Posts

Showing posts from August, 2026

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 31

Image
1837 | 📖 The American Scholar by Ralph Waldo Emerson | United States | 36 pages | 2020 | 📖 Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi | United States | 264 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2021 | 📖 My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones | United States | 405 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @stephengrahamjones 2023 | 📖 Momentum: Montessori, a Life in Motion by E.G. Slade | United States | 206 pages | 🏆 | 2025 | 📖 Hamlet by E. Hartt | United Kingdom | 175 pages |

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 30

Image
2012 | 📖 A Wanted Man by Lee Child | United States | 427 pages | 🏆🏆 | ✅ 2012 | 📖 Boneland by Alan Garner | United Kingdom | 165pages | 2012 | 📖 If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura | Japan | 202 pages | 🏆 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ✅ | My Review 2013 | 📖 My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman | Sweden | 372 pages | 🏆🏆 | @backmansk 2018 | 📖 The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker | United Kingdom | 352 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 |⭐⭐⭐⭐💫 | ✅ | My Review 2022 | 📖 Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid | United States | 384 pages | 🏆🏆 | @tjenkinsreid 2022 | 📖 The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell | United Kingdom | 355 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @maggieofarrellofficial 2022 | 📖 Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen | United States | 290 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | @sarahaddisonallen 2022 | 📖 Didn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta by James Hannaham | United States | 352 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2022 | 📖 The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith | U...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 29

Image
2013 | 📖 MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood | Canada | 394 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @therealmargaretatwood 2019 | 📖 Beyond the Sea by Paul Lynch | Ireland | 192 pages | @paullynchauthor 2023 | 📖 Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias | Costa Rica / United States | 288 pages | 🏆🏆 | @johnmanuelarias 2023 | 📖 Empty Spaces by Jordan Abel | Canada | 223 pages | 🏆 | 2024 | 📖 I Died at Fallow Hall by Bonnie Burke-Patel | United Kingdom | 256 pages | 🏆 | @bonnieburkepatel 2024 | 📖 Cuckoo by Nell Frizzell | United Kingdom | 342 pages | @nellfrizzell 2024 | 📖 The Secrets of Flowers by Sally Page | United Kingdom | 336 pages | 2024 | 📖 Virginia Lane is Not a Hero by Rosalind Stopps | United Kingdom | 346 pages | @rosalindstopps

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 28

Image
1844 | 📖 The Oblong Box by Edgar Allan Poe | United States | 25 pages | ⭐⭐⭐ | 2003 | 📖 Double Vision by Pat Barker | United Kingdom | 272 pages | 2014 | 📖 Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood | Canada | 273 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | @therealmargaretatwood 2014 | 📖 How to Be Both by Ali Smith | United Kingdom | 374 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | 2014 | 📖 Standing Heavy by Armand Patrick Gbaka-Brédé | Ivory Coast / France | 168 pages | 🏆 | 2025 | 📖 And Then There Was You by Miranda Dickinson | United Kingdom | 416 pages | @wurdsmyth 2025 | 📖 Helm by Sarah Hall | United Kingdom | 368 pages | 🏆🏆 | 2025 | 📖 Blood Angels by Christoffer Petersen | Denmark | 37 pages |

Head Above Water by Buchi Emecheta (1986): A Review

Image
Title : Head Above Water Author : Buchi Emecheta Publication Year : 1986 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Pages : 229 Source : ebook Genre : Nonfiction, autobiography I have been working on Buchi Emecheta’s novels and have already read ten of her books, but I never expected to enjoy her autobiography more than her fiction. I was completely wrong. Head Above Water feels like the behind-the-scenes counterpart to her novels: the uncensored context behind the anger, struggle, and urgency that shape her fiction. In her novels, Emecheta often seems intensely angry at the injustices faced by women, migrants, mothers, and Black communities. After reading this autobiography, I realized that anger was not excessive at all. If anything, it was restrained. The book offers a direct connection to the experiences behind In the Ditch , Second-Class Citizen , The Joys of Motherhood , and her essays. I have not read The Joys of Motherhood yet, but learning about the circumstances that led her to write it was...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 27

