I read so many good things this month that I had a hard time narrowing it down to five. Because I’m writing about books all month (and thus will have ample opportunity to discuss the others), I am appeased to highlight the five this month that stood out not only because I really liked them but also because of a certain factor that made this book (or, in the case of the first one, this author) particularly extraordinary.
Super vague? Yes. But I know what I meant, and hopefully you will, too, soon. I promise there’s method to the madness.
- Anxious People by Fredrik Backman – Let me get this out of the way first – I LOOOOOVE Fredrik Backman. He writes character-driven fiction that is hilarious, charming, and detailed. When my own characters are falling flat and I can’t seem to make them come alive, I pause and read a little while out of whichever of his books is nearest to me to remind myself how to do it. Another reason I love his books is that in each one, there is at least one scenario that could go quite badly, but then the characters choose empathy and kindness instead of fear or selfishness, and the reader gets to see how wonderfully those decisions play out. And this may be my favorite book of his I’ve read yet. I wish I could give it more than five stars on Goodreads, because five is not enough.
- The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See – Set mainly in Jeju off the coast of Korea, this book takes you through the story of the friendship and hardships between two haenyeo (female divers who harvested the ocean to support their families). I didn’t know anything about these legendary women before I picked up this book, and the tale is intriguing. While the book itself is fiction, it takes you through the area’s history, highlighting particularly the regimes in control, particularly during World War II and the Korean war (minor tangent – colonialism is trash). I also found the family structure in the divers’ subculture fascinating. Definitely glad my book club chose this one, because I’m not sure I would have picked it up myself, and I would have been missing out.
- Caste by Isabel Wilkerson – I started reading Caste as part of HR’s summer book club at work. There has been a lot of praise about this book already, and I don’t have much to add to what has already been said, except to say that it lives up to the hype. It is both meticulously researched and artfully written. One of the reasons it takes me so long to get through a lot of nonfiction is that it often reads so drily. It still took me a while to read this one but that’s because I didn’t want to miss a single word of her beautiful prose. I can’t wait to read her previous book The Warmth of Other Suns next.
- How To Be Both by Ali Smith – This book is also exquisitely written. It’s presented in two interrelated parts – one set in the 1400s and one set in more modern times. Some versions are printed with the older time frame first and some with the more recent time frame first. My copy started in recent years, but I kinda want to read it again a few years from now (after I’ve forgotten enough details that it feels quasi-new-ish) with the other time frame first.
- Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton – Ok, so I haven’t technically finished this one yet. I’m listening during my commute, so it takes a little longer to get through it. But I don’t need to finish it to know I adore it. The main narrator is a crow. That’s it. That’s all it took to sell me on this series. But it gets better – it’s a zombie novel told from the perspective of a crow. I found out about it when we had our first in-person meeting of our book club at the local public library, and we were invited to take a couple of free books that they were sent. I chose the second book in the series (Feral Creatures, which is on the TBR for this month), so I decided to listen to the library’s audio copy first. It did not disappoint. Clever concept and good, witty writing.
What have you read recently that you’d recommend?
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