National Book Lovers Day: Ten Books I Love
The internet told me that it is National Book Lover’s Day today! This does seem like a super made-up thing, but it is a thing I certainly wanted to participate in! I walked to my shelf, grabbed the first ten books I both loved and could reach, took a picture, popped it up on Instagram, then scrolled through the tag for a few minutes.
This inspired me to both come here and give a rundown of each book (in picture order, I cannot rank them properly), and to perhaps make a 5ish book stack each month of books I recommend.
Now commencing book recommendations. All summary information retrieved from the books Goodreads page.
Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright
Genre: Nonfiction
A clear-sighted revelation, a deep penetration into the world of Scientology by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the now-classic study of al-Qaeda's 9/11 attack, the Looming Tower. Based on more than two hundred personal interviews with both current and former Scientologists--both famous and less well known--and years of archival research, Lawrence Wright uses his extraordinary investigative skills to uncover for us the inner workings of the Church of Scientology: its origins in the imagination of science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard; its struggles to find acceptance as a legitimate (and legally acknowledged) religion; its vast, secret campaign to infiltrate the U.S. government; and its dramatic efforts to grow and prevail after the death of Hubbard.
At the book's center, two men whom Wright brings vividly to life, showing how they have made Scientology what it is today: The darkly brilliant L. Ron Hubbard--whose restless, expansive mind invented a new religion tailor-made to prosper in the spiritually troubled post-World War II era. And his successor, David Miscavige--tough and driven, with the unenviable task of preserving the church in the face of ongoing scandals and continual legal assaults.
We learn about Scientology's esoteric cosmology; about the auditing process that determines an inductee's state of being; about the Bridge to Total Freedom, through which members gain eternal life. We see the ways in which the church pursues celebrities, such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta, and how young idealists who joined the Sea Org, the church's clergy, whose members often enter as children, signing up with a billion-year contract and working with little pay in poor conditions. We meet men and women "disconnected" from friends and family by the church's policy of shunning critical voices. And we discover, through many firsthand stories, the violence that has long permeated the inner sanctum of the church.
In Going Clear, Wright examines what fundamentally makes a religion a religion, and whether Scientology is, in fact, deserving of the constitutional protections achieved in its victory over the IRS. Employing all his exceptional journalistic skills of observations, understanding, and synthesis, and his ability to shape a story into a compelling narrative, Lawrence Wright has given us an evenhanded yet keenly incisive book that goes far beyond an immediate exposé and uncovers the very essence of what makes Scientology the institution it is.
This was the book that convinced me that I like nonfiction. I had been thrown down the Scientology rabbit hole through a combination of the Scientology episodes of the podcast Oh No Ross and Carrie and living in relative proximity to Clearwater, Florida. I went on a binge of books about Scientology, and I really genuinely think that this book is the best place to start. The structure takes you simultaneously through one man’s journey with Scientology and the history of Scientology; it is such a good and approachable way to make the information digestible and fascinating.
Wright presents a plethora of information, is appropriately serious about the horrible things Scientology’s management and structure do to the members and makes you deeply interested in the future of Scientology. This book is an excellent history of the church, but might lead you off into the rabbit hole it pushed me into, it leads to many other journalistic approached to Scientology, memoirs of former members, TV shows about the church, youtube interviews with former members, and being the most annoying friend at every gathering. You will never shut up about Scientology; people will send you texts like “just walked past a Scientology building, thought of you!”. I am unashamed of being this person.
Verity by Colleen Hoover
Genre: Thriller Age: Adult
Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.
Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity's notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn't expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity's recollection of what really happened the day her daughter died.
Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen's feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife's words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue to love her.
A standalone romantic thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover.
I had read, and liked, eight of Colleen Hoover’s romance books. I was sucked into her stories; I absolutely tore through every one of her books I had read, there are a few I avoided because they don’t seem like my bag, and Hoover has left the more problematic relationship dynamics in her past it seems, but I do genuinely really enjoy a Colleen Hoover romance.
