Book Talk! Ask for Recs, Post Recs, TBR List, Etc.

[Desiree_Radcliffe]

I thought it'd be neat to post a book-related thread that we could all contribute to. The idea of this thread is to post recommendations, ask for recommendations, talk about what you're reading (more than just the title and author), and your TBR list. I eat books like cereal, so I love listening to people talk about books, or talking about them myself. So, bookish Literoticans, unite!

In Process

• Stephen Fry's autobiography, The Fry Chronicles. I just started it today and it's so relatable that I want to stick it out with him to the end. I've always deeply identified with him over the years.
• All in Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us About Women's Bodies and Why It Matters Today, Elizabeth Comen, M.D. Having studied medical history a little more than a lot of people, I feel this book will be helpful to me. Already, the way she talks about the origins of plastic surgery in the first chapter has made me curious.
• The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpretated in the Name of Science by Sam Kean. A treatise on very weird bioethical things over the centuries, I feel it will go well in tandem with the second book, as well as feeding my penchant for the macabre.

TBR

• City of Incurable Women by Maud Casey. It's about women in institutions. A fictional piece, it's very short, but I often stare at it with a sense of fear. Could be triggering.
• The Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt. I don't read many novels these days, but I remember having a very weird experience with Victoria Holt in high school. I wonder if her novels are as sexually charged as I remember them.

Both lists are way more extensive than that, but I didn't want to end up writing a novel in talking about novels I am hoping to read. Hope to hear from you, too!

 

[pantyboidoe]

Recently Finished:
The City is Up for Grabs: How Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Led and Lost a City in Crisis - Gregory Royal Pratt: Great Chicago journalist. Fascinating book. Interested to see where the politics of the state & country go from here.

Currently Reading:
Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner; not too far in but enjoying where I'm at so far. Lots of tension in the first chapter and hooked for the rest of the read!

To Be Read:
All Fours - Miranda Joly
The god of the woods - Liz Moore

I love love love contemporary novels. I tend to stick to female voices over male voices just because of personal preferences. Always looking for more recommendations and authors to dive into. Current must reads whenever they release something new: Zadie Smith, Sally Rooney, Claire Keegan.

Also, currently reading lots of children books. That's been fun, too. Shaping little minds towards a progressive world view.

 

[Desiree_Radcliffe]

Recently Finished:
The City is Up for Grabs: How Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Led and Lost a City in Crisis - Gregory Royal Pratt: Great Chicago journalist. Fascinating book. Interested to see where the politics of the state & country go from here.

Currently Reading:
Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner; not too far in but enjoying where I'm at so far. Lots of tension in the first chapter and hooked for the rest of the read!

To Be Read:
All Fours - Miranda Joly
The god of the woods - Liz Moore

I love love love contemporary novels. I tend to stick to female voices over male voices just because of personal preferences. Always looking for more recommendations and authors to dive into. Current must reads whenever they release something new: Zadie Smith, Sally Rooney, Claire Keegan.

Also, currently reading lots of children books. That's been fun, too. Shaping little minds towards a progressive world view.

It's really lovely the options children have today that I didn't have when I was their age. So many beautiful stories from diverse backgrounds, and so many beautiful illustrations. The only thing I miss is the fact that the more painterly illustrations of old have fallen out of favor.

Unfortunately, I don't read too much contemporary fiction or fiction that is set in contemporary times. I had the fortune of meeting the author of The House for Friendless Women about a month ago. Though it's set in Victorian America, you might appreciate the interweaving of stories about women who end up at a boarding house for being unwed mothers, sex workers, etc. It's still on my TBR. She signed my copy.

Thank you very much for interacting with this thread. I hope that more people will join in!

 

[drobert44]

It's really lovely the options children have today that I didn't have when I was their age. So many beautiful stories from diverse backgrounds, and so many beautiful illustrations. The only thing I miss is the fact that the more painterly illustrations of old have fallen out of favor.

Unfortunately, I don't read too much contemporary fiction or fiction that is set in contemporary times. I had the fortune of meeting the author of The House for Friendless Women about a month ago. Though it's set in Victorian America, you might appreciate the interweaving of stories about women who end up at a boarding house for being unwed mothers, sex workers, etc. It's still on my TBR. She signed my copy.

Thank you very much for interacting with this thread. I hope that more people will join in!

