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twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat · 9 months ago

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Do you have any books to recommend for people who are new to writing but want to get into it? Ive got some money to spend on books and I’m not sure where to start, and I don’t wanna buy something that’s not worth it :,) but you’re one of my favourite writers and I trust that your taste is good considering your writing is beautiful 🫶🏾

ANONNNNN I’M SO SORRY THIS IS SUCH A LATE RESPONSE 😭😭😭 i spent … a little too much time stressing over what books to include. and how to describe them. blame my faulty brain ok!!!

BUTTTT first of all!!! i’m so honoured that you’d think to ask me this!!!! and that you trust my taste!!!!!! that you think my writing is beautiful (i sobbed btw) YOU’RE SUCH A SWEETHEART… thank you very much 🥺🥺

i decided to make a list of some of my overall favorites, but pls remember that writing is subjective!!!! i hope you can find at least one or two books on this list that intrigues you, and that you’ll end up liking the way they’re written too, but. y’know. there’s never any guarantee!!! i added links that’ll take you to goodreads, where you can check the summaries and reviews of each book to hopefully make the process easier for you 🫡🫡

with that being said!!! here are some ari book recs just for you <3333

war of the foxes - richard siken

my absolute favorite poetry collection, from my absolute favorite poet <3333 i’m assuming that you’re looking for novels rather than poetry but. i HAD to rec this one. because i love it soooooo dearly and it’s inspired my writing so much!!!! siken’s use of language is just …… sooooo tasty. so good. i’m completely obsessed with him. his other poetry collection is called crush and centers around tenderness/sex/violence (and the ways they blur together), but i’d say this collection is more about. art. making art. it’s also about love and war and. lots of things. but art is a big theme. paint on paint. etc. it made me severely ill in the best of ways <33 i really couldn’t recommend it enough!!!

eureka street - robert mcliam wilson

this book is . sooooo underrated 😔😔 i hate it so much. not the book i just hate that it isn’t widely renowned because it SHOULD BE. i read this for one of my high school english classes and it. changed my brain chemistry forever. it’s so good. wilson’s writing is so insanely gorgeous?? it reminds me so much of the writing in disco elysium (my fav video game + biggest writing source 🙏)…. honestly i think it’s worth reading for the writing alone. anyway!! this is a book about love. it starts with the quote ”all stories are love stories.” it’s also about the troubles, which is a conflict between catholics and protestants in ireland during the late 1900s. this book takes place at the end of a period of terror and bombings, but still manages to be about love first and foremost. the main characters are charming and silly and kind of insane in the head <33 this book is VERY funny btw… it had me laughing out loud a lot but also had me feeling so much. it’s so, so heartfelt. you can tell wilson loves belfast. and you can tell belfast loves its people. this book is so special to me and i don’t think i can explain its entire appeal with just words, so you’re just gonna have to trust me when i say it’s wonderful <33

the human flies - hans olav lahlum

do you like murder mysteries 👀👀….. i do. this is my favorite one. it’s very near and dear to my heart!!! the human flies is a classic whodunnit where a man has been killed in his apartment complex, and the other residents are all suspects. it’s about trauma. kind of. and it has a really good historial twist where it turns out that they’re all connected through ww2… but i think the greatest charm point of this book (aside from the mystery) is its characters!! they’re all really vibrant and charming. or not so charming. but they’re hard not to get attached to i think!!! this book also subverts the detective genre by making its detective really useless which i love <333 he ends up being contacted by a girl in a wheelchair who’s basically sherlock holmes and she does all the mystery solving. it’s great. if you’re into the murder mystery genre then i really recommend this one!!

