'Heart Of Gold'
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Jesse, if you haven't picked up Ann Leckie's "Imperial Radch" series, I highly recommend it. My current tagline - "In the end it's only ever been one step, and then the next" - is from the final book in the series.
Nicola Griffith's Ammonite, N.K. Jemisin's "Broken Earth" and "Inheritance" trilogies, Le Guin's The Telling, Sue Burke's Semiosis (haven't read Interference yet), Kate Elliott's Unconquerable Sun . . . .
Jesse, have you read anything by Becky Chambers? She's become one of my favorite recent SF writers. A Closed and Common Orbit is probably the closest fit for this challenge, and is also my favorite of her books so far (though I haven't read her latest yet). It's a sequel of sorts to her first book, but you don't need to have read the first one to understand or enjoy the story, though it does spoil a fairly big plot point from the first book.
hippocampus, some of my recent faves are Circe by Madeline Miller, Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia, and Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid.
I have not read any of these books!
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue was wonderful. It is not, however, a happy, light romp.
I, personally, love The Goblin Emperor, but I've also become *obsessed* with Victoria Goddard's The Hands of the Emperor. It's just. So. Gah. The plot is there, but it's really about personal journies and friendships and finding a place for yourself. I also just read N.K. Jemisin's The City We Became, which is fabulous.
If you’re looking for something soothing, I devoured MCA Hogarth’s books (but don’t super recommend the princes one which is super disturbing, but all the others are awesome warm hugs)
KateP, I love Circe so much. Checking out Bellweather Rhapsody.
Agreed with all Jemesin recs, always.
And Juliannna, if that book connects in your mind with TGE, that’s a great rec!
In unrelated news, Esquire has a story on Why Men Are Reading Romance Novels. Reminds me of years ago, I was reading a book in which a man picks up the romance novel a woman is reading, leafs through it and is AMAZED at what's in it (sex scenes ... explicit sex scenes).
Thanks for that, juliana! I read a review of The Hands of the Emperor a while back that made me want to check it out but it also mentioned another Goddard title that they didn't want to say you have to read it first but maybe you would want to and so I was dithering on that and meanwhile read something else and forgot why I knew the name Victoria Goddard at all. Now at least I can maybe remember to search for it here if I forget again...
Coming in late, but might I suggest just about anything by Connie Willis (Bellwether is my personal favorite). It's less ... fraught ... than some of her other things.