East of Eden With Less Plot

Jenn Northington Apr 12, 2018

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Amanda and Jenn discuss the Tudors, feminism, audiobooks and more in this week’s episode of Get Booked.

This episode is sponsored by My Lady’s Choosing: An Interactive Romance Novel by Larissa Zageris and Kitty Curran, published by Quirk Books, and Book Riot Insiders.

You can enter our mystery giveaway at bookriot.com/mysterygiveaway.

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The show can also be found on Stitcher here.

Questions

1. Help! I cannot find scifi/ fantasy short stories on audio! I listened to your podcast a few weeks ago on short stories and I tried to find The Merry Spinster, Tender, and the Best American Sci/fi/fantasy, none of which are on audio. All I can find are Neil Gaiman and Ken Liu 🙁 I would love to introduce short stories to my scifi/fantasy book club but I, personally, need an audiobook.
–Jeanne

2. I’m spending all of May traipsing through various European cities (namely: London, Edinburgh, Berlin, Rome, and Paris) and am looking for something that talks to / is about / brings up the vibe of walking through European cities, getting off the beaten path (i.e. going where tourists don’t go), and just generally living in or exploring these cities. Can you tell that I can’t wait to get on that plane and start my vacation already?! I’m thinking something with the vibe of Lauren Elkin’s “Flaneuse” and Hemingway’s “A Moveable Feast”, so I’m also happy to have a bit of history involved. Open to any genre, except maybe true crime since I’ll be traveling on my own some of the time and maybe don’t want to be too freaked out to go out at night? Can’t wait to hear what you come up with, and thank you so much!
–Rae

3. I’m traveling to Wales in May for a two-week study abroad program as part of my creative writing MFA. Other than Dylan Thomas, what should I read to set the mood?

The only Welsh book I can remember reading is Among Others by Jo Walton, which I loved. I’d especially be interested in anything with passages about Wales’ natural beauty and anything about sheep and the wool trade, as I’m also a knitter. Folk stories might be fun, and I’m open to poetry as well.

Thanks so much!
–Celeste

4. Hi! I’d like to get my mother-in-law a book for her birthday. She likes non-fiction british history, esp the Tudor period. She had read some historical fiction from this era, but really prefers non-fiction. She has read so much of this particular genre, so I was thinking it should be fairly new. Any suggestions?
Thanks
–Kristin

5. I’m hoping you can help me with a dilemma I’m having. Recent events have inspired me to read more about feminism and books with feminist themes. I’m also a stay at home mom to three kids under the age of five (including twin boys, fist bump). I guess what I’m trying to say is, I have a difficult time reconciling feminist ideology with the amount of time I spend making sandwiches. This is a choice I made and I have a supportive, equal parenting partner in my husband, but I just can’t help wondering if I’m selling out somehow. I’d love book recommendations that can help me navigate this. Thank you so much!
–Jessica

6. Hey Get Booked!

I’ve been getting rly frustrated recently w/ mlm bks stories written by women. Maybe it’s too much fanfiction, which is entirely possible, but either way — I’d love some gay books by gay male-identifying authors. Specifically: romances. With sex. That, hopefully, being written by men from the community, isn’t fetishized. Preferably low on angst? I rly hope y’all can find me some good bks bc I’m finding google impossible.

Thanks so much for your time!!!
–Adris

7. My last “re-reading” of Sherlock Holmes stories was on audio. Listening on audio made me more aware of different aspects of the stories, including Doyle’s use of extended storytelling in many different voices beyond Holmes and Watson (e.g. witnesses, clients). Can you think of any more books that are just crying out to be “re-read” in audio? This can be due to the nature of the book or because of a particular audio performance. I lean towards literary fiction and crime fiction.

Thanks,
–Mark

Books Discussed

The Citadel of Weeping Pearls by Aliette De Bodard (part of Xuya universe)

The Electric Woman by Tessa Fontaine

Changing Heaven by Jane Urquhart

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

Get In Trouble by Kelly Link

An Englishman in Madrid by Eduardo Mendoza, translated by Nick Caistor

A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit

How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn

The Grey King by Susan Cooper

Crown of Blood by Nicola Tallis