Personal essays and memoirs really pull me in and I’ve found over the last few years I’ve drifted away from reading fiction. Looking at this list, I realize that’s still true, but I did have one novel squeak in. Maybe I need to expand my horizons a bit...
Unicorn by Amrou Al-Khadi
I’m really looking forward to this memoir about the author’s journey from a god-fearing Muslim boy to a proud, queer drag queen. I saw him speak about it at an event—he was warm and well-spoken and if that translates to the page, it will be a good read.
Pre-order it here
How To Fail by Elizabeth Day
I was really excited to read this book because I was coming out of a year that felt, to me at least, like a monumental failure. I’ve always practised the idea of “lessons” rather than “failures” and so does this memoir. It’s a collection of lessons the author has learned throughout her life, posited as “failures.” But don’t let that fool you - if I had to pick a few words to describe it, I would say “endearing” and “uplifting.” Day wrote the book after her podcast of the same name became a success.
Buy it here
What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About edited by Michele Filgate
A compilation of stories from 15 writers about what… the title says. I’m hoping I find something to relate to here and maybe even something that can help me navigate that endlessly evolving relationship between parent and child.
Buy it here
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Hotly anticipated follow up to The Handmaid’s Tale, a favorite classic of mine (I think it’s a “classic”). Atwood wrote this in part because of all the questions she got about Gilead (the dystopian republic in which it’s set) after The Handmaid’s Tale. It was such an interesting book and I’m so curious where she takes it next (as well as wondering if it will tie in with the TV show).
Preorder it here