When I’m looking for new reads, I’m often overwhelmed with the choice but recently I’ve figured out what my taste is (as well as where to get great recommendations from) and found books that I absolutely love, some of which definitely hold a place among my favourites and will stay with me for a long time. If you’re looking for something to add to your to be read pile, look no further.
Pachinko – Min Jin Lee
A book that spans decades but never feels too long. The novel follows the unravelling story of a Korean family living in Japan from 1910 to the 1980s. We begin with Sunja, who falls pregnant as a teenager when she is seduced by a sharp suited yakuza and threatens to throw her family into shame, an empathetic pastor agrees to marry her and they move to Japan where she adjusts to life as a Korean immigrant. The slow pace of writing allows for rich historic detail and as the family’s story shifts the tension between wanting to assimilate and fear of being treated as ‘other’ underlies each chapter.
The Girl with the Louding Voice – Abi Daré
Adduni is a fourteen-year-old girl about to be forced into marriage to settle her families debts, the only thing she wants is to go to school and for her ‘louding voice’ to be heard. When the marriage (ineviteably) doesn’t work Adduni flees and is sold into domestic labour in Lagos. Although at times unsettling, as the young narrator lives in such precarious circumstances and is subjected to violence, the story is ultimately about a girl’s determination to succeed. The book was a debut novel written as part of the author’s MA thesis at Birkbeck, which intitially sparked my interest as a Creative Writing graduate myself.
Klara and the Sun – Kazou Ishiguro
Ishiguro’s long-awaited return doesn’t dissapoint. Klara is an AF, that’s an Artificial Friend to you and me, and her story begins in the shop where she is watches the world outside through the windows, waiting for the day she is chosen by a family. In typical Ishiguro style, we’re drip fed information and our understanding of the futuristic world that Klara operates in only grows as her understanding expands. When she’s taken home by Josie and her mother, we come to understand that Josie is unwell, perhaps as a consequence of a procedure known as ‘lifting’, which puts her into conflict with her ‘unlifted’ best friend Rick. I won’t give anything away but the book’s core twist played on my mind long after I’d stopped reading.
The Giver of Stars – Jojo Moyes
Based on the real ‘Pack Horse Library Project’ which saw books delivered to remote parts of the Appalachian Mountains from 1935 to 1945, this is a story of a group of women striking out together to make a difference. Our narrator, Alice Wright, married an American to leave behind her overbearing family in England and start fresh. Instead, she is left in an unhappy marriage with a violent father-in-law but finds a sense of community, friendship and self through the library. The descriptions of the Kentucky landscape and historic detail made for a completly immersive read.
The Vanishing Half – Brit Bennett
Another epic read, this story spans decades and follows twins, Stella and Desiree, who are identical only in appearance. Having grown up in the fictional town of Mallard, Louisiana, which is oppresive in it’s conservatism, the girls to run away to New Orleans. The new start they dreamed of is short lived as they struggle to make ends meet and Stella soon learns that she can ‘pass’ as white, abandoning her sister for relative, or perceived, privelige. Inevitably this choice comes at a price and the novel explores the complexity of identity through generations at a narrative pace that feels almost too fast to take everything in on the first read.
