanks very kindly for the meteorite fictional book ideas many of you kindly 
sent in response to my post the other day.

I thought I would post a summary in case anyone else was looking for gift 
ideas for friends family or loved ones.

First, I'll tell you the book I decided to get for a special person (just 
received today!!!), followed by a list of other books (for which I owe 
thanks to everyone who helped me out on and off list):

Winner:  STARDUST, (Spanish Title: Lluvia de Estrellas = Meteor Shower-)  by 
Neil Gaiman
This is a romantic fantasy about the faeries and struck ones in the nicest 
sense.  While it seems like it is written for children, the naughty author 
has the meteorite curse after her painful atmospheric entry, and there is a 
bit of steamy sex to whet some folks appetites... Two cultures somewhere in 
the English countryside are divided by a wall every day except one in 9 
years.  An adventurous young man with an interesting birthright is with the 
prettiest girl in the nondescript human village inside the stone wall. 
Victoria owns his heart, but, she doesn't care much for Tristran.  They gaze 
into the sky when witnessing the ground shaking and thunder accompanying a 
shooting star.  It begins as a small light, but quickly outshines the Moon 
and brilliantly falls somewhere on the other side of the wall, where there 
are enchanted meadows, trees and their inhabitants.  The young man Tristran 
is so blinded by love that he somehow becomes obsessed with the labor to 
recover the fallen star and bring it to her to win her heart and live 
happily ever after.

Only, he has lots of competition hunting on the other side of the wall ... 
where meteorites have more voluptuous properties than a few quartzy 
chondrules. Tristran learns that recovering a shooting star is very arduous 
task which forces one to meet and deal with all sorts of challenging 
characters during the quest.  Finally he learns that the fallen star is 
nothing his imagination contemplated, but that the knowledge he has 
accumulated in his quest for it has changed his life and taught him more 
about himself than he dreamed were possible to know.

The tale is fairly short in medium print, and I've skimmed it enough to 
highly recommend it to the Romantics, hopeless, and hopeful.

Runner ups,

THE ICE LIMIT (Mas Alla del Hielo) by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Popular novel, A rich meteorite collector decides to pillage Chile by hiring 
a crew to recover the world's biggest meteorite discovered in difficult 
conditions off Chile and deals with logistics, politics and suspense. 
Darren doesn't recommend the author's based on a newer book of theirs, 
Tyrannosaurus Canyon, and there are some factual problems though somewhat 
entertaining according to Chris, but the book manages some decent suspense.

DECEPTION POINT (La Conspiracion) Dan Brown
Popular novel, A huge meteorite is discovered under the Arctic and NASA is 
in chaos due to overall failure and beaurocracy which have characterized its 
devolution.  This meteorite is thought to be a strategic asset to the nation 
(USA), and apparently holds secrets to develop and unlock great power.  The 
race is on to recover it and the government is secretive, greedy, and 
falling all over itself.!

LA PIEL DEL CIELO (The Skin of the Sky) by Elena Poniatowska
Mexican literary work, a talented Mexican man is fascinated by astronomy and 
would have a promising future if he could only learn how to overcome the 
inequality, corruption and beaurocracy in his country.  "A novel, which like 
the telescope, brings us closer to the challenges furthest from our reach: 
the stars and love.

METEORITE SPOON (La Cuchara de Meteorito)
Childrens book available mainly from England.  The kids' parents are 
fighting all the time and the kids get a magic spoon coated with mneteorite 
to dig a hole each time they can't bear it and bury their problems in the 
hole.  Then they escape a disaster by going into the hole and emerging to 
the other side into a fantasy world.

THE HAMMER OF GOD (El Martillo de Dios) by Arthur C. Clarke
An amateur astronomer in the year 2110 chances upon an asteroid on a 
collision course with earth.  The asteroid, named Kali, gives little time to 
avoid complete annihilation of humans on Earth and the technically ok novel 
in the hands of master sci-fi writer Clarke is better than most, but now a 
less novel theme.  Space Guard is discussed in parts of this book when it 
was still the domain of science fiction writers.

LUCIFER'S HAMMER  (El Martillo de Lucifer) by Larry Niven and Jerry 
Pournelle
An early chaotic and interesting book about a comet's impending impact with 
Earth discovered by a wealthy amateur astronomer.  First NASA scientists 
discount the possibility of a collision, but then, the crazies get hold of 
the idea that it is the end.  The irony is that the NASA estimates provd 
wrong and then the comet does fragment and demolish most of the coastal 
cities on Earth.  The spoiled astronomer who discovered it gets part of the 
storyline contrasting his sheltered prior existance with the tenacity he has 
for survival among the tsunamis and ensuing chaos.

If anyone can give me a hand with the Spanish edition of "The Ice Limit", 
Spanish language edition, i.e., "MASS ALLA DEL HIELO", I'd appreciate that.

Thanks for the other fine book recommendations, if they weren't listed it is 
because they are out of print, difficult to find and I am hoping to get a 
reasonably priced used copy.  I hope this is helpful with Christmas at our 
footstep...

Happy Thanksgiving,
Doug