Bookworm
Items in this hypelist
Rumination on the value of female friendships:
The Joy Luck Club: A Novel
Amy Tan · 2006
“The Joy Luck Club is one of my favorite books. From the moment I first started reading it, I knew it was going to be incredible. For me, it was one of those once-in-a-lifetime reading experiences that you cherish forever. It inspired me as a writer and still remains hugely inspirational.” —Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians<br/><br/>Amy Tan’s beloved, New York Times bestselling tale of mothers and daughters, now the focus of a new documentary Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir on Netflix<br/><br/>Four mothers, four daughters, four families whose histories shift with the four winds depending on who's "saying" the stories. In 1949 four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, begin meeting to eat dim sum, play mahjong, and talk. United in shared unspeakable loss and hope, they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. Rather than sink into tragedy, they choose to gather to raise their spirits and money. "To despair was to wish back for something already lost. Or to prolong what was already unbearable." Forty years later the stories and history continue.<br/><br/>With wit and sensitivity, Amy Tan examines the sometimes painful, often tender, and always deep connection between mothers and daughters. As each woman reveals her secrets, trying to unravel the truth about her life, the strings become more tangled, more entwined. Mothers boast or despair over daughters, and daughters roll their eyes even as they feel the inextricable tightening of their matriarchal ties. Tan is an astute storyteller, enticing readers to immerse themselves into these lives of complexity and mystery.
The Enchanted April (Warbler Classics Annotated Edition)
Elizabeth von Arnim · 2022
My Brilliant Friend (Neapolitan Novels Book 1)
Elena Ferrante · 2012
Beginning in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, Elena Ferrante’s four-volume story spans almost sixty years, as its main characters, the fiery and unforgettable Lila and the bookish narrator, Elena, become women, wives, mothers, and leaders, all the while maintaining a complex and at times conflicted friendship. This first novel in the series follows Lila and Elena from their fateful meeting as ten-year-olds through their school years and adolescence. <br/> <br/>Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighborhood, a city, and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between two women. <br/> <br/>--https://www.europaeditions.com/book/9781609458638/my-brilliant-friend
Everything I Know About Love: A Memoir
Dolly Alderton · 2021
Feeling romantic and miserable
Last Words from Montmartre
Qiu Miaojin · 2014
Madonna in a Fur Coat
Sabahattin Ali · 2020
The bestselling Turkish classic of love and longing in a changing world, available in English for the first time. 'It is, perhaps, easier to dismiss a man whose face gives no indication of an inner life. And what a pity that is: a dash of curiosity is all it takes to stumble upon treasures we never expected.' A shy young man leaves his home in rural Turkey to learn a trade in 1920s Berlin. The city's crowded streets, thriving arts scene, passionate politics and seedy cabarets provide the backdrop for a chance meeting with a woman, which will haunt him for the rest of his life. Emotionally powerful, intensely atmospheric and touchingly profound, Madonna in a Fur Coat is an unforgettable novel about new beginnings and the unfathomable nature of the human soul. 'Passionate but clear . . . Ali's success [is in ] his ability to describe the emergence of a feeling, seemingly straightforward from the outside but swinging back and forth between opposite extremes at its core, revealing the tensions that accompanies such rise and fall.' Atilla Özkirimli, writer and literary historian
Giovanni's Room
James Baldwin
The Song of Achilles: A Novel
Madeline Miller · 2012
A New York Times Bestseller<br/>“At once a scholar’s homage to The Iliad and startlingly original work of art….A book I could not put down.” —Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House<br/>A thrilling, profoundly moving, and utterly unique retelling of the legend of Achilles and the Trojan War from the bestselling author of Circe<br/>A tale of gods, kings, immortal fame, and the human heart, The Song of Achilles is a dazzling literary feat that brilliantly reimagines Homer’s enduring masterwork, The Iliad. An action-packed adventure, an epic love story, a marvelously conceived and executed page-turner, Miller’s monumental debut novel has already earned resounding acclaim from some of contemporary fiction’s brightest lights—and fans of Mary Renault, Bernard Cornwell, Steven Pressfield, and Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series will delight in this unforgettable journey back to ancient Greece in the Age of Heroes.<br/>“A captivating retelling of The Iliad and events leading up to it through the point of view of Patroclus: it’s a hard book to put down, and any classicist will be enthralled by her characterisation of the goddess Thetis, which carries the true savagery and chill of antiquity.” — Donna Tartt, The Times
