Selfie Book Talk, Episode 31

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Available as: Print | eBook | eAudiobook

Recommended by: Andrea C. at Haggard Library

Genre: Young Adult Fiction

Description from Novelist: Eldest of three sisters in a land where it is considered to be a misfortune, Sophie is resigned to her fate as a hat shop apprentice until a witch turns her into an old woman and she finds herself in the castle of the greatly feared wizard Howl.

Howl’s Moving Castle Read-alikes:

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson, available in Print | eBook

Gilded by Marissa Meyer, available in Print | eBook | eAudiobook

The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde, available in Print | eBook

Author Ed Brubaker

Available as: Print

Recommended by: Erik K. at Parr Library

Genre: Graphic Novels (Adult and Young Adult)

Description from Novelist: Inspired heavily by classic crime fiction, Ed Brubaker penned several acclaimed books for DC before following in Brian Michael Bendis’ footsteps to become a major writer at Marvel Comics. Brubaker’s work often veers between (or combines) dark, conspiracy-heavy superhero tales for teens and suspenseful works of crime noir for adults. Often employing first-person narration, Brubaker’s characters usually find themselves in over their heads with the walls closing in around them, pushed to or past their moral limits as they struggle to survive.

Selected Titles:

Captain America, Vol. 1, available as Print
Coward, available as Print
Pulp, available as Print

Ed Brubaker Read-alikes:

Scott Snyder, available as Print | eBook
James Tynion IV, available as Print
Brian Michael Bendis, available as Print | eBook

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Available as: Print | eBook | eAudiobook

Recommended by: Amy B. at Parr Library

Genre: Fantasy

Description: Vasilisa and her siblings love to gather by the fire to listen to their nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, Vasya loves the story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon. Vasya’s stepmother forbids her family from honoring their household spirits, but Vasya fears what this may bring. As misfortune begins to stalk the village, she must call upon dangerous gifts she has long concealed to protect her family from a threat sprung to life from her nurse’s most frightening tales.

The Bear and the Nightingale Read-alikes:

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, available as Print | eBook | eAudiobook

The City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty, available as Print | eBook | eAudiobook

The Bone Mother by David Demchuk, available as Print

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

Available as: Print | Large Print | eBook | eAudiobook

Recommended by: Sarah O. at Haggard Library

Genre: Memoir

Description: In this story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school; of struggling with her mother’s high expectations; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent at her grandmother’s in Seoul. It was her mother’s diagnosis of terminal cancer when Michelle was 25 that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her.

Crying in H Mart Read-alikes:

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong, available as Print | eBook | eAudiobook

Seeing Ghosts: A Memoir by Kat Chow, available as Print | eBook | eAudiobook

Family in Six Tones:  A Refugee Mother, an American Daughter by Lan Cao and Harlan Margaret Van Cao, available as Print | eAudiobook

Hardly Haunted by Jessie Sima

Available as: Print

Recommended by: Nikki S. at Harrington Library

Genre: Children’s picture book

Description from Novelist: When a house believes she is haunted, she tries everything in her power to stop it in order to get people to move in–until she realizes that she is fine just the way she is.

Hardly Haunted Read-alikes:

Stumpkin by Lucy Ruth Cummins, available as Print

Leo: A Ghost Story by Mac Barnett, available as Print | CD Book

A Teeny Tiny Halloween by Lauren Wohl, available as Print