Image
2012 | 📖 A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman | Sweden | 337 pages | 🏆 | @backmansk 2015 | 📖 The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett | United Kingdom | 276 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | 2025 | 📖 My Sister's Only Hope by Alison Ragsdale | United Kingdom | 312 pages | @alisonragsdalewrites

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 26

Image
2025 | 📖 Katabasis by R.F. Kuang | United States | 480 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | ⭐⭐⭐💫 | @kuangrf 2025 | 📖 Backstage by Donna Leon | United States | 224 pages | 2025 | 📖 Children of the Book by Ilana Kurshan | United States | 304 pages | 2025 | 📖 Doll Parts by Penny Zang | United States | 400 pages | @pennyzang 2025 | 📖 Good Grief by Sara Goodman Confino | United States | 284 pages | @saraconfino 2025 | 📖 If You're Seeing This, It's Meant for You by Leigh Stein | United States | 320 pages | @leighstein 2025 | 📖 Peace Like a River by Scott Gould | United States | 304 pages | 🏆| @scottgould 2025 | 📖 Secret Lives of the Dead by Tim Lebbon | United Kingdom | 336 pages | @timlebbon 2025 | 📖 Starting from Here by Paula Saunders | United States | 304 pages | @pausaunders 2025 | 📖 The Secret Book Society by Madeline Martin | United States | 368 pages | 🏆 | @madelinemmartin 2025 | 📖 You've Changed by Ian Williams | Canada | 304 pages | 🏆 | @ianwilliamswriter ...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 25

Image
2005 | 📖 My Cleaner by Maggie Gee | United Kingdom | 352 pages | @maggiegeenovelist 2016 | 📖 Disoriental by Négar Djavadi | France / Iran | 346 pages | ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫 | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @negardjavadi | My Review 2019 | 📖 Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi | India / United States | 240 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | @avnidoshi 2026 | 📖 Life of M by Rachel Cusk | United Kingdom | 147 pages | 2026 | 📖 Dèy by Edwidge Danticat | Haiti / United States | 256 pages | @edwidge_danticat 2026 | 📖 The Whitechapel Full Moon Society by Elizabeth DeLozier | United States | 368 pages | @elizabethdelozierwrites 2026 | 📖 The Carousel of Forgotten Places by S. Hati | United States | 288 pages | 2026 | 📖 Best Served Cold (Beyond and Within) | United Kingdom | 416 pages | @crimeauthors 2026 | 📖 Fallen for France by Elizabeth Letts | United States | 336 pages | @elizabethletts 2026 | 📖 Crocodilopolis by John Manuel Arias | Costa Rica / United States | 352 pages | @johnmanuelarias 2026 | 📖 Children of Wolves by Lawrence Osbor...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 24

Image
2021 | 📖 The Women of Troy by Pat Barker | United Kingdom | 307 pages | 2021 | 📖 A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins | United Kingdom | 307 pages | 🏆🏆 | @paulahawkins2010 2021 | 📖 The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers | United States | 816 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2023 | 📖 Lazy City by Rachel Connolly | United Kingdom | 288 pages | 🏆 | @rachel___connolly 2023 | 📖 Prophet Song by Paul Lynch | Ireland | 259 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @paullynchauthor 2025 | 📖 So This Is Christmas by Helen Rolfe | United Kingdom | 322 pages | @helen_j_rolfe

Winter by Ali Smith (2017): A Review

Image
Title : Winter Author : Ali Smith Publication Year : 2017 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pages : 322 Source : physical book Genre : literary fiction, postmodernism, political fiction Awards : Orwell Prize Nominee for Longlist (2018), Europese Literatuurprijs Nominee (2019) After reading ten books by Ali Smith, I feel that whatever I write will inevitably become a repetition of whatever I have already said about her work — which, to be fair, is also something she does in her books, though with far more skill and fewer signs of intellectual exhaustion. One thing I may not have said before, however, is that Smith’s books have an almost transient quality. They move incredibly fast. You can easily read a 300-page novel in a day or two, provided you do not stop every five minutes to look up a reference, an artwork, a political event, a mythological allusion, or a word that suddenly makes you question your entire education. And this is where the problem begins. The books move quickly, but the intert...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 23

