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As of late, I’ve been experiencing some reading ennui.
The last book I read was What I Saw and How I Lied, a post-WWII mystery by Judy Blundell, which was enjoyable enough but a little too fixated on teenage infatuation for my taste. Like, it was not even my favorite thing when I was a teenager. Only if it was exceptional. And while this one is more nuanced than average, exceptional it is not.
The last book I read that I really liked was Lauren Oliver’s Pandemonium. It’s basically a dystopian series set in a world where love, romantic and otherwise, is considered a disease. The romantic love interest didn’t bother me nearly as much in this one, on account of: 1) that is sort of the entire point of the created world here; 2) other types of love — love for friends, love for family, love for self — are integral to the story as well.
In between the two of them, however, have been a lot of Agatha Christie novels and “you solve ‘em” type mystery stories. And those can be clever enough on occasion, but they’re also — almost by definition — formulaic. I’ve had my fill of them for the time being and would once again like a novel that is more… well, novel.
Suggestions, anyone? I would especially love it if I could find a new-to-me young adult novel with a female protagonist but without a significant love interest. I’ve read them before, but they tend to be the exception rather than the rule.
Also, feel free to use the comments to ask for book recs of your own.
Have you read “Before Green Gables” by Budge Wilson? It’s a prequel to Anne of Green Gables and tells the story of her life from birth to age 11.
Other than that I can’t think of anything I’ve read recently that fits your description. I will definitely be checking back in here, though, to see what everyone else suggests!
I haven’t — but that sounds like something that’s right up my alley. Thanks!
Do you have a genre preference? Contemporary, fantasy, historical?
Not particularly, no. Pretty much anything goes.
I shall think on it then and come back later. Book recommendations = srs business.
Thank you!
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