Guest post written by Christa Comes Out of Her Shell author Abbi Waxman
Abbi Waxman, the USA Today bestselling author, is a chocolate-loving, dog-loving woman who lives in Los Angeles and lies down as much as possible. She worked in advertising for many years, which is how she learned to write fiction. She has three daughters, three dogs, three cats, and one very patient husband.
About Christa Comes Out of Her Shell: Just when she thought she’d gotten far enough away . . . a life-changing phone call throws an antisocial scientist back into her least favorite place—the spotlight. A hilarious and insightful new novel from the USA Today bestselling author of The Bookish Life of Nina Hill.
There are many reasons to love a book. Maybe it has characters that make you laugh or think or want to run screaming into the understairs cupboard. Maybe it has a twisty plot or surprise ending that you can’t stop thinking about. For me, the biggest appeal of a book is the way it draws me into a world I want to escape to, a place where I can lose myself and emerge, blinking, hours later without any sensation of time passing. Like walking out of the movie theater in the afternoon, unsure if the world has kept spinning in your absence. I’ve picked six not-very-well-known books (and series) from different genres that excel at this, each of them also strong in character and plot, and with writing that catches your mind from the first chapter.
The Jeeves and Wooster books by P.G. Wodehouse
Luckily, P.G. Wodehouse wrote many stories and novels about hapless aristocrat Bertie Wooster and his all-knowing butler, Jeeves. A good one to start with is Carry On, Jeeves, a collection of short stories including the one where Jeeves first enters Bertie’s employment. From the moment he arrives he is a balm, and if you want to escape into upper crust 1920’s England, where the biggest challenge of the day is what to eat for lunch, then this is your jam.
As Bertie says: … he floated noiselessly through the doorway like a healin zephyr. That impressed me from the start. Meadowes had had flat feet and used to clump. This fellow didn’t seem to have any feet at all. He just streamed in.
Bertie is a goofball and manages to repeatedly get himself into scrapes that Jeeves then has to free him from. These situations are pure escapism at its best. Another good choice is The Inimitable Jeeves, and either collection works. There are no plot spoilers or references to earlier stories, so you can just jump in.
The Gregor the Overlander series by Suzanne Collins
Author Suzanne Collins is much more famous for the Hunger Games series, but this set of five high fantasy novels is just as exciting and involving as its bigger cousins. Theoretically YA, the novels follow Gregor, a New York kid, as he is drawn into a secret subterranean world of giant rats, translucent people and ancient rivalries that spill over into war.
The first novel, Gregor the Overlander, sets the scene and the world building is so skillful and all- encompassing that I ended up reading the five novels one right after the other, and being desperately sad when they were over. Anyone who loves fantasy will fall into these, especially if you’re a fan of giant cockroaches and talking bats. And who isn’t?
The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
Not a series, but a book that is so fun, action-filled and light-hearted that it’s like watching the best kind of monster movie. John Scalzi writes very funny science fiction, and in this novel he imagines a version of our world where giant monsters (the Kaiju of the title) actually exist and need to be protected by (and from) humans.
A laconic food delivery guy gets drafted to help out and finds himself in the parallel world where the Kaiju have been hidden for their safety. Bad guys appear, shenanigans ensue, and you come out the book as exhilarated as the first time you watched a really good Godzilla flick. This is not classic literature, but it is a book I recommend over and over and have always gotten happy feedback on.
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Sure, it’s a classic novel, but most people are more familiar with Pride and Prejudice (for good reason) and overlook this brilliant, romantic and compelling novel. The Dashwood sisters are left essentially penniless when their father dies and leaves his estate to a step-brother (for legal reasons that made sense in the 19th century but which leave you scratching your head these days).
Elinor is practical and Marianne is not, but their romantic adventures drag you into their small world filled with frustrations and impossible dreams. I think Austen is at her best in this one (no shade to P&P) and the characters are wonderful. The ending is deeply, deeply satisfying. There’s a movie adaptation with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet that is also amazing, so that’s a bonus.
The Miss Silver novels by Patricia Wentworth
Something for mystery fans. Agatha Christie is still the queen, but the co-queen, if there can be such a thing, is Patricia Wentworth, who was writing at the same time. Her series of mysteries featuring the elderly but razor-sharp Miss Silver are amazing, with excellent plots and a mid-20th century atmosphere that defines cozy.
Start with Grey Mask (the first one) or The Listening Ear (where a deaf character lip reads details of a crime and is murdered to keep her quiet) and take it from there, there are over thirty of them!
The Human Comedy by William Saroyan
Another straight piece of literature, but one with a compellingly romantic atmosphere and a wonderful small-town, second world war setting. Homer McCauley is a 14-year-old boy growing up in the California central valley. He takes a job as a telegraph boy, occasionally having to deliver very bad news to the families of soldiers away fighting.
The whole novel is infused with the tangled sensations of the mid-teens, when the world is just starting to make sense, while at the time being overwhelmingly confusing. (Homer says at one point, “I’m lonely for something, but I don’t know what I’m lonely for.” Relatable.) Less bitter and more hopeful than A Catcher in the Rye, this book won the Academy Award for best story and is a wonderful and emotional escape.
