The Rabbit Hole
Lucy's Rating:
Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
Another beautiful peace — cozy, but sad. About life, and what the meaning of life is. There’s actually a lot of books in this category I’ve read, actually. Love, forgiveness, aging, grief, this book has it all.
Synopsis: A memoir about a young man spending time for his professor’s last days, as the professor is dying from ALS. He spends his Tuesdays talking about life’s meaning, the connections he’s made and the things he regrets.
Paired stuff: When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalathani, more of a first-person perspective of morality. This might also be a good introduction to “stoicism” (Epicetus).
O Pioneers (Willa Cather)
This one's a shorter classic. For those of you interested in American history, especially the frontier era, this one's for you. The woman is 100% the girlbossiest you can get in classic literature, and it spans decades, so you really get to see the development of the pioneer experience.
Synopsis: A family moves to the Great Plains after the death of their father at a time where most pioneers are leaving the area due to its harsh conditions.
Lucy's Rating:
Treasure Island (Louis Stevenson)
A pirate novel, for those of you who loved pirates as a kid. Honestly, that's kind of all the description you need. I thought it was funny, but it's probably the only pirate novel I'll read.
Synopsis: A boy who stumbled across an unfortunate situation at a pub joins a pirate crew to find gold.
Lucy's Rating:
The Death of Ivan Ilyich (Leo Tolstoy)
Definitely DARK. And sad. What I've realized is I actually really like books that reflect on life and what it means to live meaningfully. It felt a bit like a fictional version of Tuesdays with Morrie, except Tolstoy really emphasizes the effects of greed on his character.
Synopsis: A man dying from a chronic illness, who never really reflected on the inevitability of his death before his diagnosis, reflects on his life, which he had spent attempting to climb the ladder of status and wealth.
Lucy's Rating:
Paired stuff: Same as a lot of the others with similar themes, which I'm coming to realize are very prevalent within this collection, but Hannah Arendt I think has been my favorite.
Around the World in 80 Days (Jules Verne)
This one's definitely an adventure novel, if you're not into the slice-of-live classics I keep on recommending. I found the character's relationship dynamics to be hilarious. If you're comfortable with the language style, it's really just a sit-and-laugh.
Synopsis: On a bet, a rich Frenchman and his assistant attempt to travel around the globe in just 80 days, meeting various people and obstacles.
Lucy's Rating:
Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows (John Koenig)
I remember you mentioned wanting words for the things you feel — well, you’re in luck because this book literally does just that. They are based on actual etymology, and though they aren’t technically real words, they definitely feel that way.
Synopsis: The author provides the etymological derivation for different words that describe specific human emotions — e.g. sonder, the feeling you get when you realize that other people live lives just as nuanced as yours.
Lucy's Rating:
Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
Can you tell I love these slice-of-life classics? Is it obvious enough? This is the novel I was reminded of when I read Blue Sisters. Maybe it's because I'm a sister, but these hit me especially hard. It's about the way different people live different lives, and there's no one right way to do life.
Synopsis: Four sisters in the mid-to-late 19th century grow from childhood to womanhood, finding love, passions, and different kinds of relationships.
Lucy's Rating:
Paired stuff: I will be illegal --- I did love the movie.
The Will to Meaning (Viktor Frankl)
An analysis on the role that curiosity and imagination play in humanity's life.
Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
This is one of, if not my favorite book of all time. It’s so cute and whimsical, and just such a relaxing read. It’s very much a spring/summer book. It’s a coming-of-age classic featuring themes of friendship, dreams, family, and imagination.
Synopsis: A little orphan girl gets adopted by a family after a harsh upbringing in a little town. She goes through the seasons, going from around 12 years to 17 years, and the rest of the series explores her entire life.
Lucy's Rating:
Paired stuff: The Will to Meaning, Victor Frankl (and just Frankl in general) — curiosity and imagination as a role in humanity
Mrs. Dalloway (Virginia Woolf)
A bit of an older piece, but this book genuinely had me questioning consciousness and life in a way I seriously don’t think another book has. Not because it’s super depressing, or full of action, but because of the lack of it actually. A book on memory, consciousness, social class, and general complexity of life.
Synopsis: Mrs. Dalloway takes place over a single day. The best way for me to describe it is literally what happens in your brain when you do things, even the most everyday things. Woolf legit manages to turn the mundane into something that will question your existence.
Lucy's Rating:
Paired stuff: Jean-Paul Sartre, “existence precedes essence” and “the look” — what makes up your identity?
The Plotters (Un-Su Kim)
This one's pretty dark. But it did seriously make me think about questioning authority. Who makes the decisions? Are those who are being used aware that they are only pawns in a game? One line that hit me, that you'll understand if you read it: "What if there's no one sitting in the chair at all?"
Synopsis: In a dark version of Seoul, Korea, that's run by a network of crime syndicates, an assassin, after sparing a target, realizes that maybe he has not cared enough about what is truly going on behind the scenes.
Lucy's Rating:
Paired stuff: An American classic that the themes of this one really reminded me of was George Orwell's 1984 dystopian, about questioning authority. If you like that kind of stuff, I'd look into some of philosopher Arendt's ideas on blind obedience.
The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
Another classic coming of age. It's very whimsical, and the character development in this was is especially appealing, at least for me. It felt very whimsical.
Synopsis: A spoiled, sickly girl moves to an English manor after her parents are killed of in a cholera epidemic, and discovers a disheveled secret garden that she helps restore, discovering some family secrets in the process.
