Punk Rock Anne of Green Gables

Jenn Northington Jan 13, 2022

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Amanda and Jenn discuss nostalgia reads, sapphic fantasy, nature writing, and more in this week’s episode of Get Booked.

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The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischvili (TW: war, addiction, loss of a pregnancy, violence and Nazis) (rec’d by Cat)

Questions

1. I read college applications for my job and I’ve been drowning in depressing essays about Covid and student’s traumas as deadlines are coming up. Thankfully I’m an avid reader and can use books to escape. I’m looking for warm and fuzzy recs – I’ve read a lot of the more well known ones and I’ve been listening to Get Booked for a while, so looking for maybe your less common warm and fuzzies you’d like to recommend, any genre is fine!

Loved House in the Cerulean Sea, hated The Midnight Library. No graphic novels please.

Thanks,

-Megan

2. My parents have just sold my childhood home, the house they’ve lived in for twenty years. I visited this weekend for the last time and am feeling all the nostalgia and sentimentality. It brings back a wave of memories of my family and friends, the people who made me who I am. This has made me want to read something that can share in these feelings and memories alongside of me. I’m looking for a book that is almost a reflection on childhood and adolescence, a reflection on the profound impact the early people in our lives hold. I want a book that takes me back to grass stained shorts and bare feet and first kisses but from the perspective of someone reflecting back and telling the story of their childhood/adolescence from a place of adulthood. I’m picturing a novel, but am open to other styles, memoirs, short stories, poetry. Just needing someone to share in these feels with me!

-Emily

3. Hi Ladies, Long time listener first timer requester. My grandpa recently passed away. I could not travel to the funeral because of travel restrictions. I realized that I knew very little about the story of his career. I knew that he was one of the pioneer/volunteer doctors that helped build the local medical system. I was wondering if there was any books about pioneering doctors at an under-developed region. Fantasy preferred if possible, otherwise it seemed too close to home. Thank you in advance!

-June

4. Firstly, I want to apologize for my terribly generic book request, but here it is. I’m looking for epic fantasy about queer women, with a heavy dose of romance. I recently read Priory of the Orange Tree and while I absolutely loved it, I do wish it had focused just a tad more on the queer romance. I’ve found some wlw fantasies, but they are all YA, and while I’ve given some a try, the truth is I just don’t jive with YA. I don’t have anything against the genre, and often the concepts really interest me, but I just rarely end up enjoying YA. Anyway, any sapphic epic fantasy recommendations would be much appreciated. I’m not even going to give a list of other fantasies I’ve liked because I don’t think I can afford to be picky. (P.S. I will also take a big, sci-fi space epic novel if you can’t think any queer fantasy recs)

-Anonymous

5. My pandemic reading has led me to Leave Only Footprints by Conor Knighton and The End of Night by Paul Bogard, which I have found myself listening to almost meditatively. I love the way that both are deeply personal while also being full of facts/expert opinions and make me want to experience nature in new ways without being prescriptive. What should I read (or preferably listen to!) next?

-Carol

6. Feel-good romps set in space. I’ve already read or have on my TBR: Becky Chambers, Space Opera, Once & Future (LOVED THIS), Chilling Effect

-Christina

7. Hi Amanda and Jenn! My book club is doing a Secret Santa and I need help picking out a book. She likes LGBT+ nonfiction, particularly if it’s LGBT+ history. She loved All the Young Men by Ruth Coker Burks. She’s also interested in biology nonfiction so it would be awesome if you could recommend a queer biology book! She’s a first year med school student and tends to power through a book in a weekend because she’s so busy. So something that has a good pace to it and isn’t dry would be ideal. Thank you for your help!

-Jennifer