Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the fantastic Bionic Bookworm. This week’s topic:
DECEMBER 4 – Top 5 book titles
When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife by Meena Kandasamy
I love everything about this. I love the subtitle and I love that the title is a line written by the protagonist’s husband. The framing of her narrative around this abusive man is so effective, and when you read that line in the book it’s such a gut punch.
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky and Elif Batuman
There’s something about describing your own protagonist with this bizarrely harsh word that I’m always drawn to. (Have read the Batuman, have not yet read the Dostoevsky.)
The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney
Delightfully irreverent and contradictory. This is a fantastic pairing of words.
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
I mean. This title is perfection. Haven’t read this yet; am largely interested because of that title.
Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch by Henry Miller
Another one I haven’t read, so I do not have the slightest clue how the title works in the context of the book, but that is just the most wonderfully unexpected way to finish a title that begins with ‘Big Sur’ and I just adore it. Also because Hieronymus Bosch is one of my favorite artists and I’m just dying to know the connection between California and the Northern Renaissance.
What’s your favorite book title? Comment and let me know!
Agatha Christie. It’s hard to believe I only read And Then There Were None earlier this year – I feel like I’ve been reading Christie for so much longer. Since then I’ve read five more Christie novels – Murder on the Orient Express, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Three Act Tragedy, Sparkling Cyanide, and Crooked House – and none of them has received less than a 4 star rating from me. I’m not even a little bit tired of her books, and I can’t wait to read even more in 2018.
John Boyne. I know, I won’t shut up about John Boyne, but I just think he’s brilliant. I’ve only read two of his books so far – The Heart’s Invisible Furies and The Absolutist, and no, I’ve never read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas – but both of them ripped my heart out, which, if you know me, is something I particularly enjoy. He also published this fantastic 
Lisa McInerney. Another Irish writer I discovered this year, when I read her genius debut The Glorious Heresies. This book knocked the wind out of me in the best possible way. McInerney provides a really brilliant exploration of crime and poverty in contemporary Ireland – her novel is is moving and profane and challenging and utterly fearless. I’ve never read anything like it. And her character Ryan Cusack still haunts me. I can’t wait to hopefully read the sequel, The Blood Miracles, next year.
Mary Renault. I’ve only read one Renault novel so far, Fire From Heaven, and it took me the better part of three months, so that probably doesn’t sound like the biggest endorsement ever. But it’s one of those books that’s completely worth the effort that you need to put into it. Renault’s research into the life of Alexander the Great is absolutely impeccable, and I have so much admiration for her as a writer and historian. I didn’t want to rush straight into The Persian Boy, the next book in her Alexander trilogy, but I really look forward to getting around to it in 2018.
Min Jin Lee. I haven’t stopped talking about Pachinko since I read it very early this year, but that’s only because that book ripped my heart out and positively haunted me. I still find myself thinking about that novel and its characters – and since I’ve read about 90 books since then, that’s a pretty big accomplishment. I haven’t gone back and read Lee’s debut yet, but I intend to, and I will definitely pick up anything she publishes in the future.
“It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it; but the young know they are wretched for they are full of the truthless ideal which have been instilled into them, and each time they come in contact with the real, they are bruised and wounded. It looks as if they were victims of a conspiracy; for the books they read, ideal by the necessity of selection, and the conversation of their elders, who look back upon the past through a rosy haze of forgetfulness, prepare them for an unreal life. They must discover for themselves that all they have read and all they have been told are lies, lies, lies; and each discovery is another nail driven into the body on the cross of life.”
“Now he got out of bed and wrapped his blanket around himself, yawning. That evening, he’d talk to Jude. He didn’t know where he was going, but he knew he would be safe; he would keep them both safe. He went to the kitchen to make himself coffee, and as he did, he whispered the lines back to himself, those lines he thought of whenever he was coming home, coming back to Greene Street after a long time away – “And tell me this: I must be absolutely sure. This place I’ve reached, is it truly Ithaca?”- as all around him, the apartment filled with light.”
“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn’t quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”
“He stood between death and life as between night and morning, and thought with a soaring rapture, ‘I am not afraid’.”
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. Let’s get the non-horror out of the way. I seem to talk about this book a lot, but only because it’s so good. Rebecca is an atmospheric, Gothic novel about a young woman who marries a rich man whose mysterious, alluring dead ex-wife Rebecca exerts a certain pull over their lives. It’s not a ghost story, but it is haunting in a more psychological way, and the creepy setting of the Manderly estate makes for an excellent book to read around this time of year.
The Night Sister by Jennifer McMahon. Set in an abandoned motel in rural Vermont, this is obviously a book that I had to check out. This is an eerie, creepy, suspenseful paranormal horror book that isn’t the least bit gruesome, so if you like your horror light on the gore, this is a perfect book for that. While I did have a few criticisms by the end, I ultimately thought it was ridiculously entertaining, and genuinely frightening at times.
