Open Thread for Readers for November 2020
Misc / Need A Rec!book-pimp / Open Thread / Promotion26 Comments
Got a book you want to talk about? Frustrated with a book or series? In love with a new one? Found a buried treasure? An issue that keeps popping up in the books you are reading? Just want to chat about stuff in general?
Ok—modified rant ahead: I read the umpteenth romance yesterday where the first time the h&h have sex, rather than the heroine removing her panties completely, the hero just pulls the heroine’s underwear to one side between her legs and gets down to business. These “pull the panties to one side” scenes always baffle me logistically. I mean, doesn’t doing that, um, chafe? It just sounds all kinds of uncomfortable to me…but perhaps none of the heroines are wearing granny panties or anything with elasticized leg holes.
@DiscoDollyDeb: I’m with you :)
I had something I wanted to post here, but as with so much else this year, it’s simply gone. The Mental Health Calendar for October 26 says, “Relax your demands.” Yeah, no (looking at you, 2020). Please be safe, everyone.
Suggestions for comfort reads, anyone? I have a feeling I’ll need them next week, whichever way the election goes.
@DiscoDollyDeb: I’ve never read a scene where that happened but ouch!
For a comfort read, I’m gonna suggest Glory Road by Lauren K. Denton. I’d never heard of her before this book and have never seen her mentioned anywhere. She’s labeled Inspirational but the book didn’t feature any religion or politics whatsoever. It was a sweet comforting, contemporary with romantic elements. So many of the contemporaries I read today feature almost erotica level romance that it was nice to read something a little calmer. Lord knows I love a hot book but every once in a while calm is appreciated.
@DDD, I’ve encountered that scenario from time to time also. It doesn’t sound comfortable for either participant!
@Janine, for a comfort fantasy read, I’ll suggest you reread Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor.
For a comfort science fiction read, I’ll recommend Linesman by SK Dunstall. (I’ll confess to having just reread the trilogy.)
For a comfort male/alien male romance read, I’ll recommend Claimings, Tails and Other Alien Artifacts by Lyn Gala.
@Jennifer: Thanks that sounds good!
@Kareni: The Goblin Emperor is one of my favorite comfort reads! I’ll take a look at the others.
The comfort books I always suggest are fantasy books I read a lot when I was a kid: the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Howl’s Moving Castle (and anything else by Diana W. Jones), the Blue Sword, etc. I’ve recently been reading a lot of Lois McMaster Bujold and would consider anything by her a comfort read too.
@Kirsten Davis: I want to read more Bujold. Howl’s Moving Castle didn’t work for me, unfortunately, maybe because I read it in adulthood. The suggestion to revisit childhood favorites is excellent. I loved Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earhtsea as a kid, and Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonsong and Dragonsinger are also good comfort reads.
Fantasy tends to make up most of my comforts reads, too: e.g., McKinley, McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, etc. Among newer authors (not from my childhood), I love re-reading KJ Charles, some R. Cooper, some Megan Derr, and Lyn Gala of course. I also like going back to the Touchstone series by Andrea K. Höst. T. Kingfisher is newer to me (I only started reading her works in the past year or so), but I can easily see myself coming back to some of her books time and again.
@JPeK: Thanks! I love fantasy with romance elements but romance with fantasy (or SF) elements doesn’t work as well for me.
@Janine – Childhood favorites are always where I go in times of stress! I am surprised you didn’t connect with Howl…I just reread it because I’ve been reading about Gen and Lymond recently and felt I needed to add Howl to get the trifecta of tricky enigmatic heroes. Have you tried Dark Lord of Derkholm (also by DWJ)? It’s a more complex of a story than Howl’s Moving Castle and is a satire (so possibly more directed at an adult audience?) I also love Le Guin, although the Left Hand of Darkness is my favorite of hers.
