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:  world literature.  I don’t know how to start a discussion that isn’t “name some favorites from other countries” or “highlight a different part of the world.”  I need help to make an elegant discussion on world literature.  We’ll have a couple of topics in upcoming weeks that can fold in world literature, and we can use this week as a kickoff to make sure we go somewhere around the world every 80 days.
(hat tip to Malice Aforethought and others)

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:
2/24:  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
4/14:  waiting is the hardest part – author and publisher delays
4/21:  celebrities who write
4/28:  better read at a different age (h/t to Pliny the Millennial)
5/5:  around the world in 80 days (actually 77, but who’s counting)
5/12:  innovators – fiction and non-fiction that transformed the possibilities of the form
5/19:  authors whose books you’ll read, no matter what
Book Nook posts every Wednesday at 8:15 AM Eastern.