Book Rec Meme
Jun. 15th, 2011 11:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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How does a book rec meme work?
5 EASY STEPS TO REC SUCCESS:
- Find the genre/type of book you're looking for in the comments! The following genre/types are listed in alphabetical order:
Chick Lit
Children's and Young Adult Lit
Classics
Contemporary Literature
Fantasy
Historical Fiction
Horror
Manga, Comics, and Graphic Novels
Mystery/Detective/Crime
Non-Fiction
Romance
Science Fiction
Thrillers
and "Other" (For any genre or type not already listed.) - Click 'reply to this' on the comment with the genre you're looking for. If you're recommending a book, type "RECCING" in the Subject line of your comment. If you're requesting a recommendation, type "REQUESTING".
- Either copy, paste, and fill out the handy forms provided, or describe in your own words the book you're recommending or looking to read.
- Browse the other recommendations that have already been left. Read the rec requests other participants have left, and make suggestions for books you think they might like.
- Share the love! ♥ Copy and paste the following code into your journal to send your friends to the meme:
It's that easy! ;)
Just remember:
* Keep it civil, or suffer the consequences! (Consequences TBD, but may include deletion, bannination, or unsightly rash.)
* DO NOT "Post a new comment"! To keep things tidy, please post all comments as a reply to an existing comment. Misplaced comments will be removed: it doesn't mean you're a bad person. :P
* If you need to ask me something or get my attention, either PM me or post a reply under the "Questions" thread, otherwise I may not see it.
Happy Reading! ♥
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Questions? Complaints?
Date: 2011-06-16 03:45 am (UTC)Re: Questions? Complaints?
Date: 2011-06-17 02:47 pm (UTC)Re: Questions? Complaints?
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Date: 2011-06-18 02:36 am (UTC)And while I'm here: plays? Should they have their own category, or go into sections by genre?
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Date: 2011-06-18 05:06 pm (UTC)Re: Questions? Complaints?
From:Introductions
Date: 2011-06-16 04:18 am (UTC)Fill out the profile provided, or make your own.
Re: Introductions
Date: 2011-06-16 04:18 am (UTC)But you can call me: ...Amy!
My favorite genres: Historical fiction, fantasy (more contemporary than sword & sorcery), science fiction, contemporary lit; I love anything humorous.
Classic or contemporary?: Both! Though I often feel woefully under-read when it comes to the classics. But I love classic romance! Jane Austen, the Brontes, etc.
Non-fiction?: Yes. Usually if I'm in a slump where I can't find a novel to read, I'll turn to non-fiction. I especially love cookbooks and anything to do with gardening and herbs.
The five books I own I'd save from a fire: The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes, Collected Novels of Jane Austen, my well-worn copy of A Room With a View from high school English, hardcover copy of Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, and...oh jeez. Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger, also owned since high school. (Nostalgia, yo!)
My favorite character(s) from a book: Sherlock Holmes, Elizabeth Bennett, Anathema Device, Hercule Poirot, George Emerson, Faramir, Eowyn, Miss Marple, that tree from The Giving Tree, Ford Prefect, the protagonist from "The Robber Bridegroom"...
Wherein I wax poetic about my love for books: Even as an infant, I preferred my books to all my other toys. I love to read: there's nothing better than a good book! I visit my public library once a week, and I'm always trolling used bookstores. I do find it gets harder to find a good book to read, though: hence this meme!
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Date: 2011-06-17 03:19 am (UTC)But you can call me: Whatever you like, just tell me you're going to do it first or I'm not going to answer, am I?
My favorite genres: Fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, romance, historical... you know what? Just put down 'all' except contemporary YA which gets on my nerves like nothing else ever.
Classic or contemporary?: Classic, by a long way (I do try to read contemporary, but I spend a lot of time thinking 'I liked this book better when it was called X' and then I quit. Mostly I read really awful contemporary so I can mock it.)
Non-fiction?: Hellz yes. Have you seen my collection of cookbooks, historical reference, gardening, art history and miscellaneous others?
The five books I own I'd save from a fire: D: FIVE? As in, only five? Forget it. I couldn't pick them.