beartown - fredrick backman

THIS BOOK . god. this is another one that i can’t really talk about coherently because it means so much to me. i think every single person on this planet should be strapped to a chair and forced to read it <333 this is a book about…. literally everything. if i had to pick just one thing it’d be community. but like… it’s about family. it’s about friendship. it’s about hockey. it’s about sexual violence and locker-room culture and their devastating consequences. it’s about cherry blossoms and the hope they carry. it’s about healing. it’s about a small town and the people who live in it. every single one of them are interesting. when it comes to the actual plot… i think it’s best to go in blind but i doooo feel obligated to tell you that the center of the book’s conflict is a rape. the first half of the book introduces beartown, its famous hockey team, its people and their stories. the second half deals with the consequences of this rape. backman wrote this book so, so thoughtfully. the topic is obviously sensitive but you don’t need to worry about the perpetrator not getting what’s coming to him, because he will. and ohhhhh BOY backman’s writing. his writing is so unbelievably pretty. that’s the best word for it. he’s literally carrying swedish literature on his bare shoulders. holy fuck. in conclusion; this is maybeeee my favorite book of all time? and you should read it :3 it’s very long but i promise it feels so fast once you get into it. it’s the kind of book that i think everyone can fall in love with!!!! it really did change my life i think.

the travelling cat chronicles - hiro arikawa

honestly, i think this is the book i’d recommend to you the most!! not because of quality (though definitely that too!!) but because i think it’s perfect for someone who’s just getting into reading. minus points for being kindaaa long but that’s all!! i think i should preface this by saying that this book made me cry LMAO. ugly cry. sob. i’ve never cried so hard reading a book before…. it wasn’t a bad cry though!! this book is sad but it’s also so charming and hopeful and sweet. it’s about a cat who travels around the country with his owner satoru(!!), not knowing where they’re going or why they’re going there. the kitty is the narrator and he’s sooo charming. satoru is too. their dynamic is so precious :(((( if you love cats then you’ll love this book, trust me!! anyway… to me this is a great pick for new readers because the writing is super pretty but also really. easy to chew? the story is also written in a very compelling way which should make it a pretty quick read despite its lenght!! it’s very much a roadtrip book :3 i love it a lot and even though it made me cry i consider it a bigggg comfort read (but i’m a jjk fan so take that with a grain of salt)

the stranger - albert camus

ok so!!! i did try not to add any classic books to this list because honestly i don’t think many of them are good introductions to reading. the educational system could learn from me . BUT…. this is one that i think you can get really hooked on even if you don’t study literature. this is a book about . existentialism. or just apathy (and overcoming it)… the protagonist doesn’t really want much in life. he just follows the herd. he’s basically like…. just some guy?? but also very much Not just some guy. because just some guys don’t answer their girlfriend’s proposal with ”if you want to.” or chainsmoke. or kill a guy because ”the sun was too hot.” yeah. he’s very charming (<- worrying taste in men), very weird and very interesting. most analyses on this book are just attempts to diagnose him. the central conflict of the book is the murder he commits, and the trial that follows, where the attention shifts from his actual murder to… the fact that he didn’t cry at his mother’s funeral. hm. this book is really fun. :3 and i love camus’ writing!!! like many books on this list it’s pretty but easy to chew, so i think you’ll enjoy it. read if you want to Think about life. or if you want to see meursault have his bisexual awakening in the middle of a murder trial.

the great gatsby - f. scott fitzgerald

jay gatsby they will never make me hate you…. remember what i just said about not wanting to add classics to this list? the great gatsby is another exception <333 honestly i just . really love this book!!! it’s such a short and tasty read!!!!! i’ve heard that american students really hate it because they were forced to read it and like . i sympathize but 🤨 c’mon. there are sooo many classics that are so much more hellish to read for school…. they don’t know how good they have it……. anyway. the writing is very pretty and the descriptions are soooo…. captivating. so many lines are stuck in my brain. (”they’re a rotten crowd. you’re worth the whole damn bunch put together” my BELOVED <333) people will tell you that this book is about the futility of the american dream and it IS but i also think you should make your own interpretation!!! because there are lots to make. personally i favour the queer one <33 because i’m…. me. gatsby is just . such a tragic character. but also so pathetic. and charming. he’s one of my og meowmeows. this book is worth reading if only for him. i need to dip him in olive oil.

