reading habit
Books Editor’s Note
Personally, it has been a bit of an unsuccessful reading year for me. Excellent books were read, but equally great books were abandoned, forgotten, put aside to prioritize work, errands, the rare socializing opportunity and ‘Hellbound’ on Netflix. Still, I look at those book spines on my shelves and feel hope and joy above all else—because there they will remain, always so even as everything else around us changes.
A list of good literary reads
One: A treat for the eyes to start us off: LitHub rounds up the 101 best covers of 2021! It’s more exciting than books themselves! I tried to pick a favourite but there are just too many good ones, so I gleefully gave up post-haste.
Two: Molly Templeton on Tor.com writes about the books she was unable to read this year (or any year, really) and guys, it really hit home, that mixture of pain and regret and yearning, all focused on that teetering, unread pile. “Being a person who loves stories means accepting you will never get to read, hear, watch, or otherwise experience enough of them.”
Three: For those of us who like to keep their ear to the ground when it comes to publishing news, Penguin Random House US has released their set of literary and bookish trends and statistics from 2021. Landmark moments include a spike in pre-orders for Amanda Gorman’s ‘The Hill We Climb’ after she performed at Joe Biden’s inauguration, and the rise of the romance novel—because we do deserve some light in this bleak world.
Four: On CrimeReads, a writer asks herself: how much of a foreign language can be used in an English language book? Writing about Havana and wanting to sprinkle some Spanish across the story, she says “my dilemma has always been to convey my characters’ Cubanness without boring, annoying, or worse, losing the reader.” It’s fascinating to see the balancing act the author has to go through to give their book the best possible shape.
Five: Obviously, each one of us has wondered what books to take on a first date. That kind of decision-making is par for the course, but can be truly baffling. Book Riot offers a super-serious guide to the worst books you can bring on a first date so you can avoid them to ensure that there will be a second one.
Six: The Guardian gives us a glimpse at the year in African writing, and what the biggest awards for Damon Galgut, Abdulrazak Gurnah and more mean for literature about and coming out of the continent, as well as for the authors who have been thrust into the literary spotlight. It’s an insightful read, as it takes into account both the advantages of this moment and the caveats it comes with.
Quick fixes, a.k.a., a few varied recommendations
One: The onset of winter can be really gloomy, and one of the things that works for me is just losing myself in BookTube. My favourite BookTuber is Jen Campbell, a British author who talks about the books she’s bought and read in a calming, cosy manner that really alleviates my mood. Her literary knowledge is wide-ranging, and she has a penchant for fairy tales and their retellings, which she does deep dives into. In addition, she sometimes cooks and bakes as she talks about books (always great), and also shines a light on disability in general (including her own) and how it’s represented in literature.
Two: We have so many hyped adaptations of books coming out this month, including Harlan Coben’s ‘Stay Close’ and Elena Ferrante’s ‘The Lost Daughter’. But what I’m MOST excited for is—and it’s a bit of an obvious choice, but bear with me—‘Hawkeye’ on Disney+, because it’s based on one of my favourite comic book runs of all time. Really, anyone who’s looking for an offbeat, hilarious and intelligent superhero story should 100% pick up Matt Fraction and David Aja’s ‘Hawkeye’ series, which takes an underrated and side-lined powerless “super”hero and turns him into a guy-next-door who happens to be hanging with the Avengers while also worrying about stuff like how to pay rent. I’m waiting for all the episodes to come out before I binge over an evening.
Three: An author you should check out is Lyndsay Faye, who first caught my eye because she’s an inveterate Sherlockian and wrote an excellent pastiche called ‘Dust and Shadow’. Her Gothic reimagining of ‘Jane Eyre’, called ‘Jane Steele’, sees Jane a murderer by circumstance, a take that Faye brought to life deftly and effectively. Her oeuvre of historical fiction matched with iconic characters and an immersive, engaging writing style makes for effortless reading, and more readers should partake of it.
Note: Reading Habit is curated by our book editor Anushree Kaushal. Want to send along recommendations, feedback or just say hi? Email her at kaushalanushree@gmail.com.
