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Greetings loved ones. Back once again with a book post for you - a round-up of the books I read in March and April - a real mixed bag here! Would love to know your thoughts.

Click on any of the book titles to purchase (not affiliate links).

1. Nightcrawling - Leila Mottley

TW: sexual assault, drug addiction

This story follows Kiara and her brother Marcus, scraping by in East Oakland, living in an apartment complex. Both have dropped out of school, and their family has been directly affected by death (their father) and prison (their mother).

Marcus pursues his dream of becoming a famous rapper while bringing no money in, as Kiara hunts for work to keep the landlord from their door as their rent doubles, while she also takes in the 9 year old next door who has been abandoned by his mother, a drug addict.

With all of these factors at play, Kiara - desperate for work and money - falls into a job she never wanted but now needs: nightcrawling (prostitution). Her name then comes up in an investigation into a massive scandal among the police department and their association with sex workers, and she is required to speak up.

I thought this was a good, but infuriating read. It's the classic story of the police taking advantaged of those in disadvantaged communities in many ways, and although it's one we hear all the time, it doesn't make it any less anger-inducing. The characters are painted well and you feel different things towards them - Marcus comes across as quite unlikeable and unsupportive, as does their mother, while the kid next door is precious and it makes you want to take him out of the story and keep him safe.

This is an easy read in terms of wording and sentence structure, but tough when it comes to the storyline and everything going against the main character.

2. Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro

I can't lie here, this book confused the absolute life and soul out of me - if anyone has read it and has a better understanding of it than me, please let me know!

As far as I can gather, the "artificial friends" in the story are robots (I originally thought they were dolls that could talk, so they may be that too), and they appear to be powered by sunlight.

The story follows Klara, one of these "artificial friends" (known as AFs throughout the book). These AFs are purchased from a store (like a doll would be) as a sort of minder/companion for a child. Klara is known in the store for her outstanding observational qualities, watching the behaviour of everyone and everything both inside and outside the store.

When an ill child comes to choose her as her AF, she embarks on a journey with the child and her family that will alter her meaning of love and friendship forever.

Parts of this story were interesting but I would say the overall constant feeling I had reading it was just complete confusion, often actually saying "what?" out loud throughout.

If you've read this please let me know your thoughts/understanding of it - I would love to know!

3. Pachinko - Min Jin Lee

TW: suicide

I have to say I adored this book. While it wasn't super exciting plot-wise, I sometimes love the kind of quiet stories where you just follow the characters along through their daily lives.

The story begin in the early 1900s, when Sunja is a teenager. She is the daughter of a fisherman and falls for a wealthy stranger she meets at the market near her home in Korea. He tells her everything she wants to hear, promising her the world, but when she falls pregnant she discovers he is married with children already, and leaves him. At that time, a young woman pregnant with a child would be a major repellent for any many looking to marry, however when a poorly, gentle minister passes through her mother's boardinghouse and wants to marry her, she accepts and they move to Japan to his brother for a better life.

All is not as it seems when they reach Japan, and considerable hardship and tragedy ensues for the family.

This is a beautiful, moving story of love, sacrifice and loyalty, with strong women at the forefront. It is also beautifully written and such a pleasant reading experience. Love, love, love!

4. The Child That Books Built - Francis Spufford

This one seemed so promising - I absolutely ADORED the first chapter and found it so relatable to my reading experience now and as a child, however the rest of the book really didn't do it for me and I found myself struggling to get through it, despite how short it is.

It is described as a love letter to children's books, which it is, but there are times where it really focuses on a very niche genre of books for an extended amount of pages (namely science fiction, which I would not be able to relate to or have much interest in) so it was hard to get through those long passages with references to books I had never read or heard of - rather than more commonly read books.

As I mentioned, some of the chapters are lovely and focus on his experience of reading things like The Wind in the Willows and Narnia, and how he felt reading those and relayed them to his own life and how they shaped him as a child, allowing an escape from pain and the world, but others just didn't do it for me.

If you've read this I would love to know what you thought!

And that's all folks. I am currently on a(nother) book buying ban as trying to get a mortgage, but feel free to leave suggestions that I can add to my mental stack for when I get through my physical one and have somewhere to live.

Thank you for reading as always,

S ✗

Greetings, and welcome back to the first book post of 2023! I loved almost all of the books I read in the last two months, so many good ones in there.

Click on the titles if you want to be brought through to buy the book! (affiliate links)

1. The Woman Warrior - Maxine Hong Kingston

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 ✗

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Other recommendations we didn't get to:

March/April Books '23

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Jan/Feb Books '23

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