My favorite character(s) from a book: Oooh. Sherlock Holmes, Boromir, Arthur Dent, Moist Von Lipwig (and just about every other character who lives on the Discworld, but I'm keeping this short), Sirius Black, Algernon Moncrieff (are we counting plays? We are now), Bertie Wooster, Donald Farfrae (of The Mayor of Casterbridge), Sebastian Flyte, and I realise these are all male character and I'm going to stop now because I am drawing a blank for female ones and I feel silly. Can I count Giant Girl? Because I like her.
Wherein I wax poetic about my love for books: When I was younger, we weren't a family who owned a lot of books (other than a great set of the Encyclopedia Britannica from some time in the 1970's, a children's bible, and one picture book that was given to me as a baby because I was born on some sort of literature day). I was never really encouraged to read; mum and dad have always been a bit oddly of the opinion that you only really need a handful of books and you can just read them over and over again, or something. And libraries were mystical places that we never visited unless it was with Grandma who totally gets reading. So having been deprived as a child, I now collect books like mad. I've just discovered that I have three copies of Minority Report and I don't even particularly like it (I liked Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep much better). Bibliophile is a completely apt term for me. I am running out of places to store books, and a lot of them have started living in disorganised piles about the place. Also, I'd much rather have a second-hand book than a new one, because I like the way they feel and I always feel guilty cracking the spine of a new book. Ahem.
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Date: 2011-06-17 04:04 am (UTC)But you can call me: Jess
My favorite genres: Science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, contemporary lit, poetry, YA
Classic or contemporary?: I like both, but I'm waaay behind on my classics. *hangs head in nerd shame*
Non-fiction?: Yes! Historical reference (particularly Victorian England), science-y stuff, biographies or memoirs of interesting people, anything to do with travel/foreign countries...
The five books I own I'd save from a fire: Oh god, I couldn't pick. I'd end up burning with them because I'd be standing in front of my bookshelves going, "I can't, I can't decide..."
My favorite character(s) from a book: Sherlock Holmes & John Watson, Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn, Harry Potter, Crowley, Jane Eyre, and those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head...
Wherein I wax poetic about my love for books: I cried after the first day of kindergarten was over because I hadn't learned how to read yet.
Re: Introductions
Date: 2011-06-17 05:30 am (UTC)But you can call me: Jobey (Congrats! You are very likeable)
My favorite genres: Mystery/Detective/Crime, Classics, and probably "Other". I read a lot of YA for work as well.
Classic or contemporary?: Probably classic... ish.
Non-fiction?: When I'm punishing myself
The five books I own I'd save from a fire: I'd probably spring for them again no problem, but, in the spirit of the question, let's say: The Man Who Was Thursday, Till We Have Faces, The Green Mile, Hrotsvitha's plays in helpfully emended Latin, and No More Dead Dogs (hey, it's signed by the author). Of course, in the middle of the night I'm sure to wake up and wonder why I forgot to put such-and-such title on this list.
My favorite character(s) from a book: Do we really have this much time?
Wherein I wax poetic about my love for books: Stories can keep you alive, brother. And books are the portable version of this life support.
Re: Introductions
Date: 2011-06-17 01:36 pm (UTC)But you can call me: Let's go with Switch
My favorite genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Slipstream, Pop Nonfiction, Ethnographies.
Classic or contemporary?: Contemporary. I like my sentences to be 100 words or fewer.
Non-fiction?: Yes!
The five books I own I'd save from a fire: The Portable Dorothy Parker, The Dispossessed, The Complete Calvin and Hobbes (volumes one and two), and my nook.
My favorite character(s) from a book: I don't know, guy. I really don't know.
Wherein I wax poetic about my love for books: My family believes that the best place to meet someone is in a bookshop. Or if you have about fifteen minutes to waste-get to a bookshop. I was really confused when I grew up and realized that this wasn't automatic with everyone.
My grandfather worked as a special collections librarian, and was a book collector on the side. But since he wanted to avoid any sort of conflict of interest, his personal collection was filled with interesting-but-inexpensive old books: 19th century illustrations of women's tumbling exercises, two different books on squirrel hunting in the midwest, and an early 20th century get-rich-quick scheme called 'How to make $600 using only four chickens'. So it's kind of genetic.
