Big Delia’s Feelings

Jenn Northington Apr 1, 2021

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Amanda and Jenn discuss more nonfiction for book clubs, magical horses, novels set in Morocco, and more in this week’s episode of Get Booked.

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Questions

1. I need some help finding a non-fiction book for my book club. We try to alternate between fiction and non fiction and every month we try to pick something from a genre we haven’t read before. The past 2 books that were big nonfiction hits were Hollywood Park by Mikel Jollett and Infused: Adventures in Tea by Henrietta Lovell.

Preferences:

(1)Would prefer the book be by a BIPOC or LGBTQIA+ author

(2)Would prefer a fairly recently published book as we have found that books more than 3 years are harder to find in the quantity we need at the local library (we have a pretty big group). Sometimes even the newer ones are hard to get in quantity which is unfortunate because I really wanted my group to read Disability Visibility which was amazing and I credit you two with helping me find that particular gem.

Any help you can give would be deeply appreciated. Love your show, please keep up the good work! The bookriot podcasts are the only reason I manage to get to work semi-awake in the mornings.

Thanks!

-Jen

2. Recently I’ve found myself reading a lot of books that span a large number of years and include aging/the circle of life as a semi-major component (ex. just finished Vanishing Half). However, with not seeing my family for far too long and grappling with living as an adult on my own for the first time and my grandparents minutes away from death (sorry to unload it’s been one of those pandemics), these books have been giving me bad existential feelings. What I’m looking for is the antithesis to this, the books that take place in the shortest amount of time you know – a week, a day, an hour if possible. No births, deaths, or major life transitions, please. Basically anything that will make me feel like I, too, can freeze my life in a singular moment in time. Any genre is fine, love the show, thanks for all your work! 🙂

-Anonymous

3. This is super long you don’t have to read it all. I am not caught up on the show yet, but I started listening to this show and the Book Riot Podcast both from the beginning at the beginning of quarantine. I’m now almost caught up on this show, so yay for that!

I’m 22 and have been in a relationship with my current bf for almost 3 years. We moved in together in September. Things were great until a few months ago (no abuse, don’t worry, he just seems distant). I’ve also noticed a few things not so okay about our relationship, like how he criticizes my mom often or puts his pet’s needs before mine. Like I said, everything was great until a few months ago. I tried to ask him if something has changed/bring up the fact that he hardly initiates any physical contact anymore, but he was like “everything is the same.” I kind of wanted him to say “COVID is stressing me out,” because then it’s not his fault and I can’t blame him for a global pandemic. I explained a lot to my mom and she said “you deserve better.”

However, I started law school back in the fall and have met a bunch of people online. I made friends with this guy who recently got out of a relationship too. He’s really attractive and also so nice to me and I don’t know if I’m just crushing on him because I am not getting the attention I deserve in my current relationship or because there’s actually something there. Am I just into him because I’ve always been a huge fan of the friends-to-lovers trope? I don’t know.

Either way, please suggest me books that will help me figure this out. Maybe books about potential breakups? Books about finding someone new and realizing that you already have what you need? or that you don’t? Anything please. Some caveats: I don’t really read much genre. Mainly historical fiction and lit fic. I do read romance, but only if romance books with illustrated covers. Please don’t ask why, I don’t know. Bonus points for CanLit and Franco-Canadian representation.

Thanks for being my therapists? I don’t know. Just help. Please.

-Emilie

4. I loved A Paris Apartment by Michelle Gable. I would love to find another similar book about an unraveling of a story of a significant place or thing in a historic context. I have no preference of what timeframe the story unravels in or genre. I am looking for a compelling story that is well researched and has real character development.

-Helen

5. Hi! Love the podcast, you have been getting me through working from home 🙂 I realised I have never (to my bad memory’s knowledge) read a book set in Morocco and that is where my family are originally are from. I would love to read something fictional set in Morocco, any genre is fine except horror as i too have a low threshold for reading scary books. Own voices would be great but I’m kind of open to anything that feels like I’m visiting the homeland while I’m not able to actually go. Thank you so much in advance

-Safia

6. I am working on putting together my list for the Read Harder Challenge and am stuck on prompt 17: own voices YA with a Black protagonist that is not about Black pain. Most of the books I’ve seen recommended for this prompt use romance as a main plot point but as someone who identifies as aro-ace I’d like to read about teenagers finding joy in their friendships rather than romantic relationships. Do you have any recommendations for books to fit this prompt that center friendship? Please not “Let’s Talk About Love” by Claire Kann. Thank you!

-Marie

7. Short version of this question is, do you have any read alikes for the Scorpio Races?

To go into a smidge more detail, as a kid, I was obsessed with horse books. The Black Stallion, Misty of Chincoteague, etc. As an adult, I read mostly fantasy. The Scorpio Races is a horse book like something Walter Farley would write, only (most of) the horses are monster water-horses akin to kelpies. It’s a fantasy horse book! My mind exploded!

I am seeking something similar. I don’t care about the setting (real world with magic vs secondary world etc) but I do want it to FEEL like a horse book (ie not just a book that happens to have horses in it, but one where caring for them is at the core of the book). Also, magical horses are great, monster horses are welcome, but no talking horses, please!

-Magical Horse Girl