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I love lit fic. I love it. And for some readers that sounds so boring. I have heard people describe lit fic as character based more than plot based. And I would say that is likely true, but that does not mean it is boring or devoid of action or emotion.

If you are one of those people who thinks they hate lit fic, here are some books I ask you to read to see if your opinion changes. 

Lit Fic + Good Romance:

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen is a little historical fiction, a little coming of age and a little romance. It is not for those that cannot stand animal cruelty. It is set in the early days of Bartum and Bailey’s Circus. A young veterinarian leaves home and finds the circus. He falls in love with the trapeze artist who is in a relationship with the ringmaster. He is abusive to her and the animals. Enter our hero, the veterinarian!

Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood is a little historical fiction, a little coming of age and a little romance. It is 3 stories in one. It is the story of two sisters in Toronto during WWII. It is the story of 2 unknown lovers who meet secretly. And it is the sci-fi story the lovers create while they are together. There is a ton of mystery in this story surrounding one of the sister’s deaths and who the lovers are. There is not one of the three that is more intriguing!

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is a classic. It is a tragic love story. It is short and will leave you destroyed.

Lit Fic + Awesome Magical Realism:

Beloved by Toni Morrison is one of the most popular examples of magical realism in literature. Runaway slave Sethe’s home is visited by a ghost that appears to be the baby of the daughter she killed. She haunts the house, scares the other children away and also represents so much more.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabiel Garcia Marquez is my, and most people’s, favorite book of his. Marquez is known as the Father of Magical Realism. He is a Colombian author, and One Hundred Years of Solitude is epic. It spans seven generations of one family. It is about the damages of solitude and the importance of the past and our memories. One character eats earth. Many are killed in wars and uprisings. There is a matron of a brothel who many seek for her advice. And of course someone returns from the dead and another has butterflies following her around.

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward is the story of 13 year old Jojo and his coming of age. After failing to help slaughter a goat, Jojo is feeling like he let down his grandfather. The next day his mother takes Jojo to see his own father in prison. In the car, Jojo finds a gris-gris bag and instructions on how to use it from his grandfather. Through this journey, Jojo learns much about himself, his family and their abilities.

Lit fic is a genre of its own, but so often lit fic books span multiple topics. If you need to have some romance in your books, you can find it in lit fic. You can even find some spicy scenes: looking at you Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver, Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera and The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante and Lauren Groff in so many of your books 😉

-Ang

Here are some of the books that most recently got a 5 star review from our subscription customers. I don’t know which makes me happier - surprising someone with a book they’ve been wanting to read and they end up loving it OR sending them a book they would never pick for themselves but they end up loving it.

One thing I do know is that I love when they have nothing to say about what they want next because that means we are NAILING IT.

Happy Place by Emily Henry

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really liked this one! I liked the aspect of friendship, and of course the romance part. Thank you!

What would you like to see in the next book we send?

Just continue with the romance genre, and keep up the great work!

The Children of Húrin by J.R.R Tolkien

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Another classic Tolkien that I didn't have in my collection.

What would you like to see in the next book we send?

I trust you!

Mission to Paris by Alan Furst

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Not my typical genre! But I really enjoyed the history and intrigue. Took me a bit to get into it but then I couldn’t put it down😊

5 Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This has been on my to-read list for years so I was so happy to have unwrapped it! It is such a compelling, haunting story about healthcare and ethics.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I absolutely love the perspective of death as the narrator, it's such a different perspective! I love lots of things about the book, but don't need to write a whole book report. You ladies nailed this pick for me. Thank you ever so much. This was exactly the book I needed right now. You'll never know how much this book meant to me.

What would you like to see in the next book we send?

You did so well with this book, I trust you fully on the next pick. I'm excited to see what you send!!

I have a love/hate relationship with recommending books to people. When I know nothing about a person’s reading preferences and they ask me “what should I read next,” I cringe. The pressure is on, but all I can do is tell them about a book I like. I also feel this way when I see these requests on online forums/pages. How in the world should I know what you should read next? Reading is deeply personal. I need to know you!

Most of my close friends are readers. And with each of them, I share something in common when it comes to reading, but there are books I loved that Casey will love, Lauren will like, and Katie will hate so I have to take what I know about each person and their reading into account. 

I have learned what books each of them will likely enjoy (clearly, I have been wrong before) by listening to what books they liked in the past AND WHY. The why is huge.

In fact, Kate and I love so many of the same books; we share a favorite book The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. But Kate hates another one of my favorite books, Milkman by Anna Burns. She dnf’ed it twice. Kate is a plot driven reader. If the book is slow, if it is too character or theme driven, she’s not really interested.

At Recycle Read Repeat, we have customers who have been with us for years. This makes us so proud. But more than proud we are touched; it’s like we have new friends. We often write notes to them explaining why we have chosen a book - especially when it is not obvious. We await their feedback anxiously and figure out ways to humbly, or not so humbly, brag to each other when we nail the recommendation.

Just like with our friends, though, there are times when we don’t nail it. The feedback comes in and we see the terrifying 2 star review. But nothing changes (besides the humble brag step). Whether our customers send us 5 star feedback or 2 star feedback, we do the same thing - analyze the data and continue to build our nerdy book relationship with them!

- Ang