book recommendations?

[lcohen]

i am not making this post because i have nothing to read, trust me. it is more that i was going through my date book (a physical object that i write things like when i have rehearsals, or dinner plans with people into, but i also write down books i read, movies i see, restaurants i eat at, etc.) and i noticed that while i have read a bunch of

Comments

[eeyorerin]

I currently adored Libba Bray's The Diviners and Lair of Dreams. They are technically young adult but I found them to be more interesting and immersive than some adult books I have read. Paranormal historical fiction set primarily in 1920s New York City; densely developed descriptions; huge diverse cast of characters but not in a box-checking kinda way; writer obviously has done her research and uses it to create an immersive story. I kinda wanted to shake Evie (one of the main characters) for the first half of the first book especially for some of her verbal tics but I felt like she got better. I liked her way better in the second one and the second one didn't focus on her story as much.

[lcohen]

and i like YA anyway.

[wild_irises]

My go-to recommend this year in fiction is The Girl with All the Gifts by M.A. Carey. Almost anything I could say about it would keep me from reading it: it's a zombie novel (!), it gets quite graphically violent (!), it is often very depressing (!). That being said, it is very original, it is extraordinarily well-written and well-paced, and I think it's not only good but important. At WisCon, a bookseller sold a copy to a very fragile and easily upset friend of mine and I was horrified--but my friend read it and found it hard in places but well worth the effort, and is now lending it to people.

In non-fiction, if you spent the last five years under the same rock I was under, it would be The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, which almost everyone read before I did.

[lcohen]

meep--zombies and very violent are all things that would usually keep me from reading, too.....

i bounced off of feed by mira grant--did you try it?

[lcohen]

oh, and i am under the same rock as you--isn't it cozy?!

[lcohen]

i will gladly read your copy of the martian, thank you! i think i have a mieville book, come to think of it--want to come help me look?

[bitty]

A Darker Shade of Magic, VE Schwab
City of Stairs, Robert Jackson Bennett
Three Parts Dead, Max Gladstone
Etiquette and Espionage, Gail Carriger
The Mechanical, Ian Tregillis

First four especially. Last one has noticeable violence and while it's my top Hugo nom right now, I'm not sure whether you'd like it.

[eeyorerin]

Someone else who likes the Carriger series! Hello, person with similar taste to mine!

[hfnuala]

Anything by Max Gladstone
My Brilliant Friend. Translated from Italian, about female friendsip, Naples and growing up. So good.