Recommendations

Just Kids

With "Just Kids" Patti Smith, the iconic punk poet of 70s New York, crafts an artistic Bildungsroman that is as transgressive as it is instructional. Deeply fascinating and full of insight into literature, music and art this has rightly become a modern classic.

Normal People

Once upon time, people spoke about Sally Rooney's second novel as a kind of cult hit or a hot tip for those in the literary know. After a ratings-smashing BBC adaptation (timed perfectly for the start of lockdown) and several years of impressive sales, virtually the whole world has now heard of, if not read this novel.

If you do belong to the few who have not yet got round to it, do believe the hype. Rooney has achieved something quite remarkable with this novel by writing something that expertly handles and describes the very real angst of modern life for young people in an intelligent and literary way, and in so doing has appeal to readers across a broader spectrum than perhaps any other book I can remember. It's a very modern love story told with all the tension, boredom, humour and tragedy that such things entail and a book that has established its author as one of the most important voices in the English-speaking literary world. Don't be bloody minded, just read it!

The Guest

Alex is a guest in other people's homes and lives - she invites herself in, takes what she can get and then disappears. Through Alex, the reader of Cline's new book takes on the role of a spectator, observing wealthy people's lives on Long Island from the outside looking in. Cline does a great job in conveying the uncanny feeling of long, hot summer days spent at your leisure, but there is more to it: something rotten lurking underneath the surface of all that decadence, a profound sense of unhappiness and aimlessness. We never reach the end of that already fading summer, though - "The Guest" is, like the Long Island vacationers, completely sealed off in its own world. Alex has no existence beyond this space, her thoughts and actions are not explicable by her past and remain inexplicable all along. This might be the real mystery at the heart of Cline's rich novel (in any sense of the word).

The Secret History

A must-read for every "Dark Academia" fan!
Donna Tartt describes the story of six young students from a Greek course, who are forced by a murder to deal with moral concepts and their future. In a nutshell: Dark Academia vibes meet structured lies, intrigue and fears. The individual characters and their actions are well thought out, making you feel part of the circle of friends and plot. Donna Tartt's writing style is sophisticated and thus sets just the right mood for the scenery she describes. Maybe I should re-dress and take a Latin/Greek class after all....

Somewhere Beyond the Sea

Wouldn't you like to be here?'
We've all been waiting so bad for this sequel!
Finally TJ Klune invites readers back to Mr. Parnassus Orphanage for magical Children at Masyas Island and offers a welcome reunion with the beloved Characters.
It'll definitely make you happy! Klune continues to spin the heart-warming tale and this book is just as beautiful to read and as captivating as the first volume!
Who wouldn't love to be part of this magical family?

James

Everett's new novel arrives so highly accoladed that the expectations are through the roof, which can be a disadvantage. Having never really read Twain, I kind of feel like "James" isn't for me and I disagree with other critics proclaiming that this retelling is fully enjoyable on its own. You might not have any troubles following the plot, but you will miss some of the more subtle hints and literary tricks. Having said that, I still had a great time reading it - Everett is a terrific storyteller, and he smoothly jumps between humour and the darker themes. Compared to his other novels that tend to be rather cynical in tone, with this one he really leans into a warmer, more human and ultimately life-affirming direction. For me, "James" works as a heartfelt adventure story that effortlessly tackles some very important topics (and I could not shake off Moon River for weeks).

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

A story about a lifelong friendship and the making of computer games.
I very much liked Zevin's previous novel "The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry" already, but in "Tomorrow, tomorrow and tomorrow" she really upped her game (pun intended)!
I recommend it to everyone who's interested in the interconnectedness of relationships in a millennial setting.
P.S.: No knowledge of gaming, IT or computers whatsoever required! ;)

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Easily the bible of the 21st Century - judging by our sales numbers, roughly every fifth person in the world has bought this book. And no wonder - there's no better book to teach us about clear thinking and making up our own minds in an ever evolving world.

The Bilingual Brain

Berlin is a bilingual city. Even despite writing this review in English, I am not quite anglo- or egocentric enough to mean its linguistic identity is split between German and my mother tongue. But it is a city in which an extraordinary number of people have proficiency in more than one languages (and many in many).
Costa's book, an excellent introduction to the neuroscience of what it means to be bilingual, is therefore a book for Berliners. In witty, digressive prose, he charts how bilingual people's brains are shaped differently (sometimes literally) from the moment of birth to old age. Although he is cautious not to claim too many pure benefits (as a Barcelonan, fluent in Spanish, Catalan and English that could be perceived as smug), he does say bilinguals may be more empathetic and less susceptible to dementia than monolinguals. A book for polyglots to feel more smug about themselves and to inspire monolingual, anglophone Berliners to finally sign up for that German course...

