Marquise > Status Update

Theo of Golden Allen Levi 💛☀️

Do you have 115 previous questions? Now I am curious about all of those!! 😂

That is a hard one. I generally recommend different books according to whom I recommending them, and those have mostly been academic books to students. Probably the book I have recommended most and occasionally given copies is Robertson Davies' The Rebel Angels. Although I am also tempted to say G.I. Gurdjieff, Meetings with Remarkable Men (the Peter Brook film is also very good, but not really equal to the book).

Carlos Ruiz Zafon and Susanna Kearsley

I’m honestly more shocked when I recommend a book to someone and they actually like it. 😂 Apparently I tend to have tastes not many people in my life share, lol.

Bone Gap, by Laura Ruby. It's a genre-defying novel that has the best and strongest heroine I've ever encountered in a work of fiction, (the quiet type of strength). It also provides such a brilliant commentary on the theme of perceptions and "being seen," and the villain is one of the most terrifying I've ever met in a work of fiction.

I don't tend to recommend specific books over and over, but when I do, the ones that always pop up are In a Dark Wood Wandering by Hella Haase, and The Four Seasons by Laurel Corona.

Old—The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany
Modern—Arafel’s Saga (The Dreamstone and The Tree of Swords and Jewels) by CJ Cherryh
More Recent—Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan.

[I’ve read the first two dozens of times, usually once a year alternating. The last a few times!]

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir! And I'm pleased to report that everyone I know who has read it loved it, regardless of their feelings about sci-fi in general.

#116: What's one book you're evangelical about & press on all and sundry?

The Golden Dynasty by Kristen Ashley, and Beast by Pepper Pace.

Marta wrote: "Do you have 115 previous questions? Now I am curious about all of those!! 😂"

Yeah! I've been doing these for a while. Maybe I'll post links to all of them one day, but for now it's an unwieldy archive.

Initially, they were weekend questions posted on Friday/Saturday, then I posted them more often for a while, and now more sporadically and when I feel like it. They demand a lot of time, at least when you like to engage everyone. :)

~*~Princess Nya Vasiliev~*~ wrote: "#116: What's one book you're evangelical about & press on all and sundry?

The Golden Dynasty by Kristen Ashley, and Beast by Pepper Pace."

Is the book by Pepper Pace in any way allusive to Beauty & Beastie?

Katie wrote: "Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir! And I'm pleased to report that everyone I know who has read it loved it, regardless of their feelings about sci-fi in general."

I'm allergic to Sci-Fi, chief...

(But I've seen the same as you report: everyone loves it.)

Betsie wrote: "I don't tend to recommend specific books over and over, but when I do, the ones that always pop up are In a Dark Wood Wandering by Hella Haase, and The Four Seasons by Laurel Corona."

I've read Haasse, but it was in my pre-GR days, so not much I can recall about it. :) The other? I don't think I've seen it.

Scott wrote: "Old—The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany
Modern—Arafel’s Saga (The Dreamstone and The Tree of Swords and Jewels) by CJ Cherryh
More Recent—Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan."

I've read both! I liked the first, it's an imperfect masterpiece
but sooooo very like a fairy tale I suspect that if I reread it now I'd rate it higher.

The second one was fine, I wasn't a fan of Davidman's character at all.

Meredith wrote: "Bone Gap, by Laura Ruby. It's a genre-defying novel that has the best and strongest heroine I've ever encountered in a work of fiction, (the quiet type of strength)."

Interesting! I had never heard about that novel before.

Sarah wrote: "I’m honestly more shocked when I recommend a book to someone and they actually like it. 😂 Apparently I tend to have tastes not many people in my life share, lol."

Same, I don't like to recommend, so when I do, it's because I know the others' tastes very well. In the case of my tribe, I know each one's tastes quite well, and that's how I'm always throwing books at my sisters. :D

TL *Humaning the Best She Can* wrote: "Carlos Ruiz Zafon and Susanna Kearsley"

Any specific books by either? Both have several...

Karen wrote: "Theo of Golden Allen Levi 💛☀️"

Ha! I knew you'd be here to say that. :) I have a copy because of your rec, but haven't read it yet.

Marquise wrote: "Katie wrote: "Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir! And I'm pleased to report that everyone I know who has read it loved it, regardless of their feelings about sci-fi in general."

I'm allergic to Sci-Fi..."

Interesting! Do you know what it is about sci-fi that triggers this allergy?

Katie wrote: "Interesting! Do you know what it is about sci-fi that triggers this allergy?"

Its existence! :D

I've never liked the genre as a whole, with very few exceptions. It isn't something specific about it, it's the genre itself that doesn't work for me. As you know, each genre has its characteristics, tropes, plots, elements, etc., and taken as a whole they just don't appeal to me.

