Nothing is holding my attention these days.
For the past five years, I’ve managed to read 70-80 books per year. This year, I’ve only gotten to 29.
Below are the books that I’ve rated 5 or 4 stars in the past.
Looking for something contemporary or even horror. Something gut-wrenching or unhinged. I love prose that is poetic, metaphorical or very descriptive. Not into sarcastic, comedic tones. If you have a rec, please comment! Thank you.
-All the Donna Tartt books
-All the Hanya Yanagihara books
-Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim
-Edinburgh by Alexander Chee
-What Belongs to you by Garth Greenwell
-Young Mungo and Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
-As meat loves salt by Maria Mccann
-These violent delights by Micah Nemerever
-The song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
-Jawbone by Monica Ojeda
-If we were villains by M.L. Rio
-My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
-In Memoriam by Alice Winn
-Negative Space by B.R. Yeager
-Box Hill by Adam Mars-Jones
-Drive your plow over the bones of the dead by Olga Tokarczuk
-Sharp Object by Gillian Flynn
-Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
-Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
-I’m thinking of ending things by Iain Reid
-Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
by Imaginary-Ad7066
14 Comments
*Piranesi* by Susanna Clarke! Go into it blind, persevere
Based on some of the other stuff you’ve enjoyed, I think you’ll like One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow by Olivia Hawker and A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet.
You mentioned The Song of Achilles, but have you read Circe or Galatea? Both are also by Madeline Miller and both are terrific. Galatea is only about 35 pages long, but Circe is a full-length novel. I cannot wait for another release by this author.
When We Cease to Understand the World- Benjamin Labatut: Amazing short story book with a horroresque take on unchecked scientific and mathematical advancement
The Trees- Percival Everett: Modern book on the history of race in America. Soul destroying and surprisingly funny at the same time.
The entire bibliography of Alice Munro: One of the greatest short story writers to ever live, and if you’re having issues paying attention to books I always go with short stories to set myself back on track.
We Need To Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver. Contemporary, gut-wrenching, poetic. Blindsided me to become one of the best books I’ve ever read
None of these are horror but all are fairly unsettling and also lyrical in the contemporary way. All My Puny Sorrows or Women Talking by Miriam Toews; Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami; The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lukas Rijneveld.
* Hex by Rebecca Dinerstein Knight
* Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier
* The World Cannot Give by Tara Isabella Burton
If you want a true horror – just try Bentley Little)
The Space Adventures Of Commander Laine
The giver
Waiting for the Barbarians. The Life & Times of Michael K. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The Snowman (Nesbo). Snow (Banville). I Can See in the Dark (Fossum). Headhunters (Nesbo). Hour of the Wolf (Nesser). Borkmann’s Point. Mind’s Eye. The White Tiger (Avinda). His Bloody Project. Native Son (Wright). Things Fall Apart (Achebe). Enduring Love (McEwan).
Chlorine by Jade Song
[Gathering of Waters by Bernice L. McFadden](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11225026-gathering-of-waters?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=sBD4qNWD1s&rank=1) – drop dead gorgeous prose, touch of magical realism, and it can hit hard. I fell in love with the book on the first page so it could be a quick litmus test for you – take a peek on Amazon and see what you think. It won’t really hint at the story but gives a full-on impression of the rest of the writing.
Invisible life of Addie LaRue