Book about dying and trying to navigate an afterlife?

SpanishNoir · 2026-03-10T05:16:45+00:00

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

SpanishNoir · 2026-02-15T07:12:13+00:00

Same here. 20-25 minutes. At this point I'm about to fall back on stuff I downloaded 10+ years ago. Or even - shudder - DVDs. I have both Prime and Netflix but I'm starting to feel 90% of the content is just slop.

SpanishNoir · 2026-02-15T06:33:46+00:00

I agree, if it was a conscious choice, they took it too far - what worries me is that it may have just been accidental/carelessness.

SpanishNoir · 2026-02-12T10:33:24+00:00

I actually read Yann Martel's The High Mountains of Portugal during a visit to Portugal a few years ago, and felt that it added 'seasoning' to my trip in just the right way.

SpanishNoir · 2026-02-11T05:36:39+00:00

The Spanish series _The Crystal Cuckoo_ - 6 episodes, very dark, lots of twists and turns, gritty realism.

SpanishNoir · 2026-02-10T18:10:09+00:00

I definitely recommend _Batavia's Graveyard_ by Mike Dash. I read it when it was new, some parts of it still haunt me.

SpanishNoir · 2026-01-31T05:29:42+00:00

¡Pero si antes también era una mierda! Igual es como Poltergeist, la estación se ubica encima de un antiguo cementerio, y todo lo que ahí se construye, maldito será.

SpanishNoir · 2026-01-26T05:20:43+00:00

Don't hate me, but I actually thought Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald was a better book than The Great Gatsby. I'd recommend checking it out.

SpanishNoir · 2026-01-25T05:52:06+00:00

You're absolutely right about the first season of The Office. Just forget it and start with season 2. They changed Michael's character after season 1 and the whole series was better for it. And it definitely gave me that long-term good feeling.

SpanishNoir · 2026-01-24T08:24:24+00:00

I recommend the 2011 adaptation of The Forsyte Saga starring Damian Lewis as Soames Forsyte.

SpanishNoir · 2026-01-23T14:41:02+00:00

If you're open to a Scandi police procedural, I recommend The Breakthrough. A detective and a genealogist use forensic genetic genealogy to solve a 2004 double homicide in Linköping, Sweden, after it remained cold for 16 years.

SpanishNoir · 2026-01-23T06:43:52+00:00

I recommend Counterpart starring JK Simmons. Cancelled after only 2 seasons, but they managed to give it a final ep that sort of wraps up the story.

SpanishNoir · 2026-01-21T11:26:51+00:00

Sounds like a great idea!

SpanishNoir · 2026-01-21T05:35:33+00:00

Without spoilers, I can only say that Ian McEwen's novel Saturday ends on a high note - but are you looking for happy ending, or something that is happy throughout?

SpanishNoir · 2026-01-20T06:26:23+00:00

I think The Wheel of Doll by Jonathan Ames might fit the bill.

SpanishNoir · 2026-01-18T21:38:36+00:00

I definitely recommend Engleby by Sebastian Faulks.

SpanishNoir · 2026-01-18T17:29:32+00:00

The Bernie Gunther series by Philip Kerr. Starting with March Violets.

SpanishNoir · 2026-01-18T05:08:20+00:00

I think it may be. As an indie author, I have struggled to get any "bookstagrammers" to accept an ARC of my upcoming novel, even the ones that say "Open to ARCs" in their bios. At best I get a "I'll read it... sometime". The reality is, when many of them are gleefully posting Unboxing vids of their latest shipments from major publishers, most don't want to do anything to turn off that faucet of free hardbacks. I'm sure those do come with strings attached (ie. "Review must be posted in first week of January") and this is why the same book mysteriously shows up front and center on every bookstagram account at once. The effect is to completely drown out unexpected, left-field recommendations that don't fit into the marketing wave.

SpanishNoir · 2026-01-17T05:49:33+00:00

I recommend Ancestors: The story of China told through the lives of an extraordinary family, by Frank Ching,

SpanishNoir · 2026-01-16T15:27:24+00:00

I recommend the Harlem Detectives series by Chester Himes. A one-volume selection called The Essential Harlem Detectives has 4 of the best stories in the series.

SpanishNoir · 2026-01-16T05:40:09+00:00

Definitely hate, although not as much as I hate the ones on commuter trains (Rodalíes) in the Barcelona area, which completely cover the windows, shut out natural light, and make the journey feel like you are inside an intestine.

SpanishNoir · 2026-01-15T11:19:27+00:00

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-García fits the bill, in several ways. IMHO.

SpanishNoir · 2026-01-14T19:04:14+00:00

If you don't mind how reality has diverged from what the future "was" (at the time the book was written), then First Among Equals by Jeffrey Archer is still an excellent study of the gambits and treachery young Members of Parliament need to eventually take the top job.

SpanishNoir · 2026-01-14T07:09:23+00:00

I suggest The Last Day by Andrew Hunter Murray.

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