Hey guys! Ready to fill up your reading list?
Something I only touch on now and again here is reading, which is funny because it’s a big part of my daily life – essential to being able to properly disconnect, sleep better and put life into perspective. And I have to say (without tooting my own horn), a read a lot. As a kindle owner (and lover) a new book is never far off, meaning that unless I’ve misplaced my charger (happens) there’s usually no downtime between books, something that always annoyed me when I used the library or went book shopping. I still mourn the loss of paperback, and the kindle store interface is sooooo annoying, but you gotta take the good with the bad right?
So I thought it would be great to share with you all what I’m reading, or rather what I read in the last year or so… Some of the books were great, some were terrible (although I’ve left a few really bad ones off), and there were plenty that were just meh. I appreciate that book taste is a tricky one, and one person’s fave is another person’s least enjoyed… But that’s all part of the fun!
Books I’ve Read In The Last Year
How To Be A Person In The World* I mentioned this in my last monthly round-up, and definitely, recommend this compilation of advice columns by no bs Heather aka Ask Polly.
Little Fires Everywhere* and Everything I Never Told You I read the recent book and after loving it quickly found Celeste Ng’s other title, but Little Fires Everywhere is better.
Call Me By Your Name After seeing so many people love the movie I downloaded the book by André Aciman, it’s beautifully written and very nostalgic (although sexually pretty explicit).
Fresh Complaint I’ve always been a fan of Jeffrey Eugenides annndddd short stories so I couldn’t go past this one.
Three Wishes, What Alice Forgot, The Hypnotist’s Love Story, The Last Anniversary After loving Big Little Lies the tv show (I mean, who didn’t) I read that book and then downloaded all the rest by Liane Moriarty. I tend to do this, become interested in an author and read them all in a row! Her books are admittedly kind of trashy and you can often see whats coming (I mean, who else spotted the climax in Big Little Lies about 2 episodes in?) but not bad for whiling away a weekend.
Manhattan Beach One of my favourite books is Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, and so when I saw she had written another I downloaded it straight away (before realising it was on pre-order!). This one is very very different, a virtually historical novel about youth, the mob and feminism in the 1940’s.
Into The Water – Everyone read The Girl On The Train, right? Well I downloaded this one by Paula Hawkins and it’s eerie and with lots of twists and turns in a similar way, but admittedly has a less compelling storyline.
How to Murder Your Life* No doubt you heard about this book by Cat Marnell about being a journalist and drug addict – I didn’t exactly love it but it was definitely a page-turner and great trashy read.
Nutshell I’m a big fan of Ian McEwan, and this is a murder story told from the perspective of an unborn baby (as in, he witnesses it inside the womb).
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman
Where’d You Go, Bernadette – Maria Semple
Tampa – Not for the faint-hearted, this is about a woman who falls for one of her students. Kind of a Lolita story but wayyyy more intense. I liked it but it’s not for everyone!
A Little Life This is a devastating book about a group of friends in New York by Hanya Yanagihara… I feel like it’s a book everyone has talked about as a must read, but didn’t love it. It’s kinda like grief porn and very very unrelenting, its’s also like a zillion pages!
Dark Matter* – A super interesting story about waking up in another world where you’re you but also not.
The Underground Railroad Downloaded this book by Colson Whitehead after reading about it in Time magazine, once I got my head around the surrealist depiction of the railroad (rather than a network of safe houses as it actually was, in the book it’s an actual railroad) I got into it.
Sweetbitter – A coming of age story set in a restaurant in New York. Not the best book (even though it got a lot of hype) but interesting none the less.
Commonwealth*, Run, State Of Wonder I went through an Ann Patchett phase a few months ago, and pretty much read all of her books. I really like her writing!
Barkskins Another favourite author, this book by Annie Proulx about two new settlers in America is long but interesting, although to be fair I recommend her other books over this one.
The Girls* Chances are you’ve read this, but I liked it!
The Sisters Brothers* I really loved this book, something a bit different than what I usually read but great!
* Books I particularly couldn’t put down
Everyone keeps saying to me to do some reading now before the baby comes, because after that I wont have time for a while. Sad face! So I’d love to hear if you have read anything recently that you would recommend!