Re: Introductions
Date: 2011-06-17 04:09 pm (UTC)But you can call me: dori/dodo/teja/thea/doro whatever.
My favorite genres: contemporary literary pretentiousness, ha, travelogues, stuff on organic gardening, books set in other countries, short stories in general, exciting plotty things, people doing audaciously mad and cool things.
Classic or contemporary?: both, though i tend to read contemporary books these days.
Non-fiction?: yes please!
The five books I own I'd save from a fire: most of the books i consider worth saving above all i lent out, never to see them again, or read them at the library in first place. my bookshelf looks sad these days.
klaus kordon's der erste frühling (the first spring?), had i not given it to a friend,
michael ende's momo,
keri hulme's the bone people.
chingiz aitmatov's early cranes.
vikram seth's golden gate.
My favorite character(s) from a book: ronja from ronja, robber's daughter, and about a hundred others, but i want to move on to the rec section of this post...
Wherein I wax poetic about my love for books: i have roughly 15 library cards from at least three different countries. i slept at the local children's library once. as in, overnight. that was one of the most exciting nights of my childhood. :D
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From:CHICK LIT
Date: 2011-06-16 06:45 pm (UTC)(Optional) Copy and paste these handy templates for:
RECS
REC REQUESTS
REQUESTING...
Date: 2011-06-23 03:02 am (UTC)Subgenre: Um, anything really.
Length: quick read preferred, but long is fine, if quick-paced
Genre tropes I enjoy: unconventional women, relationships
Genre tropes I dislike: self-indulgent discovery stories, women being actualized only via their romantic relationships
I'm looking for a book like: (List some books or authors in the genre you enjoy!) I can't say I really know so much about the genre, to be honest.
Other factors to consider: I loathed Eat, Pray, Love, but I really enjoyed Julie & Julia, fwiw. Take from that what you will. ;)
Re: REQUESTING...
From:CHILDREN'S AND YOUNG ADULT LIT
Date: 2011-06-16 06:47 pm (UTC)(Optional) Copy and paste these handy templates for:
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REC REQUESTS
RECCING
Date: 2011-06-17 03:25 am (UTC)Title: The Frog Prince Continued
Author: Jon Scieszka
Length: It's a picture book.
Summary: The Frog Prince Continued is basically the story of what happens after the 'happily ever after'. It's about the Frog Prince, who's a human now, obviously, not being happy with his new life.
Books it's similar to: Erm. It's a lot like a sequel to The Frog Prince, really.
Why I'd rec it: It is a picture book, but as an adult who likes fairytales I think it's worth reading because it does look at 'and they lived happily ever after' and asks - "Really?" - If anyone else does read it, I'd love to know what you think of the ending.
No-one saw that.
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From:CLASSICS
Date: 2011-06-16 06:48 pm (UTC)(Optional) Copy and paste these handy templates for:
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REC REQUESTS
CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE
Date: 2011-06-16 06:50 pm (UTC)(Optional) Copy and paste these handy templates for:
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REQUESTING
Date: 2011-06-17 10:18 pm (UTC)Length: Any--but I do hesitate to invest in something more than 400 pages at the moment!
Genre tropes I enjoy: I love realism, dark themes, and humor--I also like books that explore a different POV or have a unique writing style.
Genre tropes I dislike: Heavy-handed philosophy, sappy romance.
I'm looking for a book like: I'm looking for the next House of Leaves, or the next Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. I love Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, and Mark Haddon.
Other factors to consider: I try SO VERY HARD to keep up with what's new and hot in the world of books, but I fail woefully at this task. What's the next hot book? (That's actually worth reading...) Is there a book you've discovered that was written in the last five years that just stood out for you?
Yeah, no saw me breaking my own rules and forgetting to put a subject to my request, right? Good... :P
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From:FANTASY
Date: 2011-06-16 06:51 pm (UTC)(Optional) Copy and paste these handy templates for:
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REC REQUESTS
REQUESTING
Date: 2011-06-17 05:19 am (UTC)Length: Any length, but is there a stand-alone out there? Or maybe a nice self-contained trilogy?