Final Girls by Riley Sager. Another one that I’ve talked about a lot, but I promise it’s a quick, engaging read that is well worth checking out. This mystery/thriller novel is more of a love letter to the horror genre than a proper horror novel in its own right, but the flashback scenes set in a cabin in the woods are properly chilling. This is a novel which follows a young woman, Quincy, the sole survivor of a brutal massacre that left several of her friends dead years ago. The problem is, she can’t remember what happened that night.
The Silent Children by Amna K. Boheim. This is a fantastically entertaining modern-day ghost story set in Vienna, filled to the brim with dark family secrets. It follows the story of a young man, Max, who discovers some unsavory details about his family’s past, including flashbacks to World War II era Vienna. I’ll admit that I had a slow start with this book, but once it hits its stride about 20% in, it’s almost impossible to put down.
The Last Night at Tremore Beach by Mikel Santiago. This is a vaguely paranormal mystery set on the idyllic Irish coast, as renowned composer Peter Harper decides to spend some time on his own following a messy divorce. One night as he makes his way home during a storm, Peter is struck by lightning, and in the events that follow, dreams and reality begin to blur as he attempts to save his family from an impending crime. This is another highly entertaining novel that’s easy to fly through in a couple of hours.
Hush (2016)
Get Out (2017)
It Follows (2014)
The Witch (2015)
The Woman in Black (2012)
Sansa Stark (A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin). My girl!!! I think I’ve waxed eloquent about my love for Sansa Stark enough on this blog, so I’ll just get right to it. Sansa is the sort of character who has a tremendous amount of growth, and while I wouldn’t necessarily want to team up with her 11-year-old self to rule the world, the young woman she becomes is one of the most formidable and capable characters in the entire series. She learns from the best and the worst alike, and she knows how to navigate the complex political situations she finds herself in. I want to team up with her to save Westeros and then dismantle the patriarchy.
Kaz Brekker (Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo). (I would just like to point out that Sansa and Kaz are like….. the very embodiment of the two Types of characters I always fall for. The dichotomy of my being summed up in this one unlikely pair.) Anyway, this one doesn’t require a whole lot of explanation… Kaz is the sort of character you’d rather have on your side than against you, so while he may not be the most trustworthy person in the world, I’ll take my chances. He’s the sort of criminal mastermind who could easily take over the world if he decided that would be an advantageous course of action.
Henry Winter (The Secret History by Donna Tartt). Henry is one of the most memorable characters I’ve ever encountered. He may not be a Good Person, but I don’t think he’s a bad person either… and at any rate, he’s another one who I’d rather have on my side than against me. Plus, his idea of taking over the world would probably include ‘make The Iliad required reading for everyone’ and let’s be real, that aligns very nicely with my own agenda.
Helen of Sparta (The Iliad by Homer; classics). Anyone powerful enough to (inadvertently) bring about a war is someone I want to be partners in crime with. Helen is one of my favorite characters, and the thing that makes me defend her character is how little agency she has in her narrative: she’s stolen by Paris and then her husband Menelaus wages a war to get her back. The question of what Helen herself wanted has long been debated – did she go willingly with Paris, or was it kidnap? – and anyway, I’m saying all this because I want to give Helen a narrative where she’s in total control. i.e., Ruling the world.
Aliena of Shiring (The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett). Aliena is one of the most capable characters I can think of. She goes from being brought up in nobility to having absolutely nothing, to starting her own business as a wool merchant. She’s someone who gets shit done, and above that, she’s also just a deeply good person. I’d gladly rule medieval England with her.
The Grownup by Gillian Flynn: For any non-readers who are find high page counts daunting for whatever reason – try a short story! This is the only Gillian Flynn that I’ve read so far, but I loved it. It grabs you from the very first unforgettable sentence, and takes you on a crazy ride. It’s part mystery, part thriller, part horror – a sort of modern, contemporary spin on the haunted house premise – and it ends up being nothing like you expect when you start it.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Capote tells the true story of the murder of the Clutter family in 1959 Kansas, focusing on the capture and the execution of the killers. While there’s a bit of fictionalization in the way Capote spins this story (notably including bits of dialogue that he couldn’t possibly have been privy to), it’s a mostly faithful and thought-provoking account. If you’re someone who doesn’t like a lot of fiction, try a true crime book like this one, or a biography or memoir.
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice. I had to wrack my brains to come up with something outside my usual tragic and depressing tastes, but we got there in the end. This is actually one of my favorite books ever – I read it several times as a teenager and it is just so damn delightful. It’s a sort of coming of age, romance, vaguely chick lit-y thing set in 1950s London. If you’re looking for something that makes you feel happy and isn’t terribly intellectually rigorous, look no further!
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel: And finally, I feel like it would be remiss to not mention a graphic novel. Admittedly it’s the only one I’m familiar with, but I still love it a lot. In Fun Home Alison Bechdel recounts what it was like to grow up in a funeral home, though it’s mostly a story about her relationship with her father, and coming to terms with her sexuality. The illustrations here are gorgeous, so if you’re a visual person, you’ll love it, though the prose is strong on its own.
pace, amore, libri 