Young Mungo
Stuart Douglas · 2022
Selected as one of The Oprah Daily's Best Books of 2022From Booker-prizewinner Douglas Stuart an extraordinary, page-turning second novel, a vivid portrayal of working-class life and a highly suspenseful story of the dangerous first love of two young men: Mungo and James.Born under different stars, Protestant Mungo and Catholic James live in the hyper-masculine and violently sectarian world of Glasgow's housing estates. They should be sworn enemies if they're to be seen as men at all, and yet they become best friends as they find a sanctuary in the pigeon dovecote that James has built for his prize racing birds. As they find themselves falling in love, they dream of escaping the grey city, and Mungo works especially hard to hide his true self from all those around him, especially from his elder brother Hamish, a local gang leader with a brutal reputation to uphold.But the threat of discovery is constant and the punishment unspeakable. When Mungo's mother sends him on a fishing trip to a loch in Western Scotland with two strange men whose drunken banter belies murky pasts, he will need to summon all his inner strength and courage to get back to a place of safety, a place where he and James might still have a future.Imbuing the everyday world of its characters with rich lyricism and giving full voice to people rarely acknowledged in literary fiction, Douglas Stuart's Young Mungo is a gripping and revealing story about the bounds of masculinity, the push and pull of family, the violence faced by so many queer people, and the dangers of loving someone too much.SHORTLISTED FOR THE ABIA INTERNATIONAL BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023PRAISE FOR YOUNG MUNGO'I wasn't sure Young Mungo could live up to Shuggie Bain, but it surpasses it. Deeply harrowing but gently infused with hope & love. And so exquisitely written. It's a joy to watch, in real time, as Douglas Stuart takes his place as one of the greats of Scottish literature.' Nicola Sturgeon'Few novels are as gutsy and gut-wrenching as Young Mungo in its depiction of a teenage boy who finds love amid family dysfunction, community conflict and the truly terrible predations of adults. Vividly realised and emotionally intense, this scorching novel is an urgent addition to the new canon of unsung stories.' Bernardine Evaristo'I can honestly say that the second novel from the author of Shuggie Bain... surpassed my (high) expectations. Stuart makes you care deeply about all of his characters but none more than Mungo, Mo-Maw's beloved, "the softest, sweetest boy she had ever known".' - Bookseller, 'Fiction Book of the Month''Prepare your hearts, for Douglas Stuart is back... Another beautiful and moving book' -Observer'Again this author creates characters so vivid, dilemmas so heart-rending, and dialogue so brilliant that the whole thing sucks you in like a vacuum cleaner... Romantic, terrifying, brutal, tender, and, in the end, sneakily hopeful. What a writer.' - Kirkus Reviews'There are wonderful stories in publishing, but the story of Douglas Stuart is pure magic... With Young Mungo... more magic is all but guaranteed... The book is a literary wonder and a suspenseful page-turner.' - Publishers' Weekly
Feeling romantic and happy
North and South (Elizabeth)
Elizabeth Gaskell · 2016
Happy All the Time
Laurie Colwin · 2014
Alone With You in the Ether
Olivie Blake · 2020
Honing your worldly knowledge
East, West: Stories
Salman Rushdie · 1995
We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I
Raja Shehadeh · 2023
'Profoundly personal as well as historically significant ... In his moral clarity and baring of the heart, Shehadeh recalls writers such as Ghassan Kanafani and Primo Levi' Hisham Matar, New York Times<br/><br/>Aziz Shehadeh was many things: lawyer, activist, and political detainee, he was also the father of bestselling author and activist Raja. In this new and searingly personal memoir, Raja Shehadeh unpicks the snags and complexities of their relationship.<br/><br/>A vocal and fearless opponent, Aziz resists under the British mandatory period, then under Jordan, and, finally, under Israel. As a young man, Raja fails to recognise his father's courage and, in turn, his father does not appreciate Raja's own efforts in campaigning for Palestinian human rights. When Aziz is murdered in 1985, it changes Raja irrevocably.<br/><br/>This is not only the story of the battle against the various oppressors of the Palestinians, but a moving portrait of a particular father and son relationship.
