My Favorite Books
/Hi there!
There are few things I love more than a good story. And one of the very best ways to hear a story is to read it in a book of course! Stories are the biggest inspiration to my art so I make an effort to constantly be surrounded by them. I decided I wanted to start compiling an easy-going library/book club for like-minded story lovers to gather round the fire. However, I have so many wonderful books that I don’t want to leave out. Therefore enclosed please find my five very favorite books from the last five years to kick things off. I thought about doing all of my favorite books from the last…24 years, but sometimes I find long book lists very overwhelming, and this way you’ll know if we aline literarily. Enjoy xx
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry | Fredrik Backman
This is the book that made Fredrik Backman one of my very favorite authors. I had already read A Man Called Ove and adored it, and swiftly moved onto this one.
It tells the tale of a young girl named Elsa who lives in an apartment building of characters (a favorite trope of mine) and whose best friend is her crazy grandmother. Her grandmother tells her the most mystical stories from the Land of Almost-Awake where everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal. When Elsa’s grandmother dies she leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged. Elsa goes on quite an adventure led by the letters and learns the truth about fairytales and her grandmother.
This book is so lighthearted and delightful, but also deeply moving. It deals with grief and family issues while mixing a fairy tale world with the one right in front of Elsa. You figure out who Elsa’s grandmother was right along with her, and that people are not always who they seem. Endearing and hilarious and just full of love.
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle | Stuart Turton
I read the description for this book and immediately searched it out. I didn’t read a single review, I knew I’d love it. It’s also a hefty 432 pages but feels like 100. You absolutely fly through it only turning back pages to remember clues as you unravel the mystery along with our protagonist. We jump in with Aiden Bishop who awakes at a manor knowing only his name and that Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until he can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every day he begins again by embodying a different guest of the Manor. He is tied to the physical and mental state of his host, whether they are a whip-smart police officer or a bumbling old man who can’t remember anything. It’s an addictive mystery and a race against time where nothing means anything and no one is who they seem.
It is so creative and fun and I think about it all the time. I had to limit how much I could read in a day because I couldn’t put it down but wanted to savor it for as long as possible. The only criticism is with the ending. I didn’t mind it and, for me, it didn’t take away from the genius plot at all. However, for some, it may leave more questions than answers. You will get the answers you crave in regards to the mystery, but those answers open up something entirely different.
I recommend this book to absolutely everyone. If nothing else, it’ll get you all talking for hours.
The Night Circus | Erin Morgenstern
The circus arrives without warning. That’s the first line of this most wondrous book that I read this at the beginning of the 2020 pandemic. I was inhaling books left and right to distract myself from the impending doom of the world and this one was probably my favorite read of the year. Completely transports you into this fantastical world. Morgenstern’s writing is phenomenal and just wraps you up in a nice blanket of beautiful language and imagery. I can’t give a description that would give this book justice so I will just leave you with the given blurb.
The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazement. It is called Le Cirque des Reves, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands. True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead. Written in a rich seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.
Basically, it’s enchanting. I would also recommend The Starless Sea by the same author.
All the Light We Cannot See | Anthony Doerr
I love a story where two people’s lives are fated to cross. This is a story of a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of WWII. Marie-Laure lives in Paris with her father who works at the Museum of Natural History. In their possession is the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel. In a mining town in Germany, Werner is an orphan who is fascinated by radios. He becomes an expert and his skills prove useful to track down the resistance. Through their intertwined lives, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.
What I like about this book is that it is historical fiction, but not like every other WWII book that you’ve probably read and been bored by. I couldn’t put this book down. I read it in France too which made it extra special. I just loved the beautiful details that paint such gorgeous imagery. It’s so carefully constructed and yet deeply inspiring. I love the idea that the briefest of interactions can have the biggest impact on our lives and hearts.
Have a Little Faith | Mitch Albom
No, you didn’t click on somebody’s mom’s book club list. I was given this book to borrow by the lovely therapist I was seeing after my boyfriend passed away when I was in college (more on that here). To be honest, the plot doesn’t sound anything even remotely that I would be interested in. I’m not a religious person either, but I was desperate for a good story and that’s what this is. I devoured it and bought my own copy after.
This book covers an eight-year journey between two men of different backgrounds, faiths, and communities. It’s a true story, one in which Mitch Albom himself is asked to write the eulogy of his hometown rabbi. Since his rabbi is still alive, Mitch decides to get to know him better which throws him back into a world of faith he’d left behind. Meanwhile, Mitch becomes involved with a local pastor—a reformed convict— who preaches to the homeless and needy in a decaying church. Albom speaks to both men about how to endure when difficult things happen, what heaven is, forgiveness, doubt, and the importance of faith. Although these men come from different faiths, it’s about believing in something bigger than yourself. This book is about purpose, losing belief and finding it again, and that spark inside us all. Additionally, it has my very favorite book quote from the tail end of a conversation between the rabbi and Albom where the rabbi says,
“It’s lovely isn’t it?”
“What?”
“Life.”