Image
2012 | 📖 Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan | United Kingdom | 320 pages | 🏆🏆 | @ianmcewan.author 2022 | 📖 Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence by R.F. Kuang | United States | 545 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 |⭐⭐⭐⭐ | @kuangrf 2022 | 📖 Reluctant Immortals by Gwendolyn Kiste | United States | 307 pages | 🏆🏆 | ⭐⭐⭐| @gwendolynkiste 2022 | 📖 Haven by Emma Donoghue | Ireland / Canada | 272 pages | 🏆🏆 | @e_donoghue 2023 | 📖 Umbilical by Teika Marija Smits | United Kingdom | 261 pages | 🏆 |

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 22

Image
2023 | 📖 The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang | United States | 496 pages | 🏆 🏆 | 

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 21

Image
2017 | 📖 Us Against You by Fredrik Backman | Sweden | 448 pages | 🏆 | @backmansk 2023 | 📖 Third Wheel by Richard R. Becker | United States | 325 pages | 2023 | 📖 This Christmas by Emma Heatherington | United Kingdom | 400 pages | @emmaheatheringtonwriter

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 20

Image
2020 | 📖 Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz | United Kingdom | 596 pages | 🏆 | 2020 | 📖 The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier | France | 391 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | 2020 | 📖 Love in Color by Bolu Babalola | United Kingdom | 290 pages | @boluberry 2024 | 📖 Magpie and Other Stories by Sarah Hegarty | United Kingdom | 123 pages | @sarahhegartywriter 2024 | 📖 The Unicorn Woman by Gayl Jones | United States | 192 pages | 🏆 | 2024 | 📖 The Volcano Daughters by Gina María Balibrera | United States | 368 pages | 2024 | 📖 We, the Kindling by Otoniya J. Okot Bitek | Canada | 256 pages | 🏆🏆 | 2024 | 📖 Hollow Out the Dark by James Wade | United States | 328 pages | 2024 | 📖 Sonnets for a Missing Key by Percival Everett | United States | 64 pages | 2024 | 📖 A Pair of Wings by Carole Hopson | United States | 432 pages | @carolehopson_ 2024 | 📖 Keeper of the Rend by Lisa Maxwell | United States | 320 pages | @lisamaxwellya 2024 | 📖 Swallow the Ghost by Eugenie Montague | United States | 304 pag...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 19

Image
1843 | 📖 The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe | United States | 20 pages | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | 1914 | 📖 On Trial by Elmer Rice | United States | 112 pages | 🏆 | 1999 | 📖 Ghostwritten by David Mitchell | United Kingdom | 426 pages | 🏆🏆 | 2010 | 📖 Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson | United Kingdom | 350 pages | 🏆🏆 | 2025 | 📖 We Computers by Hamid Ismailov | Uzbekistan / United Kingdom | 296 pages | 🏆 | 2025 | 📖 Archipelago by Natalie Bakopoulos | United States | 248 pages | @nataliebakopoulos 2025 | 📖 Dominion by Addie E. Citchens | United States | 336 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | @addiecitchens 2025 | 📖 The Lost Baker of Vienna by Sharon Kurtzman | United States | 432 pages | @sharonkurtzman 2025 | 📖 The Last Assignment by Erika Robuck | United States | 448 pages | @erobuckauthor 2025 | 📖 What We Left Unsaid by Winnie M. Li | United Kingdom | 368 pages | @winniemli 2025 | 📖 Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs | United States | 710 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @nicholastboggs 2025 | 📖 Leve...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 18

