Recommending books is like revealing your newly discovered worlds where books play role of opening keys to one magical place after another. A blogger from A Thorne of Books asked her BookLikes friends to show her their favorite bookish words with a list of 60 book categories/themes, all waiting to be filled up with literary keys to finally create a Master Reading List. We love visiting new literary lands so we've gathered some of the recommendations she received.
Also, if you'd like to add your own recommendations, recommend away! Create a post and tag it with recommend away (a full list of categories to fill up is listed below).
It started all here:
So I'm always looking for books to read. Below I think I'm going to list some different categories and feel free to recommend any number of books for that category. I was going to make a limit of 1-3 but I'm not going to complain when given more awesome books to check out! :D Seriously it's going to be a ton of categories so just pick and choose the ones you have awesome recommendations in. If a book you recommend fits multiple categories feel free to list it again. Please and thank you, also don't bother trying to pick things you think I would like. I have very varied tastes so I'm sure some of your recommendations will make it to my TBR... read more
And here's what happened later:
Recommendations from book bloggers:
- Favorite books in all categories: The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman - I know you've heard it before but I can't recommend this book enough!
- Start to a series: Dissolution by C.J. Sansom
- By an author who's written over 5 books total: The White Hawk (I): Revenge by David Pilling
- That you paid over $15 for (and was worth every penny): A King's Ransom by Sharon Kay Penman
Read full list of book recommendations on Carpe Librum's blog->
- Male Main Character: Memories by Mike McQuay
- Female Main Character: Nazareth Hill by Ramsey Campbell
- Retelling of another story: Grendel by John Gardner
- Book with a Gorgeous Cover: The Steerswoman's Road by Rosemary Kirstein
Read full list of book recommendations on Tigus's blog->
- Non-fiction: we could be here all week, as I read a lot of it: Eiffel's Tower: And the World's Fair Where Buffalo Bill Beguiled Paris, the Artists Quarreled, and Thomas Edison Became a Count by Jill Jonnes
- Middle grade novel: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
- Includes sword/knife fighting: A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab
- Something mysterious is afoot: Sabriel by Garth Nix
Read full list of book recommendations on Susanna's blog->
- Realistic Fiction: Precious (Push) by Sapphire
- Dystopia: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
- Time Travel: Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
- Books with murder in them: The Murder Room by P.D. James
Read full list of book recommendations on The Fish Place's blog->
- Featuring an assassin: A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel
- In a world with Dragons: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Male Main Character: The Martian by Andy Weir, Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Read full list of book recommendations on Lillelara's blog->
Retelling of another story: Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
Debut book of any author: Soulless by Gail Carriger
Memoir: Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
Favorite incomplete series by you or yet not finished by author: Overwinter by David Wellington
Read full list of book recommendations on Midu Reads' blog->
Libromancer's Apprentice recommends:
- Elf or Dwarf Main character: The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
- A long book (Let's say at least 450 pages minimum): The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
- Young Adult book in general: Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
- Adult book in general: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Read full list of book recommendations on Libromancer's Apprentice's blog->
Lora's Rants and Reviews recommends:
Sci-fi in general: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Paranormal Main Character: Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice
Horror: High Moor by Graeme Reynolds
Set in a time of war (real or fictional): Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Read full list of book recommendations onLora's Rants and Reviews' blog->
- A Good Zombie Book - Breathers: A Zombie's Lament by S.G. Browne
- A love story - Persuasion by Jane Austen
- Set in space - The Paradox Trilogy by Rachel Bach
- Multiple POV - The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Read full list of book recommendations on The Open Book's blog->
Join the ride and add your recommendations!
Here's a full list of categories for your recommendation book list, make sure to tag your post with recommend away to make it searchable for other bloggers and readers, you can also add your list in the comments below.
A Throne of Books recommendation list:
1. Favorite books in all categories
2. Start to a series
3. By an author who's written over 5 books total
4. Classic Literature
5. Banned Books
6. Featuring an assassin
7. In a world with Dragons
8. Male Main Character
9. Female Main Character
10. Retelling of another story
...
I was leaving my house when I noticed a pile of books in the wrong place. These were offending my eye, but as I moved them, I noticed the one on the top of the pile…Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope.
‘Have you read this?’ I asked my son.
