Summer's Reading Profile

I will read everything thanks to my good friend, the Libby app! Thank you, public libraries, for your service. I’m probably the pickiest about nonfiction books (or better or for worst, I’ll usually take a podcast over a book on these) and fantasy novels. Audiobooks in particular let me power through any type of book - in 2023, I tackled the Hunger Games books, the 50 Shades of Grey series, and Jeff VanderMeer’s science fiction Southern Reach Trilogy. I’ll give most anything a try! I love all of my book children, although I do have a preference - literary fiction. My partner always says I don’t like books about things happen, I like books about people sitting and thinking. And they’re right! I love a book that lets me dig around in a character’s head. My favorite sub-genre is something I refer to as Weird Woman Fiction - predictably, books by women about women that are just a little off. Maybe a little gross, too inappropriate - top-tier

Top Books of 2023

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin

 

I love stories that take place over several decades and follow people that come together and fall apart, repeat, repeat. These characters feel so real, in that they make decisions that make you want to throw the book across the room and still, you love them. The video games are a fun addition.

Oh William! - Elizabeth Strout

 

Did I mention I love stories that take place over several decades? This was such a delightful and fond story, and I was so excited to see that it was the third book in a series of four, all of which I loved.

Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins

 

I missed the Hunger Games trend the first time around. This is my favorite of them all, including Songbirds and Snakes. Katniss is a character that can be a little hard to get to know but by this point, you’re hooked.

Bunny - Mona Awad

 

I’ve seen people describe this book as Frankenstein meets Jennifer’s Body. That’s what got me to read it, anyway. It’s hard to tell what’s actually happening and what the main character is just imagining, it’s the type of book that I read more than once, and I did. 

Commonwealth - Ann Patchett 

 

Remember that thing about how I like stories that take place over several decades? Here’s another one. Commonwealth is funny, sad, and so charming, following a blended family for fifty years.

Top Books of All Time

My Year of Rest and Relaxation - Ottessa Moshfegh 

 

A selfish, judgemental, and still-somehow charming young woman thinks she can reset and change her life for the better by taking a drug-induced year-long hibernation. She’s right, sort of. 

I love everything Ottessa Moshfegh writes. It’s all a little gross, a little off-putting, but I’m stuck watching her characters make bad decision after bad decision and still wish the best for them.

Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner  

 

Michelle Zauner of the band Japanese Breakfast wrote an essay after her mom died of pancreatic cancer called “Real Life: Love, Loss, and Kimchi,” which eventually led to this memoir. It’s about the death of her mother, but it’s also about identity and persistence and disappointment. It is about grief and the things you mess up as a teenager that you’ll replay in your brain forever, wondering how much more of a difference you could have made. 

I’m Glad My Mom Died - Jennette McCurdy

 

I like books that are a little hard to read, and this one made me put the book down and do a quick lap around my kitchen before I can keep going. Jenette McCurdy’s memoir has some intense talk about abuse and addiction with a real gut-punching focus on eating disorders that is the most accurate and ugliest depiction I’ve seen in fiction. I think if you can read it, you should give it a try.

The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien

 

Fantasy is not my thing. It’s usually a little too much of a detail-oriented genre for me with pages upon pages of world-building and made-up genealogy - things that I tend to skim through in favor of getting into the actual story. And yet. I’m obsessed with Tolkien and the way he was so very clearly obsessed with his hobbits. This book is the perfect “intro to fantasy” for me and I always recommend it for people who have only seen the Lord of the Rings movies. It’s a charming little tale of a man who would really rather sit at home than go out on an adventure, and I can really relate to that.

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

 

I reread this book every few years just to remind myself how much I love it. It’s funny (like genuinely funny), the characters are charming (except Mr. Collins), and it still feels relatable after two hundred years. Elizabeth Bennett is such a lovable characters and Darcy, despite his best intentions, repeatedly sticks his foot in his mouth. It’s real and it’s one of the few romance books that make me kick my feet like a schoolgirl.