Funny Story

Read and loved! Emily Henry is the master of light reading, but she doesn't shy away from more unwieldy characters either. How something new can emerge from a completely ruined wedding and two totally shattered hearts is simply convincingly described. The right book for in-between times when you want to think about the good things in life.

Recommendations

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

The Secret History

Just Kids

Normal People

Funny Story

The Guest

Somewhere Beyond the Sea

The Bilingual Brain

Thinking, Fast and Slow

James

Dinosaur Therapy

If themes like depression, (social) anxiety and overthinking don?t affect you, they will definitely be affecting someone close to you. These short 3-4 panel comics from Instagram (@dinosandcomics) deal with these topics with humor and tact.
And CUTENESS!

The Midnight Library

This book is all about regrets. Do you also sometimes catch yourself thinking: "I wish I had done that differently"? Nora thinks that about almost every decision she's ever made. So after a suicide attempt, she finds herself in a space between life and death; in her case: the Midnight Library. There she can pick any book containing an alternative life.
Though sometimes a little too cheesy and conventional for my taste this book made me consider my own life choices and whether it really would be a good idea to make changes - even if I could!
No matter which of Matt Haig's books takes your fancy, you'll always be taken on an emotional journey full of original ideas and valuable life advice.

Twisted Love

First things first: Please note, that the relationship in this book is kind of toxic and shouldn't be seen as a normal relationship narrative. This book contains trigger warnings, one can find in the book itself.
So Tik Tok made me buy it and I wasn't disappointed. Twisted Love is one of those books, you can't stop reading. Drama, secrets, hot main characters... To be honest best friend's sister - one could say enemies - to lovers is that kind of plot Ana Huang writes best. And damn, the main love interests background history is way to sad and cruel to be not romanticized. A romance of a lifetime.

Wildfire

Wildfire is definitely one of my personal highlights of the year.
After we flew over the ice with the protagonists in "Icebreaker" and were able to follow their fast-paced love story, we now get to go to summer camp with the shy Russ and the extroverted Rory. There they both spend their summer as counselors to take a break from Maple Hills and their personal demons. It's just silly that they both spent a night together shortly before, which didn't exactly end positively. ..

Wildfire is full of humor and emotion, but also angst, as the protagonists try to abide by the "no staff fraternising" rule while supporting each other in dealing with their daddy issues. Rory and Russ' interactions with each other are just sweet, and the secondary characters at camp, as well as those we know from Maple Hills, add an enormous feel-good factor. Even if wildfire is not the expected sports romance, the story is definitely worthwhile because it gets by without any third act drama and contains very little miscommunication.
All in all, wildfire is a sugary sweet, humorous love story, perfect for fall.

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Whoa. What a devastating read! A dystopia in the darkest sense of the word - without a happy ending whatsoever (that's how I interpret it at least).
A must-read classic.

You'll never think of rats the same way again!

Crying in H Mart

Somewhat to my surprise (since I thought the author and I would have little in common) I was absolutely engrossed by this memoir.
I especially loved Zauner's reminiscence of her life in the Pacific Northwest, more precisely in Eugene, Oregon. It coincidentally is the same town the American side of my family lived for decades and where I spent a few months after graduation myself; getting to know the college town a little bit which means I was able to recognize many of the spots she describes, be it the Willamette River I cycled next to frequently to get downtown or visiting a concert at the McDonald Theatre.
Zauner's heart-wrenching story of her mother's illness brought tears to my eyes several times and her overt passion for Korean food made me curious to try more of this cuisine. This book is a real treasure!

The Maniac

Benjamín Labatut is an excellent writer, as proven by his second novel (and first translated into English) "When We Cease to Understand the World", in which he deftly manoeuvres between genres, perhaps even creating one entirely of his own - a fascinating kind of narrative non-fiction that explores parallels of scientific endeavours in the 20th century, and how they changed our world forever. That is mostly what he continues to do in his third book "Maniac", a story of the first computer to defeat a human in a game of chess and the scientists who were involved in building it, but I have to say that unfortunately it didn't captivate me as much. While it is an interesting and illuminating approach to the incredibly relevant topic of AI, Labatut choses to convey all of it in a style that I would describe as a fictionalized oral history: the scientists are depicted through invented personal accounts of their late contemporaries, looking in from the outside into their incomprehensible minds and lives. What might sound great in theory doesn't actually work that well on the page - there is too much exposition (again and again), and that kind of repetition prevents the reader from ever getting to the heart of things. I'm still looking forward to whatever he does next, but this one simply wasn't for me.

