Whilst I appreciate a genre label as much as the next person, as a mood reader I also like to think about how a book might make me feel, especially after I have finished. These are the catagories that make sense to me – they don’t necessarily refer to the story or plot of a book but rather how I remember the experience of reading it.
History & Memory
Books layered with time. Stories shaped by the past, by personal or cultural history, or by the traces people and places leave behind.
-
The Inverts by Crystal Jeans
Decadence, secrecy, and the cost of being seen
-
The Penelopiad by Margeret Atwood
A retelling that finds something new to say
-
Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe
Gossipy reflection on Brat Pack start and beyond.
Place & Presence
Books where the location or landscape are a main charcter and linger beyond the final page. Might be a real place or an imagined one.
-
Sandwich by Catherine Newman
A novel of a certain time of life.
-
The Murmur of Bees by Sofía Segovia
A foundling child and the long shadow he casts over a Mexican town
-
The Towers of Tuscany by Carol M Cram
A female Italian painter and her struggle
Quiet & Reflective
Books that have a sense of stillness about them. Where things happen quietly and the reader can slow down and contemplate.
-
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
A touching novel about learning to be vulnerable
-
A Psalm for the Wild-Built
A tea monk explores the purpose of life
-
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacquline Harpman
Austere and unsettling but with hope.
Sharp & Searching
Books that probe, question or even unsettle. They might be tense or acedemically curious but will always encourage thought.
-
Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal
Ghost Talkers has a genuinly unique premise and offers a fresh take on a First World War novel. The idea of mediums or clairvoyants being used as a form of military intelligence was compelling to me. The concept was well set up and the idea of dead service men continuing to offer service felt eerie…
-
The Day of the Locust by Nathaneal West
Hollywood satire that failed to entertain.
-
Ruby Fruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
Lesbian coming of age and the happy ever after
Wide & Expansive
Books that point outward. Those that have big broad ideas, or are wide in scale and imagination. They take the reader beyond.
-
No Friend to This House by Natalie Heyes
Retelling of the myth of Medea
-
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A warm, hopeful, emotionally vivid space novel with romance at its centre.
-
Conlave – Robert Harris
Power struggles in the heart of the Vatican.
Joyful Escapism
Books that are light yet absorbing. Reading that carry you elsewhere for the sheer pleasure of it. These books delight and entertain.
-
Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson
A twisty, oddly joyful murder mystery.
-
Bookworm: Memoir of a Childhood Reading Lucy Mangan
Escaping to a reminder of childhood reading
-
West with Giraffes by Linda Rutledge
A warm, quietly layered novel about journeys, memory, and what we choose to carry. This is historical fiction doing exactly what it should. Taking a small, unusual fact and building something immersive and special around it. “It is a foolish man who thinks stories do not matter when in the end, they may be all…