Undertow Publications ✅

Interested to hear everyone's favourite reads this year, whether short story, novel, non-fiction, etc.

I recently read Claire Keegan's "Small Things Like These," and Laird Hunt's "Zorrie," and adored both.

Also, these are both small books. I love small books.

#bookstodon @bookstodon

Dec 20, 2022 at 6:56pmWeb
Show threadGalen StricklandDec 20, 2022
@Undertow @bookstodon
Babel by R. F. Kuang and Siren Queen by Nghi Vo are my favorite novels, with Nicola Griffith's Spear and Nghi Vo's Into the Riverlands for novellas.
Show threadEkinnajay 🇧🇻Dec 20, 2022
@Undertow @bookstodon given what is happening in the US politically, I reread Tom Snyder's On Tyranny. I also recently read Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera and really enjoyed it and getting to know the context for the musical. Both are out of the norm for me, as I usually read current fiction. I'm trying to expand my reading horizons.
Show threadHepCatJackDec 20, 2022

@Ekinnajay @Undertow @bookstodon

Some suggestions: It can't happen here - Sinclair Lewis
Antisemitism: Part one of the origins of Totalitarism - Hannah Arendt (it's a series of books)
Empaths & Narcicists - Judy Dyer
The Doomsday Cult - The devil's hostages - Allen R Warren
Hitl American Model - James Q. Whitman
Mussolini's Grandchildren - David Broder
The Official German Report: Nzi Penetration, 1924-1942; Pan-Arabism, 1939-Today - John Rogge B0006D9P0C
1984 - George Orwell

Show threadFabion 📚Dec 20, 2022

@Undertow @bookstodon The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse, in audio by David Colacci.

Amnesia by Michael Ridpath (really beautiful plot).

Surprised by Waiting for Bojangles by Olivier Bourdeaut (in English).

Show threadbooksncatsnbooksncatsnDec 20, 2022

@Undertow @bookstodon

It’s an older one, but “City of Stairs” by Robert Jackson Bennet completely entranced me with not only fantastic worldbuilding, characters, and writing style, but its treatment of issues like religious freedom, imperialism, colonialism, free speech, ethics were just *chef’s kiss* BEAUTIFULLY done. Highly recommended.

Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20174424

#bookrecommendation #bookreview #book #fantasy #writingcommunity #authorcommunity #socialjustice

City of Stairs (The Divine Cities, #1)

The city of Bulikov once wielded the powers of the gods…

Goodreads
Show threadCatherine LundoffDec 20, 2022
@la_marteau @Undertow @bookstodon Really liked this series!
Show threadBethBarnesDec 20, 2022
@la_marteau @Undertow @bookstodon Well this is just RIGHT up my alley! On the list it goes!
Show threadbooksncatsnbooksncatsnDec 20, 2022
@BethBarnes @Undertow @bookstodon yay! Let me know what you think!
Show threadbooksncatsnbooksncatsnDec 20, 2022
@BethBarnes @Undertow @bookstodon oh, and if that’s your alley I also suggest “The Traitor Baru Cormorant” for similar ideas!
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23444482
The Traitor Baru Cormorant (The Masquerade, #1)

Tomorrow, on the beach, Baru Cormorant will look up fro…

Goodreads
Show threadBethBarnesDec 21, 2022
@la_marteau @Undertow @bookstodon Oh oh OH! I absolutely INHALED that series this fall, on the advice of a bookshop boy. It was brilliant and brutal and I loved it!
Show threadbooksncatsnbooksncatsnDec 21, 2022
@BethBarnes @Undertow @bookstodon ohhhhh you’re gonna love Divine Cities then!
Show threadBethBarnesDec 21, 2022
@la_marteau @Undertow @bookstodon Yay!!!
Show threadErgative AbsolutiveDec 21, 2022

@la_marteau @BethBarnes @Undertow @bookstodon

Baru Cormorant is a criminally underrecommended series! I'm so thrilled to see another fan. Must evidently look up City of Stairs netx!

Show threadGnashchickDec 20, 2022

@Undertow @bookstodon

My favorite book this year was The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones. I'm smack in the middle of The Ghost Sequences, and so far, I've enjoyed it.

Show threadKit O'ConnellDec 20, 2022
@Gnashchick @Undertow @bookstodon The Only Good Indians really stuck with me too, what an incredible read!
Show threadUndertow Publications ✅Dec 20, 2022

@Gnashchick @bookstodon

Glad you are enjoying The Ghost Sequences. One of the most popular books we've published.

