MatildaOk, #bookstodon campers, what #books are we #reading right now? Any good #recommendations? cc @bookstodon
J.R. Orci@owlislost @bookstodon
Too soon to call.
@orci @bookstodon I’ll be curious to hear your thoughts. I looked at that the other day! I haven’t read any of her work but I know someone who was obsessed with Six of Crows.
BonnieNinth House sounds really interesting. I hope you enjoy it 😊
@orci @owlislost @bookstodon
I'm reading Lock In by John Scalzi. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, but I also find it really interesting given the parallels between the Lock In pandemic compared to the Covid pandemic. To get an idea there's a prequel, for free, you can read https://www.tor.com/2014/05/13/unlocked-an-oral-history-of-hadens-syndrome-john-scalzi/
@Bonnie_Sparks @owlislost @bookstodon I only just discovered Scalzi in the last few months. Been devouring his books ever since. BTW, he's a fellow Mastodon-er.
@orci Is he now? Well I know who I'm going to start following today lol
I've heard really good things about him so I had to grab it when I saw Lock In.
@orci @Bonnie_Sparks Yup! Scalzi is fantastic. I have been a fan for years! I would also recommend the audio version of Fuzzy Nation, which is narrated by Wil Wheaton and is one of the best narrations I have ever listened to. The book is also great in print form!
@Bonnie_Sparks @orci I have not read this one yet! I actually might read some Scalzi on my winter break. It's been a while.
Ireadalot@ireadalot I cast a wide net. Not much fantasy and I can't seem to get into romance, but I like most fiction genres and I love reading history, natural sciences, memoirs, biographies, books on politics, environmental science, books about languages or linguistics. All sorts of stuff. Lemme have 'em.
I love nonfiction so here are some that might be interesting?
The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson (also wrote Caste), Bad Feminist, by Roxanne Gay, The Girls of Atomic City, by Denise Kiernan, The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York, by Deborah Blum...any of these sound interesting?
@ireadalot Thank you!!
Colorblind Cowboy@owlislost I just finished "Witches" (or "Brujas) by Brenda Lozano, and it was really excellent. It gets lumped into "magical realism," but it's more what Rudolfo Anaya would call "the thing any peasant knows in their bones." If you're looking for story that gets into ritual, gender, and family relationships, it's a good one.
@colorblindcowboy I have never heard of this. This looks great!
@owlislost This year, one of the things I was into was the conflict between pre-Colombian beliefs and colonialism. This fit right in.
tardisgrl@owlislost @bookstodon I’m about half-way through “The Painter” by Peter Heller, which was on my TBR shelf for years. After that I’m planning to read “The Old Woman with the Knife” by Gu Byeong-Mo (had to really fight autocorrect to spell the author’s name!) #AmReading
@tardisgrl Oh wow. For fiction I have been primarily reading Korean or Korean American authors lately so I’m very excited about this book! I had not heard of it before. Are you liking The Painter? Beautiful cover.
@owlislost I am! Was a big fan of “The Dog Stars;” think I bought this shortly after reading that one and got distracted (by about 6 years 😅) Can’t remember where I heard about Woman/Knife. I read a lot of Japanese lit; this will be my first foray into Korean lit. This is the author’s first novel translated into English. Hopefully there will be more!
@tardisgrl I’d be interested in Japanese lit recs. I have a book in my stacks The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa
@owlislost I liked that one! Here are some I read in the past year and really enjoyed:
Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
If Cats Disappeared From the World by Genki Kawamura
Malice by Keigo Higashino
The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai
Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami
And couple of great books that take place in Japan, written by western writers:
The Cat and the City by Nick Bradley
The Phone Booth at the End of the World by Laura Imai Messina
Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
If Cats Disappeared From the World by Genki Kawamura
Malice by Keigo Higashino
The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai
Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami
And couple of great books that take place in Japan, written by western writers:
The Cat and the City by Nick Bradley
The Phone Booth at the End of the World by Laura Imai Messina
@tardisgrl Thank you!
Lynn D@owlislost @bookstodon I just finished Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Ms. Kimmerer is an indigenous ecologist. In a series of essays she combines indigenous teaching and stories with scientific knowledge to talk about how we might save our planet, and all of the living beings on it, including ourselves. This is the best book that I have read this year and it is going on my keeper shelf. https://milkweed.org/book/braiding-sweetgrass
@lynnbd @bookstodon This has been on my list! Thanks for the review 😁
jaymeb@jaymeb @owlislost I think that it is the perfect book to start off a new year.
BowieBookClub@jaymeb @lynnbd @owlislost @bookstodon it’s been on my #TBR too! You’ve given me renewed purpose to pick it up and begin!
Elisabeth Tuckey@owlislost @bookstodon I’m having a love affair with Australian writers at the moment and reading things a few years old - Jasper Jones, Boy Swallows Universe, etc. But also loving indigenous writers, such as Melissa Lucashenko and Nardi Simpson
@etuckey Ohh, all new to me. I’m bookmarking this! Thanks!
Tim Richards@owlislost @bookstodon Minarets in the Mountains, by Tharik Hussain. Fascinating travel narrative exploring the Muslim history of the Balkans.
@timrichards I just looked this up. It does look so fascinating! I’m going to try to order it from my library!
@owlislost Have a peek at my book while you’re at it. :) https://www.fremantlepress.com.au/products/heading-south
Heading South: Far North Queensland to Western Australia by Rail - Fremantle Press
Freelance travel writer and Lonely Planet guidebook contributor Tim Richards decides to shake up his life by taking an epic rail journey across Australia. Jumping aboard iconic trains like the Indian Pacific, Overland and Spirit of Queensland, he covers over 7,000 kilometres, from the tropics to the desert and from big cities to ghost towns. […]
@timrichards Ohh, nu uh, l love trains 🤩