Welcome to the Book Nook! The weekly thread for all book nerds on The Avocado. This is the place to talk about books you’re currently reading, discuss genres, ask for recommendations, and post serious literary criticism.

This week’s prompt: What are some of your favorite (or least favorite) works of historical fiction? What, specific to the genre, makes historical fiction good or bad? Thanks to Agnew for the idea!

Ideas for prompts are always welcome!

Today’s literary birthdays (all information courtesy of Wikipedia):
Charles Robert Maturin (1782), Irish gothic playwright and novelist (RIP 1824)

Lu Xun (1881), Chinese short story writer, poet, essayist, literary critic, translator and editor (RIP 1936)
William Faulkner (1897), American novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (RIP 1962)
Jessica Anderson (1916), Australian novelist and short story writer (RIP 2010)
Robert Laxult, (1923), American novelist, memoirist and short story writer (RIP 2001)
Shell Silverstein (1930), American children’s book writer, poet and illustrator (RIP 1999)
Aram Saroyan (1943), American poet, novelist, memoirist and playwright, best known for his minimalist poetry
Cherri Moraga (1952), American poet, essayist and playwright
Luanne Rice (1955), American novelist
Rebecca Gablé (1964), German historical novelist

Posting pictures is fine as long as they are book related, but I would like this thread to continue to be a NO GIF/YouTube/social media embed zone as much as possible. Thanks, and happy commenting!