The House in the Cerulean Sea

This book needs to be better known! I can't recall ever reading a story as wholesome as this one; especially in the predominantly gloomy Fantasy genre.
Just as in "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children", the plot revolves around orphaned youths with magical abilities - one more endearing in their quirks that the other. That's about the only common thread though. While the "Miss Peregrine's" series relies on the spooky and strange atmosphere, the crux of the matter in this story is the character development of the protagonist, Linus. His evolution from miserable case worker defined by the "Rules and Regulations Handbook" to a happy healthy human surrounded by loved ones is heart-warming and simply delightful! Moreover, Klune advocates for diversity and openness towards those who are different than 'normal' in an unobtrusive way.
Reading this wonderful book made my heart ache in so many ways. It has a very good chance of becoming my favorite this year - and it's only January!

The Ministry of Time

Imagine we could evacuate certain people from certain points in history to save them from gruesome deaths, thereby making them expats of time: This is Bradley's marvelous debut novel in a nutshell. But there's so much more to it, because this is a novel that delightfully juggles with many different genres to break them apart in very playful and clever ways. With humour, ease, and charming understatement, Bradley weaves a wide spectrum of political and societal criticism into a slow-burn rom-com/spy-thriller/sci-fi time travel plot. Undoubtedly at the centre of the story is Graham Gore, a commander of the Franklin Expedition who is rescued from the Arctic ice and becomes the protagonist's love interest. That "The Ministry of Time" is ultimately Bradley's way of dealing with an obsession she had with the real Gore and his tragic fate is something that becomes apparent in every single sentence - Gore is so lovingly and vividly crafted, he "leaps off the page" (forgive my platitudes). His unbelievably authentic reactions to everything the 21st century throws at him is what give this novel its true spark.

Young Mungo

I might have slightly mixed feelings about this book but, let's be honest, I was always going to give it five stars - just look at that cover! Finally, no longer the tasteful outline of a male head to hint at the gay content within - this one just straight-up puts the snog on the cover!
Stuart's second novel is again a highly gripping and wonderfully alive thing- the Glasgow setting is captured thouroughly and lovingly, the characters seem to step fully formed from the page. Like Stuart's debut, it is set in a poor working class neighbourhood, peopled with an almost Dickensian set of misfits and a grim background indeed for the tender story of first love. My slight reservation here was the abundant (and I mean abundant) violence, primarily directed at Mungo. The tale of a horrifying fishing trip turned nightmare runs through the novel and ramps up the tension. Apart from that it's a gorgeous love story, a novel of class, sexuality and visceral beauty with an almost perfect ending

The Thursday Murder Club

A lot of people seem to think that Agatha Christie is still the undefeated queen of crime fiction and to those people I always want to say: but where is the humour?! If you write cosy crime, surely the point is to be able to include a couple of jokes?
Since that is my point of view, I can't help but think, that Osman has possibly beaten her at her own game. This unlikely crew of sleuthing octogenerians trying to solve a string of murders in their posh retirement home made me cackle repeatedly. Of course it would be easier to solve crimes when your that age, just think how impertinent you can be! I'm taking one star off, just because the solution to the murders involved one soppy love story too many. Apart from that though, this is as delightful as cosy crime gets.

To Paradise

I feel like there was a lot of unused potential here, which makes it even more sad that this novel (for me, at least) just didn't work. Yanagihara's great skill lies in sketching multi-layered, psychologically complex characters, which she so beautifully demonstrated in the microcosm that is her second novel "A Little Life". But "To Paradise" is conceptually the opposite - it is a macrocosm where her (still absolutely perfectly drawn) characters tend to fall apart. They are simply not suited to be stretched out across different storylines, bearing the same name not once but thrice, supposedly connecting societies in past and future, but actually not connecting anything. The result is some half-realized thing of a plot that does not really work as a literary experiment either. This is particularly frustrating because in each of the three stories taken on their own, there definitely was something important to be told - but the meaning of it seemed to get lost somewhere along the way.

Never Let Me Go

Although "Never let me go" deals with a classic sci-fi theme, it narrowly misses that genre.
Kathy, Ruth and Tommy grow up in an alternative late 20th century England where medicine has advanced to the point where human clones are created to keep "real people" alive longer by donating organs. Our main characters are such clones, raised in a boarding school in the countryside, a parallel world where they grow up sheltered but also under the dark shadow of their destiny.
The underlying conflict they are all struggling with - how much personality, how much individual can you be when you know you were only created after someone else and will have to sacrifice yourself for them at some point? - carries the story with a heavy melancholy.
Ishiguru does not write about the dystopian world he has created here (much of the background remains unclear), but about his "second-class people". He answers the question of their humanity for us in the most beautiful, subtle way.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

fast paced, witty and a very special main character, Evelyn reflects on her relentless rise to the top as an actress. Throughout the story, my relationship to Evelyn changed multiple times and often I could not relate to her or her decisions, nevertheless I loved her, her sarcastic-self and the storys she had to tell about all the men she loved or left.

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