Image
2014 | 📖 After the People Lights Have Gone Off by Stephen Graham Jones | United States | 310 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | @stephengrahamjones 2014 | 📖 The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischvili | Georgia / Germany | 944 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2020 | 📖 When These Mountains Burn by David Joy | United States | 272 pages | 🏆 | @davidjoy_author 2025 | 📖 The Friendship List by Beth Miller | United Kingdom | 342 pages | 2025 | 📖 Coelia Concordia: The Last Vestal Virgin of Rome by Debra May Macleod | United Kingdom | 506 pages | 2026 | 📖 How to Find a Romance in a Bookshop by Poppy Alexander | United Kingdom | 352 pages | @poppyalexanderbooks 2026 | 📖 The Breakup by Kurt Andersen | United States | 576 pages | @kurtbandersen 2026 | 📖 The House That Eats the Dead by Max Doty | United States | 336 pages | 2026 | 📖 Better Than Revenge by Bea Fitzgerald | United Kingdom | 448 pages | @chaosonolympus 2026 | 📖 Unprecedented Times by Malavika Kannan | United States | 352 pages | @malavika.kannan 2026 | 📖 The S...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 17

Image
1945 | 📖 Animal Farm by George Orwell | United Kingdom | 141 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | 2019 | 📖 The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar | Australia / Iran | 268 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @shokoofeh.azar 2023 | 📖 Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix | France | 122 pages | 🏆 | 2023 | 📖 Sad Tiger by Neige Sinno | France | 198 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 |

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 16

Image
2007 | 📖 The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall | United Kingdom | 224 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2011 | 📖 Ready Player One by Ernest Cline | United States | 480 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @ernestcline_official 2012 | 📖 The Daylight Gate by Jeanette Winterson | United Kingdom | 194 pages | 🏆🏆 2018 | 📖 At Night All Blood Is Black by David Diop | France / Senegal | 145 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2022 | 📖 Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana | United States | 213 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 |

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 15

Image
2017 | 📖 I Know a Secret by Tess Gerritsen | United States | 319 pages | @tess.gerritsen 2024 | 📖 The Voyage Home by Pat Barker | United Kingdom | 320 pages | 2025 | 📖 The Secret Orphanage by Barbara Josselsohn | United States | 274 pages | @barbara_josselsohn_author 2025 | 📖 The Secret Librarian by Soraya M. Lane | United Kingdom | 302 pages |  2025 | 📖 Little Bird by Barbara Viniar | United States | 394 pages | @barbaraviniar

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 14

Image
2018 | 📖 Severance by Ling Ma | United States / China | 291 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2018 | 📖 Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens | United States | 384 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @authordeliaowens 2025 | 📖 The Silent Guest by Sally Rigby | United Kingdom | 252 pages | @sally.rigby.author 2025 | 📖 Aphrodite by Phoenicia Rogerson | United Kingdom | 480 pages | @thatphoenicia 2025 | 📖 Packer by Matt Stanley | United Kingdom | 317 pages |

One Aladdin Two Lamps by Jeanette Winterson (2025): A Review

Image
Title : One Aladdin Two Lamps Author : Jeanette Winterson Publication Year : 2025 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pages : 272 Source : audiobook @storytel.tr Genre : literary fiction, essay, memoir Let’s just say Winterson is a modern Scheherazade here. Honestly, that could be the whole review. Unfortunately, the status quo expects a little more than me dramatically pointing at a sentence and saying, “That. That is the review.” So here we are. Friends warned me that this was a memoir. Nonfiction, they said. What nobody mentioned, not even Goodreads which is very rude of them, is that this memoir reads like fiction, unlike certain books that pretend to be fiction but should be catalogued under “nonfiction, lecture notes, and emotional betrayal.” Yes, friends! You know exactly which book I am hinting at. One Aladdin Two Lamps moves so smoothly and so quickly, even though you want to pause after every sentence to highlight it, annotate it, preserve it for posterity, and possibly whisper, “Jeanett...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 13

