Here are 83 books that Life in the North fans have personally recommended if you like
Life in the North.
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I’m an autistic unapologetic writing nerd who has spent most of their life using fiction and pop culture to connect better with the world. It has always been the tool, escape, and comfort for me when I feel overwhelmed. As I bite my tongue to keep from monologuing, I always strive to share, introduce, or connect with my passions. Now I use that and my degree in psychology to try to craft worlds that people can feel emotional about in my writing and poetry.
Libriomancer is a very meta urban fantasy where the power of fiction is real and accessible. It delves deeply into the powers of other fictional worlds within the framework of the one created for this story. With more than a little humor and a lot of fun, the literary fantasy and science fiction pop culture becomes active tools rather than cute easter eggs. I felt heart-warmed by the inventive and interesting use of combining old books I love to help form a new book I love.
Isaac Vainio is a Libriomancer, a member of a secret society founded five centuries ago by Johannes Gutenberg. As such, he is gifted with the magical ability to reach into books and draw forth objects.
But when Gutenberg vanishes without a trace, Isaac finds himself pitted against everything from vampires to a sinister, nameless foe who is bent on revealing magic to the world at large... and at any cost.
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
The best stories are the ones that take very silly ideas seriously. This doesn’t mean that they’re not funny; on the contrary, you don’t really hear the truth until it makes you laugh. These books all lean heavily on tropes, specifically B-movie tropes. I used to write detailed reviews of terrible movies, afterschool specials, and creature features. I host a podcast all about the funnier parts of TV criticism. Figuring out how something simple speaks to the core of us is the height of fiction, and all five of these do that and do it with humor.
It’s hard to beat Scalzi for nailing the execution of a high concept.
Redshirts could have so easily been nothing but a gimmick, but Scalzi really gets into the guts of the horror and humor of being a character written for the sole purpose of dying. I picked up the book with a cynical eye, expecting to hate it, but it drew me in.
Scalzi went so much further with the concept, shined a light on every corner of the idea, that he managed to create a deconstruction and reconstruction of the same trope at the same time.
'I can honestly say I can't think of another book that ever made me laugh this much. Ever' Patrick Rothfuss, New York Times bestselling author of The Name of the Wind
Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It's a prestige posting, and Andrew is even more delighted when he's assigned to the ship's Xenobiology laboratory. Life couldn't be better ... although there are a few strange things going on:
(1) every Away Mission involves a lethal confrontation with alien forces
I’m an autistic unapologetic writing nerd who has spent most of their life using fiction and pop culture to connect better with the world. It has always been the tool, escape, and comfort for me when I feel overwhelmed. As I bite my tongue to keep from monologuing, I always strive to share, introduce, or connect with my passions. Now I use that and my degree in psychology to try to craft worlds that people can feel emotional about in my writing and poetry.
Another Litrpg, Seth enters a Virtual Reality game set in a fantasy feudal Japan as the technology allows him to function better while recovering from an injury taken during a martial arts tournament. For me, the setting got me worked up. I spent a decade of my gaming life playing Legend of the Five Rings, a similarly feudal Japan-inspired game world. Clans, factions, betrayals, and samurai. It brought me back to my youth in a way that few pieces of media do.
How Often Do You Get a Second Chance in Life? Seth Kinnaman’s dream has always been to become the best fighter the world has ever seen. After spending his entire life training, he’s finally ready to test his skills in the biggest tournament on Earth where hundreds of the fiercest competitors vie for the supreme title.
In the semi-finals, Seth is getting the upper hand when his opponent uses an illegal blow to take him out. Upon waking up from a coma, Seth finds out he’s lost his sight. He’s become blind and he’s completely devastated. All his dreams are…
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…
I grew up in a family of readers who valued humor above all else. I’ve always sought out novels that weren’t full of themselves or too serious. For example, I don’t actually like literature for the most part (sacrilege?) As a result, I’ve veered toward upmarket genre books that amuse me. My list reflects what I discovered as I explored this realm. It also led me to write mysteries and thrillers that are infused with my version of humor, which I must admit will never match the authors on my list. These guys are amazing.