Besides Sci-Fi, I dislike Horror and Romance as well, but only Romance has something specific I dislike (hence why I can take it as part of a plot/story) whilst Sci-Fi and Horror it's the genre itself in its entirety.

Marquise wrote: "Scott wrote: "Old—The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany
Modern—Arafel’s Saga (The Dreamstone and The Tree of Swords and Jewels) by CJ Cherryh
More Recent—Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Call..."

My dear Marquise, are mistaking Joy Davidman, Lewis’ wife, in Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan? Once Upon a Wardrobe is about the creation of Narnia by Lewis as told to a little boy and his sister. 🙂

Have you read Cherryh’s two book masterpiece, Arafel’s Saga?🙂

Ooopsie! Yeah, I got 'em mixed. :D I read both books, and I kinda have them interchangeable in my memory.

I seriously didn't like Davidman... Lewis deserved better. Oh, well, I still did like both books!

Only my bff has been able to recommend books to me, and I don't think it's ever happened the other way, whether with her or with my family or even with my partner. I'm a failure as a book evangelist..

The Hobbit is always on top of that list for me. Just the other day I heard that my niece reads a lot, so I recommended it to her in a heartbeat.

She's twelve and mostly reads stuff for young girls, no mention ever of any kind of fantasy, but who cares? All must know The Hobbit.

My mostest favouritist read/listen ever is "Shogun" - without a doubt!
First bought as a paperback in 1977; read multiple times; evangelised like a missionary; lent to so many peeps, the pb started to fall apart, had to buy another copy (s/h, I still have the original); watched and copied the complete TV series to VHS (still have it!); recently purchased the latest audiobook version (Audible-Ralph Lister); hope to live long enough to listen to it more than once!

I still have yet to read Shogun and I didn't make it through the Hulu series.

Probably the book I recommend the most is Patricia McKillip's Winter Rose, but with the caveat that it is prose heavy and you really have to immerse yourself in the atmosphere. I should pull it out for a reread sometime soon.

Marquise wrote: "Is the book by Pepper Pace in any way allusive to Beauty & Beastie?.."

Yes and no.. It's very loosely based on it, but the story itself is more like a real true life journey story. There's nothing fantastical about it. Very much based in reality. I think it's only like 11 or 12 chapters though..

Beast

The Stand by Stephen King is one. I also love Golden Dynasty by Kristen Ashley as much as Nya does.

Marta wrote: "Do you have 115 previous questions? Now I am curious about all of those!! 😂"

Marquise wrote: "Yeah! I've been doing these for a while. Maybe I'll post links to all of them one day, but for now it's an unwieldy archive."

Marta and Marquise, you can easily find the status updates list here:

https://www.goodreads.com/user_status...

In the upper right-hand corner of a user's status update, find a small link that says "All of [user's] status updates."

To answer your question, Marquise, I don't anymore because I've felt like what I like others don't tend to, and it hurts when you enthusiastically recommend a favorite only for them to not read it or to read it but say nothing, which I interpret as meaning they disliked it. I also feel a little guilty, like I wasted their time. :[ I'll never forget how the robustly attended book club I was a part of many years ago abruptly disbanded after my choice was named the (fiction) book that the club would read that month. Whether or not I should have, I took this personally. :*[

Scott wrote: "Have you read Cherryh’s two book masterpiece, Arafel’s Saga?🙂"

No, I haven't. Do tell...

Debbie wrote: "The Stand by Stephen King is one. I also love Golden Dynasty by Kristen Ashley as much as Nya does."

Oooh! Then you'll probably like the homage anthology they've released with various authors retelling/being inspired by "The Stand." I got my copy ordered the minute I found out. :)

Beth wrote: "I'm a failure as a book evangelist."

I still love you anyway, and you can practice on me because you're now familiar with my pet hates and my pet loves. 🙂

Juho wrote: "All must know The Hobbit..."

Indeed! It's written that it's a requisite for the salvation of your soul. 🙂

Terence M - [Quot libros, quam breve tempus!] wrote: "My mostest favouritist read/listen ever is "Shogun" - without a doubt!
First bought as a paperback in 1977;"

Aaaawww, that's so sweet, Terence! 🥰 You're a bigger fan than me. 🥰

Kati wrote: "Probably the book I recommend the most is Patricia McKillip's Winter Rose,"

I think I may have read that one, but can't recall...

I do know I've read 2 or 3 of her books that were retellings(-ish) of my favourite fairy tale, but I wasn't all that impressed by her take. Would I reread? Certainly! I have a feeling that I have to reread many retellings I previously wasn't impressed by, because I have far more knowledge of the lore now than back then.

