#and who needs american psycho recommended to them in 2024. it's incredibly funny and incredibly gory there u go

[ebbarights]

beach reads 2024

this year i didn't read as much as the previous holidays but in exchange all my choices were absolutely lovely, so much so that i want to recommend them all. no summaries because those are available everywhere i want to do OPINIONS

the first book was the bone people by keri hulme. probably to blame for the shortness of this list because while it is very very good, it is also sloooow. beautiful prose, fascinating characters, lovely new zealand atmosphere but also not very much happens. and then everything does. reminded me of what i have heard people say about a little life, frequently caught myself thinking how many bad things can happen to one person without it being ridiculous, but the relationship between the characters pulled me back in. the very graphic description of domestic abuse and how it is. well. not excused but definitely rationalized left me with feelings too fuzzy to put into words. maybe this issue is simply too complex to unpack in a few sentences. i also think that this is a kind of book that would be lovely to read in a book club, especially with other readers who know more about maori culture. feel like i missed a lot of subtext there

second one was kala by colin walsh. loveditloveditlovedit. reminded me of the love of my life tana french so much, and not just because it's irish. the deeply complex and heartbreakingly tragic relationships between its three main characters and their three friends who (excuse my tumblrspeak) haunt the narrative, the blink-and-you-miss-it elements of the supernatural, the feeling that the story is hurtling towards something big and you can do nothing to prevent it, just sit in your lounger and watch. i want to recommend this to all my friends but i'm worried they'll just see it as a fun crime novel

this one is kind of a cheat because i haven't technically finished it yet, but i'm really enjoying perfect sound whatever by james acaster. it's so evident that james loves music, and loves this music specifically, and while the book is funny at times i think its central premise which isn't all that funny is its strongest aspect. it's such a great idea to take a look at all albums published in a singular year, and i think it's effective to start off with the big hitters first (bowie, cohen, beyoncé) to show that 2016 really was an exceptional year for music. but inevitably, the artists become smaller and smaller, and i have found so much great music because of this book that i would never have heard of otherwise. i think this one might not be for fans of *comedian* james acaster, but it definitely is a great read for people who like music