Let's play a game this morning

[decemberthirty]

A book recommending game!

I spent most of 2012 in a reading rut. You know the sort of thing I mean--reading all sorts of books, always hoping that I would fall in love with the next one, but never quite getting there. This year, I'd like to feel passionate about my reading again. And I'd like it if you, dear LJ-friends, would help me break out of my rut.

Here's how it'll work: I'll give a general description of my taste and the sort of things I like (longtime readers probably already know more than enough about my taste in books!), and you tell me about an author you think I might like or describe the last book that knocked you head over heels. BUT! This is not a one-way street! If you'd like to receive recommendations too, post a comment that tells us about you as a reader, and if I've got any good recommendations for you I'll share them. Others can chime in too, and soon (I hope!) we'll all be sharing our favorites with each other and adding lots of titles to our to-read lists. If this sounds like fun to you, feel free to pass it around--the more the merrier!


Favorite authors: E.M. Forster, Marilynne Robinson, Virginia Woolf, Colm Tóibín, Pat Barker, Ursula K. Le Guin, Flannery O'Connor, Alice Munro, Michael Chabon, Sherwood Anderson, etc...
Preferred genres: Fiction. Fiction of all sorts: short stories, novels, novellas. I mostly read fiction of the 'literary' variety, but I am happy break out of those bounds for well-written sci-fi, mysteries, or thrillers. Very occasionally I read memoir and essay collections.
Things I like: historical settings, queer characters, queer characters in historical settings, beautiful prose, believable love stories even (especially?) when the endings aren't happy ones, dark elements, real human emotion, coming-of-age stories, tight plots but also sometimes introspective plotless rambles, books that make me work, stories about families, characters I can love.
Last book that really blew me away: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. You can read my post about here, if that would be useful.


Okay, go!

Comments

[salvagejob.livejournal.com]

So here's a weird one for you, offered in total seriousness: "The Long Secret" and "Sport" by Louise Fitzhugh. Yes, Louise Fitzhugh, who I'm willing to bet you, the avid reader, read growing up. She wrote "Harriet the Spy!" I recently read all three of these books and they blew me away, especially "The Long Secret." Outside of Beatrix Potter, who is a completely different sort, I cannot think of a better children's writer, period. And Fitzhugh is just a brilliant writer, period. I would read anything of hers and don't really consider it children's lit, although it is that as well, of course. Does it fit your specs? Well, in a way. Fitzhugh was gay and though this doesn't feature obviously in any of the stories, you do get a different feel for some of the characters knowing it. I actually ordered a book about her and am excited to read it because there's so little about her on the web and she strikes me as such a strong, interesting character.

Seriously. The Long Secret.

[decemberthirty.livejournal.com]

I have to confess: I was as much as reader when I was a kid as I am now, yet somehow I skipped over Harriet the Spy. Everyone I know who grew up as a bookish kid loved it, and to this day I've never read it. So this is a great recommendation, and I will check out Louise Fitzhugh.

[salvagejob.livejournal.com]

Oh, good. You are in for a treat. To be honest, I think Harriet the Spy is better read as an adult. That is, it's a good book for children, but there is much you can appreciate only as an adult. I'll be interested to hear what you think.