Verity blew these books out of the water for me. It is straight-up a mind fuck. I was absolutely tethered to my copy of this book from the moment I opened the book until I finally finished it. And once you finish this book, you will absolutely need to talk to someone about it. So be prepared to pressure your friends into reading this book with you.
Hoover is a master of building tension, a skill that writing romance honed to a sharp edge that she uses very cruelly against the reader (I mean this is the best way). I read this book years ago, and still, it pops into my head on occasion and makes me continue to engage with the narrative all this time later. I really hope Hoover writes more thrillers in the future.
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Tales From the Crematorium by Caitlin Doughty
Genre: Nonfiction
Goodreads - My Review - YouTube
Most people want to avoid thinking about death, but Caitlin Doughty—a twenty-something with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre—took a job at a crematory, turning morbid curiosity into her life’s work. Thrown into a profession of gallows humor and vivid characters (both living and very dead), Caitlin learned to navigate the secretive culture of those who care for the deceased.
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes tells an unusual coming-of-age story full of bizarre encounters and unforgettable scenes. Caring for dead bodies of every color, shape, and affliction, Caitlin soon becomes an intrepid explorer in the world of the dead. She describes how she swept ashes from the machines (and sometimes onto her clothes) and reveals the strange history of cremation and undertaking, marveling at bizarre and wonderful funeral practices from different cultures.
Her eye-opening, candid, and often hilarious story is like going on a journey with your bravest friend to the cemetery at midnight. She demystifies death, leading us behind the black curtain of her unique profession. And she answers questions you didn’t know you had: Can you catch a disease from a corpse? How many dead bodies can you fit in a Dodge van? What exactly does a flaming skull look like?
Honest and heartfelt, self-deprecating and ironic, Caitlin's engaging style makes this otherwise taboo topic both approachable and engrossing. Now a licensed mortician with an alternative funeral practice, Caitlin argues that our fear of dying warps our culture and society, and she calls for better ways of dealing with death (and our dead).
I am 100% obsessed with Caitlin Doughty. If you are anything like me soon, you will read all three of her books, watch every video on her YouTube channel (it is an excellent channel), and watch every lecture, interview, and Q&A ever done with Doughty. She is fascinating, focused, smart, and hilarious. Any questions you have ever had about death, the physical act of death, and the aftermath for the body and those who are still alive, she grapples with in her signature funny and respectful manner.
She makes such a taboo topic incredibly approachable and engaging. After a friend of mine and I read this book for our book club, we separately left and went to get pizza and talked about death and Caitlin Doughty for at least four hours. The restaurant was loud enough that I don’t think the other patrons were too confused by our chat.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It will plunge you into the world of death, but Caitlin’s narration is a wonderful guiding hand. You will laugh, cry, and be deeply fascinated.
Wicked Fox by Kat Cho
Genre: Urban Fantasy Age: YA
A fresh and addictive fantasy-romance set in modern-day Seoul.
Eighteen-year-old Gu Miyoung has a secret--she's a gumiho, a nine-tailed fox who must devour the energy of men in order to survive. Because so few believe in the old tales anymore, and with so many evil men no one will miss, the modern city of Seoul is the perfect place to hide and hunt.
But after feeding one full moon, Miyoung crosses paths with Jihoon, a human boy, being attacked by a goblin deep in the forest. Against her better judgment, she violates the rules of survival to rescue the boy, losing her fox bead--her gumiho soul--in the process.
Jihoon knows Miyoung is more than just a beautiful girl--he saw her nine tails the night she saved his life. His grandmother used to tell him stories of the gumiho, of their power and the danger they pose to humans. He's drawn to her anyway.
With murderous forces lurking in the background, Miyoung and Jihoon develop a tenuous friendship that blossoms into something more. But when a young shaman tries to reunite Miyoung with her bead, the consequences are disastrous . . . forcing Miyoung to choose between her immortal life and Jihoon's.
This is my current obsession; once I am done writing this, I am going to curl up in bed and begin reading the second book, Vicious Sprits. I have nonstop been recommending this book to everyone I know the last few weeks.
