Recent Reads
Hi, all! Welcome back to the blog! In today’s post, I wanted to give overviews of some books that I’ve read recently! At the beginning of 2023, I made a goal to read fifty books this year. In my head, it felt like a good number to be striving towards. 2022 proved to be a year that I did not read as much as I would’ve liked, so I wanted to use 2023 as my chance to change that. I recently started using Goodreads (I know, I’m late to the party) and while I’m not a huge fan of its interface, I do love the way I can organize the books I’ve read. I’m currently reading 14/50 right now, so hopefully soon I’ll be halfway to my yearly goal!
Without further ado, here are my most recent reads. If you read any of these titles, or already have, let’s chat about them!
1) Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert: I’ve talked about this book on my Instagram before, and I really loved it! I read it with the intention of getting out of a bit of a writer’s funk, and I really enjoyed what Gilbert had to say. She has such a lovely, interesting take on writing and how we acquire ideas and inspiration. I would recommend to any of you who are also aspiring writers, like me!
2) The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell: I’m a big fan of this author’s other big work, Hamnet. I was so excited to read this one, and it didn’t disappoint! O’Farrell has an amazing attention to detail, especially when describing someone’s features or a landscape. She is also a master at writing about emotions. This book follows the famous Medici family of Renaissance Italy, and I loved the historical backdrop. I felt transported, for sure.
3) Hex by Jenni Fagan: I discovered this little but powerful book after I heard one of my favorite booktubers, Jack, discussing it. It follows a young girl accused of witchcraft in 1700s Scotland, the night before she is to be executed. It was historical, but also had a magical flair that I really enjoyed. The ending is sad, but very powerful. It’s also a super quick read! I would highly recommend.
4) Code Name Sapphire by Pam Jenoff: As many of you know, my own novel is mainly a historical ficiton book. I have always loved the genre (see my most recent post about my favs in the genre for more on that) and Pam Jenoff is one of the greats. Her novel The Lost Girls of Paris is an all-time favorite of mine. I was really excited for Code Name Sapphire, naturally. It is, at its core, a novel about the resistance—specifically female participation in the illicit organizations during WWII. I’m a sucker for narratives like that. Code Name Sapphire was on most all accounts, very good. I felt the ending was a little rushed, but not in a way that affected how I read the novel, if that makes sense.
5) Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman: Big Gaiman fan over here. I love his writing style and the crazy things his imagination can do. Fragile Things is wacky, for sure, but in such a fun way. It is a short story collection, which is especially good if you only like reading in short bursts. The stories within this collection are so creative, so intelligent, and so wild. If you like any of his other books, I’d recommend this one for sure.
6) Never the Wind by Francesco Dimitri: This was a curious little novel set in a small Italian coastal town. Super atmospheric, which I loved. My favorite thing about this book is that the protaginist is a young blind boy. I don’t think there’s many books I’ve read where the main character is blind (All The Light We Cannot See is the only one coming to mind) and I really love that I was able to get this new perspective. The author writes with such detail, to make up for the fact that his narrator and portagonist cannot see a single thing. It was so beautifully done, in that sense. This novel is considered Science Fiction, but I found it wasn’t so much so that it was hard to digest, if you know what I mean. The novel was still very much grounded in reality. A great family drama with a hint of the unimaginable. I liked it very much.
7) Weyward by Emilia Hart: Here we have another book about witches! My favorite! This one is a lot longer and maybe denser than Hex, but it was oh so good. It touches on the ways society shuns people who are different, and provides really important commentary on domestic abuse. It is a story of generational trauma, but also generational love. It shows us the connection between mothers and daughters in a way I really liked. There is also a cute little bird familiar and lots of witchy magic.
8)The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: I’ve been wanting to read this author’s work for a while. I had heard great things about her, and she did not disappoint with this novel. It is set in nineteenth century Mexico, in the middle of the jungle. Wild things happen, naturally. This is also a Science Fiction work, but is very much grounded in the historical setting it’s placed within. Once you accept the far-fetched, fantastical plot point that functions as the main conflict of the novel, it is very readable and suspenseful. I would read other titles by this author, for sure. Her characters were super interesting to me, and the book is told through multiple perspectives, which if you know me at all, you know I love.
That’s all for now! If you have any suggestions for me, or just want to chat about books, I’d love to! Thank you for sticking it out until the end of this post, and as always, happy reading.
Fashionably Yours,
Hanna