Fforde takes literary characters and brings them to life in a mystery format. Inside jokes about them and well-constructed absurd situations kept me amused. I admire the creativity and imagination a book like this requires. The plot is also ingenious, with unexpected twists and turns.
I’d say I never read a book like it, but I’ve read others by him, and he continues to create fun novels with literary and fairy tale characters. I recommend all of them.
Meet Thursday Next, literary detective without equal, fear or boyfriend
Jasper Fforde's beloved New York Times bestselling novel introduces literary detective Thursday Next and her alternate reality of literature-obsessed England-from the author of The Constant Rabbit
Fans of Douglas Adams and P. G. Wodehouse will love visiting Jasper Fforde's Great Britain, circa 1985, when time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously: it's a bibliophile's dream. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem and forging Byronic…
I’ve been a history nerd since I first learned to read. My father served in the United States Air Force, and we had an elderly neighbor who served in Korea. Their stories and a lot of time on my hands (I grew up on a small farm) led to an early love of reading. Most of the books on this list helped that love grow into ultimately writing fiction and getting a Ph.D. in U.S. History. I hope going back through them is also an enjoyable experience for everyone else.
This book holds a special place on this list because it’s one of the first books that made me realize the wholesale carnage people expected out of modern warfare. Sure, we’ve got to get in the Wayback machine to the early 1980s, but Taylor’s depiction of a “modern” all-out duel between the United States and Soviet carrier fleets seemed strangely prescient.
“Before Clancy, there was Taylor…” is something I’ve said many times when discussing this era of fiction. Unlike many Cold War authors, Taylor makes a point to show both sides have compelling reasons to be in harm’s way. Although the ending isn’t Bridge to Terabithia savage (IYKYK), it’s still a solid gut punch after the preceding couple hundred pages. It taught me at a young age the power of making people care about characters (before you kill them).
As a lifelong computer nerd, I’m disappointed by the way we’re portrayed in the media. If you believe the stories, nerds are awkward and self-centered, with no room in their compulsive worldview for anything outside of their singular goals. This is absurd. Sure, some nerds are awkward and self-centered, but so are most of the people on this planet. To set the record straight, I’ve written stories about the many nerds I know, all of them with rich lives that extend far beyond their love of computers. These people are adventurers, jokesters, musicians, athletes, motorheads, connoisseurs, and more, with extreme passions that defy nerdiness.
When I’m wearing my uber-nerd hat, I enjoy Doctorow’s stories that are filled with cyber chat.
This story wonders what would happen if the world’s population was drastically reduced to a small collection of nerds. Would they be able to survive, or would they be unfit for life on Earth? Could they learn to farm, repair the planet’s aging infrastructure, and become administrators of a new and budding world? I’m rooting for the nerds here because I know they have the necessary skills.
Please read the legal notice included in this e-book and/or check the copyright status in your country. The heroic exploits of "sysadmins" — systems administrators — as they defend the cyber-world, and hence the world at large, from worms and bioweapons.
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…
I’ve been fascinated by Star Trek since I was a young child and went to my first convention, seeing a gorgeous Uhura walk by trailed by three gentlemen dressed as Mr. Spock. One of my local librarians must have been a Trekkie because I checked out stacks of novels from the likes of James Blish and Vonda McIntyre. Now, as an author myself, I feel privileged to have not only been a Trekkie for many years but to have written a book about Star Trek with one of my best friends. I hope you enjoy theseStar Trekbooks, and the many others that are coming this year and beyond, as much as I have.
Did I mention that I am a Trekkie and a science nerd? When I was in eighth grade, my science project was on ani-matter. I was thrilled to discover that it was a real thing, not just somethingStar Trekmade up. In fact, Star Trek has inspired many things, from the cell phone to the tablet, and even Bluetooth communication devices.
In this book, Mark Brake explores all those things, from cyborgs and aliens to planet hunting, and even asking when we will boldly go into the galaxy. It’s available for pre-order now and drops on May 26.