‘Yes, when it first came out.’
‘Is it any good?’
‘Well, let’s put it like this,’ said Joe. ‘He can string a sentence together, which is more than you can say for the previous incumbent. You can borrow it if you want.’
Suddenly, I’m reading non-fiction by the barrowload. I’ve never gone for it before…never enjoyed autobiography, narrative non-fiction, personal essays, very rarely picked up a biography. And I still maintain that you can’t beat a novel if you want your reader to remember what you want to tell them and be moved at the same time. But I’m learning more about American politics from this book than I probably previously cared to know, and at every turn of page, I am both informed and moved.
Obama’s voice takes my breath away…
But the years take have also taken their toll. Some of it was just a function of my getting older, I suppose, for if you are paying attention, each successive year will make you more intimately acquainted with all of your flaws – the blind spots, the recurring habits of thought that may be genetic or may be environmental, but that will almost certainly worsen with time, as surely as the hitch in your walk turns to pain in your hip. In me, one of those flaws had proven to be a chronic restlessness; an inability to appreciate, no matter how well things were going, those blessings that were right there in front of me. It’s a flaw that is endemic to modern life, I think – endemic, too, in the American character – and one that is nowhere more evident than in the field of politics. Whether politics actually encourages the trait or simply attracts those who possess it is unclear. Someone once said that every man is trying to either live up to his father’s expectations or make up for his father’s mistakes and I suppose that may explain my particular malady as well as anything else…
This is a powerful voice…confident, intimate, distinct. It makes me feel, not that I’m reading the words, but that two easy chairs have been pulled close, one for me, one for the writer, and coffee (or maybe in this case bourbon), is served. In my mind, I am engrossed in a conversation. I’m leaning in close, responding with my eyes. I can answer back; take the argument and run with it Non-fiction narrative this absorbing takes you into a new moment, just as fiction does.
In Imaginative Non-fiction, (or whatever the Open College of the Arts will finally call this new course) I emphasize two aspects of writing that can be shared by all creating non-fiction writers. I’m telling students these two aspects will uphold their work and pull it together, because these aspects are at the core of grabbing a reader. The combination of these two skills can get the new writer a contract quicker than almost anything else.
Narrative trajectory (telling a story and taking your reader with you as you do so) underpins the structure and ‘plot’. Voice is, of course, the buzzword on the writers’ street. This give heart and personality to your writing – Obama’s…hitch in your walk…both practically and metaphorically.
Narrative trajectory is all about how you tell your story. Cast your eye over some recently published books. A cross-section will show you just how many stories are out there to be told –subjects of major importance and trivial significance. Subjects rehashed or completely skewed. None of these will be readable unless the story moves in the right direction for its content, allowing the reader to step out onto a sort of boat and sail off into water already charted by the writer. A reader will keep reading if they feel the confidence of the narrator, as pilot of their story. I want the students to understand about knowing the chart of their voyage, and how to keep a steady hand on the tiller. (Sorry –these boating metaphors are probably due to my daughter’s recent success in the Fastnet Race…I prefer to keep my feet on firm terra firma.)
Voice is the balance to a strongly led narrative journey, but it needs a similar quality…confidence…in the writer. I tell my students that their ‘voice’ should be a representation of how their mind works. We all think in an entirely unique way. If a writer can get a strong feeling of ‘thoughts pouring forth’, transferred onto the page, they will lure the reader as successfully as a Siren, because of that intimate connection; the writer saying…here I am, believe in me…
The knack is to be natural, yourself, to have confidence that the way your mind works can interest other people. I try to remember, whenever this sort of audacity threatens to halt the flow of my writing, that people do actually seem to enjoy talking to me, even when I’m sure I’m being quite boring. Okay, not everyone in the world fits that category, but that would be true of even the most popular books of the market…no style attracts every reader. Attracting a small audience is a great beginning.
This sort of approach takes writing courage, although possibly not as much as Obama has shown over the last years. Becoming the USA’s first black president and writing scintillating personal essays…now that is audacious.
And still hopeful?
Not to toot my own horn but I would like to first tell you about my helpful literary magazine and current book out, then about other book authors and literary magazines/journals whom I highly recommend you read.
