The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

I love a good time loop, and Claire North really delivers.

Bonus points for bringing some sturdy philosophical ethical theories into the characters’ conversations and rumination, especially for calling out the oft-used “complexity is the reason for inaction”  argument against trying to live a life of consequence. 

But more than anything, I found the loves and losses—and even the eventual apathies—of Harry August to be compelling narrative. His fifteen lives, and the ways in which he creates and then unties a Gordian knot will stay with me long past the page.

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Life After Life unfolds like origami, shaping and reshaping along unseen lines of small decisions—chasing a dog, talking with a stranger, spending an afternoon in a field—exploring all the many ways that a life is constructed. I loved this, of course. 

In the end, what matters most in being true to ourselves and to the relationships that ground us, hold us, shape who and what we are in the world. Beautifully rendered.