Hi everyone,
It’s been a while! The last six months have been really busy but I wanted to stop by and leave some recommendations in case you’re about to do some summer shopping.
Enjoy,
mariana
2022 Fiction Favourites
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
This is without a doubt the book I’ve enjoyed reading most this year. A wonderful story set in the 1960s featuring a brilliant scientist whose career ambitions take a slight detour. I won’t say anything else to avoid spoilers. Just buy it. It’s so good.
🎧 Audiobook: ✅
Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
This short novel revolves around the lives of two best friends falling in love and then life getting in the way. The author explores some of the many feelings and thoughts Black men experience whilst living in a country that keeps them under constant surveillance and the subsequent psychological consequences. Open Water is Caleb Azumah Nelson’s award- winning debut novel. It’s fantastic.
Wahala by Nikki May
Wahala is a friendship-centred novel featuring an Anglo-Nigerian group of best friends. What happens when women in a group of friends reach their thirties and different life choices start changing how they feel? Moreover, what happens when a new personality is threatening to join the group and change the friendship dynamic forever? Wahala is Nikki May’s debut novel and is currently being adapted into TV production.
🎧 Audiobook: ✅ → it’s superb!
Magpie by Elizabeth Day
If you’re looking for something a bit more intense and dark, I recommend this incredibly clever thriller! I won’t say much else to avoid any spoilers. Thanks, Laurita for the recommendation!
🎧 Audiobook: ✅ → it’s superb!
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
Giovanni’s Room is the first book I read by James Baldwin and it did not disappoint. It was recommended to me by my classmate Jason. It’s a short read, harrowing and devastating. It was first published in 1956, it touches upon the sexual orientation dilemmas the American protagonist faces whilst living in Europe.
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
Greek myths retold from a female perspective are always fun and enlightening. I cannot describe how much I enjoyed (and suffered) this book. And… I learned so much!
If you liked The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker and/or Circe by Madeline Miller, you’ll probably enjoy this book too.
🎧 Audiobook: ✅
Love Marriage by Monica Ali
This is also one of the best books I’ve read this year. What a page-turner! It’s light and deep at the same time. Love Marriage is the story of two doctors who are about to get married when their respective family backgrounds start emerging and force them to pause and look at things differently. Bringing many different topics to the surface such as backgrounds, class, religion, feminism, addictions, etc., this novel will keep you awake.
Monica Ali is an acclaimed writer whose debut novel was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2003.
🎧 Audiobook: ✅
The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin
If you need a good cry, and let’s be honest, we all need one now and then, just read this book. A beautiful book about the power of friendship that’s weirdly uplifting, despite the context. The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot unsurprisingly tells us the story of Lenni and Margo, two humans with everything and nothing in common. It’s beautifully written and I absolutely recommend it!
🎧 Audiobook: ✅
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
Over the years, I’ve heard so many things about this Akwaeke Emezi but I had never had a chance to read them. I found The Death of Vivek Oji a page-turner. The writing is beautiful, original, and engaging.
🎧 Audiobook: ✅
Autobiographies & memoirs
Living Autobiography by Deborah Levy
I love memoirs, but I particularly like writers' memoirs. If you’re into autobiographies, this three-part series is incredible. Deborah Levy shares a bit of everything with her readers: her childhood in South Africa, her marriage, and her inability to save money to buy a house. The writing is simply out of this world. Brilliant! I also recommend her fiction if you haven’t read it yet.
The Terrible by Yrsa Daley-Ward
Yrsa Daley-Ward is a British writer, poet, actress and model, I believe. In other words, she’s amazing. In her memoir, she talks a lot about her family and some of her life decisions, even the terrible ones — hence the title. The form is beautiful, experimental and reads like poetry.
PS. If you’re into poetry, you might have come across one of her other books called Bone.
My Mess is a Bit of a Life by Georgia Pritchett
Another incredible memoir that I recommend. Georgia Pritchett is one of the writers of Succession (which I haven’t watched). The book is the story of her comedy journey, navigating a man's world. My Mess is a Bit of a Life is an easy read and I can’t recommend it enough. The form is so clever: each chapter is a small and digestible passage, sometimes less than a page long. It made me laugh and it also made me a bit sad at times.