Cho writes and incredibly engaging world. She describes Korea in a way that will make you ache that travel is a giant no-no at the moment. Her engagement with the Gumiho folklore, as well as lots of other creatures and spirits, is so incredibly well done. She really perfectly presses the fantastic into reality in a way that makes it so you can almost touch it. Her characters will take turns, making you deeply invested in them; I cannot tell you how incredibly much I loved this reading experience.
The author describes the book as a Korean drama in YA book form, which has made me sure once my thesis is done, I will become a person who watches K-Dramas. I want everyone to read this book.
This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab
Genre: Fantasy Age: YA
Goodreads - My Review - YouTube
There’s no such thing as safe in a city at war, a city overrun with monsters. In this dark urban fantasy from author Victoria Schwab, a young woman and a young man must choose whether to become heroes or villains—and friends or enemies—with the future of their home at stake. The first of two books.
Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.
Schwab describes the book as “Sin City PLUS Romeo and Juliet MINUS romance PLUS monsters.”
She has so many incredibly good books spanning a wide age range and playing in different kinds of fantasy settings. I really could have put almost any Schwab book in this place, and I would be able to gush about it. But I chose This Savage Song so I will gush about this one.
I think I picked this book up because I love a book with a song or a rhyme that in integral. And I specifically love the rhyme in this book. It is used to teach children the three monsters that roam their world, all a product of violent action humans have taken.
Corsai, Corsai, tooth and claw,
Shadow and bone will eat you raw.
Malchai, Malchai, sharp and sly,
Smile and bite and drink you dry.
Sunai, Sunai, eyes like coal,
Sing you a song and steal your soul.
Monsters, monsters, big and small,
They’re gonna come and eat you all.
I just love it. I can perfectly hear this in a little kid chant for jumping rope or a hand-clapping game.
The book is told from the children of two warring factions of the city. The daughter of a man who is essentially a gangster who extorts those who he controls for protection against monsters and the Sunai son of the leader of the other faction that tries to eradicate the monsters and prevent the creation of additional ones. The book is fast, dark, and engrossing. I couldn’t put it down, and I don’t think you will be able to either.
Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal
Genre: Historical Fantasy Age: Adult
Goodreads - I read this book in 2017 and apparently did not write a review
Ginger Stuyvesant, an American heiress living in London during World War I, is engaged to Captain Benjamin Harford, an intelligence officer. Ginger is a medium for the Spirit Corps, a special Spiritualist force.
Each soldier heading for the front is conditioned to report to the mediums of the Spirit Corps when they die so the Corps can pass instant information about troop movements to military intelligence.
Ginger and her fellow mediums contribute a great deal to the war efforts, so long as they pass the information through appropriate channels. While Ben is away at the front, Ginger discovers the presence of a traitor. Without the presence of her fiance to validate her findings, the top brass thinks she's just imagining things. Even worse, it is clear that the Spirit Corps is now being directly targeted by the German war effort. Left to her own devices, Ginger has to find out how the Germans are targeting the Spirit Corps and stop them. This is a difficult and dangerous task for a woman of that era, but this time both the spirit and the flesh are willing…
I do not wish to spoil this book, so forgive my vague language, but my favorite thing about this book is that Kowal does the thing you expect her to do, but she does it far sooner than expected. It is assertive and much more emotionally affecting.
I love the way the supernatural is woven into this story, sprits, and mediums seamlessly interacting with history. I would especially recommend this to you if you are a history buff, you wanna cry, or you like your fantasy to have romance and destruction in equal parts. I recommend this book to people all the time, so I had to continue that with you.
Sorted: Growing Up, Coming Out, and Finding my Place by Jackson Bird
Genre: Memoir
Goodreads - My Review - YouTube
An unflinching and endearing memoir from LGBTQ+ advocate Jackson Bird about how he finally sorted things out and came out as a transgender man.
When Jackson Bird was twenty-five, he came out as transgender to his friends, family, and anyone in the world with an internet connection.