Genre tropes I enjoy: Most of 'em. :D
Genre tropes I dislike: Excessively heavy-handed social commentary. (Look, I love Tamora Pierce as much as the next reader, but if I get hit over the head with one more disdainful woman-hating antagonist, I may just spew.)
I'm looking for a book like: Harry Potter, I guess. ;)
Other factors to consider: I think I'm mainly just looking for something with pretty magic but different, especially if the theme is not one that's generally being explored in contemporary fantasy. And, again, I can't even keep track of all the different series that I have to get through piecemeal while at the mercy of an indifferent library system. Any good fantasy stand-alones out there, por favor?
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From:HISTORICAL FICTION
Date: 2011-06-16 06:52 pm (UTC)(Optional) Copy and paste these handy templates for:
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REC REQUESTS
RECCING
Date: 2011-06-18 05:03 pm (UTC)Title: Wolf Hall
Author: Hilary Mantel
Length: Definitely a long read, but so engaging you won't even notice
Summary: A biography of Thomas Cromwell, sometime-great-friend-and-counselor to Henry VIII, and naturally therefore, later executed by Henry VIII, and a brilliant response to the Thomas More hagiography, A Man for All Seasons).
Books it's similar to: I'd compare it favorably to most non-fiction works about the Tudor era, including Antonia Fraser's Six Wives of Henry VIII.
Why I'd rec it: I loved this book, because it turns what we think we know about Cromwell completely on its head. There is a lot of invention here, but it's always credible. The writing is brilliant, even if the length of the book might be an initial hurdle.
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From:HORROR
Date: 2011-06-16 06:53 pm (UTC)(Optional) Copy and paste these handy templates for:
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REC REQUESTS
MANGA, COMICS, AND GRAPHIC NOVELS
Date: 2011-06-16 06:53 pm (UTC)(Optional) Copy and paste these handy templates for:
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Reccing
Date: 2011-06-18 02:11 pm (UTC)Title: Fables
Author: Bill Willingham
Length: They are collected into about 14 volumes, I believe
Summary: The was a war in the fable world, all the refugees have escaped into reality. They live by complex rules so as not to be discovered by "mundies" or mundane people. The Big Bad Wolf is sort of a noir detective solving crimes among the fable community.
Books it's similar to: Book of Lost Things
Why I'd rec it: Well written, great character development, and a good balance of funny and serious. Repunzel has to get he hair cut at different salons all over the city multiple times a day, Briar Rose puts everyone to sleep every time she accidentally pricks her finger, and prince charming from all the fairy tales is the same guy and all his ex's hate him.
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Date: 2011-06-16 06:54 pm (UTC)(Optional) Copy and paste these handy templates for:
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RECCING
Date: 2011-06-17 05:38 am (UTC)Title: Some Danger Involved
Author: Will Thomas
Length: 300-ish pages
Summary: Set in Victorian London, detective Cyrus Barker takes the case of the murder of a young man in the Jewish ghetto. He hires Thomas Llewelyn, a smart, gutsy man who's fresh out of prison and down on his luck, as his assistant. As they get closer to the truth, Llewelyn is drawn ever further into Barker's world and that of the London underworld.
Books it's similar to: the Sherlock Holmes stories. Obviously.
Why I'd rec it: If "brilliant, eccentric Victorian detective and his loyal, stalwart assistant solve crimes" doesn't catch your interest, then this isn't for you. Will Thomas has written several Sherlock Holmes pastiches, and it shows. Some Danger Involved isn't the most original concept, but it's an enjoyable read regardless. The mystery is interesting, the setting is strong, and Llewelyn gets to be smart and action-y instead of the typical bumbling, mostly useless sidekick (I'm looking at you, Nigel Bruce!Watson). It's a fun, quick read with an undercurrent of humor. This is the first in the Barker & Llewelyn series, and while the others are good this one is by far the best.
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From:NON-FICTION
Date: 2011-06-16 06:55 pm (UTC)(Optional) Copy and paste these handy templates for:
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REC REQUESTS
REQUEST
Date: 2011-06-17 10:31 pm (UTC)Length: Anywhere from 10 pages to, uh, 250.
Genre tropes I enjoy: Interesting Footnotes. Humorous asides.
