What I'm reading (and what I haven't yet)
At the start of the year, I made a promise to myself to read more. A lifelong bookworm, I had seen my consumption go down in recent years as social media took over my time and attention span. I always had a book on the go, but it sometimes took me a month to finish even an average-length novel, such was my scrolling habit before bed. This year, with social media banished (besides Substack, of course), I vowed to read at least 30 books and am well on track to reach and exceed that number. Here are some of the books I’ve read this Spring:
If I had to use only one word to sum up this collection, it would be: disturbing. Every single one of these (bar Where The Crawdads Sing, which I found decidedly average) left me either emotionally wrecked, having dark thoughts about dystopian futures, or steeped in so much weirdness and trauma that I had to soak in a hot bath afterward to release the stories from my cells. That may sound unpleasant to some, or like I didn’t enjoy them, but it was the opposite. ‘Weird and wonderful’ is probably my favourite genre after ‘women who refuse to behave’ — even better when those two come together, as in Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings, and in Asako Yasuki’s Butter. Tiffany McDaniel’s Betty may have been a touch too far for me in the trauma stakes, though it was so brilliantly written that I can forgive it for that. Overall, I’m pleased with these recent reads and they left me wanting more.
However, before I rushed out to buy more stories like these, I knew it was time for me to take a pause. Not only for a change of pace and to switch up my interests (which are varied and wide) but because my bank account has been protesting at my book-buying addiction, telling me to slow down. So in a bid to enforce some fiscal responsibility, I pulled every unread book off my shelves this week. Some have been patiently waiting for years. Before I buy any more, I’ve made a pact: read at least some of what’s already here.
From the fiction TBR pile on the left, I know I will definitely read all of them eventually, maybe bar On the Road, The Road (why do men like to write about roads so much?), and The Tartar Steppe. I rarely read fiction by men, to be honest, with the exception of Haruki Murakami and Dave Eggers - the only male authors whose work I follow consistently. Make of that what you will.
The non-fiction pile on the right is one I’ll work through more slowly, I know, given that I am very much in a novel place right now. I’ve dipped in and out of Audre Lorde’s essay collection Your Silence Will Not Protect You over the years but have never read it cover to cover, which I very much want to do when I have the headspace. Indeed, Lorde’s titular essay is what inspired me to write about my experiences of witnessing racism within NHS maternity care in my own book, Overdue, giving that chapter the same name. For that reason (among many others), this book deserves nothing less than my full attention when I finally sit down to finish it.
I’m a bit embarrassed that I haven’t read Invisible Women or A Room of One’s Own yet, but I know I will eventually. I’m a firm believe that books call out to me from the TBR pile when they’re ready for me, and I for them. It’s why I never force myself to read a book if I’m not feeling it, even if I know it’s one I definitely want to read. Timing is everything with books.
A recent example of this was when I finally read Wintering by Katherine May in Jaunary this year, despite it living on my shelf since its publication and hearing nothing but good things about it. Something in me knew that I had to save it for when I really needed it and could get the most from its message. It turns out that January 2025 was precisely when I needed it — and I’m very glad I waited.
The London biography by Peter Ackroyd may well be a book I only read in retirement, or if I ever have to convalesce for an extended period of time. I might need to start strengthening my wrists now in preparation - what a tome!
I’d love to know what you’ve been reading lately, and what it is in your TBR pile. Are you a home bookshelf shopper like me, or a full-fledged book-buying maniac (also like me)?
Finally, I will leave you with what I’m reading right now, a much needed palate cleanser after the insanity of Butter and Earthlings. Femina is long and hefty, but I do find forgotten female history fascinating so hopefully it won’t take me months to finish it.
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The Berry Pickers and Wild Dark Shore (both fiction) are two recent ones I’ve read. Really liked them but definitely needed a lighter read after WDS