Assigned female at birth and raised as a girl, he often wondered if he should have been born a boy. Jackson didn’t share this thought with anyone because he didn’t think he could share it with anyone. Growing up in Texas in the 1990s, he had no transgender role models. He barely remembers meeting anyone who was openly gay, let alone being taught that transgender people existed outside of punchlines.
In this “soulful and heartfelt coming-of-age story” (Jamia Wilson, director and publisher of the Feminist Press), Jackson chronicles the ups and downs of growing up gender-confused. Illuminated by journal entries spanning childhood to adolescence to today, he candidly recalls the challenges and loneliness he endured as he came to terms with both his gender and his bisexual identity.
With warmth and wit, Jackson also recounts how he navigated the many obstacles and quirks of his transition––like figuring out how to have a chest binder delivered to his NYU dorm room and having an emotional breakdown at a Harry Potter fan convention. From his first shot of testosterone to his eventual top surgery, Jackson lets you in on every part of his journey—taking the time to explain trans terminology and little-known facts about gender and identity along the way.
“A compassionate, tender-hearted, and accessible book for anyone who might need a hand to hold as they walk through their own transition or the transition of a loved one” (Austin Chant, author of Peter Darling), Sorted demonstrates the power and beauty in being yourself, even when you’re not sure who “yourself” is.
I have followed Jackson Bird online for a very long time. If you grew up in the era where Harry Potter was releasing, and you were the kind of person whose internet time was heavily dedicated to Harry Potter, you might have encountered Jackson as well. He has an excellent YouTube channel, worked for the Harry Potter Alliance, and was an embedded member of the Harry Potter internet.
Sorted is an excellent memoir in many facets. Firstly, it is just an incredibly well-written reflection on Jackson’s life with a very compelling narrative structure, which is obviously what we all want from a memoir. The memoir is an excellent introduction to a trans person if you do not think you already know a trans person! Jackson leads you through his realizing he is trans, and how that realization changed his life. He is clear and engaging, making this a great book for anyone who is on any level of awareness of trans issues. The last excellent facet of this memoir is it deeply intertwined with the Harry Potter fandom. If you were on the internet at this time, even if you could not make it to any of the Cons, or did not make Harry Potter internet friends, you will see your experience in Birds. I would also like to point out that if Harry Potter was not a formative part of your childhood, I still think you would love this memoir, he does an excellent job of not excluding those non-Potter folk out there.
The paperback of this book just came out, and Bird has stated that he edited it a bit more then is usual between the hardcover and the paperback, so I might be doing a paperback reread shortly. I think now is an exceptionally good time for everyone, but Harry Potter and particularly, to make sure they are educated about trans rights. Also, it is just a damned good read.
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Genre: Fantasy Age: Adult
Goodreads - My Review (apparently I never wrote a proper review of this book, but this serves well enough)
Far beneath the surface of the earth, upon the shores of the Starless Sea, there is a labyrinthine collection of tunnels and rooms filled with stories. The entryways that lead to this sanctuary are often hidden, sometimes on forest floors, sometimes in private homes, sometimes in plain sight. But those who seek will find. Their doors have been waiting for them.
Zachary Ezra Rawlins is searching for his door, though he does not know it. He follows a silent siren song, an inexplicable knowledge that he is meant for another place. When he discovers a mysterious book in the stacks of his campus library he begins to read, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, lost cities, and nameless acolytes. Suddenly a turn of the page brings Zachary to a story from his own childhood impossibly written in this book that is older than he is.
A bee, a key, and a sword emblazoned on the book lead Zachary to two people who will change the course of his life: Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired painter, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances. These strangers guide Zachary through masquerade party dances and whispered back room stories to the headquarters of a secret society where doorknobs hang from ribbons, and finally through a door conjured from paint to the place he has always yearned for. Amid twisting tunnels filled with books, gilded ballrooms, and wine-dark shores Zachary falls into an intoxicating world soaked in romance and mystery. But a battle is raging over the fate of this place and though there are those who would willingly sacrifice everything to protect it, there are just as many intent on its destruction. As Zachary, Mirabel, and Dorian venture deeper into the space and its histories and myths, searching for answers and each other, a timeless love story unspools, casting a spell of pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and ships that sail upon a Starless Sea.
