Thank f**k for books

When you can’t write about your life on a Substack about your life, what can you write about?

As I said in a note on here recently, I’m going through some stuff. It’s stuff that’s probably best kept for therapy, so for the moment I am keeping it off the page, but given it has practically taken over my life it means I’m struggling to write about anything else. But I can at least write about the books that are saving me right now and for that reason, I am going to suspend my paid subscriptions for a few weeks, and will make this post (about those books) free to read.

My most frequently repeated sentiment at the moment, as I put one foot in front of the other, is ‘thank f**k for books.’ I mean this first of all in the sense of my own writing. I’m still (thankfully) finding it possible to lose myself in the writing of my third novel. I am able to process emotion that way, while also getting respite from the perpetual worry and rumination, but I also mean it in the sense of other people’s books, as a way to escape and to safely express the maelstrom of emotion I have swirling around me on any given day.

I am reminded of myself as a little girl who, in an unhappy and chaotic family situation, sought solace in stories and was both comforted and nourished by them. The same remains true today, and again, thank f**k for that.

These are the five books I have read recently that have allowed me to find perspective by losing myself in their pages.

The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Harnett

I at first dismissed this novel as not for me on the basis of the cover (which screamed ‘I am a quirky book’), but a number of people whose taste I share had posted about it, so I decided to give it a try, and it turns out it 100% was for me.

A road trip novel, this tells the story of 63 year old PJ Halliday who, on hearing that his childhood sweetheart has been widowed, decides to drive to Arizona (where she now lives at the Tender Hearts Retirement Community) to reunite with her. He is joined in this endeavour by his daughter, with whom he has a strained relationship, and two children he has recently had to take care of in tragic circumstances. Oh, and a cat called Pancakes.

I cannot rave about this wonderful novel enough. It was exactly what I needed to read at the moment. This is a book about imperfect people being imperfect but loving and living anyway (which is my favourite genre). I laughed and cried at these wonderful characters, and I still miss them as though they were real people.

The Shampoo Effect by Jenny Jackson

I really enjoyed Jenny’s first novel, Pineapple Street, but I loved this one. It is the quintessential quality beach read - about a group of friends in New England whose lives are thrown into turmoil by a new arrival and an unplanned pregnancy. It is so beautifully observed and the writing so sharp that I flew through it in a matter of days and was gutted when I had finished it as I just wanted to stay with them all. Warm and funny.

The Amateur by Chris Bohjalian

I knew nothing about this novel going in, I was given it by one of the team at my publishers (we are published on the same imprint in the UK) as she thought I might like it (you were right Rebecca, I really did) and I found it wholly absorbing and darkly funny with a fantastic, distinctive voice.

The novel is about Mira Winston, an 18 year old golf prodigy living in the New York suburbs whose life is changed by a freak accident in 1978. This is another ‘imperfect people being imperfect but loving and living anyway’ novel, with a side order of mystery, and I adored Mira so much.

The Shadows of Kensington Gore by Ross Montgomery (this one isn’t out until October, but it is worth a pre-order and the first one in the series is out now).

Ross is a prolific children’s author, and whether that has something to do with the energy and exuberance of his adult novels, or whether that’s just him, I don’t know. I was sent his first adult novel ‘The Murder at World’s End’ last year, and I tore through this introduction to amateur detective duo Stockingham and Pike, like I remember doing with the Famous Five books of my childhood. Set in the early twentieth century, these novels are a combination of fiendish whodunnit, historical fiction and delightful (and in the case of Miss Decima, one half of Stockingham and Pike, often very sweary) characterisation.

The Unselected Journals of Emma. M. Lion by Beth Brower

I logged onto this platform earlier and saw that my esteemed friend and Substack legend Natasha Poliszczuk had written a whole piece about these books which I am linking to here, as she does a way better job of describing then than I could, but honestly, do yourself a favour and read them. They have been a life-saver for me this year. You can see from the cover how much I loved them (was so thrilled to be quoted on them), and the best bit is how many volumes there are!

I very much hope to be back writing on here and on form again soon.

Much love, Jennie