That sounds interesting! Love the Victorian era, so full of hypocrisy, as described by Oscar Wilde...

 

[Desiree_Radcliffe]

That sounds interesting! Love the Victorian era, so full of hypocrisy, as described by Oscar Wilde...

Not as more than our modern times, if you really study the era. A lot of what we "know" about the 19th century is stuff that was made up by people later on.

 

[drobert44]

Not as more than our modern times, if you really study the era. A lot of what we "know" about the 19th century is stuff that was made up by people later on.

I think Dickens described it well........so damn tuff for most ordinary people.

 

[Desiree_Radcliffe]

I think Dickens described it well........so damn tuff for most ordinary people.

Is it not today as well? Perhaps not on the same scale, but we deal with similar issues now.

 

[drobert44]

Is it not today as well? Perhaps not on the same scale, but we deal with similar issues now.

We sure do.......nobody cares about the poor. But if you had to be poor, USA is a good place to live. I have been all over the world.

 

[Desiree_Radcliffe]

We sure do.......nobody cares about the poor. But if you had to be poor, USA is a good place to live. I have been all over the world.

I don't know about that. I've seen a lot of people who are on the streets. There aren't many programs to help care for them. However, this wasn't meant to be a socio-political thread.

 

[JennyCapricorn]

Currently rereading Nora Robert’s’ _Bride Quartet_ which is near perfect light romance with some steam

Amy Attas _Pets in the City_ was equally entertaining light material

Rebecca Burgess _How to be Ace: a memoir of growing up asexual_ was necessary reading as the mother of an Ace daughter to make sure I know as much as I can to be a good mom

Valentine Glass’ _Jarring Sex_ gets way darker than i normally read but it’s a great empathic view of a lesbian woman healing from a broken relationship and her own flaws.

 

[Desiree_Radcliffe]

Currently rereading Nora Robert’s’ _Bride Quartet_ which is near perfect light romance with some steam

Amy Attas _Pets in the City_ was equally entertaining light material

Rebecca Burgess _How to be Ace: a memoir of growing up asexual_ was necessary reading as the mother of an Ace daughter to make sure I know as much as I can to be a good mom

Valentine Glass’ _Jarring Sex_ gets way darker than i normally read but it’s a great empathic view of a lesbian woman healing from a broken relationship and her own flaws.

I didn't understand that I was asexual until a few years ago. It was/is not something that people talk about. Even here, a place that is supposed to be forward-thinking about sexuality, I have gotten more than one ignorant comment, some of them even hateful. One man even told me that I should see a doctor. No one talks about it, because people can't imagine what it'd be like to have a sexual identity which rejects the prescribed norms. It doesn't mean that we don't get sexually aroused. It doesn't mean that we spend all our time alone. It's exhausting having to defend this identity here. Thank you for being thoughtful about your daughter.

 

[JennyCapricorn]

I didn't understand that I was asexual until a few years ago. It was/is not something that people talk about. Even here, a place that is supposed to be forward-thinking about sexuality, I have gotten more than one ignorant comment, some of them even hateful. One man even told me that I should see a doctor. No one talks about it, because people can't imagine what it'd be like to have a sexual identity which rejects the prescribed norms. It doesn't mean that we don't get sexually aroused. It doesn't mean that we spend all our time alone. It's exhausting having to defend this identity here. Thank you for being thoughtful about your daughter.

She came out to us as Ace and we went “ok” and bought a pride flag for the house and believed everything she told us about how she felt. It shouldn’t be that hard. Sorry you have to deal with people who burden you with their ignorance.

 

[Desiree_Radcliffe]

She came out to us as Ace and we went “ok” and bought a pride flag for the house and believed everything she told us about how she felt. It shouldn’t be that hard. Sorry you have to deal with people who burden you with their ignorance.

That's the way to do it! I even tried to join an Ace forum, and got some creepy messages from people, including one from a person who said I was an "STD-riddled whore just like your mom." I think it was because I shared the complicated story of my life, and mentioned my time in the local BDSM community. But, like, I don't know. It took me 30 years to realize that I was faking being heteronormative for years. That's how forced we are into prescribed norms.

 

[JennyCapricorn]

That's the way to do it! I even tried to join an Ace forum, and got some creepy messages from people, including one from a person who said I was an "STD-riddled whore just like your mom." I think it was because I shared the complicated story of my life, and mentioned my time in the local BDSM community. But, like, I don't know. It took me 30 years to realize that I was faking being heteronormative for years. That's how forced we are into prescribed norms.

