rachelmanija | Entries tagged with book recs

As is going around, I've made a list of 100 books. It's a list of books which were formative for me in some way and/or particular favorites of mine. Due to the usual ages in which people are formed, the list is skewed toward books I read when I was young.

Here's my list. You can vote on how many you've read.

Any on my list that are also formative for and/or particular favorites of yours?

Feel free to ask me why any of them are on the list.

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book recs

Poll #32766

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Which of these books that I've recently read would you most like me to review?

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Dinotopia, by James Gurney. The famous art book/story about a world of dinosaurs and humans living together.
45 (34.9%)

Rest Stop, by Nat Cassidy. A horror novella about a guy trapped in a gas station bathroom.
14 (10.9%)

Black River Orchard, by Chuck Wendig. Horror about evil apples.
18 (14.0%)

Jackal, by Erin Adams. Hard to classify novel about a town where black girls keep going missing.
20 (15.5%)

Arboreality, by Rebecca Campbell. Fix-up short novel about people saving what they can on Vancouver Island post-climate collapse.
34 (26.4%)

The Testaments, by Margaret Atwood. Sequel to The Handmaid's Tale.
33 (25.6%)

A Field Guide to the Apocalypse, by Athena Aktipis. A how-to guide from a "build community" perspective.
39 (30.2%)

Inflamed, by Belden & Gullixson. How a retirement home was abandoned in the Sonora fires.
9 (7.0%)

The Clackity, by Lora Senf. Children's dark fantasy, a bit Coraline-esque.
16 (12.4%)

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands. The second Emily Wilde book, light fantasy with romance.
27 (20.9%)

We'll Prescribe You a Cat, by Syou Ishida. A slightly magical psychiatrist prescribes patients cats.
55 (42.6%)

Tales From the Morisaki Bookshop, by Satoshi Yagisawa. A depressed young woman takes refuge in her uncle's used bookshop.
27 (20.9%)

Archangel/Angel-Seeker/Jovah's Angel, by Sharon Shinn. Romantic SF about genetically engineered "angels" on a terraformed world.
28 (21.7%)

Have you read any of these? What did you think?

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1. Books on autism, ADHD, and other forms of neurodiversity. They can be either general or geared toward self-help.

Criteria: 1) MODERN! They should ideally have been published within the last five years. 2) Written for laypeople, not scientists or medical professionals. 3) NOT looking for pure memoirs like "my life as an autistic person," though elements of memoir are fine.

2. Books on human behavior/neuropsychology that are NOT self-help - think Oliver Sacks, except not actually by Oliver Sacks.

Criteria: 1) Not by Oliver Sacks, V. S. Ramachandran, Atul Gawande, or Robert Sapolsky as I already know about them, but that's the sort of thing I'm thinking of. 2) MODERN! Ideally, published within the last five years. 3) Not bullshit, woo-woo, or otherwise totally unsupported by any factual evidence, I'm looking at you Julian Jaynes. 4) Not right-wing or misogynistic. No "evolutionary biology says women evolved to be sex slaves."

How are Sapolsky's more recent books like Behave? I've only read Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers.

3. Mind-expanding biology books for laypeople. Like Ed Yong and Siddhartha Mukherjee's books, but not by them as I already know about them.

For all of these, I would particularly like books written by women if there's any suitable.

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book recs

This was a great year for reading. I read so many good books, and got so much happiness from reading and writing about and talking about them. I'm sure I'm forgetting some, so apologies to the excellent books that I accidentally left off this list. I've ranked them according to how much pure enjoyment and happiness I got out of reading them, not objective merit.

My Personal Favorites

All That's Left in the World, by Erik J. Brown. Two teenage boys, one gay, one questioning, after a covid-informed pandemic apocalypse. I adored this and insta-bought the sequel, which I haven't read yet. Full review to come.

LA Son, by Roy Choi. Is this the best-written chef's memoir I ever read? No. Does it totally leave out the work he's most famous for? Yes. Was the audiobook of him reading it a wonderful experience? Oh hell yes.

