Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Knopf, 2022

I was so fetched by Zevin’s Fikry that I scooped up this work. It’s nothing like Fikry, of course, and it’s just brilliant.

I was consumed down into the investigation of friendship and trust and confidence and parallel play and gaming, especially gaming together, that I read this book without stopping. 

Truly, I love each of the characters, and I felt the struggles and victories as they played out, winced as each one made terrible decisions, and actually held my breath during a particular scene. 

It’s a compelling work, and delightful.

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry By Gabrielle Zein

Published in 2014.

I stumbled across this book, wanting something that spoke to the many beautiful bits of language and my love of books and bookshops. It was a surprise, a delight, and a heartwarming emotional ride that I adored. 

Family, found family, and the ties that bind are all on display, as well as the various ways in which life gains and loses meaning. And of course, there are the snippets of literature, the love story to books and fiction itself, that threads through the work. 

This might very well be the feel good book that you’re looking for. I know it certainly was for me.

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

Published by Tor, 2018

The second in the Murderbot series, Artificial Condition brings us more deeply into the issues of identity, autonomy, and friendship. 

These novels are jaunty and light, and yet they deal with some of the most important, and timely, themes of our day. Each of the volumes I’ve read so far has been the perfect book to take with me on a vacation, and the situations and mishaps—and personalities—that populate each offering have stayed with me in a meaningful way. 

Pack this in your suitcase and enjoy the ride.

The series has been brought to the small screen by Apple TV+, and I hear that’s delightful too. 

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

Published by Four Walls Eight Windows, 1993

I know I’m late to read this, and that even high school students have no read it as part of their classes, but I somehow hadn’t made time for this yet, and it seemed the perfect time to remedy that. 

I’m a big fan of post-apocalyptic fiction, and Butler delivers a compelling and powerful story of a world that shatters, falling apart along fissures and fault lines of its own making. 

Along the way, we find wisdom through spirituality, the comfort and necessity of companionship, and the human need to care for others. 

This is worth all the wonderful things that have been said about it, and yes, it’s perfect as a required reading entry.

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

Short, stark, and compelling, this little book was originally published in French in 1995, and the first English translation published in 1997. It barely made a blip on the literature world, and then Vintage published it in2019 and Transit republished it in 2022. 

I found myself captivated by this matter of fact recitation of life on a distant place, a distant land, possibly a distant planet. The group of women, and the decisions made along the way, each reflect the idea of society and the weight that we give them (rightly or wrongly, as you may choose). There is no proselytizing, here, just the journey of one step after another to discover life and what makes it livable. 

By the end, I had come to love the narrator and cheer for her. 

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Published by Faber and Faber, 2020.

This small volume is stark, easily overlooked in its simplicity, and compelling. I felt the pages and the narrative deeply and felt my heart in my teeth as the characters made the small decisions that would change their lives, and the lives of others. 

There’s an ethics in daily life discussion to be had here a la “If not now, when? If not you, who?”, but don’t let that dissuade you. The lyrical simplicity of this tale is worth reading just for the sheer beauty of it. 

Circe by Madeline Miller

Published by Little, Brown, & Co., 2018

I put off reading this, even though I was completely intrigued. I was afraid of being let down by a retelling of one of my favorite minor, often-overlooked goddesses.

I need not have worried. 

Circe is lyrical and beautiful, an homage to the myth, and everything I ever wanted out of a Greek tale of heroes and gods. 

This is everything that it should be, and deserves all the praise that has been richly heaped upon it.