👀💗😶(these are my 3 favorite emojis rn the book rec doesn't necessarily need to match)
send me an emoji and i’ll give you a book rec! i've been giving a fiction and nonfiction rec per emoji so congratulations you get 6 book recs bestie!
fiction: east of eden by john steinbeck. heartbreaking news: the world-renowned author who wrote several 'great american novels' in his lifetime is actually a good writer and this 600-page multigenerational tale loosely based off the story of cain and abel is a straight fucking banger. by coincidence, i happened to be watching season 4 of succession while reading this book and the combination was dangerous to my mental health, i highly recommend. cathy ames, you will always be famous to me.
fiction: the bluest eye by toni morrison. trigger warning for child molestation. this book is devastating, following the life of a young black child growing up after the great depression who begins to develop internalized racism and an inferiority complex. i'm never really ever going to forgive my 11th grade english teacher for assigning this book in class but also i'm eternally grateful to him and i think it's a book that everyone needs to read at least once in their life.
fiction: act your age, eve brown by talia hibbert. this is a cute little romance book that sets a lighter tone to the rest of the books in this rec list <3 technically, this is the third book in the brown sisters trilogy but it's the only one i really enjoyed and you can read it as a standalone. it follows eve, a flighty rich girl who gets cut off and has to find a job quick. enter jacob, dealing with an understaffed bed & breakfast, who doesn't really have other available options but to hire her. cue opposites attract.
nonfiction: men who hate women: from incels to pickup artists, the truth about extreme misogyny and how it affects us all by laura bates. lol this book made me so miserable it took me a month to read it, i don't know how she did it. essentially, this is half laura bates going undercover (when possible) in misogynistic communities and offering her experiences and half a comprehensive view of the hellscape that is the manosphere with each chapter dedicated to a specific subcategory of, well...men who hate women.
nonfiction: everything i know about love by dolly alderton. this collection of essays/short stories/vignettes of alderton's life is the equivalent of a warm hug. read it if you want to be reminded of how deeply you love and appreciate your friends, and also if you want to laugh about someone else's mistakes during their 20s instead of reminiscing on your own.
nonfiction: know my name by chanel miller. does everyone remember emily doe, the anonymous woman from the stanford assault case? great, because this was her memoir and i think it should be required reading. i don't think anyone doubted this book would be popular, but chanel miller is an incredible writer and she did not leave a single thing out in telling her story. she lets you know that the trauma she's endured isn't just from that party, but also from the trial and media storm that followed, even when she still had her anonymity. it's not just a story of a woman detailing how she's begun healing, it's a statement towards the way the american justice system fails the majority of the people and the way people refused to let her reclaim her own story.
