Book Shelf: To read pile

Help me choose what to read next + read me in the Guardian on getting my licence

Yesterday, I finished reading Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson. It ticked a lot of boxes - NYC, family drama, told from a few perspectives, old money, fun and pacey - but was not quite a 5 star read. And now, I’m ~100 pages into Ann Patchett’s new Tom Lake, and I already love it/don’t want it to end.

For the next couple of weeks, I want to read books that are comforting, momentum-filled, and/or easy. Then, I’m taking a week off to lay by the pool and read. I need good, juicy, all-consuming books.

So, I want your help choosing what to read. Below is my current TBR list. If you’ve read any of them: Do they fit the bill? If you haven’t, which would you most like to hear about? I’ve included a blurb for each to make it easy to weigh in either way.

Alternatively, do you have an A+ book recommendation? A book I must read in the sun?

I Have Some Questions for You,

Rebecca Makkai

(Recommended by

Bri Lee

on the podcast Cool Story)

Bodie is a successful film professor and podcaster who is content to forget her past—which includes family tragedy, her time at a New Hampshire boarding school, and the murder of her former roommate, Thalia Keith. The circumstances surrounding Thalia's death and the conviction of the school's athletic trainer, Omar Evans, are hotly debated online.

When the school invites her back to teach a course, Bodie is drawn to the case and its increasingly apparent flaws. In their rush to convict Omar, did the school and police overlook other suspects? Is the real killer still out there?

The Fraud, Zadie Smith

(Obviously very hyped. Historical fiction isn’t usually my bag, but if anyone can hook me in…)

A kaleidoscopic work of historical fiction set against the legal trial that divided Victorian England, about who deserves to tell their story - and about who deserves to be believed

Based on real historical events, The Fraud is a dazzling novel about truth and fiction, Jamaica and Britain, fraudulence and authenticity, and the mystery of 'other people.'

I’m A Fan, Sheena Patel

In I'm A Fan, a single speaker uses the story of their experience in a seemingly unequal, unfaithful relationship as a prism through which to examine the complicated hold we each have on one another.

Glossy, Marisa Meltzer

(Seems to only be available as an audiobook in Aus?)

Glossier revolutionized the beauty industry and at the center of its story lies Emily Weiss, the elusive former Teen Vogue “superintern” on the reality show The Hills turned Into the Gloss beauty blogger. Just how did a girl from suburban Connecticut with no real job experience work her way into the bathrooms and boudoirs of the most influential names in the world and build that access into a 1.9-billion-dollar business? Is she solely responsible for its success? And why, eight years later, at the height of Glossier mania, did she step down?

The Devil Wears Prada for the Bad Blood generation, Glossy is a gripping portrait of not just one of the most important business leaders of her generation, but also a chronicle of an era.

Everything’s Fine, Cecilia Rabess

(Recommended by Curtis Sittenfeld on an episode of the podcast Literary Friction)

When Jess lands a job as an analyst at Goldman Sachs, she’s less than thrilled to learn she’ll be on the same team as Josh, her preppy, white, conservative sparring partner from college.

But when Jess finds herself the sole Black woman on the floor, overlooked and underestimated, it’s Josh who shows up for her.

But then it’s 2016, and the cultural and political landscape shifts underneath them. And Jess, who is just beginning to discover who she is and who she has the right to be, is forced to ask herself what she’s willing to compromise for love and whether, in fact, everything’s fine.

Limelight,

Daisy Buchanan

(Insatiable was a fun, wild ride, and Daisy’s Substack

Creative Confidence Clinic

is very good, so I have high hopes!)

Frankie has a love-hate relationship with the spotlight. She only ever feels seen when she uploads risque photos to her small community of online fans.

Then the worst happens. Her sister Bean is diagnosed with cancer. Her mother launches a nationwide cancer fundraiser, and Frankie’s account is found.

With her family no longer speaking to her, Frankie flounders in her newfound notoriety.

Ordinary Human Failings,

Megan Nolan

It's 1990 in London and reporter Tom Hargreaves stumbles across a scoop - a dead child on a London estate, grieving parents loved across the neighbourhood, and the finger of suspicion pointing at one reclusive family of Irish immigrants and 'bad apples'- the Greens. At their heart sits Carmel.

Now, with the police closing in on a suspect and the tabloids hunting their monster, she must confront the secrets and silences that have trapped her family for so many generations.

Nothing Special, Nicole Flattery

New York City, 1966. Seventeen-year-old Mae is hired as a typist for the artist Andy Warhol.

Warhol is composing an unconventional novel by recording the conversations and experiences of his many famous and alluring friends. Tasked with transcribing these tapes alongside several other girls, Mae quickly befriends Shelley, and the two of them embark on a surreal adventure at the fringes of the counter-cultural movement.

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I’ll leave you with something to read. I was in Guardian Australia yesterday, writing about getting my licence almost three months ago, three weeks before my 29th birthday, four days before my honeymoon began, and 13 years since first getting my Ls.

I still can’t believe I can drive. I was so scared of it for so long, and the fear grew and grew and grew (as psychologist Chris Cheers says in the story, “The more we avoid the situation or trigger of our anxiety, the greater the anxiety will become.”). It lived in my toes, curling at the vision of stomping hard on the brakes if another driver put my life in danger. It lived in my fingers, holding the memory of clamping sweatily around the wheel. It lived in my shoulders, bunching up near my ears at the thought of attempting to park in Parramatta Westfield.

But I did it.

“I took the lessons, then the test, then a picture of myself smiling behind the plastic P plate. I couldn’t believe it. After 13 years of writing just one resolution – “Get my Ps” – on the first page of every diary, I’d done it.”

I drove an hour and a bit north by myself on the weekend, from Sydney to the Central Coast - my longest solo trip yet. It was equal parts terrifying and exhilarating. Now I’ve driven that far on the highway, it feels like I truly can go anywhere.

I’ve been really buoyed by stories of others who got their licences as an adult, and those who are still learning. Beyond driving, it’s also reminded me that I can do things that are scary and hard, so long as I tackle them one step at a time.

Until next time,

Britt