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:  when good gimmicks go bad.  It’s happened to all of us – you read one book by a new author or in a niche genre, you fall in love, you read more … then realize the thing you loved has diminished returns.  Maybe the formula only worked once, maybe different writers have varying skill at executing a formula or working in a genre, maybe the thrill of discovery was the best part.  Does freshness inevitably turn into something that feels forced?

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:
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:  world lit every 80 days
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
5/26:  knowing culture or history to understand a book’s references (h/t Mongo Only Pawn)
6/2:  the dream cast for an adaptation (h/t Antononymous)
6/9:  read in order to avoid spoilers (h/t MisterSplendiferous)
6/16:  the definition of insanity
6/23:  deal breakers

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