Tag Archives: read-alikes

Top Ten Tuesday: Books for People Who Like World War Z

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Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created over at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week they post a new Top Ten list and everyone is invited to share their answers. If you’re interested, head on over to The Broke and the Bookish to take a peek at upcoming Top Ten Topics.

This week’s topic: Top Ten Books for Folks Who Like World War Z by Max Brooks

For the zombie elements –

  • The Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant — Feed, Deadline, and Blackout
  • Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
  • The Walking Dead — TV show & Graphic Novels

For the structure — WWZ is written as an oral history and has a very nonfiction feel.

  • The Good War: An Oral History of World War Two by Studs Terkel — Brooks based the structure  of his novel off of Terkel’s work.
  • Robopocalypse by Daniel Wilson — I know a lot of people that didn’t enjoy this one as much, but I loved it.
  • And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Stilts — This is another nonficiton title, but there’s something about World War Z that reminds me of this  one. Even though one is based in facts and the other is fiction, they’re both readable…journalistic. Does that make sense?

And just because – 

  • The Passage by Justin Cronin — Virals instead of zombies, but they’re both undead so they’re similar, right?
  • Oryx & Crake and The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood — The story of before and after the end of the world.

Because it can’t be left out — Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. I mean, it’s the classic love story with zombie kick-assery!

And one I haven’t read yet, but am looking forward to: This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

Read-alikes are a teeny part of my job (I’ve been thinking about a Walking Dead and/or zombie post for a while), so if you want to check out books similar to The Hunger Games, Bossypants, the Sookie Stackhouse series, and a few others….follow the links :)

Top Ten Tuesday: Readalikes (or For People Who Liked X Author)

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Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created over at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week they post a new Top Ten list and everyone is invited to share their answers. If you’re interested, head on over to The Broke and the Bookish to take a peek at upcoming Top Ten Topics.

This week’s topic: Top Ten Books I’d Recommend to Someone Who Liked X Author

Perhaps my favorite topic EVER. Instead of doing ten books for one author, I’m just going to do a couple for some of my favorites authors/series…hope that’s OK :)

If you like Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, I recommend A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness and Overseas by Beatriz Williams (the latter is based just on the book description, but I really want to read it!).

If you like Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series, I recommend the Kitty Norville series by Carrie Vaughn. (More Sookie readalikes here)

If you like Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody series, I recommend Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series. (Alexia is like Amelia with a twist.)

If you like Malcolm Gladwell’s writings, I recommend Quiet by Susan Cain, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, and Imagine by Jonah Lehrer.

If you like George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice & Fire series, I recommend The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin and The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss (I would also recommend Rothfuss to Harry Potter fans).

If you enjoyed Bossypants by Tina Fey, I recommend Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson. (More books by Funny Ladies here)

If you like Margaret Atwood’s novels, I recommend When She Woke by Hillary Jordan and The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker.

If you enjoyed American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld, I recommend Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer.

If you enjoyed Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, I recommend Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson. Alif isn’t as nostalgia heavy as RPO, but it gives a few short waves to geekery.

If you like Sandra Dallas’ novels, I recommend These Is My Words by Nancy Turner.

If you like The Walking Dead (TV series & graphic novels), I recommend The Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant and World War Z by Max Brooks.

OK…so I went way over. Can’t wait to see what everyone else recommends!

The Peculiars by Mareen McQuerry

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I’m often attracted to books because of the cover and I will admit that The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry is one I read because I was so attracted to the incredible artwork.

Since childhood, Lena’s been told she’s a goblin…a Peculiar, just like her always-in-trouble father. Her father leaves when she’s young, but on her 18th birthday, her mother gives her a letter from her father that sends Lena on a quest to find him and herself.

One of the first people we’re introduced to besides Lena, is Jimson Quiggley — he’s a librarian. There’s even some “you don’t have a library degree” snobbishness from Lena (her mom is a Children’s Librarian). So that made me love the book all the more. I mean, if you dig books, then definitely give this one a shot because they spend quite a bit of time in a super cool library.

While reading The Peculiars, all I could think about were the books it reminded me of. Most of them I really enjoyed, so that’s a good thing. First, this book reminds me of Chime, except that I like Lena and never understood Briony. Both girls have a “something” that makes them different, but don’t know what it is. I also get a sense of the Gemma Doyle series (A Great and Terrible Beauty) — a young woman out to find herself in a kind-of Victorian era (I’m not entirely sure of where The Peculiars takes place, but I do know it’s the late 1800s). There’s also a hint of Alexia Tarabotti here (Soulless). There are some steampunkish elements and, like Alexia, Lena is a girl that’s a little different from everyone else. Finally, I can’t quite place why, but something about Lena, the setting, or something, reminds me of Switched.

Definitely a fun read and totally refreshing to read something a little different from what I’ve been reading (which is mainly YA dystopias). (Though I am bothered that the name Lena was used…I mean, considering the popularity of Delirium, couldn’t a different name have been chosen?)

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review via NetGalley.

To read or not to read?

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Is the universe trying to convince me to read Jane Eyre or is it telling me that I can read a retelling of Jane Eyre and skip the Brontë classic?

I tried reading Jane Eyre in high school (college maybe?)…I abandoned it at some point and don’t remember why — something about it being depressing, I believe. It’s been back on my TBR list for a while now because I keep seeing film adaptations, retellings, etc that make it sound like a wonderful novel.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde — I love the Thursday Next series –I’d like to reread it– but I still haven’t read JE and I feel like I missed a lot the first time around because of that reading gap of mine.

The Heroine’s Bookshelf — if Erin Blakemore says Jane’s awesome (and the Brontës, too), shouldn’t I give her another shot?

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey– I’ve read many good things about this book and I love the cover.

Jane Eyre Literary Mixtape from Flavorwire — I love their literary mixtapes…loads of fun! And I could make a playlist and listen to it WHILE I read JE…it could make the experience far more enjoyable.

Jane by April Lindner — This is on my Nook…I must have purchased it on sale. Read the classic or skip to this one?

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys — It just keeps popping up all over the place and it sounds so interesting. It’s more of a JE “prequel” so maybe I read it and then make the decision to continue on to the real thing?

The Hunger Games Readalikes

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Reblogged from Pinal County Reads:

Click to visit the original post

You've devoured The Hunger Games trilogy, you're patiently waiting for the movie, and you don't know what to read next? If you want more like The Hunger Games, take a look at the books below -- you might find your next obsession.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver -- Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love. 

Read more… 447 more words

I get to do super cool things at work like write-up readalike posts for our blog! So be sure to head over to the complete blog post and tell me what I left out in the comments!