Here are 7 books that What the Living Do fans have personally recommended if you like
What the Living Do.
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I see that the three books I liked the most this year all could be called "science fiction" in that they deal with some aspect of science. Sean Michael's book is an exploration of how artificial intelligence and poetry might interact, but it's far from being a simple speculative tale about dangers of AI gone rogue. At its heart is the question of what art is, and the story left me pondering that, even as I delighted in finding resemblances between Michael's characters and the world of technology.
Scotiabank Giller Prize winner Sean Michaels writes a moving, innovative novel about an ageing poet laureate who "sells out" by agreeing to collaborate with a Big Tech company's poetry AI.
Do You Remember Being Born? is sensitively narrated by the ageing, world-renowned poet Marian Ffarmer. Marian's pristine life of the mind for which she's sacrificed nearly all personal relationships, from romance to friendship to showing up for her son, is interrupted one day by a cryptic invitation from a tech giant.
"Come to California", the invitation beckons, and write with a machine. The Company's lucrative offer for Marian…
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
A woman alone in a cabin. Isolated by choice. The sounds of her breath, her chair. The creak of her floorboards. Her wired jaw now unwired, but still. The tiny red light of her camera in the dark.
Meghan Greeley’s short novel Jawbone is remarkable. Truly, genuinely remarkable. As in singular. Arresting. Unique. As in written in language so tangible you could be bathing in it.
It has a plot, of course. A good one, an important one, about misunderstandings and the pain people cause and a contest for a trip to Mars. But the breathtaking scenery is at least as significant as the route the path takes
A young woman has one minute to speak on a submission video to win a one-way trip to Mars, a location she views as the ultimate escape. As she barricades herself in a cottage by the sea and prepares to record, she examines her fixation on the colour red, shame, guilt, a dramatic breakup with her boyfriend, and the breakdown of her relationship with her best friend. There is another problem however, her jaw has been wired shut for a long time, and she's having trouble speaking. A passionate story about queer love and loneliness and a dazzling debut from…
I am Casey Kelleher, a crime writer and author of 17 novels. I have always been a complete and utter bookworm, but my true passion is crime and psych thrillers. Most of my stories concentrate on the victim–or, as I prefer to call them, the survivor. That’s who I champion in my stories, highlighting the strength of that person who has overcome whatever harsh reality that’s been forced upon them. But I also like to get inside the perpetrator’s head. I want to know the ‘whys’ of what they do. Psychology is very complex, but I do believe that there can be good and bad/darkness and light in all of us.
This book was just something else completely for me. I went in blind, knowing nothing about the story or subject matter–which is dark and complex. The writing style is just perfection, and I can honestly say I’ve never been so obsessed with a book in my entire life. I don’t read books for a second time (because, let's face it, who has time for that when our reading lists are already never-ending), But I would happily devour this one all over again. In fact, I get jealous when I hear people start it for the very first time.
It's dark and complex, and it will split the audience in two, with no room for an in-between. You will either ADORE this book or LOATHE it. For me, it was perfection.
A beautiful and provocative love story between two unlikely people and the hard-won relationship that elevates them above the Midwestern meth lab backdrop of their lives.
As the daughter of a drug dealer, Wavy knows not to trust people, not even her own parents. It's safer to keep her mouth shut and stay out of sight. Struggling to raise her little brother, Donal, eight-year-old Wavy is the only responsible adult around. Obsessed with the constellations, she finds peace in the starry night sky above the fields behind her house, until one night her star gazing causes an accident. After witnessing…
The Everlasting Life of Charlie Wall
by
Paul Wilborn,
It’s 1985, and Ronald Armstrong, known in the magic mushroom trade as “Trip,” takes a “sober” job as a driver for a retired Tampa mobster. His boss, Charlie Wall, has survived four attempts on his life, the last one in 1955. When Charlie falls into depression, Trip rebuilds his boss’…
I’ve been interested in stories about power, exploitation, and female resilience for as long as I can remember. As a former professional dancer, I grew up in a world where the body was watched, judged, disciplined, and expected to perform, no matter the circumstance. My later experience as a physician scholar and as a mother has deepened my interest in the systems that shape girls’ and women’s ideas about their own lives. Finally, as a survivor, I also understand how these experiences can distort a girl’s sense of herself. I come to these books from the intersection of art, medicine, feminism, and lived experience.
