Definitely Pirates and a Lot of Opium

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Amanda and Jenn discuss steampunk, Native American authors, and great series on this week’s episode of Get Booked!

This episode is sponsored by Madison Reed and Swoon Reads.

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The show can also be found on Stitcher here.

 

Questions

 

1. Hi Amanda,

I would like to try out a SteamPunk novel.  I would like something accessible, perhaps a little more realistic than fantastical and I love YA.  It is unlikely that I will be reading much in this genre in the future, so if you could recommend a favorite for me to explore SteamPunk, I would be grateful.  I am in my 50s and do not usually enjoy books that are more than about 350 pages.

Thank you for all that you do for us fellow readers.
Monica

 

2. Hi ladies,

I know it will take a while to get to this, so I want to get it in early. For 2017, my reading goal is going to be to read mostly internationally or, if authors in the US, only diverse authors. Being a straight white American female, I want to go completely outside of my personal experience for a while, and books are the best way I’ve found to put myself in other people’s shoes.

One category I want to read but have no idea where to start is Native American authors and experience. I would appreciate both non-fiction and fiction titles. The only authors I know of off the top of my head are Sherman Alexie and Louise Erdrich. Can you point me toward some other good history and fiction so I can learn more about the indigenous peoples of North America?

Thank you!
–Jaimie

 

3. Hi,

My sister is going on a trip to New Zealand in December & has a birthday coming up in November. So I was hoping to get her a few books set in New Zealand. Can you recommend some – fiction or non-fiction. She reads everything.

Thanks,
–Nanditha

 

4. Hi Amanda and Jenn,

I have a long trip coming up that I am taking with my girlfriends. It’s been a tough year and I want to get away, have an adventure and take care of some things.

One of the places I am going to is Cairo, Egypt.

If you could please recommend books to read in Egypt, either about the history or someone travelling through Egypt, that would be great. I am okay with either fiction or non-fiction recommendations, but I don’t want it to be serious. Something lighthearted will do, if there is such a thing.

Also, If you have lighthearted, even funny books about traveling adventures, that would be a bonus as well.
Thank you so much and love the podcast!

I leave November 5th, so recommendations before that would be great!

–Maymuna

 

5. I recently read the Bronte Plot and really enjoyed it’s book-ish-ness.  I’m looking for other titles of books set in or around bookshops with an extra keen interest on books in the UK.
Thanks,
–Janey

 

6. Hello!  I love the podcast, and I look forward to it all week!

I wrote in asking for a recommendation before the show started, but I haven’t heard my question, so I thought I would submit it again in case it was lost in the shuffle.  I hope that’s not a problem.

I’m looking for ideas of a series of books to read.  I love to read, and I read quite a bit.  The problem is I hate looking for new books.  I would love to get started in a new series that could last quite awhile.  I tend to read fairly widely, but I’m not a huge fan of sci-fi.  For the right books, I would read pretty much any genre though.

Thanks!

–Casey

 

Books Discussed

 

Everfair by Nisi Shawl

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

Half-Made World by Felix Gilman

Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko

One Native Life by Richard Wagamese

https://www.firstnations.org/books

Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog

House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield

The Bone People by Keri Hulme

Come On Shore and We Will Kill You and Eat You All by Christina Thompson

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff

The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz

Eight Feet in the Andes by Dervla Murphy

Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters

Naguib Mahfouz’s Cairo Trilogy

The 13th Tale by Diane Setterfield

Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores by Jen Campbell

The King’s English by Betsy Burton

Cloudy With a Chance of Marriage by Kieran Kramer

Flavia DeLuce series by Alan Bradley (The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie)

Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn (The Duke and I)

Dublin Murder Squad series by Tana French (In the Woods #1)

Codex Alera by Jim Butcher (Furies of Calderon #1)