But that said, over the last decade, Tolstoy Therapy has evolved around what I’ve been reading – and lately, that’s included a lot more new fiction and non-fiction than classics.

So, what are the best new books I’ve read in 2022? Throughout the year, I’ve been updating this list with the best new books that I’ve been enjoying (and hope you will too).

Without further ado, here’s my current list of the best new books in 2022 to read. Pick these up over the Christmas period, read them to kick-start the new year, or add them to your last-minute Christmas wishlist. Enjoy!

The best new books I’ve read in 2022

1. The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

The Marriage Portrait is a spellbinding book, as gorgeously crafted and infused with life as any of protagonist Lucrezia’s wonderfully imaginative paintings. I raced through it in just a few days.

Right from the start of the book, we know that less than a year after fifteen-year-old Lucrezia di Cosimo de’ Medici marries Alfonso II d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, she will be dead. The official cause of death was ‘putrid fever’, but it was rumoured that she had been murdered by her husband.

It’s historical fiction built on a foundation of reading between the lines; of wondering what might have been thought and felt, what might have caused certain events, and what might have happened behind closed doors.

O’Farrell has brought life to the book’s cast with such care and artistry and built a marvellous world – or rather worlds; one constrained and polished to a fine sheen on the surface, the other wild, feral, and uncaged. I loved it.

2. A Line in the World: A Year on the North Sea Coast by Dorthe Nors

“Me, my notebook and my love of the wild and desolate. I wanted to do the opposite of what was expected of me. It’s a recurring pattern in my life. An instinct.“

I wasn’t sure if I was in the right mood to read A Line in the World, but I decided to give the first few pages a chance – largely because I now live in Denmark, I know very little about Jutland, and I love nature writing. Maybe it would be a good fit for next year, I thought. But I soon realised that I had to keep reading.

A Line in the World is a stunning memoir; graceful and lyrical, but with a powerful roar in there too. Read it if you loved The Salt Path by Raynor Winn, or other quietly powerful and introspective memoirs rooted in wild nature.

3. The Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

The Sea of Tranquility is a difficult book to categorise in terms of the topics I usually write about. It’s neither a feel-good book nor a comforting book, really. And while it’s beautifully written, it’s a rather lopsided type of beauty. That said, it’s one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.

From the best-selling author of Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel, The Sea of Tranquility is a stunning novel of art, time travel, love, and plague that takes the reader from Vancouver Island in 1912 to a dark colony on the moon five hundred years later, unfurling a story of humanity across centuries and space.

4. Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout

I’ve stayed away from books about the pandemic until now; I wanted reading to be my escape from it, not a reason to think more about it. But I feel like there’s been sufficient distance now for me to read books like this one. And Lucy by the Sea just felt so… therapeutic.

In this third book of Strout’s Amgash series, which you can read as a standalone or start with My Name is Lucy Barton, it’s March 2020 and Lucy’s ex-husband William pleads with her to leave New York and escape to a coastal house he has rented in Maine. Lucy reluctantly agrees, leaving the washing-up in the sink and expecting to be back in a week or so.

As weeks turn into months, Lucy and William spend their long, quiet days thinking about their complex past together – and the connections that sustain us in the hardest moments.

5. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

The fantastically vibrant cover of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow has been popping up everywhere over the last few months.

Winner of the Goodreads Best Fiction Award 2022, it’s the wonderfully nerdy, imaginative, and creative story of Sam and Sadie, who first meet in a hospital in 1987 and develop a unique bond as two brainy kids with no other real friends.

However, that connection is forgotten as they return to their normal lives – until the pair spot each other eight years later in a crowded train station.

When Sadie gives Sam a game she’s been developing, they immediately reignite that spark and find once-in-a-lifetime intimacy in the digital realm. It’s also the start of a collaboration that brings them money and fame – but also duplicity and tragedy.

6. The Bookseller at the End of the World by Ruth Shaw

The Bookseller at the End of the World is one of the best new memoirs of 2022. It’s Ruth Shaw’s immersive, heartbreaking yet charming story of running two wee bookshops in the remote village of Manapouri in Fiordland, in the deep south of New Zealand.