The Library at Mount Char, by Scott Hawkins. Very weird, very dark, very polarizing dark fantasy; every content warning ever; I loved it.

Dr. C. Lillefisk's Sirenology: A Guide to Mermaids and Other Under-the-Sea Phenomenon, by Jana Heidersorf. Absolutely gorgeous art book/guide to mermaids. Fantastic art and really interesting and original worldbuilding. Full review to come.

The Reappearance of Rachel Price, by Holly Jackson. Incredibly fun, incredibly twisty mystery where it all, for once, actually made complete sense by the end.

You Like it Darker, by Stephen King. The anthology as a whole was mixed, but it's here on the basis that my favorite stories brought me so much joy.

Moon of the Turning Leaves, by Waubgeshig Rice. Sequel to Moon of the Crusted Snow. Immersive, compelling, creates a whole world and community that I wanted to live in forever.

A Succession of Bad Days & Safely You Deliver, by Graydon Saunders. Complex, difficult, weird, attention-demanding, deeply enjoyable, and often oddly cozy fantasy with some of the most interesting worldbuilding I've ever encountered. I shall re-read these then proceed to the next books when I have a stretch of time that will allow me to really sink in.

House of Hollow, by Krystal Sutherland. Dark, lush fantasy reminiscent of The Belles and Tanith Lee.

Camp Damascus, by Chuck Tingle. Light horror/dark fantasy about fundamentalism and homophobia; also one of the most joyous and uplifting books I read all year. Review to come.

Excellent and Enjoyable Books That Didn't Quite Hit My Arbitrary Top Ten List

Confessions of a Prairie Bitch, by Alison Arngrim.

People of the Sky, by Clare Bell. Batshit 80s SF is the best.

A Scent of New-Mown Hay & For Fear of Little Men, by John Blackburn. Pandemics! Spies! Weird science! Hypnotism! Nazis! The kitchen sink!

Light a Single Candle, by Beverly Butler.

A Heart that Works, by Rob Delaney.

Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries, by Heather Fawcett. Utterly charming.

Into the Drowning Deep, by Mira Grant. MURDER MERMAIDS.

Briardark & Waywarden, by S. A. Hadrian.

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales, by Nathan Hale. The WWI one (review to come) was my favorite but I've enjoyed them all.

Cold Moon Over Babylon, by Michael McDowell. Apparently the only book of his I read in 2024? I must remedy that in 2025.

The September House, by Carissa Orlando.

Rite of Passage, by Alexei Panshin.

The I Survived series, by Lauren Tarshis.

Bury Your Gays, by Chuck Tingle. Really fun, inventive dark fantasy that wasn't quite as good as Camp Damascus. Review to come.

Wilding, by Isabella Tree. Probably the single most influential and important-to-me book I read all year, just not in my top eight most enjoyable reading experiences.

Looking Glass Sound, by Catriona Ward. One of the most technically accomplished books I've ever read. Enormous fun to read but not as emotionally involving as her others. Review to come, hopefully.

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Contrary to what everyone says, owning a bookshop is actually great for getting more reading done because your customers REALLY want your personal opinion. Plus, if there's downtime, there's all those books!

Poll #32473

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What books are you most interested in having me review?

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Bury Your Gays, Chuck Tingle. A closeted screenwriter is ordered to kill his lesbian characters, and gets pursued by monsters he wrote.
59 (64.1%)

Camp Damascus, Chuck Tingle. Camp Damascus is a gay conversion camp with a 100% success rate. Rose, a young true believer, finds out why.
54 (58.7%)

No Apparent Danger, Victoria Bruce. Nonfiction about two deadly volcanic eruptions in Columbia.
18 (19.6%)

Black River Orchard, Chuck Wendig. An orchard produces sinister, irresistible apples.
21 (22.8%)

The Fisherman, John Langan. A fishing tall tale turned very sinister.
11 (12.0%)

Fantasticland, by Mike Bockoven. Lord of the Flies in an amusement park during a hurricane.
5 (5.4%)

Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood: Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: WWI
18 (19.6%)

The Return, Rachel Harrison. A vanished friend comes back wrong.
16 (17.4%)

All That's Left in the World, Erik J. Brown. Two teenagers - one gay, one ? - after the apocalypse.
13 (14.1%)

A book you would like me to review that you will suggest in comments.
1 (1.1%)

Have you read any of these? What did you think?

