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:  books without romance.  There’s no room for lovers this week, as we celebrate books with absolutely no romantic plots, subplots, or entanglements of any kind.  Which writers are good at remembering there’s a lot of storytelling to be found in friendship, quests, mysteries, history, art, STEM, natural sciences, etc., etc.?

(hat tip to Lavender Gooms)

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. Images related to a post are fine, though.

upcoming topics:
2/10:  love stories (h/t to MisterSplendiferous)
2/17:  world literature (h/t to Malice Aforethought)
2/24:  exotic settings (to the characters) (h/t to MisterSplendiferous)
3/3:  translations or reading in a non-native language (h/t to Jason P)
3/10:  audiobooks (h/t to Ornery Ballsack)
3/17:  favorites from your own country or culture (h/t to Eric Pharand)
3/24:  how middle/high school required reading worked (h/t to Warmerdam)
3/31:  literary trickery
4/7:  when good gimmicks go bad

If I missed your suggestion, please @ me, so I see it. Please also believe I’m a moron, and not a jerk. I’ve been swamped lately, and flying through things more than I want to.

Book Nook posts every Wednesday at 8:15 AM Eastern.