Welcome to the Book Nook! This is the weekly thread for Avocados to discuss books we’re currently reading, recommendations, genre, and serious literary criticism.

This week’s recommended discussion: setting as character. We’ve know that chestnut about New York being a character in pretty much any medium it’s the setting of. Totally legit in some cases, but in others it’s just an excuse to add some elements unique to that place or even an unearned shortcut for world-building. What other settings are used as character? Does it add to the book, or does it come across as gimmicky or lazy. How about road books – how does the changing landscape inform the action? In a couple of weeks, we’ll revisit an aspect of this – books that can’t be set anywhere else.

One caveat: because we’re here to use our words, this is a NO GIF/YouTube/social media embed zone (the OTs are full of clutter, and I want to keep that out of this thread).

upcoming topics:
10/31: Halloween reads
11/7: geography pt. 2 – books that can only be set where they are