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This is a gorgeous memoir set during the Chinese revolution of the 1940s, offering an insight into the life of an immigrant in America and inspired by Chinese folklore. We learn of the Chinese myths, family stories and events of her California childhood that have shaped her identity.

She was taught by the adults in her life that if she grew up to only be a wife or a slave she had failed - she was encouraged to be a heroine or swordswoman. Her childhood was surrounded by her mother's tales of a China where girls are worthless and only a strong woman can get places.

The book brings us through the tale of a young Chinese woman growing up in a changing America, surrounded by tales and memories of home, battling emigration and identity as she makes the journey into womanhood.

2. The Book of Form & Emptiness - Ruth Ozeki

I absolutely adored this book and could not recommend it more.

The story follows the life of 14 year old Benny Oh after his father dies tragically. Shortly after his death, Benny begins to hear voices coming from inanimate objects in his house, and although he doesn't always know what they are saying, he can sense that they sound angry, sad, pleasant etc. His mother, also reeling from her husband's death, develops a hoarding problem, in turn making the voices Benny hears louder and louder from all the different objects in the house.

As he clashes more and more with his mother and the voices follow him everywhere, he escapes to the library where things are quiet, and there he meets a handful of characters, each with their own burdens, and they become friends. He also discovers that his life is being narrated by his very own book (this will make more sense as you read the book), teaching him to listen to the things and people that really matter.

This has definitely jumped on to my favourite books of all time list.

3. The Mothers - Brit Bennett

TW: suicide, abortion

Brit Bennett can do no wrong in my eyes, and she proved that yet again with this fantastic book.

The Mothers is actually her debut, a story about young love and big secrets in a small, conservative community, and the haunting moments that come with growing up.

The story follows 17 year old Nadia Turner, grief-stricken after her mother's recent suicide, growing up in a close knit, religious and conservative community. Rebelling and grieving, she starts dating the local pastor's son, Luke Sheppard. One thing leads to another and Nadia ends up pregnant, and that, and the subsequent cover up from the community and her conservative best friend Aubrey, will have a lasting impact on her life. 

Fast forward to adulthood and paths cross again in a way they never expected, as they all continue to live with the choices made one teenage summer and wonder what if?

I will continue to read everything Brit Bennett writes. Truly obsessed with her. 

4. A Little Life  - Hanya Yanagihara

TW: sexual abuse, violent assault, addiction

This was one of the best books I have ever read, while simultaneously being the most heartbreaking and distressing to read at times. Big trigger warnings on this one.

This story follows four college graduates from Massachusetts who move to New York to make their way in the world - broke - surviving only on their friendship and ambition to succeed. Willem is kind and handsome, an aspiring actor; JB the sometimes cruel painter trying to break into the art world; Malcolm is an architect at a big firm, and Jude - withdrawn, brilliant, an enigma and a mystery, who keeps them all on course.

Over the decades we see their relationships shift and change, as we peer more into the earlier lives of the four and how that has affected who they are now, as within the friendship group they deal with addiction, success, pride and pain, always with a beautiful brotherly type of love. Jude is their greatest challenge, middle aged and fantastically talented in his field of law, yet only getting increasingly broken as the years tick by, and none of them know why. When things start to unravel about his unspeakable experience as a child, and later as an adult, Jude begins to think he might never overcome the trauma and live a normal life like his friends.

I saw a review that described the book as encompassing "brotherly love and the limits of human endurance," which I thought put everything in a nutshell so well.

I often say this with long books - when they're good and addictive, by the end you feel as though you know the characters personally and you almost struggle to leave them behind when the book finishes.

This book is beautiful and heart-wrenchingly painful in equal measure, an absolute must-read if none of the topics are a trigger for you <3

5. Three Women - Lisa Taddeo

TW: sexual abuse, assault, grooming

This book tells the true story about the lives of three real American women, based on almost a decade of immersive reporting, exploring the topics of desire, heartbreak and infatuation, and everything that entails.

In the book we meet Lina, living in suburban Indiana, homemaker and mother of two. After suffering a horrific sexual assault as a teenager, she still battles panic attacks. Her marriage has lost its passion and starved for intimacy, Lina reconnects with an old flame, launching an affair that quickly becomes all-consuming. 

Maggie, is a 17 year old student who ends up in a forbidden physical relationship with her English teacher. When everything grinds to a halt and the criminal (and emotional) trial ensues in its wake, a quiet community is turned on its head.

Finally, we meet Sloane, a successful and happily married restaurant owner. Her husband, however, likes to watch her being intimate with other men and women.

This book takes us through the real lives and stories of these three women, written full of empathy and emotion for their experiences. A great read!

Et voilá! A very good reading two months. Let me know if you've read any of these and what you thought - you can message me on TikTok or Instagram.

Thank you for reading,

S ✗