I love a story that is about stories. I love the layering of the different narrative strings, the way the story progresses in a singular direction while still feeling that you could have darted in a thousand directions and have just as magical a reading experience. This is the kind of book that filled my heart with so much joy and made me want to read a thousand more books just to find more of this feeling. It is brimming with book references ranging from the pretentious to the incredibly ubiquitous. It is also full of plenty of references to other stories, to video games in particular. The book really feels like it is occupying such a massive world and that every time you return back to this book, it could have changed since you last read it.
I just kind of think you need to trust me and read this book. It is so well structured, things intertwine in such a beautiful way. Just talking about this book makes me want to pick it back up and begin to read it again and again. If you loved The Night Circus or you just love stories, I think you will love The Starless Sea.
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Fantasy (Paranormal? Urban?) Age: Adult
Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. By age twenty, in fact, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most elite universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her?
Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs” are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.
Ninth House is a book I have recommended to basically everyone I know since I read it. My dad asks me about every two weeks if I know when the next book is coming out.
This book is dark and mysterious and will absolutely force you to sprint through the book in your desperation to see the ending. If you like Bardugo’s YA, you will recognize a lot of the themes returning to her adult work, she is able to explore these darker topics in a much more gritty realistic way without the slight softening that comes with having a slightly younger target audience.
This book has three mysteries, awesome characters, and is brimming with vengeance and tension. I cannot emphasize enough that you need to read this book.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Genre: Historical Fiction Age: Adult
A novel of breathtaking sweep and emotional power that traces three hundred years in Ghana and along the way also becomes a truly great American novel. Extraordinary for its exquisite language, its implacable sorrow, its soaring beauty, and for its monumental portrait of the forces that shape families and nations, Homegoing heralds the arrival of a major new voice in contemporary fiction.
Two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to Effia, her sister, Esi, is imprisoned beneath her in the castle's dungeons, sold with thousands of others into the Gold Coast's booming slave trade, and shipped off to America, where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery. One thread of Homegoing follows Effia's descendants through centuries of warfare in Ghana, as the Fante and Asante nations wrestle with the slave trade and British colonization. The other thread follows Esi and her children into America. From the plantations of the South to the Civil War and the Great Migration, from the coal mines of Pratt City, Alabama, to the jazz clubs and dope houses of twentieth-century Harlem, right up through the present day, Homegoing makes history visceral, and captures, with singular and stunning immediacy, how the memory of captivity came to be inscribed in the soul of a nation.
Generation after generation, Yaa Gyasi's magisterial first novel sets the fate of the individual against the obliterating movements of time, delivering unforgettable characters whose lives were shaped by historical forces beyond their control. Homegoing is a tremendous reading experience, not to be missed, by an astonishingly gifted young writer.
I saw Yaa Gyasi at a book event at USF about a year after this book had come out, I had just finished reading this book with my ill-fated book club (don’t start a book club if you cannot handle people not reading the books) and I was enamored with Gyasi’s writing. Her talk was insightful and fascinating, and I was able to very awkwardly have her sign my book. It was wonderful.
This book follows two branches of a family tree separated by slavery. One branch stays in Ghana, while the other is in the US. The book follows the history of both countries over three hundred years. The characters are ever-changing, a different narrator every chapter, but the themes hold this book together and push you forward in time. The plot is amazing; you will dive into historical events, both familiar and new, in a way that makes them deeply personal and tangible. I cannot emphasize enough how much I love this book.
That’s a wrap on my first sporadic list of books I love. I will hopefully be back soon with another one. I like writing reviews of every book I read, but I get far more joy writing about books I love than I do of books that didn’t sink into my heart in the same way. This is able a wonderful opportunity to revisit old favorites that I might not otherwise have the opportunity to actually engage with much anymore. I hope reading this added something to your TBR or let you see someone else who loves a favorite of yours.