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Poll #32309 Book Review Poll

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Which of these recently-read books should I prioritize reviewing? Anyone read any of these?

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When the Coffee Gets Cold, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. Limited time travel in a cafe.
32 (31.1%)

Long Live Evil, by Sarah Rees Brennan. Dying woman is transported into a fantasy novel in the body of the villain.
66 (64.1%)

The Return, by Rachel Harrison. One of a group of four friends vanishes, then returns changed.
13 (12.6%)

Black Sheep, by Rachel Harrison. A woman returns to her estranged, very religious family for a wedding. This is shelved in horror.
16 (15.5%)

The Glamour, by Christopher Priest. Literary novel about invisible people.
14 (13.6%)

The September House, by Carissa Orlando. A woman is totally fine with living in a haunted as fuck house.
24 (23.3%)

Into the Drowning Deep/Rolling in the Deep, by Mira Grant. A novella and novel about murder mermaids.
27 (26.2%)

The Stubborn Lives of Hart Tanner/the Many Short Lives Of Charles Waters, by Shawn Inmon. More Middle Falls time travel.
5 (4.9%)

Dr. C. Lillefisk's Sirenology, by Jana Heidersorf. An illustrated guide to mermaids by a sirenologist..
15 (14.6%)

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I have a slightly unusual request. I will explain the reason for it in a couple days.

I need books whose TITLES suggest a topsy-turviness. So far, I have When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger, Be Buried in the Sky: The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpas on K-2's Deadliest Day, and The Inverted World by Christopher Priest. As you can see, the actual content/genre is irrelevant. The titles are what's important.

I do NOT need titles including the phrase "upside down," like Upside-Down Magic, as I can search for those by myself - I'm looking for less obvious ones that I might miss.

Feel free to share this.

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book recs

I have once again fallen behind on writing up the books I've read. Please motivate me to do so. Have any of you read any of these too?

Poll #31159

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What would you be most interested to see reviewed?

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The House is on Fire, by Rachel Beanland. Annoyingly mediocre historical fiction about a theatre fire.
10 (10.5%)

LA Son, by Roy Choi. Memoir by the chef who created Kogi, the Korean taco truck.
24 (25.3%)

The Library at Mount Char, by Scott Hawkins. Strange, gonzo, cross-genre dark fantasy about an abusive immortal family.
47 (49.5%)

Nova Swing, by M. John Harrison. Literary science fiction about a city beside a zone of weirdness.
29 (30.5%)

The Helios Syndrome, by Vivian Shaw. Novella about a psychic who consults for the NTSB, by the author of the Greta Van Helsing series.
33 (34.7%)

Looking Glass Sound, by Catriona Ward. Literally everything I could say about this wild ride of a novel is either misleading or spoilery.
35 (36.8%)

The Stones of Muncaster Cathedral, by Robert Westall. Old-school creepy story about a mason working on a creepy cathedral.
30 (31.6%)

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Prompted by this post by osprey-archer.

The New York Review of Books has been releasing lovely editions of children's books - some old classics, some new classics, and some newly translated into English - since the early 2000s. There are books by Rumer Godden and Madhur Jaffrey and Russell Hoban, and many more.

I could not find a single site with a list of all of them. The official site has newer releases, but not all the out of print ones.

This site includes a bunch that are out of print, but doesn't have all the new ones. (Page down for the complete list - the left-hand button allows you to select "show 100 entries," which is all of them.)

The series includes some books I love, some I do not love, and many I've never even heard of.

