book recs
my go-to book recommendations
Items in this hypelist
Poetry and Prose
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Ocean Vuong · 2019
Literary fiction
Ninth House (Alex Stern, 1)
Leigh Bardugo · 2020
Normal People: A Novel
Sally Rooney · 2020
<b>NOW AN EMMY-NOMINATED HULU ORIGINAL SERIES • <i>NEW YORK TIMES</i> BESTSELLER • LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE • “A stunning novel about the transformative power of relationships” (<i>People</i>) from the author of <i>Conversations with Friends,</i> “a master of the literary page-turner” (J. Courtney Sullivan).</b><br> <br><b>“[A] novel that demands to be read compulsively, in one sitting.”—<i>The Washington Post</i></b><br><br><b>ONE OF <i>ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY</i>’S TEN BEST NOVELS OF THE DECADE</b><br><br><b>TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: <i>People, Slate,</i> The New York Public Library, <i>Harvard Crimson</i></b><br><br>Connell and Marianne grew up in the same small town, but the similarities end there. At school, Connell is popular and well liked, while Marianne is a loner. But when the two strike up a conversation—awkward but electrifying—something life changing begins.<br><br>A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years at university, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. And as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other.<br><br><i>Normal People</i> is the story of mutual fascination, friendship, and love. It takes us from that first conversation to the years beyond, in the company of two people who try to stay apart but find that they can’t.<br> <br><b>WINNER: The British Book Award, The Costa Book Award, The An Post Irish Novel of the Year, <i>Sunday Times </i>Young Writer of the Year Award</b><br><br><b>BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: <i>The New York Times</i>, <i>The New York Times Book Review, Oprah Daily, Time,</i> NPR, <i>The Washington Post, Vogue, Esquire, Glamour, Elle, Marie Claire, Vox, The Paris Review, Good Housekeeping, Town & Country</i></b>
My Year of Rest and Relaxation: A Novel
Ottessa Moshfegh · 2018
The Handmaids Tale
Margaret Atwood · 2017
1984
George Orwell · 1983
75th ANNIVERSARY EDITION “Orwell saw, to his credit, that the act of falsifying reality is only secondarily a way of changing perceptions. It is, above all, a way of asserting power.”—The New Yorker In 1984, London is a grim city in the totalitarian state of Oceania where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston Smith is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be. Lionel Trilling said of Orwell’s masterpiece “1984 is a profound, terrifying, and wholly fascinating book. It is a fantasy of the political future, and like any such fantasy, serves its author as a magnifying device for an examination of the present.” Though the year 1984 now exists in the past, Orwell’s dystopian classic remains an urgent call for the individual willing to speak truth to power.
The Secret History
Donna Tartt · 1992
<b><b><b><b>ONE OF <i>TIME MAGAZINE</i>'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME • </b>INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A contemporary literary classic and "a<b>n accomplished psychological thriller ... absolutely chilling" (<i>Village Voice</i>)</b>, f<b>rom the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of <i>The Goldfinch.<br><br></i></b></b></b>One of <i>The Atlantic</i>’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years</b><br><br>Under the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries. But their search for the transcendent leads them down a dangerous path, beyond human constructs of morality.<br><br><b>“A remarkably powerful novel [and] a ferociously well-paced entertainment . . . Forceful, cerebral, and impeccably controlled.” —<i>The New York Times</i></b>
Sci-fi
This Is How You Lose the Time War
Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone · 2019
Project Hail Mary: A Novel
Andy Weir · 2021
Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb Series Book 1)
Tamsyn Muir · 2019
<p><b><i>Gideon the Ninth</i> is the first book in the <i>New York Times</i> and <i>USA Today</i> Bestselling Locked Tomb Series, and one of the Best Books of 2019 according to NPR, the New York Public Library, Amazon, <i>BookPage</i>, <i>Shelf Awareness,</i> <i>BookRiot</i>, and <i>Bustle</i>!</b><br><b><br>WINNER of the 2020 Locus Award and Crawford Award<br>Finalist for the 2023 Hugo Award for Best Series!<br></b><b>Finalist for the 2020 Hugo, Nebula, Dragon, and World Fantasy Awards</b><br><b><br>“Unlike anything I’ve ever read. ” —V.E. Schwab<br></b><b><br>“Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space!” —Charles Stross<br><br>“Deft, tense and atmospheric, compellingly immersive and wildly original.” —<i>The New York Times<br></i></b><br>The Emperor needs necromancers.<br><br>The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.<br><br>Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead nonsense.<br><br>Tamsyn Muir’s <i>Gideon the Ninth</i> unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.<br><br>Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service.<br><br>Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will be become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.<br><br>Of course, some things are better left dead.<br><br>THE LOCKED TOMB SERIES<br>BOOK 1: <i>Gideon the Ninth</i><br>BOOK 2: <i>Harrow the Ninth<br></i>BOOK 3: <i>Nona the Ninth</i><br>BOOK 4: <i>Alecto the Ninth</i><br><br>At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.</p>
Illuminae (The Illuminae Files Book 1)
Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff · 2015
YA
Scythe (Arc of a Scythe Book 1)
Neal Shusterman · 2016
Six of Crows
Leigh Bardugo · 2015
I'll Give You the Sun Paperback – Apr 2015 by Jandy Nelson (Author)
unknown author · 2015
A Winter’s Promise: Book One of The Mirror Visitor Quartet (The Mirror Visitor Quartet, 1)
Christelle Dabos · 2020
Last Night at the Telegraph Club
Malinda Lo · 2021
The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker
James Lauren · 2020
Solitaire
Alice Oseman · 2023
All That’s Left in the World
Erik J. Brown · 2023
Today Tonight Tomorrow
Rachel Lynn Solomon · 2020
The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air Book 1)
Holly Black · 2018
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black, comes the first book in a stunning new series about a mortal girl who finds herself caught in a web of royal faerie intrigue. Of course I want to be like them. They're beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever. And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe. Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King. To win a place at the Court, she must defy him--and face the consequences. In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.
These Violent Delights (1) (These Violent Delights Duet)
Chloe Gong · 2020
<b>An Instant <i>New York Times </i>Bestseller!</b><br> <b>A <i>BuzzFeed</i> Best Young Adult Book of 2020</b><br> <br><b>Perfect for fans of <i>The Last Magician </i>and <i>Serpent & Dove</i>, this heart-stopping debut is an imaginative <i>Romeo and Juliet </i>retelling set in 1920s Shanghai, with rival gangs and a monster in the depths of the Huangpu River.</b><br><br>The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery.<br> <br>A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang—a network of criminals far above the law. Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, Juliette’s first love…and first betrayal.<br> <br>But when gangsters on both sides show signs of instability culminating in clawing their own throats out, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, a madness. Of a monster in the shadows. As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule.
The Hunger Games (Hunger Games Trilogy, Book 1)
Suzanne Collins · 2009
This Special Edition of <i>The Hunger Games</i> includes the most extensive interview Suzanne Collins has given since the publication of <i>The Hunger Games</i>; an absorbing behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the series; and an engaging archival conversation between Suzanne Collins and YA legend Walter Dean Myers on writing about war. The Special Edition answers many questions fans have had over the years, and gives great insight into the creation of this era-defining work.<p></p>In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to death before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Still, if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
