Rec
First one is obvious - Intermezzo by Sally Rooney. Made me think about the interior lives of men more than I usually do which I found a nice thing to do, it made me love people more.
Private Rites by Julia Armfield. The same writer who write the hypnotic Our Wives Under The Sea. Itâs about grief and death and climate catastrophe. I would recommend reading it and then when youâve finished have a film night and watch His Three Daughters (2023) and The Room Next Door (2024). In that order. I accidentally consumes these three things in that order and it created something perfect in my mind.
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. I love video games and itâs the first time Iâve ever seen them portrayed with love in basically anything, made me think a lot about my relationship to games and others through them.
Private Rites by Julia Armfield. The same writer who write the hypnotic Our Wives Under The Sea. Itâs about grief and death and climate catastrophe. I would recommend reading it and then when youâve finished have a film night and watch His Three Daughters (2023) and The Room Next Door (2024). In that order. I accidentally consumes these three things in that order and it created something perfect in my mind.
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. I love video games and itâs the first time Iâve ever seen them portrayed with love in basically anything, made me think a lot about my relationship to games and others through them.
Nov 5, 2024
Related Recs
Rec
đAccording to one Mouse:
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - a magical, mysterious book unlike any other Iâve read and possibly my favourite of all time. A story told in journal entries of Piranesi, a man who lives in a huge labyrinth filled with statues.
Memorial by Bryan Washington - a gorgeous tender story of a gay couple told from both sides. Stunningly empathetic and just perfect in its humanity, and use of food as character and relationship device.
Milkfed by Melissa Broder - a weird bisexual masterpiece. Sex, food, obsession.
Helgoland by Carlo Rovelli - a history of quantum physics written by the man known as âthe poet of physicsâ. written so as to be understood by anyone, mostly to tell us that even the physicists cannot fully grasp the reality of it.
Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith - ghost story depicting a decade of Vietnamese folklore and history. Magical, powerful, mysterious. I couldnât believe it when I found out this was a debut novel and when I finished it I just sort of sat there for a while.
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield - a womanâs wife comes back from sea, but she is changed, and continues to change. Gay, magical realism. A beautiful allegory that can be read in a day.
White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Smith - surrealist retellings of fairytales by my all time favourite short story writer
Recollections of My Nonexistence by Rebecca Solnit - a memoir and potent exploration the silencing and erasure of women by men
Blue Ticket by Sophie Mackintosh - all three of her books her 5 stars, sheâs not missed yet. Blue Ticket is like Margaret Atwood meets Angela Carter. Dystopian feminist speculative fiction told with an almost surreal minimalism at times and almost magical vibrancy at others.
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi - a scientist born of immigrant parents studying addiction, after her brother died at its hands. Grapples with grief, faith, identity, religion and love with unparalleled skill and tenderness.
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - a magical, mysterious book unlike any other Iâve read and possibly my favourite of all time. A story told in journal entries of Piranesi, a man who lives in a huge labyrinth filled with statues.
Memorial by Bryan Washington - a gorgeous tender story of a gay couple told from both sides. Stunningly empathetic and just perfect in its humanity, and use of food as character and relationship device.
Milkfed by Melissa Broder - a weird bisexual masterpiece. Sex, food, obsession.
Helgoland by Carlo Rovelli - a history of quantum physics written by the man known as âthe poet of physicsâ. written so as to be understood by anyone, mostly to tell us that even the physicists cannot fully grasp the reality of it.
Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith - ghost story depicting a decade of Vietnamese folklore and history. Magical, powerful, mysterious. I couldnât believe it when I found out this was a debut novel and when I finished it I just sort of sat there for a while.
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield - a womanâs wife comes back from sea, but she is changed, and continues to change. Gay, magical realism. A beautiful allegory that can be read in a day.
White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Smith - surrealist retellings of fairytales by my all time favourite short story writer
Recollections of My Nonexistence by Rebecca Solnit - a memoir and potent exploration the silencing and erasure of women by men
Blue Ticket by Sophie Mackintosh - all three of her books her 5 stars, sheâs not missed yet. Blue Ticket is like Margaret Atwood meets Angela Carter. Dystopian feminist speculative fiction told with an almost surreal minimalism at times and almost magical vibrancy at others.
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi - a scientist born of immigrant parents studying addiction, after her brother died at its hands. Grapples with grief, faith, identity, religion and love with unparalleled skill and tenderness.
