Amanda and Jenn discuss rich people problems, pregnant protagonists, book-slump busters, and more in this week's episode of Get Booked.

This episode is sponsored by Book Riot Insiders, Love Letters to Jane’s World by Paige Braddock, and How Are You Going to Save Yourself by JM Holmes.

 

Feedback

Adventures in Solitude: What Not to Wear to a Nude Potluck and Other Stories from Desolation Sound by Grant Lawrence

 

Questions

 

1. Good morning,

I'm going on a trip to France (Paris/Strasbourg) in November and looking for book recs for the summer, preferably historical fiction or mystery. We'll be visiting several palaces, so books related to the monarchy would be great. I'm pretty well-read on British/Scottish history but pretty ignorant on French history. (Totally on board for rich people problems :) Recent faves are the Lytton trilogy (Penny Vincenzi), Life After Life (Kate Atkinson), The Diviners series (Libba Bray), Rules of Civility (Amor Towles), Flight of Gemma Hardy (Margaret Livesey), anything by Tana French. I've checked off Atonement/the Nightingale/Everyone Brave is Forgiven.

Thanks so much! Love the show!

--Brittney

 

2. Hi Ladies!

Like Amanda I really love the rich people problems types of books, from YA books like the Map of Fates series and Gossip Girl to The Vacationers, Rich and Pretty, The Nest, and most recently the Kevin Kwan series Crazy Rich Asians (amazing on audio). I love the fashion and luxury and over the top feel of these books, they’re just... fun and a nice escape from reality. Can you provide me with some recommendations (preferably contemporary settings)?

--Jenn

 

3. Hey y'all! I love the podcast. This year I decided to read more and I love getting deep cut recs that I'd have never found on my own.

I'm writing to ask about audiobook recommendations, specifically audiobooks with full cast productions such as American Gods, His Dark Materials, and Lincoln in the Bardo. I find that full cast productions are especially engrossing! Please no abridgments or dramatizations. I'm also not a huge fan of sci fi, I'm just not into space!

Thank you so much :)

--Bess

 

4. Greetings, magical unicorns! I am interested in books with pregnant protagonists. The kind where they are doing something badass. Not necessarily fighting crime or saving humanity, but living their lives and being kickass while also growing a human. Some examples that comes to mind are "The Fireman," "Persons Unknown," or even the latest Spider-Woman comic where Jessica Drew was a badass pregnant superhero. These ladies are not sitting around on fainting couches because they feel fragile. They're taking life by the horns and not letting a little thing like the miracle of life stop them.

--Emily

 

5. Hi Jenn and Amanda!

I moved recently and joined a new book group full of smart, engaged women in their thirties and early forties. All of us have full-time jobs and some of the members have young kids (one of the women has a full-time job, an 18-month old, AND is getting her MBA!) Needless to say, everyone has good intentions to read the books each month, but with everyone's busy schedules, sometimes only one or two of us actually finds the time to actually do it.

I am hoping you can provide a couple of suggestions for books that will entice the entire group to read the whole book. We read fiction and nonfiction, although the group seems to prefer fiction, and nothing too long would help the cause. One of the group's absolutely favorite reads was A Man Called Ove and we recently read Three Junes by Julia Glass which the people who read it really enjoyed but some of the members tried to start it and couldn't get into it.

Thanks for any suggestions you have!

--Halle

 

6. I am an avid reader but, unfortunately, have not been able to read for the past few months. It's getting harder for me to get back to reading. I started with Beloved, but I found it heavy and not very engaging. My favorites include To Kill a Mockingbird and Eat, Pray, Love. Hoping that you can help :)

--Shivani

 

7. Hi Amanda and Jenn,

First, love the podcast! I recently finished The Magicians Trilogy and absolutely loved it! Could you please recommend more fantasy books like this series? I was originally drawn to the series because I had heard it was “Harry Potter for grown-ups” but what I really liked about these books was that they were moody and gritty in addition to whimsical, and the characters flawed and complex. If it helps, I also loved the Abhorsen books by Garth Nix and the Night Circus, and I disliked The Paper Magician and The Book of Lost Things. No YA please, and bonus points for a female protagonist. Thank you!

--Heather

 

Books Discussed

My Own Devices by Dessa (out Sept. 8)

Secondhand Time by Svetlana Alexievich (WIT: http://biblibio.blogspot.com/)

Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran

Versailles by Kathryn Davis

Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea, translated by Marilyn Booth

People Like Us by Dominick Dunne (his Recommended episode)

A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James (26 hours, have fun!)

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner (audio rec’d by Nita Basu, 11 hours), trigger warning for suicidal ideation

Heartless by Gail Carriger

Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

The Wangs vs. The World by Jade Chang

Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

The Poppy War by RF Kuang (tw: war crimes, rape, mandated sterilization, child abuse)

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