Of Course You Need More Books: a recommendation post
I have been reading a lot recently—like, a lot—so I thought I’d share some joy. I have divided these into the reading experience rather than genre (because I felt like it, sue me). Somewhat less romance than usual as I have not been in a romancey mood recently.
Books to make you feel warm and fuzzy
Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32075853-erotic-stories-for-punjabi-widows
A glorious story of a Sikh Londoner who inadvertently finds herself teaching a remedial English class for the widows of the title, who then start writing erotica, which then starts getting circulated in their community… It’s lively and hilarious and moving, and a spectacular first novel.
Abroad
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34605048-abroad
Another debut novel, this a m/m romance and one of the best of the year for me. Nick is a Russian Jewish immigrant to the US now studying in London, dealing with his sense of rootlessness and not belonging as he slowly comes out of the closet. I can’t wait for book 2.
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22733729-the-long-way-to-a-small-angry-planet
Incredibly endearing picaresque tale of the motley crew of a spaceship, with wonderfully likeable characters you won’t want to leave; highly readable even for non SFF fans as it’s very much character based. Book 2, A Closed and Common Orbit, made me sob uncontrollable happy tears for about half an hour, and they can be read independently, but why not glom both.
Kith and Kin
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35126537-kith-and-kin
Another book that made me happy-cry. A really engaging, delightful found-family novel, as a gay couple attempt to adopt while struggling with screwed up family and friends.
The Nothing Girl
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22349087-the-nothing-girl
This is like the literary equivalent of a hot bath and a nice cup of tea on a rainy day. It’s warm and comforting and indulgent, and anyone who has a problem with those things lacks soul. Taylor’s writing has that kind of British fictional 1950s quality, of a comfortable world where terrible things happen but everything is basically okay. Pure escapism.
Fun fun fun
Jackalope Wives and other stories
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35058181-jackalope-wives-and-other-stories
I have read everything by T Kingfisher recently and could have recced any of them here. I picked this one because this story collection is superlative. A wonderful wry writer with a deceptively elegant style, magnificent imagination, deep kindness and a dry-as-a-bone hard edge. Read one, glom everything she’s written.
The Glamour Thieves
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34998187-the-glamour-thieves
Sci fi with romance plot (which is not finished in this book, the first in a series, so HEA-needers be warned). It’s about elves and orcs in a hi-tech world stealing cars and fighting necromancers with neuro-controlled drones while alternately pining and having wild elf-orc sex. I mean, you want that or you don’t. (I would. It really is enormous fun. )
Turbulence
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9544621-turbulence
This and its sequel Resistance are more superhero fun than every single Marvel movie put together. Just gleeful. Funny, imaginative, wry, with some brilliant powers, great action sequences, and excellent jokes. Loved the pair of them, massive recommend.
Gunpowder Alchemy
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22837890-gunpowder-alchemy
Nineteenth-century Chinese steampunk! I bought this ages ago and lost it, and then read it with great enjoyment only to discover the books had gone out of print so I couldn’t get the follow up. Fortunately, the author is bringing them back this autumn. Am dying to find out what happens next.
The Prey of Gods
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30129154-the-prey-of-gods
I just loved this SF/fantasy hybrid. Gods and hi-tech in future South Africa with a wonderfully diverse cast (gay and trans MCs, lots of women, I think pretty much all POC) and magnificent imagination. Stonkingly good storytelling and vivid adventure with tons of heart along with the ideas. I couldn’t stop reading this one.
The Djinn Falls In Love and other stories
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30753517-the-djinn-falls-in-love-other-stories
A really good story collection, with something for everyone, which sent me down a lot of rabbit holes reading other authors.
Not feelgood, still amazing
The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32606889-the-lamb-will-slaughter-the-lion
Queer American dystopian horror, as an off-grid community is attacked by the protective animal spirit they summoned. Gory, dark, and funny, and the first of a series.
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7194279-the-secret-lives-of-baba-segi-s-wives
Do not let the cover persuade you this is chick lit. A compelling and almost soap operatic look at a polygamous household in Nigeria. Secrets both ridiculous and horrendous come spilling out when the ludicrous patriarch Baba Segi can’t get his fourth wife pregnant, balanced by the darkly comic narrative style.
I Do Not Come To You by Chance
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6265288-i-do-not-come-to-you-by-chance
Another book set in Nigeria, this one a look at 419 email scammers. It’s a fascinating look at the people who do these, the social and economic pressures that drive them, the excuses we make to ourselves. Thoroughly engaging and bitterly funny, a terrific and enlightening read.
Escape From Baghdad!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23013966-escape-from-baghdad
Absolutely bananapants gonzo adventure of two arms dealers and a torturer trying to find hidden treasure in Iraq post Saddam’s fall and getting mixed up with ancient mystic cults, also militias and general madness. A stonking book with a massive on page body count and no holds barred, so not for the faint of stomach.
The Magic Places
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35023468-the-magic-places
There’s a few books recently about children who went to magic worlds and how they cope when they come back. (Every Heart a Doorway and Among Others are two I’ve read recently.) This one is more literary than fantasy, interspersing the story of a long ago summer and a boy who didn’t come back with that of the girl who didn’t go, now an adult and embarking in a wildly inappropriate relationship with the missing boy’s married father. It’s magical and human and reflective about imagination and solitude; I thought it was wonderful.
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If you need more books after that lot, my latest is a 1920s m/m paranormal romance, Spectred Isle, and An Unsuitable Heir is out on 3 October.
Wow. Thanks a bunch for both the recommendations and the brief descriptions. As if I don’t already have more books than I can read.
OoOo a rec list from one of my favorite authors, excellent. I just got my appendix removed so I’m in a real reading kind of mood (bored af).
I just finished Spectred Isle and I am absolutely in love with the characters. All of them, side guys included. Right after I finished it I blindly reached out into the ether for the inevitable second book and to my surprise…it wasn’t there. So just so you know, I’m waiting with bated breath. Especially in audiobook form. Ruairi Carter kills it.
My contribution for a rec on a page of recs is Captive Prince by CS Pacat. Silly name, amazing story. Set in not-real fantasy world Europe, two warring countries equatable to France and Greece each have royalty that are set against each other (m/m), until all kinds of craziness happens. Including slavery, French sex pets, lots of scheming, witty banter, heart stopping drama, action, adventure and a lot of spitting out your drink. Also some trigger warnings, child sexual abuse and trauma.
Thanks for these recs!