If You Liked: Book for Book Recommendations

Oh hi YWR #143

What do you mean, where did I go? I was standing over by the fireplace all night, petting the cat. You must have just missed me. Where were YOU?

…okay, yes, I confess. I will always slip out of a party early with some transparent alibi like the above, and I have been absent for two months due to a Pressing Work Obligation. But I’m back. I think? How does this work again? What do we even talk about here? Can someone clean the cobwebs off of this keyboard? Is this going to be like working out again when you haven’t for a few months, not that I know anything about that?

Lest we jump back in too quickly and rupture our collective ACLs, let’s ease back into recommendations. Partially because due to the aforementioned P.W.O, my brain is (more confessions) tired and has struggled to read a lot in the past few weeks. But even more so that I have not been thrilled with too, too many books I’ve read this year. Get it together, 2024. You’re on notice.

Thus, today, let us not be too thematically or literarily ambitious this week. Instead, what *I* am going to try is a kicky little recommendation format of “If you liked THIS, try THAT” for some of my well-liked recent reads. And what YOU are going to do is drop your favorite recent read in the comments, so that my library holds list consists of more than The Bee Sting and tumbleweeds. Deal? Ready? Break!

(ps hi. i’m glad to see you again.)

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If You Liked: Bad Blood, Patrick Radden Keefe essays, villain origin stories

Try The Art Thief, a narrative non-fiction account of, by all accounts, the most prolific and brazen art thief in history, who carried out more than 200 thefts in eight years.

Part heist story, part moral justification, part psychological study, part deep dive into the world of museums, theft, and security. Finkel takes us on a wild ride as the subject starts his crime spree, and as the walls start to close in. Exciting and fascinating.

Do you even remember what lamb ratings are all about? Well, it’s not about quality. Let’s remind ourselves with this handy key HERE.

If You Liked: A Lady’s Guide to Scandal, Knives Out, cozy mysteries

Try A Most Agreeable Murder, which is a mélange of Bridgerton meets Agatha Christie, or something? True crime obsessed Beatrice must be on her best behavior as her family tries to marry youngest daughter Louisa off to an eligible bachelor. But when he drops dead at the ball and foul play is suspected, Beatrice has to choose between honoring her family’s wishes and pursuing her passion of justice.

You guys? This is so cute! Witty, satirical, farcical, a shade absurd and unhinged. Romance meets murder mystery meets comedy of manners. A charming little bonbon of a read.

If You Liked: When Breath Becomes Air, Between Two Kingdoms, All the Young Men

You should lower your writing expectations from those hallowed tomes and then read The In-Between, a memoir by hospice nurse Hadley Vlahos about some of her end-of-life patients as well as her own growth as a nurse and young mother.

It’s not tremendously crafted, but I found it quite moving in its earnestness, its decency, and in its beautiful honor of all the difficult last moments for the dying and for the people who are left behind. Take care with your heart, but I found it really lovely.

I mean, it’s actually quite beautiful and hopeful in a lot of ways but … she’s a hospice nurse. All her patients pass.

If You Liked: Deacon King Kong

You should probably skip The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store in case it makes you rethink the entire author’s oeuvre.

No, fine, that’s unkind, it wasn’t that bad. Many people of respectable pedigree loved it and put it on their end of year lists. I just won’t be one of those people. The exuberant tapestry of people and plotting that I loved in Deacon King Kong were more trudging and messy in this one. Wasn’t my favorite.

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Fine, Let’s Get Our Paperwork in Order

• Links go to Bookshop.org, where maybe I’ll start cataloguing all my recommendations again in the hopes that you will shop from indie bookstores and not Amazon. Maybe I’ll also organize my skincare. We can do hard things? Anyway in the meantime, a good chunk of 147 weeks of book recos can be found here.

• If you are so inclined, please comment, like, request a book genre, etc. Let’s get this machine humming again.

• If you’re sore from getting back into the newsletter gym, I understand Tart Cherry and Turmeric help with inflammation. Hey, I live in LA. We all have supplement regimens.