winter reads {october, november, december}

1) The Secret History, by Donna Tartt. it's difficult to think of a writer whose books are simultaneously so shocking and so inevitable. i spent the entire novel wondering how in the world her characters were going to do what we know from the very first pages they are going to do (murder one of their own best friends), and yet somehow by the end, it feels as unavoidable as fate. unashamedly dark, and deftly written. 5/5.

2) Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines, by Nic Sheff. the heartbreaking memoir of a drug addict. his fight for recovery is inspiring, but mostly his story made me so sad for people whose lives are so affected by drugs. his raw, vulnerable writing helps explain much of his behavior, without making excuses for it. recommended reading for adults (maybe not younger teens who may be intrigued by his very specific descriptions of drug use). 5/5.

3) Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love, by Dani Shapiro. when the author decides to pursue DNA testing, she has no idea that the results will completely upend her assumptions and beliefs about her biological family. a thoughtfully written book about this complex subject. 5/5.

4) In the Company of the Courtesan, by Sarah Dunnant. the story of an unlikely duo, a Roman courtesan and a dwarf, who flee the Sack of Rome in 1527 and settle in Venice. the author's descriptions of Renaissance Venice brought the city and its customs to life. 1 star deducted because some of the Italian phrases/words were mistranslated, which is such a smug expat thing to say but... it really bothered me in a book that appeared otherwise so well-researched. 4/5.

5) The Weight of Ink, by Rachel Kadish. thanks to Mom for recommending this book, which reminded me of Jodi Picoult's novels in the best kind of way. Kadish makes the Jewish diaspora in Shakespearean England as well as the technicalities of studying rare books both interesting and accessible. a unique and heartwarming account of a 17th-century Jewish girl who emigrated to England, and the modern-day scholars who discover her secret. 5/5.

6) Vivaldi's Virgins, by Barbara Quick. the only thing i didn't like about this book was the title, which sounds far more provocative than the book actually is. it's the fictionalized account of the real Anna Maria, a Venetian student of Vivaldi's for whom he wrote several pieces of music. her descriptions of life as a musician at the Ospedale della Pietà were compelling, and i was quite gratified that all the Italian in the book was correct! 5/5. 

7) Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens. i finally read this blockbuster book and let me just say, it deserves the hype! an achingly beautiful story of a girl growing up on the outskirts of society in the North Carolina marshland. the negative reviews i read about this book mentioned that the dialect is inconsistent. i don't know enough about North Carolina dialect to be bothered by that, but consider yourself warned! 5/5.

8) An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones. an unflinching exploration of what "for better and for worse" actually means. i'd say having your husband imprisoned for years for a crime he didn't commit falls solidly into the "for worse" camp (well, i guess in a way it's better than if he did commit a crime). i thought the book was well written, even though i often disagreed with the decisions both husband and wife made. 5/5.

9) I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death, by Maggie O'Farrell. a collection of essays that are by turns poignant, hilarious, and sobering as the author reflects upon times in her life when she narrowly escaped death or serious injury. she brings all these experiences forward with her when her daughter is diagnosed with a life-threatening food allergy. 5/5 with extra credit for the anatomical sketches accompanying each essay.

10) On the Banks of Plum Creek, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. a read-aloud to Greta, who is becoming just as absorbed into the world of Laura and Mary as i was at her age. re-reading these books as an adult, i'm impressed by the descriptive passages that still manage to capture Greta's attention, and also dismayed by the occasional disparaging remarks about Indians (sometimes i omit them, sometimes i read them verbatim and we discuss). still a 5/5.

11) Fleishman Is In Trouble, by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. this book was full of skewering insights into human nature and the inclination of marriage to fall apart when it's based on personal happiness rather than a sacrament whose end goal is to help your spouse get to heaven. none of the characters is very likable, perhaps because they are each in their own way so privately relatable. 5/5.

What if one of the imperatives we never understood was about love and therefore marriage? Meaning, what if we search to make sure we are lovable and worthy of someone who commits to us absolutely and exclusively, and the only way we can truly confirm we are worth these things is if someone wants to marry us; someone says, "Yes, you are the one I will love exclusively. You are worthy of this." And then, only when you’re actually married, once this need is fulfilled, you can for the first time wonder if you even wanted to be married or not.

12) Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie. one of the classic mysteries from the master of classic mysteries! i found her characterizations amusing and helpful for keeping the cast of characters straight. this was the first Hercule Poirot book i read but it was still easy to understand the plot, and i will definitely be back for more. 5/5.

13) Mrs. Everything, by Jennifer Weiner. wow. this book had me sobbing by the end. the story of two sisters, jumping back in forth through time from their childhood in the 1950s to the modern day, with all of their highs and lows in between. it will make you think about what it means to be a woman, a wife, and a person. 5/5.

“We lose ourselves,” she repeated, forming each word with care, “but we find our way back.” Wasn’t that the story of her life? Wasn’t that the story of Bethie’s? You make the wrong choices, you make mistakes, you disappear for a decade, you marry the wrong man. You get hurt. You lose sight of who you are, or of who you want to be, and then you remember, and if you’re lucky you have sisters or friends who remind you when you forget your best intentions. You come back to yourself, again and again. You try, and fail, and try again, and fail again.

14) A Christmas Party, by Georgette Heyer. "a seasonal murder mystery" says it all! i have vivid memories of sitting on Mom's bed, reading whichever Heyer book she had checked out from the library aloud to myself in my best British accent. i'm pretty sure this is the first time i've returned to a Heyer book as an adult. i found this particular book extremely slow in the beginning (although saved by that particularly British dry humor) and it was hard to differentiate between the characters. however, the second half of the book was fantastic. 4/5.

15) Before We Were Yours, by Lisa Wingate. i kept wishing that this book wasn't based on a true story, because it's so atrocious that a real woman named Georgia Tann operated a network of "children's homes" in the South that literally sold children (some orphans and some just plucked from their poor families' homes) to rich "adoptive" families and then falsified the records. for all that, it's a beautiful novel about the power of family ties that survive despite the odds. 5/5.

on the January bookshelf:

Belong to Me, by Marisa de los Santos
Ninth House, by Leigh Bardugo
A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith
The Valedictorian of Being Dead: The True Story of Dying Ten Times to Live, by Heather Armstrong