Homer and Flathead Screwdrivers

Jenn Northington Mar 8, 2018

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Amanda and Jenn discuss Korean fiction, Central American authors, fluffy audiobooks, and more in this week’s episode of Get Booked.

This episode is sponsored by Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao and Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi.

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Questions

1. Hello Get Booked friends! I would love some book recommendations for books written by Korean authors or about Korea. I recently read The Vegetarian by Han Kang and The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson and realized that I do not know very much about Korean culture and history. I loved the cultural side notes that were included about Japan in Ozeki’s Tale for the Time Being and would enjoy something like that, but about Korea. I am open to fiction or non-fiction and historical or contemporary works.
–Sally

2. First, I just wanted to give Amanda a huge thank you for recommending Captive Prince! I’ve heard you recommend it a few times before, but I just never got around to reading it. After hearing you recommend it a few weeks ago I finally decided to pick it up from the library. Suffice it to say, I think this is the book I’ve been looking for all my life and I finished the series in three days.

I’d love to know if there are any read-alikes out there? The Captive Prince series checked almost all of my boxes. M/M relationships are strongly preferred and no need to worry about trigger warnings for me. I’ve already read and loved Amberlough. I’ve also read The Magpie Lord, but only thought it was ok.

Thanks again for the Captive Prince recommend!
–Kevin

3. Coming off Black History Month I need help. I listened to The Bone Tree, read Brown Girl Dreaming, and read Invisible Man. Also read Banthology. These were all great esp, Brown Girl Dreaming. My request….I have noticed as with Homegoing, several of the books by people of color are very mentally heavy when reading one after the other. Justifiably so. I am looking for a female voice, mid 20-40’s, lyrical, fun, a bit biting, with her girls with a story to tell. Something almost musical. I don’t want YA. Something where the setting even plays a part. Got anything?
–Michele

4. I know this is really last minute and I have no idea if you’ll be able to help me, but I am really stuck. I am supposed to be getting a book for someone who I don’t know based on their “reading” profile. They said they like autobiographies, especially ones related to travel and sports and that they are looking to get into self help books. They also mentioned that their favorite books are The Last Lecture, Mud Sweat and Tears and 1000 Days of Spring. They have a completely different reading taste to mine, so I am really out of my depth and hoping you could help. Thanks in advance and I LOVE the show!
–Marija

5. Greetings! My husband and I are going on the trip of a lifetime during the month of April. We will be traveling through the Panama Canal and stopping at all the Central American countries except El Salvador. We will also be making 3 stops in Mexico and Cartegena, Colombia. I’m looking for literary fiction novels that take place in Central America (rather than Mexico or South America.) No short stories, please! Here are some books that I’ve read or are familiar with. (None of them take place in Central America, but you get the idea!):

The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vasquez
Like Water for Chocolate
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents
Anything by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Thanks!
–April

6. For about a year now I’ve been listening to podcasts (mostly Book Riot ones) at work. I haven’t quite found enough to fill all my hours, but I find I prefer listening to talking over music. To fill the gaps, I tried turning to audiobooks. (Libby is the best.) My typical fare is heavily Sci Fi and Fantasy, but I was finding them a little too complicated to follow while working – so I tried YA (another love of mine) and it was still too important that I caught every detail. After that I tried nonfiction, but kept finding things that were either too dry on audio so it became basically white noise, or super depressing.

TL:DR can you help me find books that are A) on audio, B) light in subject matter (as a grad student in my “free time” I spend a lot of time stressed out and would like my audiobooks to be a break from that), and C) simple enough that I can still follow even if I get a little distracted by a more-complicated-than-usual problem at work? Something like a cozy mystery or a fluffy romance (like Austenland?) might be good, but I don’t know where to start. Bonus points for SF/F flavors, but they’re not necessary, and extra bonus points for diversity of any kind, which I feel like I don’t get enough of.

Already read: Sarah Maclean, and Tessa Dare. Also, I used to love Lillian Jackson Braun’s The Cat Who series, but have not kept up with the latest in cozy mystery good stuff.

Thanks in advance! I love the show – a part of me wishes I could just fill all of my weekly hours with listening to Get Booked, but I imagine that would be very tiring for you.
–Anne

7. Hi Amanda and Jenn,

I’m in dire need of help! ! I’m going through a major life transition and I’ve found that the books that I would normally turn to don’t seem to work anymore. I would like some recommendations of memoirs, nonfiction, or fiction that feature strong women who have made radical changes to their lives.

Thank you!
–Daniela

Books Discussed

Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan by Ruby Lal (July 2018)

Salt Houses by Hala Alyan

The Fact of a Body by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich

While the City Slept by Eli Sanders

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo

I’ll Be Right There by Kyung-Sook Shin, translated by Sora Kim-Russell

The Calligrapher’s Daughter by Eugenia Kim

Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson

Valdemar: Last Herald Mage series (Magic’s Pawn #1) trigger warnings for rape, child abuse, suicide

The Sisterhood of Blackberry Corner by Andrea Smith