Lucy's Rating:
Letters to a Young Poet (Rainer Maria Rilke)
Another beautifully written piece. On dreaming, art, life, and the importance of solitude and following your own heart. Not for everyone, because it is an older novel, but I really loved how it makes you rethink the purpose of what you’re living for.
Synopsis: Essentially a collection of letters from Rilke to a young man who wrote asking about what it means to live fully and purposefully. These are actual letters, by the way, which makes it even more impactful. I actually took some inspiration from this for my “Letters” tapestry piece.
Lucy's Rating:
Paired stuff: This also goes really well with anything Victor Frankl — I would maybe look into some Maslow for this too. Dreaming, and the human need for growth and fulfillment.
We'll Prescribe You a Cat (Syou Ishida)
Another cute translated Japanese fiction book. Short and sweet, very much a summer read. Similar to Hot Chocolate on Tuesdays in the writing style, and the fact that it follows multiple different people, but otherwise that’s about it.
Synopsis: A man dealing with depression is led to a small hole-in-the-wall “medicine shop” that prescribes him a kitten to help. Each new story consists of a new person, helped along with a cat.
Lucy's Rating:
Sisters in Yellow (Mieko Kawakami)
More of a dark, survival-in-the-streets esque, definitely in the noir genre, so very different from Hot Chocolate on Tuesdays, if that's not your cup of tea. I think it's especially impactful for teenagers, and explores how much you're willing to sacrifice for a dream.
Synopsis: A young woman and her friend struggle in the streets of 1980s Tokyo, attempting to escape their criminal lives and open a bar together.
Lucy's Rating:
Hot Chocolate on Thursday(Michio Aoyama)
Just the absolute cutest, coziest piece of literature. My favorite kind of book, personally. It's not dramatic, but shows how different life is for people who coexist simultaneously. You can just sit down, and read, and it’s just life but in a book. A short, one-sitting book.
Synopsis: Starting from a young worker in a small Japanese coffee shop, each chapter reveals the backstory of a character introduced in the previous chapter through a short interaction, eventually circling around the world and back to the small Japanese coffee shop.
Lucy's Rating:
Small Things Like These (Claire Keegan)
This one's a short one, I read it in about two hours, but incredibly impactful. Seriously, I feel like I highlighted half the prose. A novella on what it means to do the right thing versus staying silent. K, it reminds me of that book you suggested, Beartown.
Synopsis: A father in a small Irish village goes about his life as usual, reflecting on the rush of life, when he encounters a young woman being held hostage in a nunnery. A novel on doing what's right, centered around the Magdalene laundries in Ireland.
Lucy's Rating:
Paired stuff: I would highly recommend, if you find this interesting, looking into Kierkegaard's philosophy of "all paths lead to regret," which centers on the idea that by choosing one path, you lose another. VERY baseline explanation, so go look yourself!
A Man Called Ove (Frederick Backman)
A beautiful novel on the purpose of life, happiness, and grief. Seriously, this book is so sad and so happy/cute at the same time, really makes you think about the way you decide to live your life. Also, books on old people always make me sad.
Synopsis: A grumpy old man has a new family move in next door, and his connection with each person in the family helps reshape how he decides to live his life, when he had previously decided to end it early.
Lucy's Rating:
Blue Sisters (Coco Mellors)
Truly one of the MOST BEAUTIFUL pieces of writing on sisterhood and grief I’ve ever come across. Like I genuinely cried (although maybe that’s not a good measure I cry a lot over media). Reminds me of a modern-day version of Little Women, if that's your vibe.
Synopsis: Three estranged sisters struggle to find their way through life and its obstacles after losing another sister to overdose. They reconnect to try and protect their house from being sold.
Lucy's Rating:
4 3 2 1 (Paul Auster)
This one is FAT, but very fascinating, though the beginning is a bit slow and I know you don’t believe in that lol. Essentially, it explores how choice, circumstance, and possibility affect the infinite versions of lives that someone could live.
Synopsis: This novel follows the four different versions of the same man, and how the choices of those preceding him as well as his own choices affect the life he lives.
Lucy's Rating:
Paired stuff: Philosopher Hanna Arendt, who discusses that evil may just be a result of lack of knowledge. Also, Jean-Paul Sartre and his version of existentialism.
Orientalism (Edward Said)
A thesis on the creation of an "orientalist" portrayal of Eastern and Middle Eastern cultures by a European idea, and the relationships between those opposing concepts: the Occidental and the Orient.
Yellowface (R.F. Kuang)
Figured you’d like one from a familiar author! Yellowface is a story told from the most unreliable of unreliable narrators, but that’s what makes it so fun. It’s about cultural appropriation, plagiarism, the power of social media and egotism/narcissism.
Synopsis: A struggling white author suddenly stumbles into the hands of an unpublished, unseen manuscript by a (much more successful) Asian writer whom she knew, and takes it up as her own. She then falls into a spiral of plagiarism, cancel culture, and cultural appropriation.
Lucy's Rating:
Paired stuff: Eating the Other (Bell Hooks) and Orientalist (Edward Said), on cultural appreciation vs. appropriation. Also recommend looking at some of @glasshouse_ insta videos! Very engaging.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Toshikazu Kawaguchi)
Another-another magical realism translated Japanese fiction about time-travel, regret, love, and accepting what you can and cannot change.
Synopsis: A magical coffee shop allows customers to time-travel — that is, only until their coffee grows cold. Similar to all the other works in that they follow different people with different stories.
Lucy's Rating:
The Human Condition (Hannah Arendt)
An analysis on the power of humanity over their own decisions, and the way politics and technology interacts with the way humans decide to act or not act.