“What is it that’s supposed to happen to people who read too much? How can you tell when someone’s crossed the line.”
Helen Oyeyemi
- Saga Volume 1 – Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. This won’t even take you a day – maybe a couple of hours, tops. It is just fantastic and I’m desperate to get my own (non-library) copy.
- Moving Pictures – Terry Pratchett. As usual, this stands in for Every Discworld Book Ever. (Apart from Snuff, I Shall Wear Midnight and The Shepherd’s Crown, ssssss.) These are great comfort reads, lovely things to inhale and snuggle up in.
- Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency – Douglas Adams. Dirk is quite possibly the funniest fictional character ever written.
- The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making – Catherynne M. Valente. Spending several uninterrupted hours in Valente’s beautiful, dangerous Fairyland? Yes, please.
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. A fluffy, lighthearted, slim book that I just inhaled last year after finishing my dissertation. Moreish and sweet – exactly what you want from a day spent reading.
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – J.K. Rowling. I suspect this is more of a nostalgia hit than anything else, but returning to the early Potter books is a lovely thing to do: they’re funny and tightly-plotted and saturated with detail and, on a story level, utterly satisfying.
- Boy, Snow, Bird – Helen Oyeyemi. At least, I read this in a day, and I think that’s the best way to experience this resonant literary fairytale: all at once, harmonics calling to each other across the span of years.
- Sabriel – Garth Nix. Not only does this book have an awesome and fully-formed female protagonist, it’s also thoroughly engrossing and really well-paced. I also love the magic system Nix creates.
- Notes from a Big Country – Bill Bryson. These bite-sized and very funny columns are perfect to race through – I barely noticed the pages flying by.
- The Fault in Our Stars – John Green. Yes, this is an incredibly emotionally manipulative novel about two teenagers whose precocity is breathtaking, but Green’s voice is undoubtedly entertaining, and right up until the ending it slips down very easily.
(The theme for this post was suggested by the Broke and the Bookish’s weekly meme Top Ten Tuesday.)
The English Student 