Books I have read:

The Little Grey Men and its batshit sequel, The Little Grey Men Go Down the Bright Stream, by BB

The Abandoned and Thomasina: The Cat Who Thought She Was A God, Paul Gallico. A pair of stories about intelligent cats and their adventures and travails. Both the main character cats survive, but there is a LOT of animal harm along the way. They're melodramatic and vivid and I loved them both when I was a kid, but The Abandoned more because that one involves a boy who turns into a cat and has great "what it's like to be a cat" scenes.

Bob, Son of Battle, by Alfred Ollivant. ALL the dogs die in a giant dog-on-dog battle!

Charlotte Sometimes, by Penelope Farmer. A dreamlike timeslip story, which I recall being unusually concerned with issues of identity and reality. I should re-read this.

An Episode of Sparrows, by Rumer Godden. An updating of The Secret Garden in which a pair of scrappy London kids find a bit of earth and begin cultivating it. I LOVE this book.

The House of Arden, by E. Nesbit. Fun time-travel story featuring a talking mole.

Loretta Mason Potts, by Mary Chase. Strange, surreal fantasy by the author of Harvey, which is about a man whose best friend is a six-foot invisible rabbit.

The Magic Pudding, by Norman Lindsay. Classic Australian fantasy about a bad-tempered talking pudding, an old sailor, and a wombat. I adored this as a kid, largely for the hilarious illustrations of the angry pudding.

What books have you read from this series? What would you recommend? What would you emphatically not recommend?

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Poll #30981

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Which book would you like to see reviewed?

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People of the Sky, by Clare Bell. 80s anthropological SF.
45 (40.2%)

A Heart that Works, by Rob Delaney. A memoir by a father about his son who died in early childhood.
6 (5.4%)

Alas, Babylon, by Pat Frank. Classic post-nuclear apocalypse novel
31 (27.7%)

Tippi, by Tippi Hedren. Memoir by the actress who starred in The Birds and had multiple lions living in her house.
44 (39.3%)

At Her Pleasure, by Joey Hill. M/F femdom erotic romance, about four domme CEOs.
21 (18.8%)

At Her Command, by Joey Hill. More M/F femdom erotic romance.
9 (8.0%)

Alien Earth, by Megan Lindholm. Her only science fiction book, I think.
34 (30.4%)

A Walk out of the World, by Ruth Nichols. Otherworld children's fantasy, written when Nichols was 18.
29 (25.9%)

Horizon, by Scott Westerfeld. Eight kids are dropped into a bizarre world.
38 (33.9%)

ETA: Polls cannot be edited once posted, so you will need to comment if you want to hear about Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward, which is excellent but impossible to discuss without massive spoilers.

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Many people are making book resolutions. Here is mine.

I resolve to read whatever I want, however I want. If I feel like whittling down the number of books that have been lurking unread for 20 years, I will do that. If I feel like reading the entire Anthony Award longlist, I will do that. If I feel like making a poll, I will do that. If I feel like diving into contemporary horror, I will do that.

Rec me a book?

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book recs

Audible is doing a store-wide sale through the end of the month. If you have a Premium Plus membership (I do), every single title is deeply discounted, many to $2 or $3. If you don't, there are still a whole lot of good discounts. If you often listen to audiobooks, it's worth signing up for Premium Plus just to access the full sale.

If you listen to audiobooks at all, check it out. I've already bought enough to last me for the next year, and I'm still browsing.

Here's a few audiobooks I highly recommend for the synergy of book and performance. Every one of them is a delight in itself, even if you've read the book before. I have reviews of most of them if you'd like to know more about the books themselves.

Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie, read by Hugh Fraser. Hilarious.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, read by Chiwetel Ejiofor. If I could recommend just one audiobook, this would be it. A great book with an absolutely perfect performance. $6.99 without membership.

Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand. Multiple narrators.

The Cass Neary series by Elizabeth Hand, narrated by Carol Monda. Absolutely perfect match of book to narrator.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman, read by the author. This is my favorite of his audiobooks but I love him narrating his own books. I'll listen to him reading anything but my second favorite is his reading of Neverwhere.

