tell me all your book recs please. i am starting my bookworm era

Question

Elicia · Answer

A Stage Set for Villains by Shannon J. Spann: fantasy x greek mythology x theatre. spinning theatre techniques and rules into a fantasy world is genius and so much fun! the plot keeps twisting and I am so here for it

Alex · Answer

Lord of the Rings, Incarnations of Immortality( piers Anthony)Nine Princes of Amber(Roger Zelazny), anything by Lovecraft. Foundation series (Isaac Asimov): Cause I’m a sci fi and fantasy nerd

Elena · Answer

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir: Ohhh to laugh this hard from the first page feels so good!! I describe this book as The Hunger Games meets The Westing Game but with lesbian necromancers in space. Gideon is one of the most lovable characters I’ve ever met, and Harrow is obsession-worthy. My partner and I dressed as them for Halloween a couple years back (the photo is V as Gideon). Gideon and Harrow’s dynamic, all the way to the last page, rocked me to my core. I truly love every book in this series, but will always have a special place in my heart for Gideon the Ninth.

Also important to note that audiobook is fantastic!! I would absolutely recommend reading (rather than listening to) the second in the series Harrow the Ninth or you may become extremely confused, but listening to Gideon was even more enjoyable than reading it because the voices are so good.

Elena · Answer

Monk and Robot by Becky Chambers: Two short stories which together tell of a human rethinking their purpose and what brings them fulfillment, and a wild robot learning about humans needs.

Even with such thoughtful subject matter, the book stays refreshingly grounded and light and leaves you feeling buoyed. A hopeful and illuminating balm for the sensitive soul that paints a beautiful picture of what life could be like if we opt to take real care of the living world around us.

Elena · Answer

Kelly Link’s The Book of Love: I loved Get In Trouble best of Link’s short story collections and I think this book holds similar questions on the intimate and the infinite, through the hearts of Gods and teenagers. It slowly earned my affection and I eventually found myself in love with every character and the town itself. When I reached the end I wanted to flip back to the first page and begin it again.

Lulu Lefferts · Answer

The Starless Sea (Erin Morgenstern)

Lulu Lefferts · Answer

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Eric F · Answer

2001: A Space Odyssey (Arthur C. Clarke) 🪐: After seeing the film for the first time, it was so beautiful and profound, I had to dive deeper into the story. This novel fills in the gaps the film leaves open, and further explores its themes of evolution, space capitalism, AI, aliens, and our place in the universe. Still very relevant.

Soph · Answer

Women Who Run with the Wolves (Clarissa Pinkola Estés): My god. A classic for a reason. Brought myth and magic back into my world in such a visceral embodied way.

Abby Phoenix · Answer

Piranesi: It’s a slim volume and either you’re in or you’re out on it — I’d give it about 20-30 pages and you’ll either find yourself completely immersed in the world and savoring each sentence to make it last longer, or you’re… not me. 😉🤷🏻‍♀️

All you need to know ahead of time is that Piranesi lives in a mysterious labyrinth of a House, and he’s incredibly endearing.

Lanh · Answer

Long Division by Kiese Laymon: Picked this up because Kiese Laymon wrote one of my favorite essays in A Measure of Belonging. Another book that will have you thinking about it for weeks and months after you finish it. Always recommending and never being taken up on it, but that has not stopped me before and will not now.

A · Answer

loved and missed

bella · Answer

michael finkel -- the art thief : ★★★★★ breitweiser you evil bastard... the true story of an unremarkable art thief who committed remarkably brazen heists.

bella · Answer

zoe dubno -- happiness & love: ★★★★★ devourable, scathing read of nyc's downtown artist class. dubno has an incredible sense of observation - i felt like i was in the room (i have been before, which maybe is why it hits so hard)

bella · Answer

clarice lispector -- agua viva: ★★★★★ oooh this one destroyed me. clarice lispector's itty bitty stream of consciousness novel took me over a month of reading, re-reading, crying, taking a break, returning to it, savoring it in tiny little pieces. it's complex and challenging, intimate, and simultaneously heartbreaking and freeing. i wish i could read it again for the first time.

Lanh · Answer

The Address Book (Deirdre Mask): Pop-soc but it doesn’t feel like you’re reading an Idiot’s Guide to _______. Really makes you think about how you can know so little about something so ubiquitous, and how hard people worked to make that ubiquity happen.

Lanh · Answer

Get in Trouble (Kelly Link): A collection of fantastical, genre bending short stories. Really strange and kind of experimental, but in an approachable way. I think these are really easy to break into because you can pick and choose which ones you want to read—some are more magical realism, some sci-fi, some more straight up literary fiction. I’ve read some of Kelly Link’s other short story collections, but this one is far and away my fave.

Lanh · Answer

Annie John (Jamaica Kincaid): A short, semi-autobiographical novel of a young girl growing up in Antigua. Follows the protagonist from childhood to aged 17, especially on Annie’s evolving relationship with her mother. Reallllly speaks to what it’s like to feel like you’re becoming a whole person. Big for anybody who has ever been a 14 year old girl before.

Lanh · Answer

If Beale Street Could Talk (James Baldwin): I read this in high school and then reread it a little while ago and I was blown away. Honestly I recommend anything by Baldwin, but especially the fiction writing if you want to read something that makes you appreciate the art of prose. Just absolutely beautiful sentence construction.

