SantaThingSantaThing Entry #331

LibraryThing member Petroglyph

Book tastes

I’m open to both fiction and non-fiction, preferably by authors that are new to me. I'll just give you a few guidelines that I use to buy books for myself: that should give you plenty to work with. My catalogue on LT is complete and up-to-date.

1) I’m trying to read more books from countries I've never read anything from before (or not enough), so if you like you can pick some for me! I’m especially looking for books from South America, the Caribbean, central Asia, Eastern Europe, and South East Asia. My SO is a specialist on African literatures, but I’m open to books from that vast continent as well.

2) I'm trying to read more books by women and people of colour. Bonus points if they're not X-American! (i.e. Vietnamese-American, Nigerian-American, etc, or British-Pakistani, or French-Algerian.)

3) I generally like darker stuff, or things that have a weird slant to them.

4) Genre fiction I like, too: Science fiction, fantasy, horror, historical fiction. If it's recent-ish (say, last ten years) and the author isn't yet in my library, I'll be willing to give it a go.

5) I should read more random non-fiction, from areas like STEM, astronomy, history, archeology, paleontology.

6) I like novellas. Easy to sample. Easy to fit in the budget.

7) Genres that are safe bets for gifts: cozy mysteries, books about books, paleontology, medical history.

8) Having read several New York Review of Books Classics, I must say that I haven't been disappointed yet (they do focus on slightly weird books, and their selection of international books is very good...). Subterranean Press also do weird-ish novellas.

9) If any of your standard book recommendations fall into one (or more!) of these categories, feel free to throw it in! Same goes for books you think are unfairly ignored.

10) Authors I’ve been meaning to check out are in general fiction: Antal Szerb, Renee Gladman, Ivy Compton-Burnett, Sylvia Plath, Violet Trefusis, Jo Dereske. In speculative fiction: Gwyneth Jones, John Kessel, Jo Walton. Authors I already have books by but who I want to read more of are, in general fiction: Anita Brookner, Jenny Erpenbeck, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Banana Yoshimoto, Ann Patchett, Anna Seghers, Rebecca West, Stefan Zweig. In speculative fiction: Ruthanna Emrys, Kij Johnson, Elizabeth Bear, Theodora Goss, Carrie Vaughn.

Don't get this!

No religion, politics or romance, please.

I'm bored with the kind of literary fiction where daddy/mummy issues or adultery drive the non-plot.

Classic science fiction you can assume I borrowed from the library. Classic books of the type I can get off Project Gutenberg I'd rather not pay for.

No first volumes in series, please: I’ve got several series going on and don’t need any more.

I read lots of books in translation, but books originally published in Dutch, French, German, Swedish, or Danish I'd rather read in the original.

Secret Santa

Petroglyph's Secret Santa was liao!

Purchasing Details

Store: Kenny's Bookshop (https://www.kennys.ie)

Gift Amount: $50 (USD)

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