Revelator by Daryl Gregory, read by Reagan Boggs.

We Sold Our Souls! by Grady Hendrix, narrated by Carol Monda. No one does tough, world-weary , middle-aged women like Carol Monda.

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones, read by Shaun Taylor Corbett.

The first four Dark Tower books by Stephen King, read by Frank Muller. (The narrators switch at book five as Muller was in a motorcycle crash that he never recovered from.)

Pet Sematary by Stephen King, read by Michael C. Hall. Brilliant performance.

Stephen King books in general are excellent read aloud - his storyteller voice translates beautifully to audio. I also love Duma Key read by John Slattery, Lisey's Story read by Mare Winningham, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon read by Anne Heche, Salem's Lot read by Rod McLarty, Holly read by Justine Lupe, anything read by Frank Muller, King's own reading of Bag of Bones, and many more.

Boy's Life by Robert McCammon, read by George Newbern. Beautifully captures the book's sunlit nostalgia, beauty, and terror.

Hell House by Robert Matheson, read by Roy Porter. Porter's thunderous narration goes marvelously with the book's melodrama.

True Grit by Charles Portis, read by Donna Tartt. If you've only seen the movies, you have GOT to listen to the book. It's brilliant and Tartt reads it brilliantly.

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, read by Andy Serkis. The whole thing is great fun but "Riddles in the Dark" is an absolute masterpiece.

The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, read by Rob Inglis. A traditional reading rather than a performance, completely immersive.

Memoirs are generally best read by their authors; in this vein, I especially enjoyed Midnight Son by James Dommek Jr., Sarah Polley reading Run Toward the Danger, Jenette McCurdy reading I'm Glad My Mom Died, and Notes From a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi.

And a bonus, not exactly an audiobook but it's in the audio catalogue: Speaking Truth to Power Through Stories and Song: Words + Music, by Tom Morello. You don't need to be a fan or even familiar with his work to love this.

What are some of your favorite audiobooks? And if you too are browsing the catalogue, please comment with any good finds you spot!

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book recs

Have you read or heard of any of these? Which should I select to read and review this week?

Poll #30149 Nonfiction book poll

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Which of these nonfiction books shall I read and review in the coming week?

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Mountains I: Everest: Alone at the Summit, by Stephen Venables. His team gets in trouble on Everest in 1988.
9 (12.0%)

Mountains II: Buried in the Sky, by Peter Zuckerman. Two Sherpas survive K2 when eleven other climbers died in 2008.
19 (25.3%)

Ocean: The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean, by Susan Casey. What it says on the tin. She wrote that great Vanity Fair article on the Titan.
43 (57.3%)

Water: Why We Swim, by Bonnie Tsui. What it says on the tin.
19 (25.3%)

Fire: Firestorm at Peshtigo, by Denise Getz & William Lutz. About the OTHER fire the same night as the Great Chicago Fire, less known but even worse, in Wisconsin 1871.
19 (25.3%)

Island: Island Year, by Hazel Heckman. A chronicle of the natural life of an island in Puget Sound in 1966.
17 (22.7%)

Britain: The Dun Cow Rib, by John Lister-Kaye. The natural landscape of Britain via childhood holidays by a Scottish naturalist.
12 (16.0%)

A Zuni Life: A Zuni Life: A Pueblo Indian in Two Worlds, by Virgil Wyaco. What it says on the tin. Wyaco got a Bronze Star in WWII, then became a tribal leader in Zuni, NM in 1970.
34 (45.3%)

Dogs: Pack of Two: The Intricate Bond Between People and Dogs, by Caroline Knapp. What it says on the tin, by the author of Drinking: A Love Story.
15 (20.0%)

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I am tackling some to-read stacks. Here is one of them. It is a literal stack of horror and other spooky stories, just right for Halloween. Have you heard of any of them? Which should I select to read and review this week?

Poll #30103 Spooky Book Poll

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Which of these books should I read this week?