Dylan · Answer

Pleasure Activism by adrienne maree brown: i love adrienne maree brown's mind!

Dylan · Answer

All I Ever Wanted Was To Be Hot by Lucinda Price: Internet icon and CEO of silly’s memoir, All I Ever Wanted Was To Be Hot, offers a vulnerable and relatable exploration of our complex relationship with body image, fatphobia, and diet culture, all while weaving in nostalgic reflections of growing up in the 2000s.

Lucinda’s candid storytelling exposes the insecurities we all grapple with, highlighting the pressures to conform and the absurdity of striving to meet unrealistic beauty standards. She ruminates on everything from early attempts to emulate Victoria’s Secret models to Ozempic's chokehold on current beauty ideals.

Balancing vulnerability with humour takes a special kind of talent, but Froomes does it effortlessly.

(excerpt from my substack)

Dylan · Answer

Reservoir Bitches: A gritty mix of short stories that all connect around the theme of violence against women in Mexico. Fierce, rage-fuelled, darkly entertaining. LOVED.

Dylan · Answer

In the Dream House: A poetic and hauntingly original dissection of an abusive queer relationship through a creative range of narrative forms. Super short chapters are my ADHD literary love language.

Dylan · Answer

Famesick by Lena Dunham: Lena's candid writing style and natural tendency to over-explain herself (helloooo trauma response!) are soooo relatable to me.

I was (and am somehow even more so now) such a huge fan of Girls. The older I get, the more I appreciate how truly mind-blowing it was that someone that young could create something so genius.

Reading all the juicy tea from behind the scenes of making the show was, of course, thrilling, and in classic Lena style, she really does spill all the tea.

But I was most intrigued hearing about her devastating lifelong struggles with debilitating chronic pain and mysterious illnesses, and how those challenges bled into the rest of her life.

I really hope it helps people have more empathy for the invisible health issues that are, especially for women, so often misunderstood, misdiagnosed or dismissed.

I hope Lena feels proud. I feel proud of her.

@Lena Dunham <3

Dylan · Answer

Sedated by James Davies: A deep dive into the ways capitalism has shaped the diagnosis & treatment of mental health. I listened to the audiobook ~ if you can deal with the narration by a very posh-sounding British man, it's worth it for the detailed deep dives and some mind-blowing arguments imho.

Dylan · Answer

Crying in H Mart: You might know Michelle Zauner as the creative force behind Japanese Breakfast, but here, she steps out from her indie pop persona, sharing a raw, deeply personal side. Her 2021 memoir, Crying in H Mart, is a potent exploration of how grief, culture, and identity intertwine after losing someone who’s been your anchor.

Born to a Korean mother and an American father, Zauner grew up navigating her Korean heritage somewhat from the sidelines. After her mother died of cancer, she was left shattered, feeling as if a part of her own identity was gone too.

She captures this dislocation vividly: Sobbing near the dry goods, asking myself, ‘Am I even Korean anymore if there’s no one left in my life to call and ask which brand of seaweed we used to buy?’ Her grief pushes her into limbo, where she wonders who she is without her mother’s guidance through her cultural roots. This search for connection leads her back to Korean food and rituals as a lifeline. H Mart—a Korean-American grocery store—becomes her sanctuary, a place to feel her mother’s presence and hold onto that part of herself.

As I read, I was suddenly transported back to a moment from my childhood, when my mum and I spent a day with the Korean wife of one of my dad’s work colleagues, learning how to make a traditional bean curd dish that I remember being obsessed with. Decades later, I sit here wishing my mum was still alive so I could ask her if she remembers what that dish was called. Sometimes I wonder if grieving the questions that can no longer be answered is the hardest part of a loss.

I’m searching for memories, Zauner writes, I’m collecting the evidence that the Korean half of my identity didn’t die when they did.

Zauner’s reflections feel achingly real for anyone who’s felt the void left by a lost loved one. If I’m being honest, there’s a lot of anger. I’m angry at this old Korean woman I don’t know, that she gets to live, and my mother does not. That familiar yet volatile recipe of anger layered with guilt and a quiet yearning, as she questions whether wholeness is even possible.

In Crying in H Mart, Zauner captures the journey of embodying her mother’s legacy, holding onto the parts that shaped her. Her words resonate with anyone who’s felt the ache of absence, the need to remember, and the hope that what remains might guide us forward.

You can read the first chapter of Zauner’s memoir in The New Yorker. For more stories exploring grief, identity, and connection, visit Grief Club.

(originally posted on my now-archived Substack)

Babuji · Answer

London Falling (Patrick Radden Keefe): I’m currently listening to this audiobook, so I guess it’s the aural equivalent of a page turner. A complex true crime thriller, the author narrates this story of a 19 year old London boy who is found dead. It links so many different narratives; parenting a troubled child, Russian oligarchs, the London underworld, and colonialism.

Jamie · Answer

toni morrison’s song of solomon: eternally grateful to the high school english teacher who assigned this book. it was my first introduction to morrison and the world of magical realism. i have been wanting to reread it as an adult so that i can soak up even more of its beauty. cannot recommend enough!