Episode 23 - Genre Promiscuous with Nina Li Coomes

Books with Betsy

On this episode, Nina Li Coomes, who was once described as genre promiscuous by a professor, discusses her traumatic early reading experiences, and how her identity as a writer has developed. We also discuss some shared favorites, how much she loves a hate-read, and why it can be good to read books you might not like.

Click here to support Eman Alhaj Ali, the writer in Palestine that Nina has been working to support.

Books mentioned in this episode:

What Betsy’s reading:

Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival, and Hope in an American City by Andrea Elliot

Trust by Hernan Diaz

My Friends by Hisham Matar

Pink Slime by Fernanda Trías, trans. Heather Cleary

Books Highlighted by Nina:

How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka

A Play for the Living in the Time of Extinction by Miranda Rose Hall

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick

All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.

Other books mentioned in this episode:

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Grimm’s Fairytales by Grimm Jacob and Wilhelm

The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee

The Searcher by Tana French

In the Woods by Tana French

The Best Possible Experience: Stories by Nishanth Injam

The Aeneid by Virgil

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Homeland: Dungeons & Dragons: Book 1 by R. A. Salvatore

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

The Duke and I: Bridgerton by Julia Quinn

Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly