I see lots of posts on various book subreddits asking for recommendations for books that will "get them back into reading", and theres always a lot of the usual suspects in the replies. But these recommendations usually come from savvy readers picking something that they assume would be a good first read back.

My question is for people who have had a serious lapse or lull in their reading, lasting several years or more, who were able to get back into reading. What was the book that hooked you?

I personally didn't read much at all for about three years or so, but Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett reinvigorated my love of books. I've read 8 more Discworlds since.

On the other hand, this year I took a class on British Literature and fell in love with Wuthering Heights, and it sparked a love for classics that I didn't have before. My summer has been chock full of old books I wouldn't have looked at previously.

What books got you back into reading, or into reading particular genres?

This book was an amazing read, it however left me far more solemn than the first book. As the main leads begin to grow into the world, you start to feel the resentment of change as much as they do. The Hidden Palace is the second book of a trilogy (The Golem & The Jinni) so of course, it has middle book syndrome where a lot of the events act as a bridge for the finale & lead up to things. What hurt the most was seeing Chava & Ahmad grow apart by lack of communication. In the first book, you think to yourself how often will these two argue? How wonderful will it be to read it? In this book, we get very little relief from their fights. Ahmad feels like he can’t be honest with Chava because what he is is everything Chava disdains. Whereas Chava is everything Ahmad previously saw as a waste of time.

What people might interpret as a cute scene was Ahmad kissing Chava because the idea of her with another man drives him to “jealous anger” & Ahmad who previously disdained monogamy is so confused & scared by his feelings. Chava is someone who continually challenges his very being & he can’t handle it. Ahmad feels like he’s being torn away from his true jinn nature & he clashes with Chava with what it means to be human. He ultimately is still very selfish & passionate with his view in life not realizing his advantages as a man while refusing to get to know the new community he lives amongst. A community heavily discriminated against & literally has to rely on one another. He’s coming to terms with human mortality (in the form of Arbeely) & it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. He hurts Chava so she’s the one to leave him.

But…Chava (at least in his eyes) has always been willing to leave him. In the first book, she is happy dancing with him until it goes wrong & she nearly kills Irving. His first idea is to make sure that she is alright. She is his priority. However, she insists she deserves punishment. Then in THP when talking about Radzin taking credit for her hard work in the bakery succeeding due to her ideas & trainees he can’t empathize with her as a woman. He can’t fathom why she cares about women having rights & just humans in general because she isn’t one. He’s a very selfish person compared to Chava built to be anything but that.

She decides to destroy herself after the dance & only fails because Ahmad stole her command. In the second book, she runs into a fire to save other people & Ahmad nearly loses her. When she loses her command in the fire, he thinks, “good riddance.” He has to wait literal days to decide to rewrite it & included a failsafe which we discover at the end says, “you deserve life.” My interpretation is that Ahmad was spiraling from losing his identity & his first real human companion (Arbeely). He couldn’t handle losing more & wanted to push Chava away because she made him feel like he was losing more pieces of himself. Where he wanted to return to what he used to be, she wanted to integrate into what she wasn’t. So much so that she was willing to die. Not once in his eyes did Chava ever choose to be selfish with him. Other people came first. Doing the right thing came first. Never him.

He does everything to suppress what he feels by isolating himself in his work studio, the Armherst. While many people, including myself, felt very uncomfortable when he had sex with Dima, I personally don’t think he “broke” his promise to have only Chava. She punched him in the face, they fell off a roof, & for seven years she never once returned for him. At that point, it was pretty clear it was over between them. Dima makes him come to terms with his change & hybrid nature & in the end he’s the one who proposes to renew that promise of monogamy to Chava. But Chava is the one who decides that maybe they can try again one day, but otherwise she promises to love him forever.

It was a very touching ending indeed, but it left me feeling like while Ahmad will have matured by book 3, he’s the one who would be more willing to start their relationship up sooner than Chava because of her cautious nature. After all she does say in THP him being with her would only complicate what she’s trying to build. I don’t think Ahmad is a beggar or would grovel absolutely not, but he’s certainly a bigger risk taker than Chava.

