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Books That Have Stayed With Me Part 1

So I’ve started reading properly again recently and I’ve consumed like 8 books these last two weeks and it feels so damn refreshing after staring at my screen all day. And I got to reflecting on all the books I’ve read and I realised I wanted to just document the books that really touched me so I can preserve those feelings and maybe give some book recommendations :) I have a lot coming! enjoy

Les Misérables, Victor Hugo

Not gonna lie this took me a hot minute to read BUT when I finished it I felt extremely accomplished. I found myself going over and rereading parts that stuck in my head. I loved how every character was described in detail and how I could relate to all of them - Marius for his headstrong youth, Éponine for her humanity and so on. I’d also been studying the French Revolution at the time so it really helped me understand the psyche of the people of Paris but on a deeply personal level. There’s also nothing more I want now than to be a 19th century revolutionary. And yes, Victor Hugo does ramble but honestly I enjoyed a lot of his tangents (except the sewers. please what was that). 

“There is no vacuum in the human heart. Certain demolitions take place, and it is well that they do, but on condition that they are followed by reconstructions.”

Circe, Madeline Miller

As I remember from Percy Jackson Circe was that goddess who gets banished to an island and turns men into pigs. I didn’t think much else and I’ve never really been into mythology or fantasy novels but this was amazing. The way Miller describes immortality feels so painstakingly real and the way she manages to relay the tenderness and intricacies which make a relationship is incredible. I didn’t cry after this book but I stared endlessly into space for a good hour and I still think about it an awful lot. 10000000% recommend. Beautiful.

“But in a solitary life, there are rare moments when another soul dips near yours, as stars once a year brush the earth. Such a constellation was he to me.”

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, Reni Eddo-Lodge

So informative. Like I thought I was relatively educated on the issues she talks about but I learnt so much from this book. Things I always experienced as a woc which made me angry or confused that I could never quite put a name to were clearly explained. It was also very nice to have a British perspective - often in the media we only hear about Black History in America. Thus there are many people who delusionally seem to think there isn’t a racism problem in Britain. They all need to read this book - In fact everyone should read this book. 

“My blackness has been politicised against my will, but I don’t want it wilfully ignored in an effort to instill some sort of big, precarious, false harmony”

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

I just read the whole book yesterday. Honestly I didn’t find it especially striking when I read it. But thinking about it all day I now really appreciate how perfectly it portrays the messiness of human lives and their endless social barriers; romantically at times, and cynically at others. Also undeniably a depressing read, dulling down the roaring 20s and exposing the emptiness behind glamorous lives. I think this is one of those books that you get more from every time you read and I can honestly see myself coming back to this book in the future - which I can’t say for many books. Beautiful descriptions as well.

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

Train to Pakistan, Khushwant Singh

This book recounts the history of the India-Pakistan Partition in 1947, concentrating on a small, fictional village called Mano Majra. This was an uncomfortable read because it lay out crystal clear the atrocities committed during the Partition, and I found it heartbreaking to read how two groups so close knit could turn on each other just like that, and even more heartbreaking to know that this really did happen in 1947. The end was haunting, but left me with a small hope for humanity. Also beautiful descriptions. 

“There is no crime in anyone’s blood any more than there is goodness in the blood of others. Criminals are not born. They are made by hunger, want and injustice.”