Bookshelf tour 📚

 

In November 2021, I moved to a new house. As a typical booklover, I thought that this was my chance to create the bookshelf of my dreams. This is why, after carefully going through all the books I had at my parents' home, I decided to bring only my favourite and the most-promising ones to my new house. 

Today I will share with you the books that made the cut.

Before going on with the list of the books on my bookshelf, I want to note two things; Firstly, although I haven't read all of the books below, they all sound like books that I could easily like. Secondly, the book descriptions are copied by the blurb at the back of the books. And without further ado, I present to you my books. 

Classics 

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (1838)

The adventures of the innocent Oliver — from workhouse to London's underworld, and how he was rescued — is one of Dickens' most popular stories. 

The Quiet American by Graham Green (1955)

The Quiet American is a terrifying portrait of innocence at large. While the French Army in Indo-China is grappling with the Vietminh, back at Saigon a young and high-minded American begins to channel Economic Aid to a 'Third Force'. The narrator, a seasoned foreign correspondent, is forced to observe: 'I never knew a man who had better motives for all the trouble he caused.' As young Pyle's policies blunder on into bloodshed, the older man finds it impossible to stand aside as an observer. But his motives for intervening are suspect, both to the police and to himself: for Pyle has robbed him of his Annamite mistress. 

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (1855)

Set in the mid-nineteenth century and written from the author's first-hand experience, North and South follows the story of the heroine's movement from the tranquil but moribund ways of southern England to the vital but turbulent north. Elizabeth Gaskell's skilful narrative uses an unusual love story to show how personal and public lives were woven together in a newly industrial society. 

Contemporary Fiction 

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (2016)

Effia and Esi: two sisters with two very different destinies. One sold into slavery; one a slave trader's wife. The consequences of their fate reverberate through the generations of Mississippi; from the missionary schools of Ghana to the dive bars of Harlem. Spanning continents and generations, Yaa Gyasi has written a miraculous novel — the intimate, heartbreaking story of one family and through their lives, the story of America itself. 

Paul by Daisy Lafarge (2021)

Frances is a graduate student spending a summer volunteering in rural France, in the hope that tending vegetables and harvesting honey will distract her from a scandal that drove her out of Paris, her research unfinished and her sense of self unmoored. 

At the eco-farm Noa Noa, she comes under the influence of its charismatic and domineering owner, Paul. As his hold over her tightens and her plans come unstuck, she finds herself entangled in a strange, uneven relationship. On a fraught road trip across the South of France, both are forced to reckon with uncomfortable truths. 

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (2016 - English translation: 2018)

She's thirty-six years old, she's never had a boyfriend and she's been working in the same convenience store for eighteen years. 

Her parents wish she'd get a better job. Her friends wonder why she won't get married.

But Keiko knows what makes her happy, and she's not going to let anyone take her away from her convenience store...

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata (2018 - English translation: 2020)

As a child, Natsuki believed she was an alien, a different species to her earthling family and classmates. She hoped a spaceship would come down and take her home. Now, she lives quietly in an asexual marriage, pretending to be normal.

But the buried horrors of Natsuki's past are pursuing her. As she flees the suburbs for the Nagano mountains and a reunion with her beloved cousin Yuu, she wonders, what will it take to escape the earthlings? 

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (2014)

So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese-American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio, Lydia is the favourite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia's body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them all into chaos.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (2017)

Mia Warren, an enigmatic artist and single mother, arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than just tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the alluring mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a disregard for the rules that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.

When the Richardsons' friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town and puts Mia and Mrs Richardson on opposing sides. Mrs Richardson becomes determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs to her own family — and Mia's. 

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney (2017)

Frances is twenty-one years old, cool-headed and observant. A student in Dublin and an aspiring writer, at night she performs spoken word with her best friend Bobbi, who used to be her girlfriend. When they are interviewed and then befriended by Melissa, a well-known journalist, who is married to Nick, an actor, they enter into a world of beautiful houses, raucous dinner parties and holidays in Brittany. But when Frances and Nick get unexpectedly closer, the sharply witty and emotion-averse Frances is forced to honestly confront her own vulnerabilities for the first time. 

