New Year, New Book Recommendations

Every January, I endure the same hype cycle around book buying. I (mostly) accomplish my reading goals from the previous year, which earns me a little treat. So I binge purchase a ton of new books based on past book recommendations. Except I more than likely have books left over from the previous year that I didn’t get to, and I get upset with myself for senselessly spending to start a new year. But then I remember it’s a new year, and I have a lot to celebrate, like hitting my reading goals… and the endless cycle continues. It’s quite remarkable how easily we can justify our unnecessary purchases, isn’t it?

Anyway, here is a curation from my latest book haul. In recent past, I’ve had a theme to my hauls: books that take place in the same foreign country, books featuring food I’d like to eat, books about relationships with mothers or sisters. This time there was no method to my spending madness. I simply referenced my saved book recommendations on my GoodReads TBR and purchased whatever was available on second-hand used books sites. As I finish them over the coming weeks, I’ll be sure to post my reviews!

The Fury, by Alex Michaelides

GoodReads Rating: 3.54

This is a tale of murder. Or maybe that’s not quite true. At its heart, it’s a love story, isn’t it?

Lana Farrar is a reclusive ex–movie star and one of the most famous women in the world. Every year, she invites her closest friends to escape the English weather and spend Easter on her idyllic private Greek island.

I tell you this because you may think you know this story. It had all the necessary ingredients for a press a celebrity; a private island cut off by the wind…and a murder. Our old friendships concealed hatred and a desire for revenge. What followed was a game of cat and mouse ― a battle of wits, full of twists and turns, building to an unforgettable climax.

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride

GoodReads Rating: 4.17

In 1972, workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania dig the foundations for a new development. The last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows.

As these characters’ stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins struggle and what they must do to survive. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town’s white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community-heaven and earth-that sustain us.

Greek Lessons, by Han Kang

GoodReads Rating: 3.51

In a classroom in Seoul, a young woman watches her Greek language teacher at the blackboard. She tries to speak but has lost her voice. Her teacher finds himself drawn to the silent woman, for day by day he is losing his sight.

Soon they discover a deeper pain binds them together. For her, in the space of just a few months, she has lost both her mother and the custody battle for her nine-year-old son. For him, it’s the pain of growing up between Korea and Germany, being torn between two cultures and languages, and the fear of losing his independence.

Greek Lessons tells the story of two ordinary people brought together at a moment of private anguish. The fading light of a man losing his vision meets the silence of a woman without language. Yet these are the very things that draw them to one another. Slowly the two discover a profound sense of unity. Their voices intersect with startling beauty, as they move from darkness to light, from silence to breath and expression.

Greek Lessons is the story of the unlikely bond between this pair and a tender love letter to human intimacy and connection—a novel to awaken the senses, one that vividly conjures the essence of what it means to be alive.

Shark Heart, by Emily Habeck

GoodReads Rating: 4.08

For Lewis and Wren, their first year of marriage is also their last. A few weeks after their wedding, Lewis receives a rare diagnosis. He will retain most of his consciousness, memories, and intellect. But his physical body will gradually turn into a great white shark. As Lewis develops the features and impulses of one of the most predatory creatures in the ocean, his complicated artist’s heart struggles to make peace with his unfulfilled dreams.

A sweeping love story that is at once lyrical and funny, airy and visceral. Shark Heart is an unforgettable, gorgeous novel about life’s perennial questions. It explores the fragility of memories, finding joy amidst grief, and creating a meaningful life. This daring debut marks the arrival of a wildly talented new writer abounding with originality, humor, and heart.

Weyward, by Emilia Hart

GoodReads Rating: 4.11

2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. As a girl, Altha’s mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous. As the evidence for witchcraft piles against Altha, she knows it will take all of her powers to maintain her freedom.

1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family’s grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention and gossip, she longs for the robust education her brother receives. Her mother, long deceased, was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W. The word weyward was also scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart’s Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.

To purchase any of these book recommendations, head on over to my Amazon Storefront: First Book Haul of 2024.