Show threadAntipope SuperstarDec 20, 2022
@Undertow @bookstodon probably The Laws of the Frontier by Javier Cercas, a novel about some bandits in Catalonia during the transition, and then decades later when some have spent all that time in prison and one has since become a successful lawyer and simply saw those days as his wild youth, and they find each other again
Show threadLawrence CarringtonDec 20, 2022

@Undertow @bookstodon

The books I enjoyed most this year are John Scalzi’s “The Kaiju Preservation Society” and Andy Weir’s “Project Hail Mary”.

Difficult to say which is my favourite, because they put me in such a good mood.

#bookstodon #scifi

Show threadJohn McChesney-YoungDec 20, 2022
@carringtonlh @Undertow @bookstodon Those were both really good!
Show threadDigitalRobDec 20, 2022
@carringtonlh @Undertow @bookstodon
I also loved both of those. I’m reading The Broken Room by Clines currently. It might end up on my top 10 for 2022 as well.
Show threadMaser SquadDec 21, 2022
@Undertow @bookstodon @carringtonlh I’ve heard so many good things about Kaiju Preservation Society. It needs to be my next read
Show threadLawrence CarringtonDec 21, 2022
@MaserSquad @Undertow @bookstodon The audiobook narration by Wil Wheaton is superb 👌
Show threadMike RoestDec 24, 2022
@Undertow @carringtonlh @MaserSquad @bookstodon the Project Hail Mary audible book is really great too.
Show threadWTLDec 21, 2022
@carringtonlh @Undertow @bookstodon They were both great reads.
Show threadElaine ChenDec 20, 2022
@Undertow @bookstodon Sundial by Catriona Ward. I don't know why it didn't get as much buzz as The Last House on Needless Street. The twists and turns were even more intense, if that's possible.
Show threadBob DownieDec 20, 2022
@Undertow @bookstodon
I loved V. E. Schwab's 2020 fantasy novel The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. Some lovely explorations on the concepts of good, evil, mortality & memory.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invisible_Life_of_Addie_LaRue
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - Wikipedia

Show threadMelanie76NicoleDec 20, 2022
@geomannie @Undertow @bookstodon that book has fast become one of my favourite books ever. I know own like 4 editions. Lol. I just found it so beautifully written. And now I need to go read it again. ❤️
Show threadDr Suzanne she/herDec 20, 2022
@Melanie76Nicole @geomannie @Undertow @bookstodon The audio book is fantastic. Maybe give that a try. Highly recommend.
Show threadMelanie76NicoleDec 20, 2022
@DrSuzanne @geomannie @Undertow @bookstodon that would be different. Thank you. Will do!
Show threadBob DownieDec 20, 2022

@Melanie76Nicole @Undertow @bookstodon

Oh look, VE Schwab seems to be here, newly arrived!
@veschwab

Show threadMelanie76NicoleDec 20, 2022
@geomannie @Undertow @bookstodon oh nice! Thanks for the heads up!
Show threadJill MinorDec 21, 2022
@Melanie76Nicole @Undertow @bookstodon @geomannie the link is broken for me. I’ll try search.
Show threadChris Helming  Dec 20, 2022
@geomannie @Melanie76Nicole @Undertow "BirdsiteLIVE is a Twitter to ActivityPub bridge." makes it sound like it's just a bot mirroring things...
Show threadLaury SilversDec 20, 2022
@geomannie Looking forward to that one. :)
Show threadERATDec 20, 2022
@Undertow @bookstodon
I discovered more good new reads this year than usual: Maria Dahvana Headley's Beowulf, The Stars and The Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See, and Tracy Deon's LegendBorn all stand out.
Show threadBrian McGackinDec 20, 2022
@Undertow @bookstodon oh wow, so many I loved this year:
Strange Victory (Sara Teasdale)
The Third Policeman (Flann O’Brien)
The Man Who Died Twice (Richard Osman)
Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? (Séamas O’Reilly)
How Much Land Does a Man Need (Tolstoy)
Not enough good poetry for me this year unfortunately but I’m hoping next year!
Show threadDigitalRobDec 20, 2022
@Undertow @bookstodon
I hope answering with book covers is okay. I have a top five, not including the two already mentioned. Non-fiction first:
Show threadDigitalRobDec 20, 2022
@Undertow @bookstodon
And fiction, plus Kaiju and Hail Mary. :)
Show threadDigitalRobDec 20, 2022
@Undertow @bookstodon Apparently, my memory sucks and I read "Project Hail Mary" in 2021. Still, love that book.
Show threadwendydoylepalumboDec 20, 2022
@digitalrob @Undertow @bookstodon great book!
Show threadDr Suzanne she/herDec 20, 2022
@Undertow @bookstodon I really liked The Midnight Library and Dying of Politeness. And thanks for the reminder. Will get to reading tonight to calm myself from a tough day.
Show threadJesse F BallengerDec 20, 2022

