Week 3 Prompts

 1. I am looking for a book by Laurell K. Hamilton. I just read the third book in the Anita Blake series and I can’t figure out which one comes next!

The next book in the series is The Lunatic Cafe. 

I don’t have access to NoveList, so I made use of a few different resources for this assignment. Here, I searched the series on StoryGraph to see the order of the books.

2. What have I read recently? Well, I just finished this great book by Barbara Kingsolver, Prodigal Summer. I really liked the way it was written, you know, the way she used language. I wouldn't mind something a bit faster-paced paced though.

If you want to try another book by Kingsolver, check out Flight Behavior. It has similar themes and style, but is a little quicker paced. StoryGraph lists both books as emotional and reflective, but Flight Behavior has a medium pace instead of slow. 

For a book by another author, what about Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake? Both books feature nature almost as a character itself in the book, integrating the landscape with the reflective conversations in the books. 

3. I like reading books set in different countries. I just read one set in China, could you help me find one set in Japan? No, not modern – historical. I like it when the author describes it so much it feels like I was there!

Give An Artist of the Floating World a try. Kazuo Ishiguro’s work is set in post-World War II Japan and looks both back in time and towards the future, noting how the culture changed. 

In addition, you could try The Waiting Years by Japanese author Fumiko Enchi. This book follows a Japanese family in the late 1800s. She’s been lauded as one of the most popular Japanese women writers in the Shōwa period and GoodReads lists this book high on a list of Japanese historical fiction.

4. I read this great mystery by Elizabeth George called Well-Schooled in Murder and I loved it. Then my dentist said that if I liked mysteries I would probably like John Sandford, but boy was he creepy I couldn't finish it! Do you have any suggestions?

This book is the third in Elizabeth George’s “Inspector Lynley” series - and there are a total of 21 books! Try another from the series. 

5. My husband has really gotten into zombies lately. He’s already read The Walking Dead and World War Z, is there anything else you can recommend?

Take a look at I Am Legend and Other Stories by Richard Matheson. While these monsters technically vampires, they’ve got an undead zombie feel to them and the story really captures that gruesome, unkillable monster vibe that other zombies offer. Even GoodReads lists it as a zombie story. 

6. I love books that get turned into movies, especially literary ones. Can you recommend some? Nothing too old, maybe just those from the last 5 years or so.

Give Ottessa Moshfegh’s Eileen a try. This 2015 book was just adapted into a movie featuring Anne Hathaway in 2023. This is Moshfegh’s debut novel and is ranked highly on StoryGraph.

7. I love thrillers but I hate foul language and sex scenes. I want something clean and fast paced.

If you’re looking to avoid language and sex scenes, why not try a classic? Take a look at Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, a mystery-thriller featuring Christie’s famous detective Poirot. Although this is technically a mystery, this is a tense, fast-paced book with enough thrilling elements that it may be a good pick.

Where do I find books? I use StoryGraph instead of GoodReads to track what books I read, and I find that it’s a pretty good resource for finding new books as well. It functions the same as GoodReads and I’ve found some good recommendations by looking through similar profiles. 

Otherwise, I do spend too much time on TikTok and I’ve found a couple of really trusted accounts that help me find exactly the books I’m looking for. @bigbooklady, @bridgetish, and @marcereads_ are some of my favorite and most reliable accounts out there right now. You have to sift through to find the people you really like on BookTok, but once you find your niche, you’re in good shape!