What book(s) did we love this year?

Share your fav books by/about Audacious Women

Sharpen your pencils and get out your TBR (to-be-read) lists! And tell us what you read this year—by or about an audacious woman—that you would like to recommend. (It needn’t have been published this year, of course.) Here is my list:

1. My absolute favorite book of the year is The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden, a Dutch writer, although she wrote the book in English. It is a beautiful, deep, incredibly moving book. I don’t want to say much else because the less you know about it the better, I think. I wasn’t prepared for its many layers, and I’m glad it wasn’t. Although this is a debut, it is finely crafted. I was blown away! It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize but didn’t win, much to my dismay.

   

   I don't know why Substack has to cut off the pictures, but I wanted you to see the UK (l) and US (r) covers

2. My last read (for my seminar on Forms of Fiction) was Rachel Cusk’s “novel” Outline. It’s the start of a trilogy of books for which Cusk (a very audacious woman!) has been lauded as a great innovator. Have you read them? I feel like I’ve been virtually bludgeoned with the recommendation over the past decade since Outline was published. And now I’ve finally read it, I’m diving into another Cusk book my professor recommended—a more conventional novel called The Second Place. I’m really enjoying it. And while I wouldn’t say that I loved Outline, I was fascinated by it once I started preparing for class discussion. I had so many thoughts about the plots of women’s stories—and women’s lives—that I’ve decided to write my final paper on it. (And yes, it does feel a little strange to be writing a paper for my literature class, after 23 years of grading such papers. But I’m finding the material quite engrossing.)

3. I would also recommend Miranda July’s All Fours. Okay, I didn’t love this book either. (I’m kind of hard on novels, I must admit.) It is rather strange, but I’ve thought about it often since. And there is one particular moment that summed up for me what this stage of life (40s-50s) feels like. The protagonist (a woman much like July herself) thinks of the fork in the road in front of her and she sees:

“a life spent longing”

VS

“a lift that was continually surprising”

That is exactly how I felt when I decided to change my life. I didn’t want to live a life of unfulfilled longings. I wanted to be surprised! And boy have I been. This book will certainly surprise you as well.

Now, I can’t wait to read about your favorite books! (Maybe limit to 1-3, if you can. Otherwise our TBR lists will get out of control!)

Happy reading!

—Anne