Rec
đi read 90 books in 2024 and here are the ones i enjoyed the most or i found to be the most thought provoking
Slow Days Fast Company by Eve Babitz Penance by Eliza clark Perfume by Patrick SĂŒskind The house of grief by Helen Garner Big Swiss by Jen Beagin In Memoriam by Alice Winn The Secret History by Donna Tartt (a reread but still loved) Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stewart Beloved by Toni Morrison My year of rest and relaxation by Otessa Mosfegh The bell jar by Sylvia plath Death and the penguin by Andrey Kurkov What Iâd rather not think about by Jente Posthuma Going Dark by Julia Ebner Chlorine by Jade Song
Slow Days Fast Company by Eve Babitz Penance by Eliza clark Perfume by Patrick SĂŒskind The house of grief by Helen Garner Big Swiss by Jen Beagin In Memoriam by Alice Winn The Secret History by Donna Tartt (a reread but still loved) Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stewart Beloved by Toni Morrison My year of rest and relaxation by Otessa Mosfegh The bell jar by Sylvia plath Death and the penguin by Andrey Kurkov What Iâd rather not think about by Jente Posthuma Going Dark by Julia Ebner Chlorine by Jade Song
Rec
đThis year I couldn't read that many books because of the thesis, but I read some, aside from everything I recommended under the section On Reading, from my profile in case you want to check it out.
·      A Little Life- Hanya Yanagihara: my controversial opinion is that it was meh. I was expecting to have a divisive opinion like almost all of the people who read it but I thought the conversations were a bit monotonous and because there's a behavioral pattern that goes for 800 pages, I sort of already knew what to expect. Like every time Jude feels a little bit of happiness I would go in my head like all right, what's the other traumatic event that follows?đ It didn't need to be 800 pages long but I still enjoyed the plot.
·      Blindness-José Saramago: José Saramago is such a good writer for chaos. Loved Death with Interruptions as well. I think these are two of my favorite books.
·      Carmilla-Sheridan Le Fanu. Loved it. I'm biased because I love vampires, but still. Now I want to read Carmen MarĂa Machado's edition I found out exists because someone commented it to me under their post.
·      Cat Person-Kristen Roupenian. One of my favorite short stories.
·      Heaven-Mieko Kawakami: the descriptions of bullying were pretty brutal but there's something about this book that made me go meh. Maybe it's because I thought it was so matter of fact that I didnt feel the prose was particularly moving.
·      How To Win Friends And Influence People-Dale Carnegie. (My humiliation rituals are not for you to comment on). I've applied some of the advice and it works, who would've known?
·      Soy Una Tonta por Quererte-Camila Sosa Villada. Read this collection of short stories after her book Bad Girls, which remains superior before my eyes, even though I enjoyed most of the stories.
·      The Garden of Time-JG Ballard. Read this because I wanted to understand that MET Gala theme. Enjoyed it.
·      The Yellow Wallpaper-Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Probably my favorite short story ever.
·      A Little Life- Hanya Yanagihara: my controversial opinion is that it was meh. I was expecting to have a divisive opinion like almost all of the people who read it but I thought the conversations were a bit monotonous and because there's a behavioral pattern that goes for 800 pages, I sort of already knew what to expect. Like every time Jude feels a little bit of happiness I would go in my head like all right, what's the other traumatic event that follows?đ It didn't need to be 800 pages long but I still enjoyed the plot.
·      Blindness-José Saramago: José Saramago is such a good writer for chaos. Loved Death with Interruptions as well. I think these are two of my favorite books.
·      Carmilla-Sheridan Le Fanu. Loved it. I'm biased because I love vampires, but still. Now I want to read Carmen MarĂa Machado's edition I found out exists because someone commented it to me under their post.
·      Cat Person-Kristen Roupenian. One of my favorite short stories.
·      Heaven-Mieko Kawakami: the descriptions of bullying were pretty brutal but there's something about this book that made me go meh. Maybe it's because I thought it was so matter of fact that I didnt feel the prose was particularly moving.
·      How To Win Friends And Influence People-Dale Carnegie. (My humiliation rituals are not for you to comment on). I've applied some of the advice and it works, who would've known?
·      Soy Una Tonta por Quererte-Camila Sosa Villada. Read this collection of short stories after her book Bad Girls, which remains superior before my eyes, even though I enjoyed most of the stories.
·      The Garden of Time-JG Ballard. Read this because I wanted to understand that MET Gala theme. Enjoyed it.
·      The Yellow Wallpaper-Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Probably my favorite short story ever.
Jan 1, 2025
