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Chatterbox: Blab About Books
Help! I'm running...
Help! I'm running out of things I want to read!
Please comment with book recommendations; I'm mainly looking for, well, a lot of different things. Here are my guidelines (if you simply don't care skip to the end of the post)
What to recommend:
- Sci-fi
- Realistic fiction where the main premise is NOT someone getting seriously injured, dying, getting a disease, being adopted/discovering that they are, moving, or going on a life-changing vacation-adventure.
- Historical fiction about WWII; preferably about Japanese internment camps in USA or the actual concentration camps in Nazi Germany, rather than Jews in hiding/helping Jews in hiding or life on the home front. I feel like both of the first issues I mentioned are sort of glossed over in kids fiction (the former in most history books) and I would like to learn more.
- Magical realism, ie the real world but with someone who has magical powers, or a magical object, etc.
- Fantastic fantasy, either the traditional swords-and-adventures kind or a more surreal variant
What NOT to recommend:
- Books told in "poetry". I'm sure they are lovely and moving, but not my style.
- Anything I should have already heard of. Someone might read the last point on my list and say "Oh, Sho should read the Lord of the Rings!" when the fact is I've read the entire series approx. four times in the past four years... #obsessed
- On the opposite side of the spectrum, anything super obscure. Our library system is very good considering where we are located, but it probably doesn't have all seven hundred point eight volumes of "The Wild Wanderings of the Wibbly-Wobbly Wooden Table of Wendor". Apologies.
All that to say is: I need books to read! Feel free to completely ignore my eyebrow-raisingly detailed guidelines and post whatever lengthy lists at your leisure!
submitted by Shoshannah
(January 23, 2017 - 5:09 pm)
(January 23, 2017 - 5:09 pm)
Have you read Miss Peregruins Home for Peculiar Children? Or The Enders Game or A Wrinkle In Time. These are my favourite sci-fi/fantasy books.
(January 23, 2017 - 9:20 pm)
Thank you! I love A Wrinkle In Time! I've heard of the others but not read them, thanks for reminding me of them:)
(January 24, 2017 - 4:59 pm)
Sorry, A Wrinkle In Time isn't really Sci-Fi, but I thought you might like it.
(January 23, 2017 - 11:09 pm)
Have you read the Mysterious Benedict Society? I'd also reccomend the author Kelly Barnhill. I just read her book "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" and it was AMAZING. Also Anne McCaffrey's "The Dragonriders of Pern". It's one of my most Favorite series. My MOST FAVORITIST BOOK IN THE WORLD SO FAR (I know, "favoritist" isn't a word..) is Anne McCaffrey's "Dragonsong". I can't even count how many times I've read it.
(January 24, 2017 - 12:27 am)
The Mysterious Benedict Society is one of my favorite series' ever!! Thank you so much for your other recommendations too, can't wait to read them!
(January 24, 2017 - 5:02 pm)
~I agree with BookBug, you should definitely read Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (especially since the movie came out) and A Wrinkle in Time and the other four books in the Time Quintet (those are like my favorite books!!!).
~When I saw WWII on your list I immediately thought of The Book Thief, which is also my favorite book, but its about someone (who steals books obviously) who's adopted by some German people and then hide a Jew. But I don't know if you'd be that interested in it, since its not on the home front.
~Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is really good if you want to read about what Japanese camps were actually like, it also has a ton of other stuff in there, too. Also, it's a true story!!!
~My friend really likes the Shadow Hunters series. I didn't love them, but maybe you could try them out.
~The Inkheart Trilogy!!!!!!!! Inkheart is SO GOOD!!! It's about books within books within books!!!! Read it if you like books and fantasy.
~If you like hard-core fantasy, then I recommend The Once and Future King by T. H. White. It's basically the long version of King Arthur and the Round Table. VERY long and detailed. It can get a little boring at times, but I liked it just because of the in-depthness of it. It gives you a lot more than just the simple story you hear all the time. It really shows you who the characters really are, that they were actual people with flaws and mistakes.
~The Giver Quartet!! Also one of my favorite stories. They're not too long reads, so good for a bit of light reading. The Giver, Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son. The Giver especially, and Son, I really liked. They're more science fiction than fantasy.
Hope this helps in your quest for books!
(January 23, 2017 - 11:39 pm)
Thank you so much for those recommendations!! I've read and loved a few of those already, so I'm sure I'll like the others!
(January 24, 2017 - 5:04 pm)
(January 24, 2017 - 12:15 am)
Thank you! I'll check those out (puns :D)
(January 24, 2017 - 5:05 pm)
For sci fi The Maze Runner sereies is really good ! Just FYI they are YA.
And i also love historical fiction about WWII, so I would recommend Between Shades of Grey. Also YA. Its not about Jews, but it's about a girl who is Christian taken by the Soviets in a labor camp.
For magic realism i would say The books of Elsewhere series. They're fantastic
I might think of more later
(January 24, 2017 - 3:56 pm)
Those all look really good! Thanks!
(January 26, 2017 - 9:00 am)
The Penderwicks
It's realistic fiction, about this family of four girls who go on a summer vacation, meet a boy who is going to be sent away to military school against his will, and generally get in lots of trouble! It's a great book, and the characters are easy to relate to you should totally read it!
(January 24, 2017 - 8:17 pm)
Yes! The Penderwicks series is the BEST! I even named myself after it! Did you read the whole series? You totally should! Shoshanna, the Penderwicks is realistic fiction, and it's kind of like the Anne of Green Gables books or Little Women in that it's everyday life, but it's AMAZING. And it's a little more fast paced than the classics I just mentioned (which are also awesome, you should totally read them!). There are four books, but the author is writing a fifth one.
You didn't mention historical fiction except for WWII, but have you read To Kill A Mockingbird? It's really good! I'm reading it right now and I love it!
(January 25, 2017 - 10:58 am)
The Penderwicks is one of my favorite series ever!!! Which book/character is your favorite? I like books two and four the best, and my favorite character is probably Batty or Jane... but it's hard to choose! I'm so excited for book five... as long as Jeffery doesn't marry Skye. That just wouldn't work for me! What do you think?
I love To Kill A Mockingbird too! Good taste!
(January 26, 2017 - 8:59 am)
Hmmm...
Some of Sarah Dessen's books fit your RF preferences. Others don't.
Throne of Glass
the Zodiac trilogy
I've just begun a book called Eragon, which I find "OK"
Pegasus (it's part of a group of books, but I don't remember how many total)
Hope this helped! Happy reading!
(January 25, 2017 - 3:34 pm)