@Undertow @bookstodon
My reading highlights this year:

Fiction:
Chilean Poet, Alejandro Zambra
Twilight Zone, Nona Fernandez.
Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, Becky Chambers
The Dark Flood Rises, Margaret Drabble

Non-fiction:
Grand Hotel Abyss, Stuart Jeffries
American Dementia, Daniel George & Peter Whitehouse
Soul Machine, George Makari
Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch

Poetry:
Call Us What We Carry, Amanda Gorrman

Show threadAustin Lim, PhDDec 21, 2022
@Undertow @bookstodon When Breath Becomes Air. A must read for any of my students interested in med school.
Show threadLadyOzmaDec 21, 2022
@bookstodon @Undertow I’ve been dropping mine daily as a part of bookish advent. I love all sized books. Because I read a ton of very short books, I’m over 400 read for this year. I doubt I will ever read this many books in another single year again 😂. I got a free sci fi short this month for the holidays and it was adorable! I went and got the first book in the series because I liked it so much! The short was: “The Night Before” by Si Clarke.
Show threadJ. Scott CoatsworthDec 21, 2022
@LadyOzma @bookstodon @Undertow Love love love SI.
Show threadLadyOzmaDec 21, 2022
@bookstodon @Undertow @jscottcoatsworth I had never heard of Si and then someone on this app posted a link to some free sci-fi holiday books and I went to investigate and grabbed the two shorts from Si. Then blew right through them. So now I have left hand whatever. Idk. I’m gonna read it as soon as I’m done with my Xmas books because I’m so in to this teapot spaceship idea from two short stories 😂
Show threadJ. Scott CoatsworthDec 21, 2022
@LadyOzma @bookstodon @Undertow I loved The Left Hand of Dog (if you like humor/Douglass Adams) and their Mars books (if you like more "serious" sci-fi). Plus SI is a stand-up person (and a good friend of mine).
Show threadSaceReadsDec 21, 2022

@Undertow @bookstodon

Honestly I don’t think I have one. I read plenty of good books but nothing really stood out for me.

Show threadjanestegerlewisDec 21, 2022
@Undertow @bookstodon not published this year but I read it this year and by far and away it was #Overstory by Richard Powers
Show threadRC HopgoodDec 21, 2022
@janestegerlewis @Undertow @bookstodon
I love that book so much.
Show threadKim PossibleDec 21, 2022
@janestegerlewis @Undertow @bookstodon Overstory was fantastic. Agreed.
Show threadjanestegerlewisDec 21, 2022
@kimlockhartga @bookstodon @Undertow any recommendations welcome!
Show threadKim PossibleDec 21, 2022
@janestegerlewis @bookstodon @Undertow Janet, I pinned a list of my favorite 2022 books, but I can also do rec's by genre, if it's one with which I'm really familiar, like historical fiction.
Show threadjanestegerlewisDec 21, 2022
@Undertow @bookstodon @kimlockhartga thanks I’ll take a look at the list. I’m open to many genres I think.
Show threadLisaDec 21, 2022
@janestegerlewis I think Richard Powers is an incredible writer. I have not yet read Overstory.
Show threadjanestegerlewisDec 21, 2022
@likewise I envy you! What a treat you have in store
Show threadErgative AbsolutiveDec 21, 2022

@Undertow @bookstodon

1. Saint Death's Daughter, by CSE Cooney.

A wildly inventive combination of the vibes of Tamsyn Muir, the exquisite depth of worldbuilding and footnoting of Susanna Clarke, the tender heart of Becky Chambers, and a linguistic playfulness that is all Cooney's own. Also contains a chaos gremlin of my heart.

2. She Who Became the Sun, by Kelly Parker Chan. Engrossing, epic, ambitious, brutal, thoughtful, brilliant.

Show threadKim PossibleDec 21, 2022
@Undertow @bookstodon BABEL was the book that blew me away this year, though certainly I enjoyed many others, particularly by debut authors.
Show threadJill MinorDec 21, 2022
@Undertow @kimlockhartga @bookstodon adding to BABEL praise. Epic.
Show threadLisaDec 21, 2022
@jillrhudy @Undertow @kimlockhartga Not a fan of fantasy, but Babel has been receiving so much praise, I keep thinking about it 🤔