kafka on the shore - haruki murakami

…. sigh . look 😔😔 do i like haruki murakami? no. do i like his writing? unfortunately yes. this book is fucking wild and kind of gross in . a plethora of ways (tw for umm cat beheadings? almost rape (in a dream)? fantasy incest kind of maybe…?? it’s not as bad as it sounds but like. it kinda is. idk.) but for some reason it’s still one of my favorites. i feel like murakami’s classic blend between fantasy and reality stays the same throughout his works and it’s just….. reallyyyyy tasty to me. i think that’s why i still think of this book so often. it really really moved me. and i mean…. let’s face it, his writing is very pretty. this is a book about growing up and it really doesn’t shy away from the discomforting topics that come with that. it’s also about talking cats and mommy issues. kafka has lots of them. i think he’s kind of annoying. the other characters are very charming though!! in this book you basically follow two different plot lines, and both are really captivating imo… buuuut the book is Very Long and very weird so i don’t know if i’d recommend it to someone who’s just getting into reading 😭 it really is very good though… if nothing else, read it for the Vibes. they’re very tasty.

waiting for godot - samuel beckett

this is a fun one <333 and a weird one. NOT a good rec for a new reader lmao but i do have to add it because i adore samuel beckett…. and this is my favorite play!!!!!! it’s usually associated with absurdism which i think says enough on its own. this is a play about…. waiting for godot. that’s all <3 the two main characters, didi and gogo, are basically stuck in a timeloop where they wait for godot to come. he doesn’t. they keep waiting. i adore this play for many reasons but some of them are: timeloops my beloved (1), didi & gogo are super funny and gay and their back-and-forth dialogue kinda turns into poetry sometimes (2), it’s SO much fun to analyze (3). godot can literally be whatever you want him to be. that’s so fun!!!! it’s a weird play but if you want to get into reading plays then… it’ll be here <33

giovanni’s room - james baldwin

aaaand finally!!!! this lovely gem <333 i’m actually not completely finished with it myself but i can tell you that it’s already one of my favorites!!!!! it’s about . shame. and tenderness. and morality. all that good stuff :3 i’ll try to keep this short but . basically…. it centers around a closeted gay/bisexual man who goes on vacation to paris while his girlfriend is vacationing in spain. in a certain bar, he meets a certain barman, whose name is giovanni. they really hit it off. sadly they’re doomed by the narrative. goshhhh this book is just. ough. first of all??? james baldwin is SO . fucking good. his prose is so gorgeous. soooo so gorgeous. worth reading just for that. but the dynamic between david and giovanni is …… so lovely??? and the glimpse you get into their heads is just so. beautiful. :((( this book is so SAD . but also not really. it’s bittersweet. david has to choose between a safe life and a happy life and he’s doomed to choose the safe life. that’s all there is to it.

aaaaand those are my recs !!!! i feel like i’m forgetting some really good ones……. but i don’t want to keep you waiting any longer :’3 i really hope this helps anon!!! i’m so excited that you’re getting into reading!!!!!!!! it’s really just a matter of finding writing that you actually like. i recommend searching up some quotes from each book, just to get a feel for the writing itself!!! pls know that i’m cheering you on in your reading journey 🫂🫂🫂

(and if you end up reading any of these then. pls do let me know!!! i’d love to hear your thoughts 🥺)

#i love how you can tell i got carried away instantly #honestly anon . if i had to narrow it down.#i’d recommend the travelling cat chronicles + beartown + the great gatsby + war of the foxes most!!#the others are great too but . i don’t know how fitting they are for someone’s who’s getting into reading………#i just hope this list ends up helping you in any way at all :’3 #tysm for asking me <3333 and sorry again for the wait!!!! i hope you’re having a super cozy day!!!#ask tag ✩

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