#wrenaspeaks

What's a book/series you love to recommend to people? I don’t have a standby rec really, it changes based on who I’m reccing to… I was pretty delighted when the friend I thought was chill enough to read CaPri did and loved it though!! Got a good grade in book recs that day 😤

What's a book/series you would never recommend to people? Another one that changes based on who I’m talking to… I did once rec an alien romance to my supervisor so I think there are no real limits here if I like you and/or find you laidback enough. He DID ask for something crazy and trashy but evidently didn’t know himself well enough because he  couldn’t get past the alien anatomy names and quit... tragic.

How many books have your read this year? 27. I went on a big audiobook binge in Jan + Feb and then a romance novel binge in Feb.

What's the best book you've read this year? For My Lady’s Heart by Laura Kinsale. I love a pathetic man and a scheming icy lady!

Do you prefer fiction or nonfiction? Fictionnn

What are your favorite genres? Fantasy, romance, certain flavours of historical – mostly historical genre stuff. I don’t think of myself as a mystery reader but I must admit that I read a lot of mysteries – Agatha Christie, Brother Cadfael, Peter Wimsey. And I don’t know if this is a genre per se but I do enjoy reading general fiction from like the 20s-50s.

What's one book you think everyone should read? I don’t think everyone would enjoy it but I do wish for everyone to be forced to read Lymond and develop an incredible headache.

What was your favorite book/series when you were growing up? This probably changes with every few months of my growing up, I was a voracious reader… I liked the Squire’s Tales series by Gerald Morris, basically everything Tortall except the Alanna quartet (sorry; that one was just okay to me) by Tamora Pierce, Animals of Farthing Wood by Colin Dann, Camelot’s Shadow by Sarah Zettel.

What's a book you hate passionately (provide reasons if you want)? I feel like I don't hate stuff very passionately!! Mostly I try to delete it from my mind... I will say I found The Falcon and the Flower by Virginia Henley to be dreadful on just about every level a book can be: mechanically clunky, crazy shallow character work, incredibly tasteless in its portrayal of the ummm 13yo nymphomaniac queen of England. And the romance was BAD. So probably that.

What is a trope you love? My 13yo id is coming out to say: when there’s a lady who has had a BAD TIME but people don’t KNOW this so they all think she SUCKS but also TEN PEOPLE ARE IN SCARED LOVE WITH HER. And then her love interest SEES HER TRUE SELF and she realises she CAN’T keep herself walled up forever. I think this is why For My Lady’s Heart was such a hit with me: it is exactly the kind of prickly mean secretly miserable female OC fic I used to eat up, except written beautifully. The Scholomance series also did this with El Higgins although more with the friends than the romantic interest, and that was also a great flavour of this trope.

What is a trope you hate? When everyone has incredible self awareness and communicates openly + coherently with each other about their traumas and mental illnesses. This turns me into the Joker.

Who is your favorite author? I do have sooo much respect for Dorothy Dunnett I’m afraid. The Lymond series is completely crazy in many ways but I think she’s an incredible writer and possibly the only person on Earth who could have pulled it off.

Do you have an author you will read anything they recommend and/or write? I fear I don’t… even with Pacat I haven’t read the Fence series, and I’ve only read like one thing she’s recommended (Lymond). I’ve read a lot of Jasper Fforde’s books but not everything.

What's a theme/motif you love to read? Kind of related to the trope I love answer, when someone has really high walls but then slowly you get to see behind them to their True and usually Tenderer self!! I also love to read about SPIES and PLOTS.

What's the weirdest book you've ever read? Weird in terms of “wacky and strange”, probably something by Jasper Fforde, the whole Thursday Next series/universe is delightfully absurd. Or maybe Hitchhiker’s Guide which I first read this year! Weird in terms of “what on Earth was the author trying to do”, maybe Whisky Galore by Compton Mackenzie, which SHOULD have been wonderful but was a total slog and featured the most confusing character death I’ve ever read which barely mattered at all.

What's the scariest book you've ever read? I’m a big old wimp and avoid outright horror in my media… But some of those mid-century books like Ride the Pink Horse or In a Lonely Place by Dorothy Hughes or Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith are quite frightening in their amazingly convincing portrayal of The Worst Man You Know.

Do you prefer long or short books? Long!! Assuming it’s done well. There’s nothing so luxurious as losing yourself in a gorgeous brick.

Who's your favorite book character? My beefy 6ft SON Damianos of Akielos.

How many books did you read last year? 70! Although Goodreads counts DNFs, so I guess 68 books to completion. BOTH dnfs were James Bond books where James trotted off to a majority-Black locale and the audiobook narrators started doing the voices and I was like Oh Boy I Cannot Be Listening To This.

Have you met any authors? Not since middle school when an author came to my school to give a talk… He wrote something about a crow girl I think. I tend to want to keep the fourth wall up!

What's your favorite book that you own (as in coolest edition/signed/important to you)? I am lucky enough to have FOUR Penguinmerchant creations on my bookshelf and they ALL take this top spot. Perfect books!!