sarahwilliamsandco

Now that we’re finallllly seeing some sun (don’t hold your breath, Liverpool, it’s supposed to rain here this week!) I thought I’d do a little post about some of the books I’m currently most excited to read. Some feel a bit springy but others just need to be read immediately regardless of season. Do your reading habits change with the seasons? I think mine do occasionally.

We Are Okay – Nina LaCour

Something about the warmer weather just makes me crave YA. Like some fun, angsty, honest, somewhat naïve but no less enjoyable stories. After reading Five Feet Apart last month I was on the hunt for another excellent young adult to sink my teeth into. I’ve known about this book for years. I think every booktuber or Goodreads user on the planet must have mentioned it by now so I picked it up at Gay’s the Word when I was in London. I don’t know much about it other than it deals with grief and mental health. I think. It won’t necessarily be as breezy as a spring book ought to be but I’m excited to finally tick it off my list.

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl’s Confabulous Memoir – Kai Cheng Thom

I really had a great trip to Gay’s the Word earlier this month. I wanted to buy everything. Well as soon as I saw this near the front of the shop I literally pounced. It’s been out a couple of years but has gained a lot of attention recently after being picked as Our Shared Shelf’s March/April book (that’s Emma Watson’s feminist online book club for those of you not in the know). The selections are always excellent but I’ve literally never seen a book like this before. It’s a memoir but with fictional/magical realism elements. It also obviously has an LGBTQ+ theme as well. I’m beyond excited to read this!

The Bricks That Built The Houses – Kate Tempest

This book I bought at the Glastonbury Bookshop in 2017. I know, Glastonbury has a bookshop. Literally what doesn’t it have? I’d just seen Kate Tempest perform earlier that week and my life had been altered. It was one of my highlights of the festival. She’s this amazing spoken word poet/rapper and this is her first novel. I don’t know why I haven’t read it yet. I’ve read the first page several times and it’s so poetic that, whilst it gives me chills, I think it’s been intimidating me. Well no more! I’m tackling it this spring. The synopsis sounds like an adventure and it just sounds perfect for this season of change and rebirth.

Educated – Tara Westover

This book has been on my radar for a while and was kindly sent to me by a publisher friend a few months ago. I love a memoir. Anyone who knows me or reads my posts must know this by now. They’re just my absolute favourite thing. This particular memoir follows a woman through childhood and adolescence in the mountains of Idaho with her survivalist family. Tara didn’t enter a classroom til she was 17 due to her family’s isolation from mainstream society. This is the story of her self-education. It’s a story of loyalty and self-invention. It sounds incredible.

Tales of the City – Armistead Maupin

I first came across this book in uni, you know, one of those classic haven’t-read-it-but-have-left-yourself-no-time-so-now-we’re-writing-an-essay-about-it-anyway type situations? For those of you who want to strangle me, I feel you. But regardless, this book really started to intrigue me. It’s a series that I really want to get into but need to properly read this one first. It’s set (and written) in 1970s San Francisco and has all the LGBT elements you’re looking for. It’s also like a book soap opera. I know, how cool?! It follows many characters as their narratives intertwine. The themes are sometimes hard hitting but more often than not it seems to just be a really fun, sarcastic, chilled book that is perfect for spring. Also, the book is bright orange so it’s literally screaming at you to read it in the sun!

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A few favourites from winter:

Everything I Never Told You – Celeste Ng

Quiet Girl in a Noisy World – Debbie Tung

Dept. Of Speculation – Jenny Offill

Nina Is Not OK – Shappi Khorsandi

Boy Erased – Garrard Conley

Bone – Yrsa Daley-Ward

Art Matters – Neil Gaiman

The Terrible – Yrsa Daley-Ward

Vicious – V.E. Schwab

The Incendiaries – R.O. Kwon

(Okay that was ten, but you’re forgetting I read 17 books in December and just really epic ones in January and February! So hard to pick favourites.)

Inside Out – Soccer Mommy