I found this book powerful in its subtle exposé of how, for generations, girls have been forced to see the world through the eyes of men. The gatekeepers—in art, literature, and popular culture—have historically been men.
We see how teenage Vanessa has been influenced by the sexualization of a young Britney Spears and Fiona Apple, as well as books like Lolita that have been recommended to her by her favorite teacher. Her teacher is the beneficiary of the societal grooming that has already taken root in Vanessa’s psyche, exploiting it further to serve his own sexual needs.
This book ruined me because even after her teacher tells her, “I will ruin you,” Vanessa sees herself as being in control of their inappropriate relationship when she is anything but.
In my writing and in my life, I look at life and relationships in terms of what is and isn’t expected or acceptable. I’ve been fascinated by how pleasure itself has become a dirty word and how it can be exploited and used. Women have so much more potential and are so much more complex than what is given to us by media and social constructs. I write to expose the underside of identity, beliefs, and especially how past encounters color and shape our ability to experience pleasure.
This author blows me away with her unflinching approach to sex and sexuality.
This exposes complex and rarely approached relationships in a fresh and startling way. The issue of pain transference isn’t something often dealt with in fiction.
I think I love this book because it’s unsettling and honest. I like a book that upends me and makes me consider life in ways I hadn’t before.
In my writing and in my life, I look at life and relationships in terms of what is and isn’t expected or acceptable. I’ve been fascinated by how pleasure itself has become a dirty word and how it can be exploited and used. Women have so much more potential and are so much more complex than what is given to us by media and social constructs. I write to expose the underside of identity, beliefs, and especially how past encounters color and shape our ability to experience pleasure.
Again, I loved this book because it examines a young life from an unconventional point of view. How love and perceived romance can occur outside of acceptable cultural norms.
I love that music brings these people together. I love when a book makes me understand how what I might think is wrong or immoral is just another face of love and life.
A woman's lover from her youth resurfaces in her adult life, and she is drawn into the turmoil surrounding disturbing accusations about his Nazi past. From pre WWI Dresden, Germany to contemporary urban Toronto, the dual point of view narrative crosses continents and moves through time as it explores the ambiguity of human emotion, how our natures can embody both the ideals and delights of love alongside the most base and dispassionate sensibilities.
Delve into this internationally best-selling series, now complete! A fast paced laugh-out-loud mix of Urban Fantasy and Mystery.
I can tell when you’re lying. Every. Single. Time. I’m Jinx, a PI hired to find a missing university student, I hope to find her propped up at a bar–yet my gut…
In my writing and in my life, I look at life and relationships in terms of what is and isn’t expected or acceptable. I’ve been fascinated by how pleasure itself has become a dirty word and how it can be exploited and used. Women have so much more potential and are so much more complex than what is given to us by media and social constructs. I write to expose the underside of identity, beliefs, and especially how past encounters color and shape our ability to experience pleasure.
I loved this book because it challenged ideas about relationships and motherhood.
For me, the issues around guilt and feelings of self-worth came through strongly. I loved this book because the writing was lyrical and clear, and made me suspend my disbelief to the point where I totally believed the premise that one could inhabit another’s body—and made me wonder if the burden of guilt can actually cause such dire consequences.
A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice One of Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2017
"[A] supernatural domestic thriller and a crackling tour de force." ―The New York Times
Thunderstorms are rolling across the summer sky. Every time one breaks, Rose Bowan loses consciousness and has vivid, realistic dreams about being in another woman's body.
Is Rose merely dreaming? Or is she, in fact, inhabiting a stranger? Disturbed yet entranced, she sets out to discover what is happening to her, leaving the cocoon of her family’s small repertory cinema for the larger, upended world of someone wildly different from…