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Stonewords, by Pam Conrad. Children's book. Two girls. Two friends. Ghosts in each other's lives.
16 (25.8%)

...walkers, by Gary Brandner. Joanna was one of the dead. The shattering novel that adds a new dimension to fear!
1 (1.6%)

All Heads Turn When the Hunt Goes by, by John Farris. Obviously this would win if the poll was for coolest title. A FORCE turning passion into perversity and a proud Southern clan into a family of fiends!
14 (22.6%)

Silk, by Caitlin Kiernan. Club kids meet Spyder, who is clearly bad news.
11 (17.7%)

Dragon Tears, by Dean Koontz. A dying man tells the hero, "Ticktock, ticktock. You'll be dead in sixteen hours. Dead by dawn..."
7 (11.3%)

Dark Dance, by Tanith Lee. They brought her into their house, called her one of them, let her taste the forbidden, the erotic, the evil...
32 (51.6%)

Only a Monster, by Vanessa Len. YA. Joan's new family are monsters... and maybe Joan is too.
11 (17.7%)

The Immortal, by Christopher Pike. The ancient artifact was cursed.
9 (14.5%)

The Watcher in the Woods, by Florence Engel Randall. YA. There's something spooky in the woods.
15 (24.2%)

Summer Lightning, by Wendy Corsi Staub. Melissa's invisible protector turns out to be a ghost in love with her.
10 (16.1%)

Ghost Child, by Duffy Stein. A family moves into a new house with a haunted toy room.
3 (4.8%)

All on a Winter's Day, by Lisa Taylor. Children's book. Two living kids are trapped in a home with two ghost kids and their evil ghost aunt.
8 (12.9%)

The Ice Twins, by S. K. Tremayne. One of Sarah's daughters died. But does she know which one?
20 (32.3%)

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I am tackling some to-read stacks. Here is one of them. It is a literal stack of old children's paperbacks, a genre of which I am immensely fond. Have you heard of any of them? Which should I select to read and review this week?

Poll #30046 Random Children's Paperback Stack

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Which of these books should I read this week?

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The Sylvia Game, by Vivien Alcock. Spooky fantasy about a girl who resembles Sylvia. Whoever Sylvia is.
21 (29.6%)

Just Like Jenny, by Sandy Asher. Teenage ballet dancer friends get an important audition.
12 (16.9%)

Goddess of Yesterday, by Caroline Cooney. Historical fantasy involving Helen of Troy and tentacles.
28 (39.4%)

Twenty Pageants Later, by Caroline Cooney. "My sister did research and found out you have a much better chance of being Miss America if you come from Texas and have a double first name."
22 (31.0%)

The Watching Eyes, by Barbara Corcoran. Spooky fantasy about a strange family a girl finds in the middle of nowhere.
13 (18.3%)

Dark Horse, by Jean Slaughter Doty. A girl finds that the neglected horse she nurses back to health is a fabulous jumper.
17 (23.9%)

Juniper, by Monica Furlong. The prequel to Wise Child, a slice-of-life historical fantasy.
23 (32.4%)

The War Between the Pitiful Teachers and the Splendid Kids, by Stanley Kiesel. I bought this book because I tried to read it as a kid and was utterly baffled. It looks completely bizarre.
17 (23.9%)

Ponies in the Attic, by Irene Makin. A girl befriends a pony and finds mysterious pony drawings in her new home.
14 (19.7%)

A Certain Magic, by Doris Orgel. A girl finds the diary of her aunt, a WWII refugee, that seems to be about... an evil ring!
13 (18.3%)

Building Blocks, by Cynthia Voigt. Timeslip in which a boy gets to meet his father as a boy.
13 (18.3%)

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I want to check out some of the most incredibly obscure unread books on my shelves. In some cases (Alcock, Cameron, Cooney, Park) I got them because I liked other books by the same author. In other cases the answer seems to be "contains a cat or a horse." In other cases, I have no clue.

Please comment if you've ever read any of these!