Boldly go where no man has gone before and discover the real science behind the cyborgs, starships, aliens, and antimatter of the Star Trek galaxy.
Star Trek is one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. It has changed our cultural landscape in so many ways since it first aired in 1966. The franchise has generated billions of dollars in revenue, leading to a wide range of spin-off games, novels, toys, and comics. Star Trek is noted for its social science, too, with its progressive civil rights stances and its celebration of future diversity that began with The Original…
I’m a history-philosophy-literature nerd who at a young age stumbled into a job at a global corporate training firm, where I learned a lotabout leadership as I rose over two decades to become head of R&D. Then I was fired for insubordination, which just goes to show that introverts get into trouble, too. Having authored one book under company auspices, I decided to write another one on my own, one that combined my expertise in leadership development with my love for great stories and ideas. Now I’m up to five books, and they’re all the kind that a nerdy introverted troublemaker would want to read.
I read this book while on a terrifyingly turbulent flight home from a business trip. Maybe that’s why it has stuck with me, but its memorability is also due to the assurance it offered that I, a fundamentally shy person who finds public speaking almost as terrifying as a bumpy plane ride, could not only speak to audiences but also connect with them in an authentic, passionate way. Leaders are frequently on stage; this book teaches us how to shine (softly) in the spotlight.
BRING THE TECHNIQUES OF THE STAGE TO THE BOARDROOM.
For more than a decade, Belle Linda Halpern and Kathy Lubar have applied the lessons and expertise they have learned as performing artists to the work of their company, The Ariel Group. Halpern and Lubar have helped tens of thousands of executives at major companies around the country and the globe, including General Electric, Mobil Oil, Capital One, and Deloitte. In Leadership Presence, they make their time-tested strategies available to everyone, from high-profile CEOs to young professionals seeking promotion. Their practical, proven approach will enable you to develop the skills necessary…
I am a romantic; I live to love. My books Eve’s Blessing and Subjectified both help women build great sex and love lives. As a therapist and sex educator, I help people connect with their partners and build the relationships of their dreams. I am currently working on a romance novel with spiritual and psychedelic themes. I love books that introduce us to new worlds as we explore the inner world of each character.
It's hard to find the perfect person for you. What about the perfect robot?
Contemplate the meaning of consciousness, souls, and God as you read the story of a woman who falls in love with a cyborg who also happens to be a weapon of war. And when they reach the bedroom, you'll find out he also makes a good sex-bot.
'She is a serious writer who deserves the sort of considered attention which, too often, she does not get...' MARGARET ATWOOD
In the middle of the twenty-first century, life as we know it has changed for all time. Shira Shipman's marriage has broken up, and her young son has been taken from her by the corporation that runs her zone, so she has returned to Tikva, the Jewish town where she grew up. There, she is welcomed by Malkah, the brilliant grandmother who raised her, and meets an extraordinary man who is not a man at all, but a unique…
This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.
In these and other intimate conversations, the book…
I love inventing inventions and experimenting with experiments–all in aid of blending science and story to inspire innovation and positive change. My career covers six countries, 15+ novels for primary-aged children, and jobs that include science journalism at CERN (home of the Large Hadron Collider), exploding things at Questacon (as part of a science circus), and collecting bins in the back of a ute (as a garbage analyst). I write for children because I believe (and it’s scientifically proven) that our children are the future.
I read this book anytime I’m feeling down and want an upbeat reminder that there are good things everywhere–you just need to find your tribe.
As a nerd myself, I love that Barny the Lamb, Shaama Llama Ding Dong the…llama, and Billy the Kid have all fallen into an odd but relatively successful friend group. But life as a nerd can be tricky, especially on a farm with ferocious bulls and mean cats.
Barny the Lamb and his friends are sick of being picked on. So they decide to form a gang to show everyone that they are not as soft as they look. But how do three fluffy friends stand up to a cunning fox, a gigantic cat, and a bull with behavioural issues?