Image
1605 | 📖 Eastward Hoe by Ben Jonson, George Chapman, and John Marston | United Kingdom | 446 pages | 1732 | 📖 Zaire by Voltaire | France | 73 pages | 1894 | 📖 Regret by Kate Chopin | United States | 9 pages | 2020 | 📖 The Midnight Library by Matt Haig | United Kingdom | 288 pages | 🏆 | @mattzhaig 2024 | 📖 The Fertile Earth by Ruthvika Rao | India / United States | 384 pages | 🏆🏆 | @ruthvikarao 2024 | 📖 Highway Thirteen by Fiona McFarlane | Australia / United States | 272 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2025 | 📖 Writers and Other Dreamers by S. Cunliffe | United Kingdom | 367 pages | 2025 | 📖 Tofino by Tom Stewart | Canada | 427 pages | 🏆🏆 2026 | 📖 The Knife Maker of Venice by David Gilman | United Kingdom | 512 pages | 2026 | 📖 They Can't Burn Us All by Cathryn Kemp | United Kingdom | 404 pages | @cathryn_kemp 2026 | 📖 His Final Patient by J.S. Monroe | United Kingdom | 365 pages | 2026 | 📖 The Little Porto Book Club by Rebecca Raisin | Australia | 332 pages | @re...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 12

Image
2025 | 📖 For Richer For Poorer by Danielle Steel | United States | 258 pages | @officialdanielleste 2025 | 📖 Kiss Her Goodbye by Lisa Gardner | United States | 416 pages | @lisagardnerbks 2025 | 📖 Too Old for This by Samantha Downing | United States | 385 pages | @smariedowning 2025 | 📖 We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter | United States | 439 pages | 🏆🏆 | @karinslaughterauthor 2025 | 📖 Loved One by Aisha Muharrar | United States | 336 pages | 🏆 | @eeshmu

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 11

Image
1980 | 📖 Bellefleur by Joyce Carol Oates | United States | 592 pages | 🏆 | @joycecaroloates3146 2020 | 📖 Disappear Doppelgänger Disappear by Matthew Salesses | United States | 317 pages | 🏆 | @m.salesses 2026 | 📖 Under the Falls by Richard Russo | United States | 256 pages | 2026 | 📖 Mia by Leslie Bazzett | United States | 320 pages | 2026 | 📖 Hocus Pocus by Brinda Charry | United States | 336 pages | @brinda_charry2 2026 | 📖 Counting the Days by Laura Chinn | United States | 320 pages | @laurachinnnn 2026 | 📖 A Plagued Sea by Kim Bo-Young | South Korea | 112 pages | 2026 | 📖 A Tender Age by Chang-rae Lee | United States | 368 pages | 2026 | 📖 A Thousand Painted Hours by Barbara O'Neal | United States | 480 pages | @barbaraonealauthor 2026 | 📖 Sunrise by Téa Obreht | United States / Serbia | 336 pages | @teaobreht 2026 | 📖 The Inevitable Undoing of Zahara Douglass by Leslye Penelope | United States | 496 pages | @leslyepenelope 2026 | 📖 The True Meaning of Love by Dan...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 10

Image
1988 | 📖 Man of the Moment by Alan Ayckbourn | United Kingdom | 104 pages | 2023 | 📖 The Orchid Hour by Nancy Bilyeau | United States | 340 pages | @tudorscribe

Then the Fish Swallowed Him by Amir Ahmadi Arian (2020): A Review

Image
Title : Then the Fish Swallowed Him Author : Amir Ahmadi Arian Publication Year : 2020 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pages : 288 Source : audiobook @storytel.tr Genre : historical fiction, Iranian fiction, political fiction I cannot decide whether this is a 3.5-star or 4-star book, which feels strangely appropriate for a novel that left me unsettled rather than satisfied. Let’s start with the title and cover, because I was deeply curious about them. Then the Fish Swallowed Him immediately calls to mind the story of Jonah, the prophet swallowed by a fish until he learns his lesson and returns to the right path. Here, the main character is named Yunus — aka Jonah — and the parallel feels painfully ironic. Or maybe irony is too soft a word for it. I believe the author somehow subverts the story, though I am not entirely sure how to name it. If we consider Yunus as Jonah and the solitary cell as the fish, then what does that leave the despotic system to be? Yunus Turabi is an ordinary man: a bus ...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 9

