Week 3 Reading Prompt

 

1. I am looking for a book by Laurell K. Hamilton. I just read the third book in the Anita Blake series and I can’t figure out which one comes next!

I love that series-I started reading it after I finished the Sookie Stackhouse books and couldn’t put them down! The fourth book is The Lunatic Café; we finally get some good werewolf action in this one!

I used my own bookshelf to answer this question but double-checked on Novelist just in case mine was shelved out of order. I searched Anita Blake under series and selected the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series.

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.

While I haven’t read Prodigal Summer yet, I’ve heard great things about it and I love Kingsolver’s other work, The Poisonwood Bible. For something similar, I’d recommend The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin-it has a very similar lyrical writing style but is more character-driven with a bit of an edge.

I searched Novelist for Prodigal Summer and browsed the read-alikes to find something with a little more adventure and a less leisurely pace.

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!

Why don’t we try The Shogun’s Daughter by Laura Joh Rowland? She’s written several novels based in feudal Japan and this is a great one to start with! It takes place in the early 18^th-century and follows an investigation into the new heir after the shogun’s only child is stricken with smallpox.

I searched a few different variations on Novelist before using the keywords “feudal” and “Japan”, which finally got some good options to come up!

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?

If you are looking for a good mystery with an intricate plot but light on the creepiness, I recommend The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. It is a personal favorite; the pieces of the novel are woven together in such a brilliant way and while the suspense builds, it is not heavy on gore or thrills.

This is my own personal recommendation; I love this book and I can’t stop recommending it to people. The “twist” at the end was not anything special but the book as a whole was perfectly done.

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?

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion is a popular option, with a move adaption out as well. If you are looking for something you could both enjoy, I wholeheartedly recommend Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It’s extremely enjoyable to see how easily zombie battles fit into Austen’s world!

I used Novelist to search zombie material, then arranged by popularity to find something we would be more likely to carry. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was at the top of the list and I back up my recommendation completely!

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.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer is a wonderful option! The book is so well done, and the Netflix movie adaptation somehow gives the book the extra something it needed to really flesh out the story and characters. Another great option is Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy, another Netflix adaptation. It is sweet and light with a great message that leaves you feeling good.

The first option is one of my favorite books and honestly one of my favorite movies. I’m not usually a fan of the letter-writing style books but it drew me in. Dumplin’ I have read and seen as well, though I found it by using the Books to Movies search under Quick Links on Novelist, narrowing down the results to 2016-present and arranging in order by popularity.

7. I love thrillers but I hate foul language and sex scenes. I want something clean and fast-paced.

You might try John Saul-he writes suspense and thrillers with no shortage of creeps or tension, but little to foul language or sex scenes. His books, along with the Dreamhouse King’s series by Robert Liparulo were highly recommended as clean reads for fans of thrillers.

I used Goodreads for this one and navigated to the Clean Reads group. From there I found a forum specifically asking for thrillers and pulled recommendations that got repeat mentions.

How Do I Find Books to Read?

My years of working at Barnes & Noble have left me a very honed sense of book scouting; the main way I find new books to read is by wandering the aisles at Half Price Books and pulling anything with a spine that catches my eye. My mother is an avid reader, even more so now that she has retired, and we both rely on each other for constant recommendations. I even got her to try out a few young adult novels after she swore anything written for teens couldn’t hold her attention. I still follow Barnes & Noble on social media too, and I get a lot of new recommendations through their posts, as well as from all my former coworkers and current friends. One of my favorite coworkers works for an independent bookstore now and keeps a blog with book reviews that I love hitting up for new ideas!