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.
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The Kindred by Octavia Butler
An unflinching look at slavery in a genre defying novel
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House of Doors by Tan Twen Eng
A Poigniant review of memory in Colonial Malaya
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The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
An ambitious, mythical and captivating novel
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.
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The Essex Serpent by Sara Parry
Gothic contrasts in Essex.
Quiet & Reflective
Books that have a sense of stillness about them. Where things happen quietly and the reader can slow down and contemplate.
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I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacquline Harpman
Austere and unsettling but with hope.
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Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Reflections of post apocolytic wanderers.
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The Blue Castle by L. M Montgomery
A quietly radical, funny story about choosing to live.
Sharp & Searching
Books that probe, question or even unsettle. They might be tense or acedemically curious but will always encourage thought.
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Among the Living by Jonathan Rabb
What happens after. One man’s post Holocaust experience
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The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon by Richard Zimler
Historical mystery against backdrop of 15th century pogroms.
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Bring the House Down by Charlotte Runcie
A sharp, crowded novel about criticism, power, and who gets judged
Wide & Expansive
Books that point outward. Those that have big broad ideas, or are wide in scale and imagination. They take the reader beyond.
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Conlave – Robert Harris
Power struggles in the heart of the Vatican.
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Brunelleschi’s Dome by Ross King
A review of Renaissance ambition and architectural genius
Joyful Escapism
Books that are light yet absorbing. Reading that carry you elsewhere for the sheer pleasure of it. These books delight and entertain.
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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, curious fact and building something immersive and genuinely moving around it. “It is a foolish man who thinks stories do not matter when in the end, they may be…
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Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A community reflection on a murder
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Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes
Two women swap bags and briefly end up living inside each other’s lives.