~*~Princess Nya Vasiliev~*~ wrote: "Marquise wrote: "Is the book by Pepper Pace in any way allusive to Beauty & Beastie?.."

Yes and no.. It's very loosely based on it, but the story itself is more like a real true life journey story..."

I checked and saw that I read it and gave it 3 stars. Uh... I honestly don't recall a single thing!

More to what I was telling Kati that there's a need for me to reread B&B books that didn't impress me before. I'mma add this one to the reread pile, thank you!

Caroline wrote: "Marta and Marquise, you can easily find the status updates list here:

https://www.goodreads.com/user_status..."

Yeah, I know, but I post updates about other things as well as reading progresses, so the questions are lost in a sea of other misc stuff. I do have them saved in an archive doc, maybe I'll do a post to keep them for the public, but that'll have to be for when I stop doing them.

Hehehe, poor Marta will now be treated to all my dramas and scandals if she clicks on it. 😃😄

Caroline wrote: "To answer your question, Marquise, I don't anymore because I've felt like what I like others don't tend to, and it hurts when you enthusiastically recommend a favorite only for them to not read it or to read it but say nothing, which I interpret as meaning they disliked it."

I feel you, it does indeed hurt. Part of why I don't do recs unless I know the other person's tastes very, very well, which limits me to my siblings and a few friends. Also why I don't like to get recs from people who don't know me or my tastes, because I don't want to offend or make them feel uncomfortable if I end up rejecting or not liking what they love.

It's complicated! And more so on a book site, where people can interpret your enthusiastic reviews & 5 stars as a recommendation even when you aren't saying the 'highly recommended' line. The consolation is that the people who know their tastes well will know it wouldn't work for them just because it worked for you and vice versa.

There's no one book that I'd recommend to everyone to be honest. Because everyone has a different taste. Though if I know they love action stories, then some Matthew Reilly books are very hard not to recommend.

I think you're pretty much the same in that regard? In that case, what would you recommend me? Just out of curiosity.

Marquise wrote: "TL *Humaning the Best She Can* wrote: "Carlos Ruiz Zafon and Susanna Kearsley"

Any specific books by either? Both have several..."

Hard to those :) one of my favorites by Susanna Kearsley is Winter Sea and for Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Marina

Marquise wrote:.."

The Four Seasons is about two orphan sisters who are musicians, a singer and a violinist, in Venice during Vivaldi's life, and they are some of the first to play his music. The historical background is fascinating, and accurate for once ;) and it is a deeply moving story.

This is hard to answer it depends on who I talk to.
Most commonly Night by Elie Wiesel
Then there is
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. by Anne Fadiman.

I don't really have one. I try not to press people because everyone has different tastes, the couple of times someone asked me for a rec I asked back what they like first.

Caroline wrote: "I'll never forget how the robustly attended book club I was a part of many years ago abruptly disbanded after my choice was named the (fiction) book that the club would read that month. Whether or not I should have, I took this personally. :*["

That's so sad. :(

Thibault wrote: "I think you're pretty much the same in that regard? In that case, what would you recommend me? Just out of curiosity."

In your case, it's because I have a fair idea of your tastes that I wouldn't recommend anything to you. 😃😄

Jokes aside, I really don't know. You have a marked preference for genres and topics I don't read or am not that well-versed in, so I'd be totally ignorant as to what to recommend to you specifically.

Morphing_kashi wrote: "I don't really have one. I try not to press people because everyone has different tastes, the couple of times someone asked me for a rec I asked back what they like first."

Yeah, I do understand that.

Charlton wrote: "This is hard to answer it depends on who I talk to.
Most commonly Night by Elie Wiesel"

Oh, I think that this book does need to assess the potential recipient of the rec first. It's not one to just drop on anyone even to educated them about the Holocaust, it's so very hard.

The other books are totally unknown to me, what's special about them to you?

Betsie wrote: "Marquise wrote:.."

The Four Seasons is about two orphan sisters who are musicians, a singer and a violinist, in Venice during Vivaldi's life, and they are some of the first to play his music..."

Oh, drat! I should've recognised the topic from the title alone. I'm getting all rusty...

TL wrote: *Hard to those :) one or my favorites by Susanna Kearsley is Winter Sea and for Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Marina."

Never heard about 'Marina', I thought you'd say his Wind series, that one's everywhere!

My go-to recommendation is the hidden gem "The Sherwood Ring" by Elizabeth Marie Pope, but I tend to only recommend it when I've had at least some sampling of the recipient's tastes, since it's such a dear book to me I wouldn't want to recommend it to someone who is unlikely to like it.