You’ll Get Plenty Of Snark

Jenn Northington Jun 3, 2021

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Amanda and Jenn discuss cuddly YA books, friendships in fiction, nonfiction for LGBTQ+ allies, and more in this week’s episode of Get Booked.

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Nervermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow (rec’d by Summer)

The Emporium trilogy: Furyborn by Claire Legrand

Rurouni Kenshi (manga) by Nobuhiro Watsuki; Moribito by Nahoko Uehashi; Keigo Higashino, Malice; Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen; Hiromi Kawakami, Nakano Thrift Shop (rec’d by Kelly)

Questions

1. Thank you for putting together such a great podcast! I listen to it every week. I am writing because my boyfriend and I are both avid readers and we want to read something together. The problem is we read very different genres.

He likes historical books and books about leadership. Some of his favorite books are Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, Atomic Habits by James Clear, and Think Again by Adam Grant. I like romance, fantasy, and literary fiction. I am open to reading nonfiction but it’s kind of hit and miss for me. I got an ARC of Miseducated by Brandon P. Fleming and I really liked that. I’d be open to reading a self-improvement book with him because I think that might fit the bill.

Some of my absolute favorite books are The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin, Beach Read by Emily Henry, and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab.

Thank you!

-Jessica

2. I am in desperate need of some book recommendations. I’m usually a really big reader, but I’ve been in a bit of a slump lately and am hoping that you can help me. Problem is, I don’t really know what I’m looking for. I’m a teenager, so YA, and I really enjoy cuddly romance (I don’t like pining so the sooner the couple gets together the better) but I don’t like books that have romance as the whole plot (also, the romance doesn’t have to be male/female). I also like 1920s detective stories, sci-fi with ensemble casts, Good Omens-type books, and epic questing stories. I only ask that: it’s not SUPER heavy/dark, there is minimal pining, it isn’t a comic or graphic novel, and it is something that will hold an average teen’s attention past the first few chapters. And has a snarky side character that isn’t a human.

Thanks a million!

-Quinn

3. Thanks for a great podcast! I graduated college six years ago and find that the friendships I formed then remain my most intense to this day. I’m in close touch with these friends, but, as an international student who moved back to Europe after finishing my degree, have seen some of them in person only once or twice after graduation and others not at all. The nostalgia for the days when I could just knock on their dorm room doors is real!

Can you recommend books that capture the tight-knit nature of friendships formed during a formative period in one’s life in close quarters? Please nothing about friendships buckling under the stresses of adult life; as I say, we’re still close. I’m just looking for a comforting, intelligent read for moments when I particularly miss my friends.

-Luisa

4. Hey y’all,

I want to get my Dad a book for Father’s Day that we can both read and discuss. He can be a bit of an *old white man,* and I’m looking for something that casually centers a non-white, non-Western culture and preferably has some strong female characters. He primarily reads Jack Reacher-style thrillers and the occasional high/epic fantasy when it falls in his lap (generally of the LOTR variety, basically still just about problematic white male Europeans). The Poppy War by RF Kuang is closest thing I know of to what I’m looking for but I’m hoping to find something I haven’t read before. I hope that the book can generate some conversation/thought about social justice issues today, but please don’t make me talk about explicit sex stuff with my Dad…

-Caroline

5. Hey Book Riot! I wonder if you have any recommendations for a non-fiction (or fiction?) book for LGBTQ+ community allies? As in… I want to be able to explain things better if I get into an argument with a conservatively thinking person. Thank you! 🙂

-Vera

6. I’m on a kick of loving books that examine the alternate histories of the forks of personal choices. I’ve read The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano, The Midnight Library, and Rodham lately. Can you recommend others with that road-not-taken angle?

-Brooke

7. I just found out my kid got into this great magnet school and will be starting kindergarten there in August. It’s incredibly diverse both economically and racially. I’m so excited about this opportunity for my kid and for me to hopefully befriend people different from us. I’m also aware of how my social skills are pretty lacking and wondered if some fiction around this type of situation might help. Do you have any recommendations for me?

-Brooke