1. I am looking for a book by Laurell K. Hamilton. I just read the third book in the Anita Blake series and I can’t figure out which one comes next!
FantasticFiction.com lists the fourth book of the Anita Blake series as The Lunatic Cafe.
2. What have I read recently? Well, I just finished this great book by Barbara Kingsolver, Prodigal Summer. I really liked the way it was written, you know, the way she used language. I wouldn't mind something a bit faster paced though.
I recommend The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. It has descriptive writing along with building suspense as the story progresses.
3. I like reading books set in different countries. I just read one set in China, could you help me find one set in Japan? No, not modern – historical. I like it when the author describes it so much it feels like I was there!
The Tea House by Ellis Avery is a story told across the span of 19th century Japan. It's a compelling story with lush details.
The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See takes place on a Korean island, but is a well-researched and richly detailed account that spans several decades of the early 1900s.
4. I read this great mystery by Elizabeth George called Well-Schooled in Murder and I loved it. Then my dentist said that if I liked mysteries I would probably like John Sandford, but boy was he creepy I couldn't finish it! Do you have any suggestions?
Louise Penny's series featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is a similar mystery series to the Thomas Lynley series. They both solve murder mysteries, but don't have the dark tone or gritty detail of John Sanford's works. Start with the first book, Still Life.
5. My husband has really gotten into zombies lately. He’s already read The Walking Dead and World War Z, is there anything else you can recommend?
The Living Dead by George Romero is book about a zombie plague; it is told from multiple perspectives like World War Z.
6. I love books that get turned into movies, especially literary ones. Can you recommend some? Nothing too old, maybe just those from the last 5 years or so.
The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante was written in 2020 and is now a movie streaming on Netflix.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens was written in 2018 and released as a movie in 2022, its is now available on DVD or streaming.
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng was written in 2017 and made into a TV miniseries in 2020.
7. I love thrillers but I hate foul language and sex scenes. I want something clean and fast paced.
Ted Dekker normally writes Christian thrillers, but he wrote Boneman's Daughters for a mainstream audience. This story is fast-paced, dark, and suspenseful without being graphic.
I use three sites to track my reading: Goodreads, Storygraph, and Litsy! I also book journal for every book I read in a physical journal to help myself remember what I've read. Litsy is a social media site centered entirely around books. Posts include reading challenges, book reviews, virtual book clubs, reading progress reports, and books memes. I get A LOT of recommendations here. I also choose books to meet challenges I join within the app. This online community dominates my reading life these days. I also get ideas from Booklist, BookPage, and the Read with Jenna book selections. In the past I faithfully listened to the What Should I Read Next podcast with Anne Bogel (Guests talk about three books they like, one book they don't, and what they're reading now and what they want more of in their reading life. Then Anne gives them three recommendations). I don't listen much anymore, but I do often browse the topical book lists she puts out on social media. In general, I like keeping up with new releases, so I will read any list that comes to my email or in my Facebook feed!
Sources
Fantastic Fiction. (n.d.). https://www.fantasticfiction.com/
Novelist. (n.d.). https://www.ebsco.com/novelist
Hi, Karis! It's so interesting to look at these responses and see the very different selections everyone made. Our only overlap was Still Life by Louise Penny. I don't know if you used NoveList for any of these, but if you did I'm curious about the search approaches you took.
ReplyDeleteI am now going down the rabbit hole of Litsy and Storygraph, as I've never used either before.
I love having a reader community, I'll have to check out Litsy! I'm obsessed with Storygraph for the data and charts, but it's not as social as it could be despite them trying. I'm also going to have to check out that podcast. I've had a hard time finding a bookish podcast that I don't feel like I have to read all the books for before listening. Thanks for these recommendations :)
ReplyDeleteI think the What Should I Read Next podcast would fit what you're looking for- you definitely don't have to have read the books before listening! But be prepared to have your to-be-read pile grow! If you join Litsy, you can find me as "Karisimo" :)
DeleteIt is really interesting hearing about how you find new books to read. I have never really been one to use any apps/websites to find books, so it is interesting to hear about how those work. Listy sounds like a really cool site as well. I miss the days of niche social medias where they were only focused on a singular topic. It is cool to hear that a website like that exists.
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