Depression On the Moors

Jenn Northington Dec 1, 2016

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Amanda and Jenn discuss eerie books, mysteries, light-hearted reads and more in this week’s episode of Get Booked.

This week’s episode is sponsored by Searching for John Hughes by Jason Diamond and Playster.

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Questions

1. I live in the rainforests of Alaska and this is the time of year (rainy, foggy, chilly, dark) when I start craving a very particular kind of book (eerie, atmospheric, intellectually challenging, something that wrestles not with actual demons but big thematic questions).

I LOVED, LOVED LOVED Abby Geni’s The Lightkeepers. I also LOVED House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski. Another recent book I did enjoy was I’m Thinking of Leaving You. Marrow Island was good. (I also liked Bird Box worked in a pinch but don’t usually enjoy end of the world stuff.) Rachel Weaver’s Point of Direction was almost what I wanted.

I don’t like books where people make dumb choices…for example if you see a mishappened person carrying a body into the cellar of a abandoned mental hospital you don’t follow them all by yourself, you call 911! I also don’t really like books about bad people…I don’t want to be in the head of a serial killer or a rapist. I want basically good, normal people in eerie atmospheric in enigmatic situations trying to puzzle the situation out. Nothing overtly supernatural. No monsters. Not truly horrifying…just…eerie…atmospheric…dark pine branches against a gray sky feel…I know I’m being picky and what I am craving is very particular. But can you help!
Thank you!!
— Kara

2. I love to give books as gifts whenever possible. My daughter’s first grade class is putting together a “snow” themed gift basket and every family donates an item for the gift basket, which will eventually be raffled off at a parent fundraiser event. Do you have an idea for a winter- or snow-related book that I could donate for this basket. I did a quick google search about this topic and I couldn’t find very many suggestions. The books could be for kids or parents. I already thought of Little House Winter (for kids) but I just can’t find something equally as theme-related for the adults. Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated.

We’ll be filling the basket by mid October, but I am interested in your recommendations… even if it’s too late to submit a book for the basket.

Thanks so much
–Mindy

3. Hello, I read across all genres but mysteries are my first love. Lately, I have been devouring suspenseful mysteries. I especially like books told in alternating points of view like Girl On A Train by Paula Hawkins. I also like mysteries that alternate between past and present like Looking For Elizabeth by Emma Healey or The Daughter by Jane Shemilt. If you could recommend some books like the ones mentioned above that would be great.

Waiting with baited breath,
–Joan

4. Hello ladies,
I am going through a bout of depression right now (don’t worry…I am seeing a doctor and a therapist). I am looking for lighthearted, delightful reads. I am not necessarily looking for humor books. I love fictional and nonfictional books equally.
Thank for all the awesome work you do!
–Christina

5. I need a book that I can obtain and read before Channukah (long story). I’m looking for books that combat cisnormativity simply by refusing to partake in it. Do you know of any books in which the main character is trans, but their gender is more or less irrelevant to the plot? I just want to see a trans person being a bad ass and not constantly battling ignorant people. I read pretty much everything except for romance. Also, I LOVE THIS PODCAST.

Thanks so much,
–Ruth

6. I recently read Ragtime and became fascinated by the Turn of the Century in America setting. The manic patriotism, the industrial largess, and the seeming social contentment with an underworking of horrible living conditions for marginalized groups. Any recommendations on other books that explore this time period in the U.S. would be great, fiction or non fiction is fine as long as it captures that time captivatingly.
–PJ

Books Discussed

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

The Unicorn by Iris Murdoch

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (Southern Reach series)

Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich

Christmas Days by Jeanette Winterson

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson

Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris

The Girl Before by Rena Olsen

How to Be a Good Wife by Emma Chapman

Laura by Vera Caspary