People suck. Live your truth. You’re beautiful.

 

[SWR101]

Currently reading David Brook’s The Road to Character. I’ve read it before but it’s been a few years. Good book on how to choose what you consider a moral life and how to follow through with that life.

 

[Desiree_Radcliffe]

Currently reading David Brook’s The Road to Character. I’ve read it before but it’s been a few years. Good book on how to choose what you consider a moral life and how to follow through with that life.

Oh that's interesting. I like to read a lot of books about ethics and the good life. I even sometimes verge into self-help. But then I shy away, because I feel it's a genre that always has its own motives.

 

[drobert44]

Oh that's interesting. I like to read a lot of books about ethics and the good life. I even sometimes verge into self-help. But then I shy away, because I feel it's a genre that always has its own motives.

I like to read the Stoics for that, like Marcus Aurelius.

 

[Massacre_]

Currently rereading Nora Robert’s’ _Bride Quartet_ which is near perfect light romance with some steam

Have you read her Dark Witch series? That was my first Nora Roberts and I only got into it because the magic element >.> the romance is predictable, but still good.

Currently finishing the first in Kingdom of the Wicked trilogy, I'll be going for books two and three after, then ACOTAR. As horrible as it might sound, I'm not all that interested in reading anything remotely close to real life at the moment.

 

[JennyCapricorn]

Have you read her Dark Witch series? That was my first Nora Roberts and I only got into it because the magic element >.> the romance is predictable, but still good.

Currently finishing the first in Kingdom of the Wicked trilogy, I'll be going for books two and three after, then ACOTAR. As horrible as it might sound, I'm not all that interested in reading anything remotely close to real life at the moment.

I generally steer clear of her books with strong fantasy/SF elements. I could handle the Irish Faerie trilogy and the Boonseboro Inn ghost but too much of it starts to wig me out.

As for not wanting to read anything too much like the real world: preach! I have the news for that.

 

[Massacre_]

I generally steer clear of her books with strong fantasy/SF elements. I could handle the Irish Faerie trilogy and the Boonseboro Inn ghost but too much of it starts to wig me out.

As for not wanting to read anything too much like the real world: preach! I have the news for that.

Is it just her books that you're opposed to the fantasy elements? Just curious!

 

[Desiree_Radcliffe]

I like to read the Stoics for that, like Marcus Aurelius.

As someone with a degree in philosophy, I find the Stoics very cringe. But they seem to be in fashion again, so I won't yuck on someone's yum.

 

[Desiree_Radcliffe]

To get into the realism vs. fantasy elements...

A huuuuuuuuuuuuge amount of what I read lately has been nonfiction. I actually picked up a cozy fantasy romance novel a few months ago. I tried to read it maybe five or six times, and just couldn't get into the narrative. For some reason I just don't have the attention span for novels anymore. I used to gobble them up, but I just can't sit through the narrative.

I am reading a book called Writing for Busy Readers right now, and I think the advice and the writing tips and such take me out of the real world for a moment. It's kind of nice to just sit and process facts. As a bonus, that book reads pretty fast, so I think I'll get done with it. I also am working my way through Stephen Fry's biography. I read bits of it at the end of the day at work, and I laugh aloud. He's such a fun stylist.

My problem, lately, is that I never commit to any book long enough to finish it. It might be because I am so starved for options. I have over 40 library books kicking around, here and there. Not to mention the books I actually bought when I had money, or acquired. Yay crappy concentration.

 

[drobert44]

As someone with a degree in philosophy, I find the Stoics very cringe. But they seem to be in fashion again, so I won't yuck on someone's yum.

Ha ha, why do you find them cringe? They help me accept things.

 

[JennyCapricorn]

Is it just her books that you're opposed to the fantasy elements? Just curious!

Oh I’m a huge. Nora Robert’s fan. I’m just not big on fantasy and I find its inclusion is often making the story too tense or weird for my escapism.

 

[13Fantasies]

I'm in the middle of THE WEALTH OF NATIONS. Important book, but not the easiest or most exhilarating read.

I have a growing list of books to be read in my basement, but I don't have the list handy. Probably a dozen or so that I need to read before Christmas and the next wave of new books arrive.