I’ve just discovered Bujold this year and have loved everything so far. The Vorkosigan Saga is one of the few series I’ve read where the books get *better* the further you go (so if you tried an earlier book and didn’t love it, there might be better ones in your future…)
New bujold penric novella out, I love this world and this series… incredibly decent mc, truly a comfort read.. interestingly bujold stated she likes the goblin emperor, she says she enjoys spending time in the head of the mc
@Susan: Thanks, I need to get back to that series. I read The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls (I liked both) a long time ago but never got around to book three or the Penric novellas.
If you haven’t read The Goblin Emperor you should absolutely try it. It’s one of the most comforting books I’ve read. I have a friend who has read it perhaps as many as twenty times. Katherine Addison’s Sherlock retelling, The Angel of the Crows is also comforting but not as good as TGE.
I loved the goblin emperor, tried the angel of crows, couldn’t quite get into the book.. will Try again at some point. Black wolves of Boston is something of a comfort read to me as is Sunshine by Mckinley, the wall of Winnipeg is too, not sure why..the theme might be ordinary people developing resilience and inner strength?
@Susan: I had not heard of Black Wolves of Boston until you mentioned it. Robin McKinely doesn’t work for me and I’m not sure why—maybe I should give her another chance. I haven’t ever read Mariana Zapata. Her books are so long. Would you say that’s her best book or is there another you prefer? I have heard good things about Kulti also.
@Janine, I’d skip book three for now (it was by far my least favorite of the connected books) and go straight for the Penric novellas.
@Kareni: So you don’t need to read book three to follow the Penric novellas? Are there references to book three characters and events in the Penric books?
Totally ok to go straight to penric, though I love curse of chalion.. read lots of zapata, don’t always love, have heard she can be very derivative but I love wall of Winnipeg, for me definately her best..
Ps the third bujold book in the 5 gods world (the hallowed hunt) is not nearly as good as the first two in my mind.. I preferred the side characters to the main character who was very staid and duty bound, although again a decent man struggling to be decent in difficult circumstances. In terms of Mckinley, as she moved away from more conventional story structures she kind of lost me. I did love beauty, still a excellent retelling of the tale and the Blue sword. You might try a sample of sunshine, if you haven’t, as it’s a bit different from all of her other books I think
@Kareni and @Susan–thank you, I’ll skip The Hallowed Hunt, then. I have heard that from other readers, too, that it’s not on part with the other two.
@Susan: Maybe I’ll try a sample of the Zapata. 500+ pages is a big time commitment. Did the book drag at all?
I think I just don’t click with McKinley’s voice, for some reason. Her writing reads as very stylized to me. I read Beauty years ago and thought it was lackluster but I’m the only one who seems to think that.
@Janine – I found Beauty just OK but absolutely love the Blue Sword (and the Hero and the Crown, which is in the same world). Like @Susan said, I think there is a lot of variation in McKinley books. I haven’t read Sunshine yet, so maybe I’ll try that one next!
@Kirsten Davis: Thanks, I’ll take a look at those.
@Janine, from the author herself, “In terms of internal world chronology, The Hallowed Hunt would fall first, the Penric & Desdemona novellas perhaps a hundred and fifty years later, and The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls would follow a century or so after that.” So, to answer your question, there are no character references that need concern you.
The quote is from here: https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/293438-the-vorkosigan-saga-reading-order-debate-the-chef-recommends?chapter=2
@janine, read most stuff on kindle, actually surprised it’s that long, I’d have guessed the wall of Winnipeg would be over200under300. It doesn’t read like some super long fantasy book (ie belgariad) maybe because so much happens in those books…and the wall isn’t nearly as dense. I really like the sagara Cast in… books and sometimes the later ones drag for me (too many new characters with plot recycling and maybe limited character growth) But the pace of the wall seemed fine to me…
@Kareni: Thanks so much for that link and the explanation.
@Susan: Wall of Winnipeg is 673 pages according to Goodreads! Even longer than I remembered. Not sure I’m up to something that long.