Image
1854 | 📖 Walden by Henry David Thoreau | United States | 352 pages | 2011 | 📖 The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson | United States | 320 pages | 2016 | 📖 All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood | United States | 368 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | @bryngreenwood 2016 | 📖 Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson | United States | 192 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @jacqueline_woodson 2016 | 📖 When Watched by Leopoldine Core | United States | 240 pages | 🏆🏆 | 2018 | 📖 Where Shall We Run To? by Alan Garner | United Kingdom | 194 pages | 2021 | 📖 An Eternal Audience of One by Rémy Ngamije | Namibia / Rwanda | 384 pages | @remythequill 2022 | 📖 Stay Awake by Megan Goldin | United States | 340 pages | @authormegangoldin 2022 | 📖 I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy | United States | 304 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @jennettemccurdy 2026 | 📖 Codename: 61 by Alex Shaw | United Kingdom | 278 pages | @alexshawthrillerwriter

Artful by Ali Smith (2012): A Review

Image
Title : Artful Author : Ali Smith Publication Year : 2012 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐💫 Pages : 203 Source : book Genre : literary fiction, nonfiction Awards : Best Book of Ideas Prize (2013), Goldsmiths Prize Nominee (2013) I take genre and classification very seriously. Perhaps too seriously. If a book is marketed as fiction and I open it expecting a novel, but suddenly find myself attending a lecture series, I feel not merely surprised — I feel personally betrayed by publishing. I usually don’t check too many details before reading a book, unless I get so confused within the first few pages that I have to investigate like a literary detective. Otherwise, there will be confusion, frustration, and a significant amount of cursing from the reading chair. Anyway, I picked up Artful thinking I was about to read a novel. How wrong could I be? Apparently: very. It started beautifully. The grief pulled me in immediately, and I was ready to be devastated in a controlled, literary way. But then, s...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 8

Image
1868 | 📖 The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins | United Kingdom | 528 pages | 🏆🏆 | 2017 | 📖 The Authentics by Abdi Nazemian | United States / Iran | 288 pages | @abdaddy 2023 | 📖 A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power | United States | 304 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | 2023 | 📖 None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell | United Kingdom | 384 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | @lisajewelluk 2023 | 📖 The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride | United States | 400 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @jamesmcbrideauthor 2023 | 📖 Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon by Wole Talabi | Nigeria | 320 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2024 | 📖 Heart, Be at Peace by Donal Ryan | Ireland | 208 pages | 🏆🏆 | 2024 | 📖 There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak | Turkey / United Kingdom | 482 pages | 🏆 | @shafakelif

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 7

Image
1606 | 📖 Macbeth by William Shakespeare | United Kingdom | 120 pages | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | 2007 | 📖 Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer | United States | 629 pages | 🏆🏆 | 2012 | 📖 Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas | United States | 406 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | 2018 | 📖 Baby, You're Gonna Be Mine by Kevin Wilson | United States | 224 pages | 2018 | 📖 This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga | Zimbabwe | 284 pages | 🏆 |

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 6

Image
1996 | 📖 A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin | United States | 835 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @georgerrmartin 2019 | 📖 Hello Girls by Brittany Cavallaro and Emily Henry | United States | 320 pages | @bricavallaro 2019 | 📖 The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell | United Kingdom | 384 pages | 🏆 | @lisajewelluk 2019 | 📖 The Dragon Republic by R. F. Kuang | United States | 672 pages | 🏆🏆 | @kuangrf 2019 | 📖 Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton | United States | 320 | 🏆 | @kirajanewrites 2020 | 📖 Summer by Ali Smith | United Kingdom | 384 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 |

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 5

Image
1987 | 📖 Misery by Stephen King | United States | 320 pages | 🏆 | @stephenking 2008 | 📖 The Long Trial of Nolan Dugatti by Stephen Graham Jones | United States | 196 pages | 🏆 | @stephengrahamjones 2021 | 📖 The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak | Turkey / United Kingdom | 368 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @shafakelif 2025 | 📖 Accomplice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer | United States | 384 pages | 🏆 | @hannahnicolemae 2025 | 📖 The Fallen and the Kiss of Dusk by Carissa Broadbent | United States | 556 pages | @carissabroadbentbooks 2025 | 📖 My Other Heart by Emma Nanami Strenner | United Kingdom | 416 pages | @emmastrenner 2025 | 📖 People Like Us by Jason Mott | United States | 320 pages | 🏆 | 2025 | 📖 The Colonel and the King by Peter Guralnick | United States | 432 pages | 🏆 | @peterguralnick 2025 | 📖 Dwelling by Emily Hunt Kivel | United States | 310 pages | @emilyhuntress 2025 | 📖 Vulture by Phoebe Greenwood | United Kingdom | 272 pages | @phoebegreenest