Normal People by Sally Rooney (2018)

Connell and Marianne grow up in the same small town in the west of Ireland, but the similarities end there. In school, Connell is popular and well-liked, while Marianne is a loner. But when the two strike up a conversation — awkward but electrifying — something life-changing begins. 

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney (2021)

Alice, a novelist, meets Felix, who works in a warehouse, and asks him if he'd like to travel to Rome with her. In Dublin, her best friend Eileen is getting over a break-up and slips back into flirting with Simon, a man she has known since childhood.

Alice, Felix, Eileen and Simon are still young — but life is catching up with them. They desire each other, they delude each other, they worry about sex and friendship and the world they live in. Are they standing in the last lighted room before the darkness, bearing witness to something? Will they find a way to believe in a beautiful world? 

Thrillers

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell (2019)

In a large house in London's fashionable Chelsea, a baby is awake in her cot. Well-fed and cared for, she is happily waiting for someone to pick her up.

In the kitchen lie three decomposing corpses. Close to them is a hastily scrawled note.

They've been dead for several days. 

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn (2006)

Sent to investigate the disappearance of two little girls Camille finds herself reluctantly installed in the family mansion, reacquainting herself with her distant mother and a precocious thirteen-year-old half-sister she barely knows. Haunted by a family tragedy, troubled by the disquieting grip her young sister has on the town, Camille struggles with a familiar need to be accepted. 

But as clues turn into dead ends Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims and realises: she will have to unravel the puzzle of her own past if she's to survive this homecoming. 

The Slaughter Man by Cassandra Parkin (2019)

When her identical twin Laurel dies, seventeen-year-old Willow's life falls apart. With her parents' marriage faltering, she finds escape at her uncle Joe's cottage. But even as they begin to know each other, Willow is plagued with memories of her sister. Then, Lucas arrives in her life — troubled, angry, and with a dangerous past.

Joe's cottage is idyllic, but the forest is filled with secrets. What is Joe hiding from her? What events have brought Lucas to her door? And who is the Slaughter Man who steals through Willow's sleep? 

As the lines between dreams and reality become blurred, Willow's torment deepens. It seems as if her only escape lies with the Slaughter Man. 

Vox by Christina Dalcher (2018)

Jean McClellan spends her time in almost complete silence, limited to just one hundred words a day. Any more, and a thousand volts of electricity will course through her veins. 

Now the new government is in power, everything has changed. But only if you're a woman.

Almost overnight, bank accounts are frozen, passports are taken away and seventy million women lose their jobs. Even more terrifyingly, young girls are no longer taught to read and write. 

For herself, her daughter, and for every woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice. This is only the beginning...

i'm thinking of ending things by Iain Reid (2016)

A woman embarks on a road trip with her new boyfriend amid doubts about her commitment. They are visiting his parents' remote farm. When the two take an unexpected detour in a snowstorm, she is left wondering if there is any escape at all...

Political Fiction 

Milkman by Anna Burns (2018)

In an unnamed city, where to be interesting is dangerous, an eighteen-year-old woman has attracted the unwanted and unavoidable attention of a powerful and frightening older man, 'Milkman'. In this community, where suggestions quickly become fact, where gossip and hearsay can lead to terrible consequences, what can she do to stop a rumour once it has started? Milkman is persistent, the word is spreading, and she is no longer in control... 

*You can find my review of Milkman here. 

Against The Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa (2020)

Nahr sits in an Israeli prison. Many in the world outside call her a terrorist, and just as many call her a revolutionary, a hero. But the truth is more complicated...

She was named for the river her mother crossed when she fled Israel's invasion of Palestine, and grew up into a girl who carried in her bones the desperation of being a refugee. 

She was a woman who went to Palestine, and found books, friends, politics — and a purpose.

Nahr sits in her cell, and tells her story. 

And now you know all the books that I have in my new house. However, as a typical bookworm I am going to indulge in book buying spree soon, you should regularly check my book hauls for updates. 

How many books have you got on your bookshelves and which one is your favourite?