reading

These are some books that have really informed how I think, that I find myself returning to again and again, and recommending whole-heartedly. Most of them were extremely enjoyable reads; some were more of a struggle but ultimately worth it. If you’ve read any of these and really want to discuss, please send me a message, I love to talk about books! There is a strong recency bias on this list but hopefully I can keep updating it. This list is also much more American/British than I would like, which is something I am slowly working to change. I’m especially interested in recommendations for really great biographies that AREN’T about British literary figures… but they have to be really great.

Reported books

  • The End of Night by Paul Bogard
  • Private Revolutions by Yuan Yang
  • A Moonless, Starless Sky by Alexis Okeowo
  • Karachi Vice by Samira Shackle
  • If We Burn by Vincent Bevins
  • Water Always Wins by Erica Gies
  • All Day Long by Joanna Biggs
  • Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan
  • No Logo by Naomi Klein
  • The Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Tsing (are anthropology and reporting the same thing?)
  • Strangers to Ourselves by Rachel Aviv

Essays

  • Bad Archive by Flora Feltham
  • The Utopia of Rules by David Graeber
  • Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit (kinda dated now but I absolutely read it at the right time)
  • Azadi by Arundhati Roy (2022 edition)
  • Having and Being Had by Eula Biss

Biography

  • Parallel Lives by Phyllis Rose
  • Romantic Outlaws by Charlotte Gordon
  • Super-Infinite by Katherine Rundell

Food books (mostly recipes)

  • Homegrown Kitchen by Nicola Galloway
  • Please to the Table by Anya von Bremzen
  • A Modern Way to Cook by Anna Jones
  • The Landour Community Cookbook
  • No Meat Required by Alicia Kennedy

Novels

  • Middlemarch by George Eliot
  • Sabriel by Garth Nix
  • This Devastating Fever by Sophie Cunningham
  • The FitzOsbornes in Exile by Michelle Cooper
  • Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman
  • The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
  • 10:04 by Ben Lerner
  • The End of Drum-Time by Hanna Pylväinen
  • Quarterlife by Devika Rege

Poetry

  • Hera Lindsay Bird by Hera Lindsay Bird
  • How to Live With Mammals by Ash Davida Jane
  • The Dangerous Country of Love and Marriage by Amy Leigh Wicks
  • John Keats (mostly because of a really great teacher I had who talked about it)