as a teenager, books were my place to escape and I read all the time. having to read for university (and my desire, in theory, to read lots of serious non-fiction) completely beat this out of me, not helped by a short attention span. my love of stories found itself satisfied through those on the screen, rather than on the page. and here I am now, 30 and working on reintroducing reading as a genuine hobby into my life, even if in the last decade I read fewer books than I used to in a single year.
ones that I particularly enjoyed in this last decade:
* The Vegetarian; Han Kang
* Mrs. S; K. Patrick
* Kindred; Octavia Butler
* Stone Butch Blues; Leslie Feinberg
* Down and Out in Paris and London; George Orwell
I would love some recommendations of books similar to some of the above! ideally, something that will hook me in and get me turning the pages.
by eckdil
4 Comments
I adore stone butch blues. Have you read any of her wife’s work? S/he is a quick read.
Try *Our Wives Under the Sea* by Julia Armfield. It’s literary speculative fiction about a woman whose wife comes back from a deep sea submarine expedition that went wrong and is different from how she was before. Haunting and gorgeously written; I’m guessing you may love it based on your list.
Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was delightful if you haven’t read it, just going along with the queer theme from Stone Butch Blues. And Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe was so good. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow was incredible as well.
If you haven’t yet read it, I found Han Kang’s *Human Acts* even more intense and devastating than *The Vegetarian*.
I was also wowed by Akbar’s *Martyr!* and Everett’s *James*, which were both published in 2024. And I was very hooked on them both.