10 fiction books I've been loving recently

I love having my nose in a book. I constantly have a new read on the go and there’s nothing I love more than finding a quiet corner all to myself where I can escape with a book. In complete silence and utter bliss! I love that reading takes me out of my everyday, into other, alternate worlds where I don’t have to think about my own worries. Fiction can transport you to another place, another time, another life. I can let my mind wander and meditate over words, thoughts and meanings. I find peace and pause, I laugh, I cry, and close the pages feeling restored, inspired and infused with ideas.

For the past couple of years I’ve been using the app Goodreads to record the books I read. Otherwise I would hardly be able to remember what I’ve read or not read. I also like that they have a ‘Reading Challenge’ where you can set a goal of how many books you want to read in a year. I’ve set myself a goal of reading 30 books this year and I’ve currently read 16 books since January. You can also rate books out of 5 and see what friends are reading and bookmarking. I really recommend it if you like to read. You can find my Goodreads profile here.

You might wander how I find the time to read with a little one and a business of my own. I don’t commute so that gives me a bit of extra time. I often wind down at bedtime with a book rather than watching something. I’ve tried to make sure my daughter sees me reading at weekends while she’s playing so she knows I’m not just there solely for her entertainment and so she appreciates that you can pick up a book at any time. I probably read quite quickly. And I just love reading.

Everyone has a style or genre of book that they like most. Here I’m sharing 10 fiction books that I’ve been loving recently, but they might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Sometimes my best friend recommends a book and I give it two stars and feel guilty. Other times I’ll recommend one to her and she just won’t be able to get on with it.

Here is what I like and then you can see if you like it too. I love cosy, domestic books about ordinary lives, friendships, family dynamics or interrelational sagas. Sometimes, when zoomed out, it might seem that not much happens or there’s not much of a storyline. These books are not necessarily dramatic or gripping like a thriller, it’s more about how people connect and relate to one another, the subtle nuances of what is not said, the things that go unseen, the hidden secrets, the heartbreak, the breaking apart of lives and the stitching back together. Really, I love understanding what makes us human. And I find these kind of stories incredibly relatable compared to anything that is in more in a fantasy realm. In stories like this characters are messy, flawed and really just trying their best and wanting to be accepted, as we all are. There’s little communication breakdowns, the unspoken resentments, the misunderstandings that blow up, the couple who belong together but can’t quite build up the guts to say it. It feels real.

I also love stories that flip between timelines or the voices of different characters, slowly building up a bigger picture, chapter by chapter, as you uncover the real story.

I have another very niche interest when it comes to books. For some reason or other, I am obsessed with books set in World War One or World War Two. I don’t know why, maybe I was a spy in a former life. I’m not interested in the actual warfare of it, the guts and violence. What I’m interested in is the ordinary lives that somehow, through it all, just got on with it and made a life for themselves. I’m fascinated by the women who took over men’s jobs, the ones that found themselves, the ones doing the work beyond the frontlines. If the story is about a female spy parachuting into occupied France, I’m there, if it’s a romance set in the blitz, I’m also there.

But anyway, I digress. Let’s get back to my 10 favourite reads and I’ve just realised I gave them all 5 stars. They’re not necessarily new reads because I buy a lot of my books from Oxfam bookshops and it just depends what they have there at the time. So in no particular order:

1. Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson - 5 stars

2. The Artist by Lucy Steeds - 5 stars

3. The Names by Florence Knapp - 5 stars

4. Heart the Lover by Lily King - 5 stars

5. The Fair Botanists by Sara Sheridan - 5 Stars

6. Expectation by Anna Hope - 5 stars

7. The Echoes by Evie Wyld - 5 stars

8. This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page - 5 stars

9. The Wedding People by Alison Espach - 5 stars

10. The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden - 5 stars

1. Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson - 5 stars

   I read this book in a day! Admittedly it’s quite a thin book but I hardly ever do that. I was gripped from the start by this tender love story between two young Black British people who meet in a pub in south east London. It reminded me of a mix between Sally Rooney’s emotionally stunted characters and a Zadie Smith novel. It’s all about the things that go unsaid and unseen, capturing the dizzy torment of falling in love, as well as the weight of what it means to be Black British today. The writing is very poetic and lyrical, rolling along through moments of intimacy and vulnerability, building to a crescendo.

   Here is a favourite passage that I underlined: ‘To have a home is a luxury. To know someone before you knew them introduces a freedom previously unknown, when in their presence. Perhaps this is what home is: freedom. It’s easy to stay furled up where you can’t live, like folding a book in half on its spine to fit into pockets.’