Love Shapes

Jenn Northington Jun 22, 2017

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Amanda and Jenn discuss under the radar favorites, witchy reads, beautiful prose, and more in this week’s episode of Get Booked.

This episode is sponsored by OwlCrate, The Assignment (Lessons in Control series) by Jade A. Waters, and Ploughshares.

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The show can also be found on Stitcher here.

Questions

1. My husband and I are venturing to Montreal, Quebec this summer and I find myself questioning if I have ever read a book set in Canada let alone Quebec or Montreal. I am looking for an engrossing book to take with me on the trip and would love your help finding something set in Canada or more specifically Quebec or Montreal. I will read just about anything but tend towards fiction, and this summer especially mystery and other page turnery type novels.

Thank you in advance!
–Abby

2. Hello Bookriot!

As part of my reading goals, I am trying to read more diversely, so I decided to try and mirror America’s racial dynamics in this year’s 100 books (12% African American, 16% Hispanic/Latino, 5% Asian American, etc.)

So far I’ve read some fantastic classics – Beloved, The Color Purple, etc., but it’s been a bit of a struggle to find books in my favorite genres. I read almost exclusively science fiction and science nonfiction, which are both dominated by white male authors. Do you have any suggestions for science fiction or nonfiction by non-white authors? I’d especially like to hear about some Hispanic/Latino authors, which I have been especially struggling to find.

Thank you!
–Tia

3. I am looking for books for my 12 year old son. He used to be a ‘reader’ but he now he is only obsessed with playing video games. He loves all the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and I have tried giving him books that have to do with video games like Ready Player One and Ender’s Game. He started reading Ready Player One and he really liked it but he said it only makes him want to play more video games. He is very interested in History and Politics. He bought a History book just to read on his own and he watches the news and presidential debates. Can you recommend any books that will appeal to him? Thank you!
–Denise

4. I recently looked at my daughter’s reading list for school and noticed very few had female protagonists- and this is something my daughter has complained about before. She’s in the fifth grade and an avid reader, but she keeps getting recommended and given books with male main characters. As a middle aged man children’s books aren’t admittedly in my wheelhouse, but I want to give my daughter books with strong female characters. Her favorite books are Harry Potter (obviously), Peter Pan, and The Once and Future King. She loves fantasy and adventure stories, and goes crazy over anything with witches. A friend recently gave her The Sisters Grimm and she finished all ten books within the month. She reads at a fairly high reading level (she recently read The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and all three Lord of the Ring books) so I’m not afraid of giving her something a bit more difficult to read, but I would like to give her some fun children’s books.
Thanks for the help- your show is wonderful and I look forward to hearing your recommendations.
–Adam

5. Hello Jenn and Amanda,

I would like to start by saying that I adore this podcast and I look forward to it every week so thank you for that 🙂 Now on to my question:

I have a YouTube channel called Under The Radar Books and I am always looking for books that are lesser known. I tend to read mostly literary fiction, but I am open to all kinds of genres. Some of my favorite ‘under the radar’ books are Bones & All by Camille DeAngelis and In The Mean Time by Paul Tremblay. I am hoping you guys can recommend some books that you think are extremely underhyped but wonderful.

Thank you in advance! I cannot wait to see what you come up with 🙂

–Brittany

6. I recently read Coffin Hill because it was recommended on this show, and I loved it. It didn’t just remind me of my love of witches, but also family heritage/curses. Do you know of any good supernatural books that involve old families, and magic, and maybe curses?
I look forward to hearing your recommendations!
–Maggie

7. Hello! I’m a huge, huge fan of the show and I thought maybe you could help me with a problem I’ve been having, even though it isn’t the most straightforward of questions. I would like to know what are some contemporary authors you would recommend based solely on their writing style. I’ve read mostly classics for ages and I’m afraid I’m missing out on a lot of good stuff. One of the things I like most in a book is unique and beautiful writing, so: where can I find that in contemporary lit? I’m sure it’s everywhere, I just don’t know where to look and could use some guiding. I know it’s a vague question, sorry for that and thank you in advance!
–Liliana

8. Hi! I love the show (and have compiled a massive TBR list, thanks).

I find I’ve been having a hard time really enjoying YA like I used to. It’s not that I’m older (although I am); it’s because I find I now get annoyed by love shapes–triangles and squares where the heroine has all these men vying for her affection. Can you recommend any YA books that don’t have love shapes? I usually like a bit of romance, but maybe just one-on-one relationships or keeping the romance way off to the side of the plot would help. Or possibly the solution is reading a YA that has no romance.

Some YA books that I love:
– A Girl of Fire and Thorns series
– The Raven Boys series
– The Mediator series (old, I know, but still a fav)

Thanks for your help!

Books Discussed

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Death Going Down by María Angélica Bosco

All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews

Bone & Bread by Saleema Nawaz

I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong

Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

Zeroboxer by Fonda Lee

Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac