Reading recommendations

Melissa Brown

My favorite book series published last month and I have finished it already. The next book isn't out until March 2024. Any recommendations for my train ride reading hobby?

Coco Parham

@Melissa Brown I just started Lessons in Chemistry. So far, great! Maybe not a series, but it is on Apple TV!

Crystal Bruce

@Melissa Brown I really enjoyed the Bridgerton series. Also, if you like Sci-Fi try Old Man's War by John Scazi (sp?)

Kelly Hogan

@Melissa Brown I am currently reading How High We Go in the Dark.

Jennifer Kluh

@Crystal Bruce my two daughters passed their Bridgerton series over to me. Then we watch the movies after we read them ?

Christine McDermott

@Melissa Brown “Giver of Stars” by JoJo Moyes about the depression era women that rode through the Kentucky hills distributing books and magazines to families. This effort was started by Eleanor Roosevelt. There are many other books written about this. Very interesting.

Bobby Steurer

@Melissa Brown I just wrapped up Klara and the Sun by Nobel-Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro. It takes an interesting dive into the human/technology relationship and ponders the question - “Can machines have souls?”

Christine Robertson

@Melissa Brown What series is your favorite? I see in your profile that you enjoy mysteries. Have you read the Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency series? It's a favorite of mine.

Melissa Brown

@Christine Robertson I have not tried that one. I love stories that really touch on people and I've occasionally gotten into the Young Adult that my youngest likes.

Christine Robertson

@Melissa Brown I would definitely check it out. The characters are very well written and they're a fun read. The series keeps growing, but they're usually pretty easy to find at the library.

Allison King

I read mostly sci-fi, fantasy, and dystopia. Here are some of my favorites:

• Broken Earth series by N.K. Jemisin - every book of the series won the Hugo the year it came out. Absolutely amazing series. TW for child deaths.
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - Magical realism
• Kindred by Octavia Butler - The first adult novel I ever read in a day (I was in 8th grade). Recently turned into a mini-series on Hulu (haven't watched yet).
• The Red Tent by Anita Diamant - Biblical fantasy about the only sister of Joseph (the one with the dream coat).
• Kushiel's Legacy series by Jacqueline Carey - CW for lots of adult themes. Some of the most beautiful prose ever written. Actually, pretty much everything by Carey is amazing.
• Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree - Really fun and light fantasy story. The prequel came out recently and I just started reading it.

Faith Murray

@Melissa Brown
So many fun suggestions on here! I will have to check some of them out.

Most of my favorites are on the oldie lists - I'm afraid I don't keep up with many new authors except for children's lit these days. (It's apparent you're a parent...?) Octavia Butler's “Xenogenesis” series is a fun, mind-stretching sci-fi series. The Jeeves books are a sit-com-style short story option that are timeless and hilarious. I've come to enjoy fun-romp murder mysteries like Dorothy Sayer's “Five Red Herrings”. And if you like biography, “The Last Voyage of Columbus” by Martin Dugard and “The Worst Hard Time” (The Dust Bowl) by Timothy Egan are enlightening historical reads.

Melissa Brown

@Faith Murray yes, a parent – my youngest is 17 and a senior in high school. But I've found that no matter what the ages, some of the kids' lit or YA is still good stuff!

Kellie Dentler

@Melissa Brown

I have enjoyed Ruth Ware, especially Death of Mrs. Westaway. She writes thriller type mysteries with substance. Also Megan Abbot (who I just recently discovered when I read The Turnout). Her novels Beware the Woman and Dare Me are both great. The Marriage Portrait and Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrel are both historical fiction novels I really enjoyed. And right now, I am listening to the audiobook Sure, I'll join Your Cult by Maria Bamford (not really about cults, just a hilarious memoir)

Carrie Powell

@Melissa Brown, if you like to read series, here are some set in other countries that I enjoy:

• Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny (set in Canada)
• Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear (set in England, though last installment after 20+ years will be published this year)
• Guido Brunetti series by Donna Leon (set in Italy, specifically Venice)
• Isabel Dalhousie series by Alexander McCall Smith (set in Scotland, specifically Edinburgh)