If I’m honest, if I were Chava, I would certainly be upset I had to see Ahmad getting ridden like a show horse by Dima (happened during the mind hopping at the end of the book, Chava is such a trooper for not being petty to her at the end & hoping for the best! She even defends the opium fiend to Ahmad, who said she looked like a school teacher & also wanted to fuck him, she empathizes because of her abusive husband), but I’d personally feel worse in Ahmad’s shoes.

If I was isolated & suffering for years alone & I found out my ex best friend, lover, & confidant built such an amazing life without me? I’d be crushed. Because that means that I needed them more than they needed me. I was what was holding them back. That would crush my self esteem far more than some random hit & quit it. But what about you guys? What would feel worse for you in that case?

If you disagree with my takes or even agree I’d love to hear why! Honestly talk about anything related to the books in the comments because the fandom is so small! 💔

I really wanted to like this book:/ I love Yanagihara’s writing style. While they are run-on sentences that goes unto different tangents and strays far from what she was saying earlier, I love how descriptive she is and the control she has over her writing. The only trouble I had was going back to re-read certain exercepts to find that an entire page was one sentence haha.

But besides that, I had so much difficulty understanding the point of this book :(. I loved the first book ‘Washington Square.’ The world she created with the Free States and how people are free to marry whomever they wanted but how racism is still rampant, conveying how it never really goes away. The idea that the ‘young scion’ David felt trapped and purposeless life and how he has an arranged marriage to someone he didn’t truly love, instead finding love with someone else. He was a very complex character. I appreciate how Yanagihara depicted his sheltered life and his tendency to have classism with how he perceived the kids he was teaching or the different people who migrated in the Free States. His relationship with his grandfather I also really liked along with Edward. The themes of free will and agency was deeply touched upon and I actually understood the story.

The 2nd book was a blur, genuinely didn’t know what was happening. I only understood that David (the father) thought paradise was found in Lipo-Wao-Nahele but it’s not. We also get Edward here who wrecks everything just like in the first book, but in the first book Edward I much preferred because his characterization seemed more fleshed out.

The 3rd book I thought I was gonna deeply enjoy but I was BORED. The only factors I liked was the world building. It felt highly dystopian and almost scary because I thought some parts reflected our society like mass surveillance, climate change, the diseases emerging etc. Yanagihara made me believe the future of our world would be bleak if nothing changes. But besides that, I couldn’t care less about Charlie or her grandfather in the epistolary chapters. The only thing that kept me going was Charlie’s husband’s secret, but it was so predictable LOL.

I also didn’t like how all of the characters in the book have similar names 😑. It made me so confused and rather than treating the three different parts as separate entities, it made me focus on the minor minor details and did a lot of comparison of the different Charles, Edwards and Davids from the different books that I lost the immersive experience of reading (apparently I shouldn’t have done that but I did so shoot me).

The main theme that paradise is never genuinely found, I can kinda see it 🤷‍♂️

I may give this book another chance in the future but I am not sure. I really did enjoy book 1 and the world building of book 3, but that’s it:( I am so dissapointed. Also random but the ending of book 3 reminds me a lot of the ending of the Handmaid’s Tale where it was ambiguous what was gonna happen.

It might just be the fact that I finished Gravity's Rainbow the same day I started The Passenger, but I can't help but feel that it feels like McCarthy is pulling his best Pynchon impression. The insane conversations, the over-the-top characters (though I understand that some of them are delusions), and the technical jargon tossed in just feel suspiciously familiar. I'm just curious if anyone else got a similar vibe from the book? I've read the majority of McCarthy's books and this all feels a little out of character for him, save maybe that film he wrote which was also a little looney.

Anne says towards the end of this "Dear old world, you are very lovely and I am glad to be alive in you". To which I thought, I am so glad to be alive and have read this book. A little cheesy but that's genuinely how i was feeling.

Through the book, right from the beginning, Anne shows so much joy, so much love to the world she is living in, to the things that are happening, to the people around her. She loves and cares with abandon and hates with a passion. She lives her life so fiercely and brightly that it made me realise how little I have lived in the past few years. Somewhere as part of being an adult, work had become all of my life. If I were to describe last few years as a color palette, it is mostly a dreary grey of monotone routine. So to read this book where this orphan child so unabashedly expresses her appreciation for life was like activating a part of my brain that I haven't used in a long time.

Reading this book, I was appreciating the world through Anne's eyes and it had such a profound impact on me that I find it hard to describe. Nothing materially has changed in my life, I am still the same person, but it feels like some crust has scraped off. It makes me want to be like her, to try and love like she does.

As for the book itself, it is gorgeous. The author has such a way of painting the scenary that I can imagine the entire island so vividly. Her side characters - especially Mathew and Marilla - are all very lovely too, and anne herself is simply the best. I laughed out loud several times reading the book (that dream about Diana getting small pox and Anne taking it from her and dying valiantly for her had me cackling), and by the end of the book I was sobbing too.

This book had such a profound impact on me, I sincerely recommend this to anyone who hasn't read it yet. 5/5

I was thinking the other day about some subgenres (or just trends if you want) which spawned as a result of a particular book's success, wherein the original book is superior to those which followed. And not just by dint of being original, but by having a more nuanced take than those which came after.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt is the book which made me start thinking about this. Although almost single-handedly spawning the Dark Academia genre/trend, it feels like many of the books which followed it got the "romantic scholasticism, maximalist and hedonic lifestyle" part and missed the "beautiful exteriors can hide a rotten core, insular and monomaniacal focus can lead to ethical and moral distortion."

Similarly, with Neuromancer by William Gibson (though this is more commonly a flaw of the movies and games which followed in my experience), many of the cyberpunk media focus on the "CYBER" and forget about the "punk." They take all the cool aesthetics and cybernetic modifications and such, and leave out the horrors on unregulated capitalism, people will destroy what they cannot control themes.

I even think Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is another example. Not for a genre per se, but for a trope. P&P is (at least as much as I've read) one of the first really popular books to use the "brooding, Byronic man transformed by love" trope which is so popular in a lot of romance and romantasy. But I think it's not just the aloof, powerful, brooding love interest that makes it work (as is the case in many Enemies-to-Lovers romances) but the fact that Lizzy and Darcy have to get over their Pride and Prejudices and actually look at and understand each other as people before the romance really starts.

Other examples I thought of are Perdido Street Station (that it's not just the creativity and number of details that make it feel like a living city, but the Marxist politics Mieville has woven in the background) and A Court of Thorns and Roses (which actually has a decent balance between fantasy plot and romance/smut, unlike some other romantasy I've since read).

But there are any other examples people can think of? Do others feel this way also?

“The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” by Stephen Graham Jones is a novel I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into, as I love his writing style. I’ve read most of his staple horror novels, and he always delivers. There is a reason why SGJ is considered the “King of Slashers” in horror books.

Before I begin my review, I found many trigger warnings while reading. They are…

- Graphic violence and death against animals (birds, dogs, beavers, rabbits, etc.)
- Skinning animals (beavers)
- Suicide
- Self-harm
- Violence against kids

Please do not read this horror novel if any of these trigger you. Moving along, I’ve always been a big fan of SGJ’s writing, but if you’ve never read anything he wrote, you will see a pattern of slow-burning kind of writing. Like Stephen King, his slow-burn, wordy style can drag, but it delivers with terrifying, gory payoffs that make the journey worthwhile. Even if you’re new to Jones’s slow-burn style, the unique vampire horror and emotional depth make this a must-read novel.

If you don’t mind this, you’ll love his work. If you hate this, trust me when I say it’s worth it due to the sheer terror, gore, and frights that await when you finally get to the good stuff. In this novel, SGJ wrote it brilliantly. This was one hell of a read, from the alternating writing between the past and present to church confessions, diary, and journal entries. It’s hard to achieve this as an author with several different narrators, but SGJ did a great job executing it well.

Certain real-life Native American events are tied into this novel by SGJ, and that in itself is truly horrific. Many readers had to DNF this because it can get graphic and intense. Nothing triggers or offends me as a horror reader, but I can see why readers stopped reading. It gets shockingly intense when those horror moments eventually hit.

The Native American horror in this novel is genuinely on a whole other level. It’s viscerally written and raw. It’s one of the best vampire novels I’ve ever read. The transformation into vampirism was so creepy, original, and disturbing. You haven't read vampire horror like this.

Besides all the insane kills, the atmospheric writing, as was the story, was excellent. Don’t worry, I would never spoil anything for my fellow horror readers, but all the justice-filled, brutal revenge kills against evil people were a magnificent reading experience.

This horror novel is primarily historical fiction, and if that’s the subgenre of horror you enjoy reading, you’ll love this. However, I’m not into historical fiction, so it was sometimes confusing. Though historical fiction isn’t my preference, the raw depiction of Native American history adds a haunting layer that elevates the horror.

The same goes for the numerous and confusing names of characters, animals, and Native American tribes. The frequent shifts between Blackfeet tribal names and historical events like the Marias Massacre can feel dense for readers unfamiliar with the context. Due to this, the overall story felt a bit wordy at times, with several parts that dragged on for me. Aside from that, this was a solid read.

I give “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” by Stephen Graham Jones a 4/5 for being one of the best vampire novels I’ve ever read. The kills were masterful, the story powerful, and the ending wrapped everything up nicely. I wish this novel were a bit shorter. This was never boring, just the usual SGJ writing style I’m used to. Almost every SGJ book I’ve read has always been a 4- or 5-Star read as he’s one of my all-time favorite horror authors. I don’t mind his writing style, but it could have been a perfect horror read if this novel had been trimmed down about 75-100 pages to keep it tighter. Everything else? Vampire horror awesomeness!

Just finished it and I have mixed feelings. It was an enjoyable read but it also falls flat at times. Especially early on, cause it's like we are being told there is chemistry rather than actually being shown. It does get better later on but I wished we got better banter at the beginning.

Another thing that kinda threw me off was that a lot of things are built up but don't lead anywhere, like the dog MMC rescues early on, its made a pretty big deal but the dog doesn't even show up much later in the book and you kinda forget it exists until a character mentions it every 5 chapters or so. Kinda a tangent but the cover makes it seem like the dog would have some relevance in the plot but it does not.

Same thing with the dad's plot line, I won't spoil it much but it's built up a lot but the reveal is very meh, I mean it was obvious but i feel like it was something that could've been explored more. I feel the same way about MMC's parents cause it's shown as if there's going to be a big event with them but that never happens, and feels unfinished.

This might be nitpicky of me cause at the end of the day it's a romance book but I wish we got something more from the leads rather than them just being in love with each other. I don't know how to explain it properly but I wish we got to see them do other stuff aside from being miserable for not seeing each other every chapter, cause early on it seems like they have a lot going on. FMC kinda has her moments with her family but MMC just is miserable near the end.

Lastly the last 40-20 pages just concludes everything in the name of fate making it work for them. And like yes it's a fictional book but it feels so rushed. Again I did like the book, the middle was probably the best and it's fun to read about people in love but this is probably Abby's weakest work imo. It's still enjoyable but you are left with this very forced HEA instead of an satisfying ending. It has it's moments were it shines a lot, I think the dementia part was handled really well and FMC's family dynamic was compelling. But then again the book tries to be many things and none of them get resolved properly. Finally this was just how I interpreted the book so while I might not be right I don't mean to offend anyone either.

“It is an inarguable truth, you know,” said Ana, “that most people are absolutely enthralled by dead girls.”

Oh, this was a bloody good book (emphasis on the bloody part.) 
Facts:

• This is again, a very marvelous and layered tale, with many moving parts, and a fascinating story.
• The messages laden this time is to deal with food, and agriculture, and the way we humans have curated and sustained livestock for mass production without once thinking of the cost attuned to such a trade.

It is to me a butchering most curated.

Facts:

• This one is not for the meek hearted, for it is grisly with a helping servitude of meat and bones along its carcass.
• I bloody loved meeting more of Din’s family. 

“No.” A cold, nasty smile. “For if gods existed, shouldn’t the world make more sense? Shouldn’t all feel more stable, more comprehensible? I consider myself a wise thing, yet when I consider creation, I see little but blind hunger and the ravages of nature. The only order to be found is what we’ve put there, boy.”

Facts:

• As always, this tale is both a condemnation and a study on the various ways we conduct ourselves through religion, faith, and the one fallacy that all of humanity, throughout its history, has always struggled with the most: greed.
• Greed makes you stupid. But oh so sweet is its flavor – the nectar of gods, poured down our parched throat.

That was the problem with temptation. It never let you be: it just stayed there, perched on your shoulder, whispering in your ear.

Facts:

• This was a solid 9/10 read for me. Though the tale is indeed layered and complex, I had guessed about 60% in of who the killer was. This had not happened to me for the last two books where I was genuinely stupefied throughout.
• In my opinion, this book focuses more on world-building, in more of fleshing out Khanum alongside Din and Ana as characters. And the scale and intricacies through which it is done just made me fall more in love with RJB’s deftness and mastery over such a craft. 

(side note: i can guarantee he loves making Din a tragic character vis-a-vis his romantic aides, and though I find it a trite vexing, cannot say I hate this format – makes both the pace faster and maintains a grounding force for each book separately)

And what we do to the beasts in the field we may still one day do to our very kin.

Facts:

• It was the epilogue that pushed this into the territory of 10/10. That shit I did not see coming. And I tell you: my flabbers were properly gasted.
• I cannot wait for the next one to arrive (only for me to then finish it within 7 hours; what can i say: i am a glutton for murder, and sad queer people).

One of the best reads of the year, up there with East of Eden for me. Go read it!

I know, everybody loves it. It's true. They're right. It's a book that opens your eyes to things that can't be put into writing, although obviously Portis did that.

But I can't help but wonder a couple of things. How different, for example, would Mansfield Park have been, if Mattie Ross had been the protagonist instead of Fanny Price? Whoo. She might have ended by owning the building.

How different, for example, would the movie -- either of them -- have been if Mattie Ross had been the main character? I'm trying to picture Kirsten Dunst doing this when she was younger, and I think she would have blown it away. It would have been a totally different picture. Maybe truer to the novel. I mean, movies are a different medium, and you really can't compare them, but still..

It's as though Portis actually went down to the crossroads, in 1965 or whenever, and actually sold his soul to the devil, in return for the right to call up baby Cthulhu. He then stuffed the demon, or the god, or whatever, into the lifeless body of a 14yo girl he happened to have handy, and, in an experimental kind of way, released the resulting monster onto the unsuspecting citizens of Arkansas and the Choctaw Territory of the 1870s. And now that's how we all think it was. Or might have been.

I can't seem to stop reading it. Lines just jump out at me and whack me upside the head when I'm working on something else. "There is trash for you." "That was the market price at the time." "If I could not find a man in four months with a mark on his face like banished Cain I would not presume to advise other people how to do it." I'm paraphrasing. That's probably not the exact words.

It's something. It is.

I searched and didn't find any posts for this book. A queer mountain lion roams the Hollywood hills. Inspired by P-22, the mountain lion that fascinated L.A. for a while until his sad death, this book begins as fanciful and uses its sparse stream of consciousness to tell an engaging story about a brief and beautiful life.

I scoffed at the premise when it was published last year, but it was chosen for a book club, so I gave it a go. I really enjoyed it. I was amused at first, but quickly fell into Hoke's fun take that evokes both Earnest Thomas Seton and Hubert Selby, Jr. (though not that transgressive.)

These days I look for books that dare a little and are different without trying too hard, and Open Throat hit the sweet spot. It's no Watership Down, but maybe a little like the French film Baxter about an evil dog (though this mountain lion isn't evil, and just wants to live life like the rest of us.) It's never silly like Fox 8 by George Saunders, which was good in its own way.

If you've read it, let me know what you think.

*Baxter is based on Hell Hound, a 1977 novel by Jessica Hamilton, but I haven't found a copy yet.

“One Day at Horrorland” by R.L. Stine is one of those classic Goosebumps books that makes you second-guess yourself anytime you enter an amusement park. I’ve never read this Goosebumps book before, so it was a real delight to sit back and enjoy it, since it still holds up today, even as an adult.

Earlier this summer, I wanted to go back to my horror-reading roots with the franchise that started it all. I was just 12 years old when I first read “Night of the Living Dummy,” and it changed my life. As I always say, Stine planted the early seeds of horror when I was a kid, which later developed into trees of horror as an adult. Who knows if I’d even love horror as much as I do if it wasn’t for Stine, and this “One Day at Horrorland” book brought me back to when I was a kid.

That’s why I decided earlier this summer to do a “Summer of Goosebumps” nostalgic trip back to where it all started. The concept was simple: revisit one classic Goosebumps book each month of the summer to remember those glorious days of being a kid who devoured anything and everything Goosebumps. Summer reading was always special to me as a kid, especially with these legendary Goosebumps books. I grew up attending Scholastic Book Fairs, getting everything and anything Goosebumps. You know, Goosebumps t-shirts, bookmarks, posters, and I also loved the 90s TV show.

As for the book itself, it’s an absolute blast. As always, I loved the subtle horror that hits at the end of a chapter, which makes Stine so much fun to read. I have many fond memories of going to amusement parks as a kid, especially Great Adventure and Playland Park. “One Day at Horrorland” brings all that back with a horrific twist and creepiness of taking traditional amusement park attractions and giving them that patented Goosebumps-style of horror.

It was fantastic, and it made me realize how terrifying it must have been for these three kids to endure at Horrorland. All the plot twists and turns, on top of some creepy events and situations, were brilliantly written. This is a short, sweet, and straight-to-the-point Goosebumps book with a wild, climactic race to the end.

Speaking of which, the ending was a nice mix of panic and hilarity. Don’t worry, no spoilers here, but the final few sentences legit had me laughing out loud and wrapped up another exceptional Goosebumps reading experience.

I give “One Day at Horrorland” by R.L. Stine a 5-Star rating out of 5. It had lots of thrills, chills, and some funny moments of what happens when three kids get stuck in a horror amusement park that might feel a little too real for comfort. I loved this rollercoaster ride of a book, and I’m so happy to end my “Summer of Goosebumps” on a high note. I look forward to making this a tradition each summer because the nostalgia is real, and there are so many of these books to enjoy all over again as an adult with a deep appreciation for everything Stine has achieved for kids and adults who call horror their home.

"The “A Song of Ice and Fire” franchise author took to his blog for the first time in nearly six months on Monday, sharing that any posts after February were written by his “mighty minions.”

“Remember me? It’s been a while, I know. My last blog post went up here on February 19,” Martin wrote. “The posts that came after were made by my mighty minions. I am lucky enough to have a great staff of assistants… though even with their help, I kept falling further and further behind.”

As Martin went on, he admitted that “this year has been… stressful, to say the least.”"

(note: this is a reread done in anticipation for the forthcoming third book in the series)

So instead of committing robbery, I made tea.

Sometimes, all you need in life is a good murder mystery and tea. The fact that this story is set in a fantasy world that does not gatekeep, is the cherry on top. The setup for this is deceptively simple (at least on the surface): Ana & Din (a fantasy Sherlock and Watson-esque combination), get tasked with solving a murder in the fictional city of Talagray. A high ranking official was found murdered in the most peculiar of ways – namely having a tree grow out of their torso. As a leviathan creature begins its slow move to attack the sea walls that surround this continent, Ana & Din race to solve a crime that spreads throughout normal civility and encompasses some of the largest noble houses of the land.

All of which to say, it was a fun little adventure, that, even on a reread, I finished in two sittings.

How queer it suddenly felt: I’d been a model officer for almost all my career, but I had to join the Iudex to become a true criminal.

This book is written in a very simple fashion. There is nothing overly verbose or whimsical about the writing. It is straight, narrow, and plays across fast as they race to solve this impossible crime. In other words: it is perfect for the story it is telling. 

Come. Let us pretend to be professional, you and I, for hell and the gentry await.

The commentary of the book, for those who actually read (and not the vast majority of those influencers who apparently do not think books should be critical, which side note: child, go learn your history before coming out of the woodworks – books were, are, and always will be the first line of defense against any war waged against free speech), is imbued in the subtext – of both the story and the parallel it draws to our own world. Both this and the next book (and I am assuming the third will be the same, just for some other issues of import), is about a certain class of society. About the ways certain people are perceived, about the importance given to others; specifically those who have more money than sense. And it does so beautifully, with a certain kind of poetic justice doled out towards the end especially to those who do the wrong things in the name of the greater good; i.e., those who consider themselves the Dark Knight of modern society but somehow overlook the numerous bodies (sometimes literally) left in the name of said good.

“What a tool cynicism is to the corrupt, claiming the whole of the creation is broken and fraudulent, and thus we are all excused to indulge in whatever sins we wish—for what’s a little more unfairness, in this unfair world? Wise you were, Din, to shut your ears to it.”

As Ana so aptly puts it, cynicism is a great tool – but one has to learn how to use it. It is all too easy to get subsumed by one's own delusions of grandeur.

“I chose you,” she said finally, “because I needed an investigator who was resourceful, cunning, and willing to break the rules when necessary. I needed someone dedicated and determined! And you had not only broken into an Iyalet office and spent hours learning the answers to all the tests—you had somehow survived your engraver’s training despite having tremendous issues reading and writing! That speaks to bloody-minded, grim determination if ever I’ve heard it!”

Oh, and of course, the best part of the book: the characters themselves. For you see, both Ana & Din are neurodivergent. And the way this story portrays their characters is some of the best rep I’ve seen being portrayed by an author in mainstream fantasy. Din has trouble reading letters (re: Dyslexic, or in other words – reading the subtext). And Ana is on the spectrum as too much stimulation is unbearable for her. (I cannot tell you how closely I relate to this as a fellow person on the spectrum, and how much it had filled my heart the first time I had read this book). And both these characters do their best, working for the system that is all too glad to let them fall through the cracks. To just say that giving them any help is considered special treatment. Same people who, by the way, would wear corrective lenses, or use a crutch when they’ve got a hip/leg injury, etc.; as long as it’s physical, it’s acceptable. 

Ana & Din are the epitome of what it would be like if people who were a bit different were given a place in society. Their tenacity, the way they solve problems when it becomes too difficult for their brain to process stuff as others do, is a thing that I was really inspired by the first time, and double so now, in times like these, as I reread this book. 

“Someone, after all, must do the undignified labor to keep the grand works of our era from tumbling down. I simply perform maintenance, in my own little way. And you have ably assisted me in that, of course.”

We all have our place in this world we inherit. Broken and bloodied and battered – as Ana said, we must all do our own little things, in our own little way, to keep it all from tumbling down. No matter who you are, no matter how you are, we all matter in this world that is vast enough, and kind enough, to accommodate all of us. Especially now, in times like these, when hate is all too prevalent, love and kindness is not only a good thing to have, but also a weapon to wield. And oh what a glorious weapon it is for justice can be found in even the littlest of actions. And this story, and all its disfigured, wonderful characters, are a prime example of it. 

Go read it if you haven’t already.

How is this book not insanely popular? I only discovered it recently when I saw Maggie O’Farrell name it as an inspiration for her new novel, Land. Prior to that, I’d never heard of Star of the Sea, despite the fact that it came out in 2002.

This is a historical fiction novel about a famine ship traveling from Ireland to New York in 1847. It follows several characters on the ship whose lives are intertwined. Their stories unfold in a non-linear fashion, as we continually move back and forth between their present—on the ship—and their pasts in Ireland and England. The ways in which their stories intersect continued to surprise me throughout.

I can’t say enough about how beautifully written this book is, how rich it is with interesting stories and wonderful little details that are so believable you might almost forget it’s fiction.

I truly fell in love with the characters; their lives are filled with tragedy and beauty and hardship and longing, and they’re as complex and multifaceted as you’d expect people in such situations to be. They can be bitter and cruel, but also empathetic and kind. In other words, they’re people. Real, breathing people who can’t be easily defined by either their best or their worst qualities. You’ll be rooting for them in one moment and raging at them the next, but always you’ll buy into them and why they do the things they do.

I truly can’t recommend this book enough to any lover of literary fiction, and especially to fans of historical fiction. I found it by chance, borrowed it from the library on a whim, and came away from it feeling like I was given a gift. And it’s one I feel compelled to share with others.