Now for my helpful literary publication:
'The Cat's Meow for Writers & Readers Magazine' was founded and is published by author Rosanne Catalano. My magazine takes care to bring you short stories (both fiction & nonfiction), poetry (classical & contemporary), haikus, flash fiction stories, and essays for your reading pleasure! Plus helpful and informative articles of all kinds, and a section that will show you where you can purchase authors' books (some are contributors to my magazine) or where you can subscribe to other literary magazines and journals!
'The Cat's Meow for Writers & Readers Magazine' is published four (4) times a year-January, April, July, and October. It can be read either on my official website or on Issuu.com. Sorry I don't know the direct link for Issuu.com yet, but I will share the link for my site: http://www.thecatsmeowforwritersreaders.com
Now for my current book (I am writing a crime fiction novel, titled 'Escape & Redemption,' just now but it is still a work-in-progress--writing crime fiction ain't easy!) The title of my book is 'Mirrored Images,' and it can be purchased at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, Lulu.com, or directly from my author site:
'Mirrored Images' is a collection of my poetry and short stories. It begins with a poem about, and in dedication to, my late father then flows into a short story about an experience with bullying in the eighth grade of school to a story about being saved by a guardian angel when the story's main character was i
n her mid 30's to another short story about a little boy whose mother abandons him when she finds a new boyfriend. An interesting read of an author's compilation of poetry and short stories in which you may want to guess which of my stories are fiction or fact.
You can order your very own copy of 'Mirrored Images' at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Mirrored-Images-Rosanne-Catalano/dp/1304663469 ; at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mirrored-images-rosannecatalano/1105792319 and at Lulu Press: http://www.lulu.com/content/1094520 ; or even on my author website at: http://www.thecatsmeowforwritersreaders.com
My next book--a crime fiction novel titled 'Escape & Redemption'--is starting off where 'Mirrored Images' left off with my short story titled 'From Bags to Riches.'
On a later post I will tell you about other books and their authors, and about other literary magazines or journals that I recommend you read. Thank you for visiting my blog today! ~Rosanne C.
Not to toot my own horn but I would like to first tell you about my helpful literary magazine and current book out, then about other book authors and literary magazines/journals whom I highly recommend you read.
Now for my helpful literary publication:
'The Cat's Meow for Writers & Readers Magazine' was founded and is published by author Rosanne Catalano. My magazine takes care to bring you short stories (both fiction & nonfiction), poetry (classical & contemporary), haikus, flash fiction stories, and essays for your reading pleasure! Plus helpful and informative articles of all kinds, and a section that will show you where you can purchase authors' books (some are contributors to my magazine) or where you can subscribe to other literary magazines and journals!
'The Cat's Meow for Writers & Readers Magazine' is published four (4) times a year-January, April, July, and October. It can be read either on my official website or on Issuu.com. Sorry I don't know the direct link for Issuu.com yet, but I will share the link for my site: http://www.thecatsmeowforwritersreaders.com
Now for my current book (I am writing a crime fiction novel, titled 'Escape & Redemption,' just now but it is still a work-in-progress--writing crime fiction ain't easy!) The title of my book is 'Mirrored Images,' and it can be purchased at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, Lulu.com, or directly from my author site:
'Mirrored Images' is a collection of my poetry and short stories. It begins with a poem about, and in dedication to, my late father then flows into a short story about an experience with bullying in the eighth grade of school to a story about being saved by a guardian angel when the story's main character was in her mid 30's to another short story about a little boy whose mother abandons him when she finds a new boyfriend. An interesting read of an author's compilation of poetry and short stories in which you may want to guess which of my stories are fiction or fact.
You can order your very own copy of 'Mirrored Images' at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Mirrored-Images-Rosanne-Catalano/dp/1304663469 ; at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mirrored-images-rosannecatalano/1105792319 and at Lulu Press: http://www.lulu.com/content/1094520 ; or even on my author website at: http://www.thecatsmeowforwritersreaders.com
My next book--a crime fiction novel titled 'Escape & Redemption'--is starting off where 'Mirrored Images' left off with my short story titled 'From Bags to Riches.'
On a later post I will tell you about other books and their authors, and about other literary magazines or journals that I recommend you read. Thank you for visiting my blog today! ~Rosanne C.
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Susanna recommends