A Mercy
Toni Morrison · 2009
Kim Ji-young, Born 1982
Cho Nam-Joo · 2020
Thought daughter-ing
Agua viva
Clarice Lispector · 2020
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Milan Kundera · 2004
All About Love: New Visions (Love Song to the Nation)
bell hooks · 2018
<p>A New York Times bestseller and enduring classic, All About Love is the acclaimed first volume in feminist icon bell hooks' "Love Song to the Nation" trilogy. All About Love reveals what causes a polarized society, and how to heal the divisions that cause suffering. Here is the truth about love, and inspiration to help us instill caring, compassion, and strength in our homes, schools, and workplaces.<br></p><p>"The word 'love' is most often defined as a noun, yet we would all love better if we used it as a verb, " writes bell hooks as she comes out fighting and on fire inAll About Love. Here, at her most provocative and intensely personal, renowned scholar, cultural critic and feminist bell hooks offers a proactive new ethic for a society bereft with lovelessness--not the lack of romance, but the lack of care, compassion, and unity. People are divided, she declares, by society's failure to provide a model for learning to love.<br></p><p>Asbellhooksuses her incisive mind to explore the question "What is love?" her answers strike at both the mind and heart. Razing the cultural paradigm that the ideal love is infused with sex and desire, she provides a new path to love that is sacred, redemptive, and healing for individuals and for a nation. TheUtne Readerdeclared bell hooks one of the "100 Visionaries Who Can Change Your Life."All About Loveis a powerful, timely affirmation of just how profoundly her revelations can change hearts and minds for the better.<br></p>
Ariel
Sylvia Plath · 2013
Ariel (1965) contains many of Sylvia Plath's best-known poems written in an extraordinary burst of creativity just before her death in 1963, including 'Lady Lazarus', 'Edge', 'Daddy' and 'Paralytic'. The first of four collections to be published by Faber & Faber, Ariel is the volume on which Sylvia Plath's reputation as one of the most original, daring and gifted poets of the twentieth century rests. This beautiful hardback reproduces the classic design of the first edition of a volume now recognised to be one of the most shocking and iconic collections of poetry of the twentieth century. 'If the poems are despairing, vengeful and destructive, they are at the same time tender, open to things, and also unusually clever, sardonic, hardminded . . . They are works of great artistic purity and, despite all the nihilism, great generosity . . . the book is a major literary event.' A. Alvarez in the Observer
Feeling young and free, yet coming of age
Love in the Big City
Sang Young Park · 2021
Summer Crossing
Truman Capote · 2006
JULES E JIM
Henri-Pierre Roché · 1989
Bonjour Tristesse
Francoise Sagan · 2001
Bed rotting
Picnic at Hanging Rock (Penguin Classics)
Joan Lindsay · 2017
To the Lighthouse
Virginia Woolf · 1989
The Bell Jar (Modern Classics)
Sylvia Plath · 2005
<p><i>The Bell Jar</i> chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under -- maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made <i>The Bell Jar</i> a haunting American classic.</p> <p>This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.</p>
Stoner (New York Review Books Classics)
John Williams · 2006
Simply Greece
The Women of Troy
Barker Pat · 2022
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER<br/><br/>Following her bestselling, critically acclaimed The Silence of the Girls, Pat Barker continues her extraordinary retelling of one of our greatest myths.<br/><br/>'Myth for a MeToo age. Pat Barker returns to Homer in this gory but unexpectedly uplifting novel' Sunday Times<br/><br/>Troy has fallen. The Greeks have won their bitter war. They can return home as victors - all they need is a good wind to lift their sails. But the wind has vanished, the seas becalmed by vengeful gods, and so the warriors remain in limbo - camped in the shadow of the city they destroyed, kept company by the women they stole from it.<br/><br/>The women of Troy.<br/><br/>Helen - poor Helen. All that beauty, all that grace - and she was just a mouldy old bone for feral dogs to fight over.<br/><br/>Cassandra, who has learned not to be too attached to her own prophecies. They have only ever been believed when she can get a man to deliver them.<br/><br/>Stubborn Amina, with her gaze still fixed on the ruined towers of Troy, determined to avenge the slaughter of her king.<br/><br/>Hecuba, howling and clawing her cheeks on the silent shore, as if she could make her cries heard in the gloomy halls of Hades. As if she could wake the dead.<br/><br/>And Briseis, carrying her future in her womb: the unborn child of the dead hero Achilles. Once again caught up in the disputes of violent men. Once again faced with the chance to shape history.