Weekly Geeks: Recommendations

I wanted to talk this week about book recommendations. Where do you go for book recommendations? How often do you challenge yourself to get out of your comfort zone? How often do you read outside your favorite-and-best genre? How often do you try a new-to-you author? How often do you take a chance? This week, I'd like to offer you a few opportunities.

So your assignment this week, if you choose to play along, is to ask your readers for recommendations. Choose a genre--any genre--and ask for recommendations. You can be as general or as specific as you like. Consider it as an "I'm looking for...."

The second part of the assignment is to write a list of recommendations and share them with your readers. Choose a genre--any genre--and share your list of favorites. I think of this as "If you're looking for...."

I'm hoping that some really great books get recommended this week! Did you add any new books or authors to your wish list? If you'd like you can write a wrap-up post mentioning which books you're thinking about reading based on this week's weekly geek.

What a wonderful assignment! I know I'm missing out on Contemporary Literary Fiction as I have a tendency to read old and really really old books before picking up the recently published. I would love to see a list of contemporary lit fic, stories published in the last fifteen years or so that aren't YAL, SFF, non-fiction, romance, etc. I've read a few I've liked such as The Crimson Petal and the White, Middlesex, Bastard Out of Carolina, and Water for Elephants, but I would love to hear about more like these.

Now as for suggestions, I don't have a particular genre I'm obsessed with. I was going to give some Classic Lit suggestions as I've probably read the most in that genre, but then again, everyone knows about Classic Lit. So, instead I thought I'd focus on non-fiction, personal essay-style, story suggestions (in no particular order):

Stiff by Mary Roach
Stiff is an informative and funny collection of personal essays where each reveals another possibility for what we can do with our bodies after death.

Naked by David Sedaris
Full of dark humor and strange occurrences, Sedaris recounts his less than normal life and discusses even the normal events in unusual ways.

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
Burroughs's coming of age collection of essays chronicles a young boy's inclusion in an extremely unusual family and his realization of his sexuality.

The Rice Room by Ben Fong Torres
Ben Fong-Torres may be most known as the inspiration for the lead in the film Almost Famous. The Rice Room reveals his origins in a strict Chinese family and his discovery of a new world, and its expectations and stereotypes of the Chinese.

Lame Deer: Seeker of Visions by John (Fire) Lame Deer
A true story of a mid-1900s medicine man, Lame Deer takes readers from a Bureau of Indian affairs boarding school designed to "civilize" through experiences with the American Indian movement to an acceptance and immersion in a shamanistic life.

Henry and June by Anais Nin
Drawn fron Nin's journal, Henry and June is the story of one woman's sexual journey with a married couple.

Patrimony by Philip Roth
In Patrimony, Roth explores his relationship with his father as his father slowly deteriorates from brain cancer.

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller
Fuller narrates events in her life as a child as her family tries to find its place in war-torn Africa and to survive and love each other.

The Latin Deli by Judith Ortiz Cofer
A collection of poems, short stories, and personal essays, The Latin Deli is an artistic look at the concerns and struggles of Spanish immigrants as they attempt to maintain cultural identity in a new world.

I would highly recommend any of these books. Far from dry recounting of facts, each is non-fiction but story-driven, and each offers readers the opportunity to not only learn about someone else's life but also about their own. The personal, social, cultural, and ideological issues are relevant and intriguing.