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 4

Image
2005 | 📖 Vince and Joy by Lisa Jewell | United Kingdom | 502 pages | @lisajewelluk 2020 | 📖 Luster by Raven Leilani | United States | 240 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @raven_leilani 2020 | 📖 If I Had Two Wings by Randall Kenan | United States | 224 pages | 🏆🏆 | 2020 | 📖 The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi | Nigeria / United States | 256 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @yungdeadthing 2022 | 📖 The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka | Sri Lanka | 386 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @shehankarubooks 2026 | 📖 The House of Boleyn by Tracy Borman | United Kingdom | 416 pages | @tracy.borman 2026 | 📖 The Castle in the Glen by Rhys Bowen | United Kingdom | 429 pages | @authorrhysbowen 2026 | 📖 The Season of Light and Darkness by Jillian Cantor | United States | 352 pages | @jilliancantor 2026 | 📖 Breathing Under Water by Jacqueline Friedland | United States | 384 pages | 2026 | 📖 Autumn at the Cat Cafe by Kathleen Fuller | United States | 320 pages | @kathleen_fuller_writes...

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 3

Image
2021 | 📖 Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy | Australia / United States | 272 pages | 🏆🏆 | @charlottemcconaghy 2021 | 📖 The President and the Frog by Carolina De Robertis | United States / Uruguay | 224 pages | 🏆🏆 | s 2021 | 📖 Radiant Fugitives by Nawaaz Ahmed | United States | 384 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @nawaazonthenet 2021 | 📖 The Husbands by Chandler Baker | United States | 320 pages | 🏆 | @chandlerbakerbooks 2021 | 📖 We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange | United States | 304 pages | 🏆 | @tracey_lange 2021 | 📖 The Turnout by Megan Abbott | United States | 336 pages | 🏆 | @melizaabbott

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 2

Image
2008 | 📖 Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer | United States | 756 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | 2016 | 📖 The Hike by Drew Magary | United States | 278 pages | 🏆 | 2018 | 📖 Washington Black by Esi Edugyan | Canada | 334 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2022 | 📖 The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias | United States | 320 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @gabino_iglesias 2022 | 📖 Gangland by Chuck Hogan | United States | 352 pages | 🏆 | 2022 | 📖 Shutter by Ramona Emerson | United States | 296 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @reelindian 2022 | 📖 All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews | United States | 320 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | @smathewss

Today in Bookish and Literary History, August 1

Image
1911 | 📖 The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett | United Kingdom / United States | 331 pages | 🏆 | 1938 | 📖 Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier | United Kingdom | 449 pages | 🏆🏆 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | 1978 | 📖 Son of the Morning by Joyce Carol Oates | United States | 392 pages | 1992 | 📖 The Enchantment by Kristin Hannah | United States | 404 pages | @kristinhannahauthor 1993 | 📖 Hysteria by Terry Johnson | United Kingdom | 112 pages | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | 1993 | 📖 Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang by Joyce Carol Oates | United States | 313 pages | 2005 | 📖 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson | Sweden | 480 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 | 2006 | 📖 One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson | United Kingdom | 418 pages | 2014 | 📖 A Horse Walks into a Bar by David Grossman | Israel | 208 pages | 🏆🏆 | 2016 | 📖 Wretchedness by Andrzej Tichý | Sweden | 176 pages | 🏆🏆🏆 | 2019 | 📖 Crooked Plow by Itamar Vieira Junior | Brazil | 288 pages | 🏆🏆🏆🏆 | @itamarvieirajr 2020 | 📖 How to Stay Sane in a...