<br/><br/>Masterful and enduringly resonant, ambitious and intimate, The Women of Troy continues Pat Barker's extraordinary retelling of one of our greatest classical myths, following on from the critically acclaimed The Silence of the Girls.<br/><br/>'Readers turn to Barker's novels for their plain truths and clear-eyed sense of our history and creation stories. But the sombre clarity of her writing is offset by a luminous wisdom' Sunday Times<br/><br/>'The Women Of Troy's immediate beauty is its accessibility and Barker's precise, elegant writing' Metro<br/><br/>'Barker has always looked on the world with the combination of a cold eye and a sympathetic understanding. Her characterisation is sharp, her sympathy deep' ipaper
The Silence of the Girls: A Novel
Pat Barker · 2018
Hera
Jennifer Saint · 2024
Daughters of Sparta: A Novel
Claire Heywood · 2021
For millennia, men have told the legend of the woman whose face launched a thousand ships—but now it's time to hear her side of the story. Daughters of Sparta is a tale of secrets, love, and tragedy from the women behind mythology's most devastating war, the infamous Helen and her sister Klytemnestra. As princesses of Sparta, Helen and Klytemnestra have known nothing but luxury and plenty. With their high birth and unrivaled beauty, they are the envy of all of Greece. But such privilege comes at a cost. While still only girls, the sisters are separated and married to foreign kings of their father's choosing— Helen remains in Sparta to be betrothed to Menelaos, and Klytemnestra is sent alone to an unfamiliar land to become the wife of the powerful Agamemnon. Yet even as Queens, each is only expected to do two things: birth an heir and embody the meek, demure nature that is expected of women. But when the weight of their husbands' neglect, cruelty, and ambition becomes too heavy to bear, Helen and Klytemnestra must push against the constraints of their society to carve new lives for themselves, and in doing so, make waves that will ripple throughout the next three thousand years. Daughters of Sparta is a vivid and illuminating reimagining of the Siege of Troy, told through the perspectives of two women whose voices have been ignored for far too long.
Ithaca
Claire North · 2022
Clytemnestra
Costanza Casati · 2023
House of Odysseus
Claire North · 2023
These Great Athenians
Valentine Carter · 2022
House of Names
Toibin Colm · 2018
THE TOP 10 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER<br/>'Unforgettable' Mary Beard<br/>'They cut her hair before they dragged her to the place of sacrifice. Her mouth was gagged to stop her cursing her father, her cowardly, two-tongued father. Nonetheless, they heard her muffled screams.'<br/>On the day of his daughter's wedding, Agamemnon orders her sacrifice.<br/>His daughter is led to her death, and Agamemnon leads his army into battle, where he is rewarded with glorious victory.<br/>Three years later, he returns home and his murderous action has set the entire family - mother, brother, sister - on a path of intimate violence, as they enter a world of hushed commands and soundless journeys through the palace's dungeons and bedchambers. As his wife seeks his death, his daughter, Electra, is the silent observer to the family's game of innocence while his son, Orestes, is sent into bewildering, frightening exile where survival is far from certain. Out of their desolating loss, Electra and Orestes must find a way to right these wrongs of the past even if it means committing themselves to a terrible, barbarous act.<br/>House of Names is a story of intense longing and shocking betrayal. It is a work of great beauty, and daring, from one of our finest living writers.<br/>'A masterpeice' Daily Telegraph<br/>'Devastatingly human ... hauntingly believable' Guardian<br/>'A celebration of what novels can do' Observer
Troy: The Greek Myths Reimagined (Mythos, 3)
Stephen Fry · 2021
Mythos: (Ancient Greek Mythology Book for Adults, Modern Telling of Classical Greek Myths Book) (Stephen Fry's Greek Myths, 1)
Stephen Fry · 2019
<b><i>Mythos</i> is a modern collection of Greek myths, stylishly retold by legendary writer, actor, and comedian Stephen Fry.</b> Fry transforms the adventures of Zeus and the Olympians into emotionally resonant and deeply funny stories, without losing any of their original wonder.<br><br><b>This stunning book features classical artwork</b> inspired by the myths, as well as learned notes from the author.<br><br>• Each adventure is infused with Fry's distinctive wit, voice, and writing style<br>• Connoisseurs of the Greek myths will appreciate this fresh-yet-reverential interpretation, while newcomers will feel welcome<br>• Retellings brim with humor and emotion and offer rich cultural context<br><br><b>Celebrating the thrills, grandeur, and unabashed fun of the Greek myths, <i>Mythos</i> breathes life into ancient tales—from Pandora's box to Prometheus's fire.<br><br>This gorgeous volume invites you to explore a captivating world with the brilliant storyteller Stephen Fry as your guide.</b><br>• A collectible volume complete with a textured case, a foil-stamped jacket, and full-color art throughout<br>• The perfect gift for Greek mythology and history buffs, lovers of ancient Greece, art aficionados, and devoted fans of Stephen Fry<br>• Add it to the shelf with books like <i>Circe</i> by Madeline Miller, <i>Norse Mythology</i> by Neil Gaiman, and <i>Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes</i> by Edith Hamilton