Poll #29504

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Which of these books should I read?

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Midsummer by Katherine Adams. New York kids move to their grandfather's Swedish castle.
22 (28.6%)

The Red-Eared Ghosts, by Vivien Alcock. A girl sees red-eared ghosts.
25 (32.5%)

Aria of the Sea, by Dia Calhoun. Fantasy novel about a teenage healer who wants to be a dancer.
20 (26.0%)

The Terrible Churnadryne, by Eleanor Cameron. Kids see a sea monster.
19 (24.7%)

The Terrible Descent, by Bruce Carter. Fighter pilots are shot down and fall to the center of the earth.
16 (20.8%)

Twenty Pageants Later, by Caroline Cooney. It's about beauty pageants.
17 (22.1%)

The Watching Eyes aka Winds of Time, by Barbara Corcoran. A girl finds a mysterious family.
14 (18.2%)

Fintan's Tower, by Catherine Fisher. A portal fantasy starts when a boy finds a book with his name on it.
14 (18.2%)

Swampfire, by Patricia Cecil Haas. A horse named Swampfire is a girl's only hope to escape a swamp that's on fire.
23 (29.9%)

John Diamond, by Leon Garfield. A historical mystery about a boy who learns his dead father was a crook.
16 (20.8%)

Just Plain Cat, by Nancy K. Robinson. A kid gets a cat.
14 (18.2%)

Callie's Castle, by Ruth Park. A girl bonds with her grandfather.
7 (9.1%)

Dancing to Danger, by Priscilla Hagon. Mystery set in a ballet school.
26 (33.8%)

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I went to the Book Barn in Niantic, CT: three locations, two goats and three cats spotted (one of which licked and two of which bit me), and a very large book haul.

Click to enlarge.

Thoughts on any of the books?

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Poll #28697 Book Poll

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Which of these novels that I have with me in LA should I read and review?

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Stranger on a Cliff, by Josephine Bell. 1952 Bouchercon pulp gothic. Original title: To Let: Furnished.
15 (15.8%)

Mouse Guard: Fall 1152, by David Petersen. Graphic novel about guard mice.
32 (33.7%)

The Loosening Skin, by Aliya Whiteley. SF about a world in which people naturally molt and change personalities.
22 (23.2%)

Snow, by Mike Bond. Modern noir about three guys who find a lot of cocaine, recced by sholio.
11 (11.6%)

Legends and Lattes, by Travis Baldree. Cozy fantasy about an orc who opens a cafe.
49 (51.6%)

Death of an Airman, by C. St. John Sprigg. Golden Age mystery about pilots, recced by sholio.
21 (22.1%)

The Cabin at the End of the World, by Paul Trembley. Two dads, their young daughter, and psycho apocalypse cultists. Probably very depressing.
8 (8.4%)

More of Me, by Kathryn Evans. YA SF in which a girl buds a duplicate of herself at each birthday, which never gets any older.
26 (27.4%)

A Scent of New-Mown Hay, by John Blackburn. Classic horror, recced by sovay.
17 (17.9%)

The Hunting Party, by Lucy Foley. Modern mystery, classic style,
20 (21.1%)

How High We Go in the Dark, by Sequioa Nagamatsu. I think dark yet quirky literary post-apocalyptic
21 (22.1%)

Night Over Water, by Ken Follett. Adventure in the air, recced by sholio,
16 (16.8%)

Have you read or heard of any of these? What are your thoughts?

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book recs

This was buried in comments, but I thought many of you would be interested: Arabo-Islamic Texts on Female Homosexuality: 850-1780 A.D.

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book recs

Poll #27823

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 18

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Select your favorite/best book by an otherwise terrible author?

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One by Piers Anthony
6 (33.3%)

One by John Ringo
3 (16.7%)

One by Terry Goodkind
1 (5.6%)

One by Laurell K Hamilton
5 (27.8%)

One by an anvillicious children's author
1 (5.6%)

One by someone else, who I will name in comments
5 (27.8%)

Comment with your favorite!

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