I would describe myself as an avid reader who tries to read a range of genres, yet I still have my firm favourites when it comes to picking up a new book. The three that I have chosen to talk about here were all slightly different from what I would automatically go for, but they opened my mind to ideas, worlds and narratives that have enriched my bookshelf and allowed me to experience things I otherwise wouldn't have realised I was missing out on!
The first of my three picks for this post is Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, one of this summer's most popular reads. I'd seen the book's stunning artwork all over social media and in bookshop windows, but the concept of gaming had put me off of actually buying a copy despite the praise it was getting. I came across the paperback edition as a one-week loan in my local library, and so I decided to finally give it a go. I was enthralled from the first line. Admittedly an unusual read following the lives of Sam and Sadie as they become friends, the founders of a gaming company and later soulmates, I actually really enjoyed both the narrative and the meaning behind the story. I think Zevin's decision to focus on a love story which is not a romance added an extra something to the book's overall message about finding ourselves, the power of ordinary people in our lives and the human yearning for connection; the friendships in this book are just as beautiful and important, if not more so, than the romantic relationships it explores. For me, I felt that the emotions really drove the plot, and the small yet pivotal decisions the protagonists make at each turn reflect the idea of being in control of a narrative as in gaming, turning this aspect of the book into a larger metaphor and vessel for exploring what we want out of life and the power of storytelling in all forms. I haven't read any of Zevin's other works, but she has definitely opened my mind up to taking a chance on books which I usually wouldn't read.
Babel by R.F.Kuang was brought to my attention in a similar way to Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. I was initially unsure about Babel due to its fans raving about the fantasy elements of the novel, and I tend to steer clear of anything too heavily magical (I prefer other-worldly elements to a story rather than a whole fantasy universe), however on looking closer at the book, the dark academia-esque aspects of the synopsis stood out to me more. The book follows a group of language students in an alternative version of 1800s Oxford University, where they are faced with a choice to rise up against the status quo and risk everything they know, or be party to the colonial uprising of Britain. R.F.Kuang's use of words took my breath away; as someone who is interested in both linguistics and etymology, the lectures and scholarly yet accessible discussions regarding the politics of translation in an era of empire and colonial supremacy made me unable to put the book down. The journey of the central protagonists to figure out what they stand for and how far they are willing to go to fight for this will resonate with anyone who is discovering who they are and how deep their beliefs run. The inner turmoil and agonising emotional complexity that Kuang conjures leaps viscerally off of the page, and haunted me (in a good way!) even after I had completed the book. I can't wait to return to Kuang's world when I read her latest novel 'Yellowface', which is very different to Babel but that I hope will challenge and have me hooked nonetheless!
The last of my three reads is The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. My dad bought this book for me as a gift, and although I love detective fiction such as Agatha Christie's works, I wasn't immediately excited by the concept of pensioners solving cold cases. I read the book during exam season, thinking it wouldn't matter too much if I didn't have lots of time to get stuck into it as it probably wouldn't be my favourite. I finished it in less than a week. I loved the relatability of the humour, the idiosyncrasies of each member of the gang and the pacy plot- I couldn't wait to jump into the rest of the series! The characters deepened my respect for those with more life experience, and their connections with each other were equal parts hilarious and touching. I think that Richard Osman got the balance of peril and poignancy just right- at times, the crime does seem a little sanitised, however the impact of the crime on the characters is discussed with a sensitive sadness in the conclusion, grounding the book with a respectful humanity which stops the investigation being treated only as a fun puzzle. The book does have a large cast of characters, again something I'm not usually keen on, yet this works brilliantly. Each protagonist is fully formed and contains elements of someone you know, allowing the story to move along effortlessly with easily imagined but not stereotypical relationships between the characters. I have read all of the Thursday Murder Club series, and each book builds on the last, getting better and better; it's such a great idea!
The three books I have mentioned in this blog post have definitely shifted my perspective on what I thought I would or wouldn't enjoy, making me a more open minded reader than I used to be and allowing me to discover whole concepts and genres that have informed the way I see the world. Hopefully this inspires you to try a book that's outside your reading comfort zone- it may just become your new favourite!
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