Non-fiction
Conversations on Love by Natasha Lunn
Everybody cares about love in all its shapes and forms, so I think this is an obligatory read for all of us. The book is obviously about love. Natasha Lunn interviews many experts such as Philippa Perry, Candice Carty-Williams, Alain de Botton, Dolly Alderton, Emily Nagoski, Lisa Taddeo, Esther Perel, Roxane Gay, and others, and they discuss subjects like family love, friendship love, partner love, etc. The book is found of useful and wonderful information and I want to re-read it again at some point.
Poetry
Where Hope Comes From: Poems of Resilience, Healing and Light by Nikita Gill
We’re living in dark times and we sometimes need hope or the right words that help us arrange our thoughts and feelings. Nikita Gill is a Kashmiri Sikh writer born in Belfast, Northern Ireland and brought up in Gurugram, Haryana in India. Inspired by the stars and written during the pandemic, she put together this beautiful book of poems. I found it uplifting and it reads like hope.
In Spanish
Temporada de Huracanes by Fernanda Melchor
A difficult yet brilliant read that I can’t even begin to describe. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get over this book which perfectly illustrates the constant violence waves that so many people in Mexico can’t escape. If you’re going to read this book, make sure you open it when you’re in a good place. It’s a dark and difficult read. I think this book has also been translated into English.
🎧 Audiobook: ✅
El Invencible Verano de Liliana by Cristina Rivera Garza
Another devastating, yet really important nonfiction read to understand the femicide landscape in Mexico. Thirty years ago, Liliana Rivera Garza was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. Her sister, the author of the book, uses her pen to tell us what happened. Cristina Rivera Garza’s work is incredible and it’s been constantly recognised by many as she repeatedly keeps winning many awards and prizes for this book.
Bonsái & La vida privada de los árboles By Alejandro Zambra
Changing gears a bit. I want to introduce you to Alejandro Zambra, an incredible Chilean writer. Thank you so much to my friend Stephannie, for introducing me to him.
All I can say is that I was completely captivated by this piece of experimental writing, that I fell in love with the way Alejandro Zambra plays with the narrator, and that I can’t wait to read more books by him.
La Hora de la Estrella by Clarice Lispector
My friend Sol gave me this book as a birthday gift. In the card, she said she didn’t know whether I would love it or hate it. I LOVED IT. Another incredible work of experimental fiction also featuring a narrator that has a direct relationship with the reader. It blew my mind!
I can’t believe I had never heard of Clarice Lispector before. She’s an incredible writer and I can’t wait to read more from her. La Hora de la Estrella was the last book she wrote, and my friend Thais told me that she wrote it on pieces of paper and napkins and that a friend of hers named Olga, helped her piece it all together. I am intrigued by this Brazilian writer born in Ukraine, and can’t wait to read more!
Las Cosas Que Perdimos en el Fuego by Mariana Enriquez
I am not really into horror or scary stories. In fact, I had no idea that Las Cosas Que Perdimos en el Fuego was going to be that. Short horror stories.
Even though I struggled to read it, I found it incredible. I think the author does a great job taking some of Latin America’s darkest aspects and then using them in her favour to talk about horror, despair and pain. She’s also won many awards for this book and if you decide to read it, then make sure to do so when you’re in a good place and preferably not eating.
🎧 Audiobook: ✅
The Venus Atmosphere: Collage Poems by Emma Filtness
If you’re into visual poetry, I recommend this collage poem that can be bought here.
From the website:
“Playfully merging the cosmic, the oceanic, and the yonic, Emma Filtness invites her reader to delve into orgasmic printed debris. The folded edge of a shell is exposed to an intergalactic backdrop, the spit of the sea spills from the whorl of a conch and then into the wider cosmos; the expanding universe is refigured as a ‘flaring outer lip’. An electrifying debut!”
- Briony Hughes, Osmosis Press
Links to buy the books
Always try to support your local bookshop. If you’d like me to add any bookshops to the list, let me know. Thanks to those who keep sharing new bookshops with me.
UK
Spain
Mexico
Italy
US
Important notes
For UK and US readers, Bookshop.org is a great option to support your local bookshop. You can read more about it here.
If you’re using Gmail and the newsletter keeps going to your Promotions tab, you can try the following:
Open Gmail on your computer or laptop (it doesn’t work on mobile phones), and then drag the email from the Promotions tab into the Primary tab.
Add mariachi@substack.com to your contact list