The Song of Achilles: A Novel
Madeline Miller · 2012
A New York Times Bestseller<br/>“At once a scholar’s homage to The Iliad and startlingly original work of art….A book I could not put down.” —Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House<br/>A thrilling, profoundly moving, and utterly unique retelling of the legend of Achilles and the Trojan War from the bestselling author of Circe<br/>A tale of gods, kings, immortal fame, and the human heart, The Song of Achilles is a dazzling literary feat that brilliantly reimagines Homer’s enduring masterwork, The Iliad. An action-packed adventure, an epic love story, a marvelously conceived and executed page-turner, Miller’s monumental debut novel has already earned resounding acclaim from some of contemporary fiction’s brightest lights—and fans of Mary Renault, Bernard Cornwell, Steven Pressfield, and Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series will delight in this unforgettable journey back to ancient Greece in the Age of Heroes.<br/>“A captivating retelling of The Iliad and events leading up to it through the point of view of Patroclus: it’s a hard book to put down, and any classicist will be enthralled by her characterisation of the goddess Thetis, which carries the true savagery and chill of antiquity.” — Donna Tartt, The Times
Heroes: The Greek Myths Reimagined (Stephen Fry's Greek Myths, 2)
Stephen Fry · 2020
Circe
Madeline Miller · 2020
"A bold and subversive retelling of the goddess's story," this #1 New York Times bestseller is "both epic and intimate in its scope, recasting the most infamous female figure from the Odyssey as a hero in her own right" (Alexandra Alter, The New York Times). In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child -- not powerful like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power -- the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves. Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts, and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus. But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love. With unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and page-turning suspense, Circe is a triumph of storytelling, an intoxicating epic of family rivalry, palace intrigue, love and loss, as well as a celebration of indomitable female strength in a man's world. #1 New York Times bestseller -- named one of the best books of the year by NPR, the Washington Post, People, Time, Amazon, Entertainment Weekly, Bustle, Newsweek, the A.V. Club, Christian Science Monitor, Refinery 29, BuzzFeed, Paste, Audible, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Thrillist, NYPL, Self, Real Simple, Goodreads, Boston Globe, Electric Literature, BookPage, the Guardian, Book Riot, Seattle Times, and Business Insider
Donde viven las musas (Poesía) (Spanish Edition)
Marianela Dos Santos · 2023
<p><i>¿Qué tienen en común las historias más románticas de la mitología griega con tu propio dolor convertido en poesía?</i><b> </b>Acompaña a la autora en un poemario sincero y emocional que te llevará desde los mitos atemporales más conocidos, hasta su propio corazón desbordado de versos. Una experiencia literaria que te ayudará a salir en busca de la inspiración incluso en tus momentos más oscuros. Porque en este viaje las musas susurran a aquellos que creen en la magia... y solo cuando creemos, la magia nos encuentra.</p>
The Clandestine Dawning of the Gods (The Ambrosia Project)
Hallie Parker · 2025
Ancient history
Egyptian Religion
E. A. Wallis Budge, Sir Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge · 1997
Cleopatra
Pat Southern · 2000
The Women of Troy: A Novel
Pat Barker · 2021
Mystery Cults in the Ancient World
Hugh Bowden · 2023
The Greeks and Greek Love
Davidson James · 2007
Rome's Debt to Greece (BCPaperbacks)
Alan Wardman · 2002
Rome: The Augustan Age: A Source Book
Kitty Chisholm, John Ferguson · 1981
Roman Society (Penguin history)
Donald R. Dudley · 1991
Books you should read once in your life
El arte de la guerra
Sun Tzu · 2018
El libro de los cinco anillos
Miyamoto Musashi · 2023
El extranjero
Albert Camus · 1971
ASI HABLO ZARATUSTRA
Nietzsche F. · 2014
Los hermanos Karamázov
Fiódor M. Dostoievski · 2013
