So you just finished The Circus of the Damned. The next book in the series is The Lunatic Cafe. You can look up your favorite authors on fantasticfiction.com to get their books listed in order. Enjoy!
2. What have I read recently? Well, I just finished this great book by Barbara Kingsolver, Prodigal Summer. I really liked the way it was written, you know, the way she used language. I wouldn't mind something a bit faster paced though.
You might try The Orchardist by Amanda Coplan–Novelist.com describes it as lyrical, same as Barbara Kingsolver, but it’s also described as “compelling,” so may be the page-turner you’re looking for.
Another lyrical writer, Richard Powers, wrote a great book called The Overstory, which you might want to try if you also appreciated Kingsolver’s “green” message–it features a lot of different characters and has an exciting ending.
3. I like reading books set in different countries. I just read one set in China, could you help me find one set in Japan? No, not modern – historical. I like it when the author describes it so much it feels like I was there!
I can personally recommend Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. It’s about a girl sold into slavery in the 1920’s in Japan who becomes a famous geisha.
You might also like Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. It’s about a family in Japan-occupied Korea in the early 1900’s who move to Japan. It’s long and has a lot of characters, but I found it really compelling.
4. I read this great mystery by Elizabeth George called Well-Schooled in Murder and I loved it. Then my dentist said that if I liked mysteries I would probably like John Sandford, but boy was he creepy I couldn't finish it! Do you have any suggestions?
Have you read anything by Louise Penny? Still Life is the first in her Inspector Gamache series. The stories are set in a small village in Canada, the characters are three dimensional, and Novelist describes both authors as “lyrical” writers.
P.D. James’s Inspector Dalgliesh novels are similar to Elizabeth George’s work: both are set in England with fleshed-out detectives. The first one in the series, Cover Her Face, is from 1962!
5. My husband has really gotten into zombies lately. He’s already read The Walking Dead and World War Z, is there anything else you can recommend?
How about Colson Whitehead’s Zone One? It’s about rebuilding civilization while fighting the last of the zombies in Manhattan.
He might also enjoy The Living Dead, it’s a collection of zombie-themed short stories by different authors including Clive Barker, Laurell K. Hamilton, Stephen King, and Neil Gaiman.
6. I love books that get turned into movies, especially literary ones. Can you recommend some? Nothing too old, maybe just those from the last 5 years or so.
Coming soon to theaters is a book I enjoyed, Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus, which is about a female chemist in the 60’s who ends up hosting a cooking show. It was funny, infuriating, and hard to put down.
Using novelist.com, I found three other recent books-to-movies:
You might like Normal People by Sally Rooney, about a popular boy and a shy girl who are secret friends and whose roles get reversed when they go to college in Dublin.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens was made into a movie not too long ago. It’s about a hermit girl who is accused of murder in the marshes of North Carolina in the 1960’s.
Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner is about a marriage falling apart, but the character studies and tone are, according to novelist.com, “sardonic.”
7. I love thrillers but I hate foul language and sex scenes. I want something clean and fast paced.
I found a couple of recommendations on a Goodreads discussion that you might want to try:
Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons is the first in the Robert Langdon series, where a religion professor is called in to help solve a murder that may involve the illuminati. Novelist describes Dan Brown’s books as fast-paced, suspenseful, and plot-driven.
Michael Crichton’s books are action-packed and richly detailed. Some are more adventure than thriller–an oldie, but I recommend Jurassic Park. I found the science fiction angle interesting as well as thrilling.
Second, after you get a chance to do the readings, I want to hear about how you find books to read. It could be a site or a resource you've just discovered or one you've used for years, one you use for yourself or for your patrons or family and friends. It could even be the New York Times or Tiktok!
My best resource for good books is my mom! After that, I do tend to judge a book by its cover, at least I start with whether the cover and title are intriguing, then read the book jacket. I listen to NPR review books, and come across book reviews when browsing online. I have used Novelist to find new authors I might like. I rely heavily on Novelist to make recommendations to patrons and friends.