Genre tropes I dislike: I. . . don't know? Being really, really dry?
I'm looking for a book like: Any of David Foster Wallace's essays, Stiff by Mary Roach, A Great Idea at the Time by Alex Beam.
Other factors to consider: I've read all of Mary Roach's other stuff. Um, in general-looking for good long-form essays on interesting topics. If they're online, awesome! But I like paperback essay collections, too.
So apparently the enter button will post. Who knew?
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From:ROMANCE
Date: 2011-06-16 06:56 pm (UTC)(Optional) Copy and paste these handy templates for:
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REC REQUESTS
SCIENCE FICTION
Date: 2011-06-16 06:57 pm (UTC)(Optional) Copy and paste these handy templates for:
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Reccing
Date: 2011-06-18 10:09 pm (UTC)Title: The Spaceship Macedon series (first book Warchild)
Author: Karin Lowachee
Length: Longish
Summary: When Jos was very young the ship he was on was sunk by pirates, his parents killed, and he was apprenticed to Falcone, their leader. Desperate to escape this hell, he runs away during a firefight on a station and finds himself saved by the human sympathizers of the alien race humans are currently at war with. Raised by them, he becomes their spy.
Books it's similar to: I fail so hard at this. I can't think of any...
Why I'd rec it: Ms. Lowachee is a master of perspectives. The first book starts out in second person, but persevere! There is a good reason! It shifts then into first person where you're with Jos, who has a very emotive (and purple on occasion, but it's hard to fault the kid) mental prose. The second starts out in third person limited and in the end shifts into a very intimate first person that leaves you with the feeling that the narrator, Ryan, simply gave up trying to fool you about himself. The third is in first person, but Yuri's such an unreliable narrator, always trying to twist things so he looks at least a little better.
The story itself is like a puzzle. Each of the books overlaps with different perspectives on some of the same events, and what's awesome is that it never feels old.
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From:THRILLERS
Date: 2011-06-16 06:58 pm (UTC)(Optional) Copy and paste these handy templates for:
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REC REQUESTS
RECCING
Date: 2011-06-18 05:16 pm (UTC)Title: Gorky Park
Author: Martin Cruz Smith
Length: Medium-length, but quick read.
Summary: In Soviet-era Moscow, a Russian cop finds three corpses in a park, with their fingertips and faces missing. He investigates, even though exactly nobody (including possibly himself) wants him to.
Books it's similar to: Sherlock Holmes, only soaked in melancholy and vodka. ;)
Why I'd rec it: As a thriller, the plot is very standard. But as a novel, Gorky Park is brilliant. It has one of the genre's best-written protagonists in Arkady Renko, and through him, an exploration of the Russian soul. It's a genre novel that completely transcends the genre. (Whatever you do, DON'T WATCH THE MOVIE!)
OTHER (Anything that doesn't fit in one of the above categories!)
Date: 2011-06-16 07:00 pm (UTC)(Optional) Copy and paste these handy templates for:
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REC REQUESTS
RECCING
Date: 2011-06-18 03:07 am (UTC)Title: Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking
Author: Michael Ruhlman
Length: Quick read (but who (other than me) reads a cookbook cover-to-cover?)
Summary: It's a cookbook. But it's about the basic ratios of cooking, so having it is like knowing the platonic forms of the kitchen. All of your cooking is moved one step closer to the truth (and making up your own recipes becomes so much easier).
Books it's similar to: Other cookbooks? Elementary math textbooks? Simple explanations of things that no one else bothered to tell you about?
Why I'd rec it: I spent a lot of time looking for a nice, basic cookbook that explained why things work the way they do, rather than just giving a list of recipes that you reproduce rote. This is the book that finally taught me how to make baguettes properly, that presented me with an actual fluffy pancake recipe that can stand up to having wildcard ingredients added to it, that explained pasta dough consistency in a way that made sense. It's possibly less useful for people who aren't fixated on knowing how to make everything from scratch, or for those who don't bake with reckless abandon, but it's still a good read if you poke about in the kitchen and have a scientific/mathematical curiosity about food. (I suspect it's also a gateway book to the dark world molecular gastronomy, so fair warning.)
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