In this beautiful book for booklovers (that is sure to make you want to read even more books), Ruth weaves together stories of the characters who visit her bookshops and musings on the books that have shaped her life.

She also shares bittersweet stories from her full and varied life, including losses, enduring love, and adventures sailing through the Pacific, being held up by pirates, working with drug addicts and prostitutes, and campaigning to protect the environment.

7. Water, Wood & Wild Things: Learning Craft and Cultivation in a Japanese Mountain Town by Hannah Kirshner

“With this book, you feel you can stop time and savor the rituals of life,” shared Maira Kalman about Water, Wood & Wild Things. I came across this beautiful book in my local library recently and fell in love with it.

Water, Wood & Wild Things is artist and food writer Hannah Kirshner’s journey through the culture and cuisine of one misty Japanese mountain town, its evergreen forests, local water, and smoke-filled artisan workshops.

Part travelogue, part meditation on the meaning of work, and full of Hannah’s beautiful drawings and recipes inspired by her time in Yamanaka, this is a soothing and inspiring book about what it means to find purpose in cultivation and craft and sustain traditions.

From making a fine bowl to harvesting rice, this tender book is a celebration of craftsmanship, creativity, quiet dedication, and the simple beauty of life.

8. A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers

“Tender and healing… I’m prescribing a preorder to anyone who has ever felt lost. Stunning, kind, necessary,” writes author Sarah Gailey about this gentle and life-affirming book from the author at the forefront of hopeful science fiction.

A Prayer for the Crown Shy is the second book in Becky Chambers’ Monk & Robot series, weaving an intriguing world about the robots of Panga who long ago laid down their tools and disappeared into the wilderness after they gained self-awareness.

To start at the beginning of the Monk & Robot series, first read the equally uplifting A Psalm for the Wild-Built, in which a robot returns to civilisation to startle a tea monk with a very difficult question: “what do people need?”

9. City on Fire by Don Winslow

Don Winslow has been one of my guilty pleasure authors for a few years. I first read The Power of the Dog while on the Trans-Mongolian train across Russia, Mongolia and China a few years ago and was hooked. (So was my now-husband, who ended up reading most of it over my shoulder.)

This year, I flew through the audiobook of Don Winslow’s newest release and the first part of a new series, City on Fire. It’s a compulsively readable thriller that transforms the events at Troy and the founding of Rome into a riveting gangster tale as two criminal empires fight to control New England.

10. Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Taylor Jenkins Reid has written some of the best can’t-put-down books from the last few years.

I first read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and enjoyed how wonderfully flawed yet fantastic the characters were. I loved the strong family ties in Malibu Rising. I listened to the full-cast audiobook of Daisy Jones & the Six and immersed myself in a world of music, rocky relationships, and the even rockier road of self-discovery.

Now in 2022, Taylor Jenkins has published Carrie Soto is Back, her story of a tennis legend supposedly past her prime at thirty-seven, brought back to the tennis court for one more grand slam. Carrie Soto sacrificed everything to become the best, and now she needs to give everything she’s got to defend her record.

11. Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

Another book I enjoyed as an audiobook in 2022 was Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan. It’s an incredibly gripping book about what we choose to keep from our past and what we choose to leave behind.

Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over, after leaving her picture-perfect life in Boston – married to a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, and raising a beautiful son, Asher— to return to the house she grew up in, taking over her father’s beekeeping business in a sleepy New Hampshire hometown.

This seems like the new start she needed… until Olivia receives a phone call that Lily, the new girl in town, is dead. When she hears that Asher is being questioned by the police, she wonders if she really understands her son at all. 

Looking for more books to read in 2022? You might also like my recommended books for when you don’t know what to read and the best can’t-put-down books to binge-read.

The post The best of 2022: the new books I’ve loved this year appeared first on Tolstoy Therapy.

I’ve been keeping a mental list of books about books for some time now, and it’s only now that I’ve turned it into pixels.

From The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek to Ruth Shaw’s memoir of her wee bookshops in the deep south of New Zealand, recently there have been so many books that have made me think, “yes! that will go in the books post!”

So without further ado, here are my favourite books about readers, librarians, bookshop owners, and, of course, books…

The best books about books for people who love reading

1. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

“As I gaze at the vacant, birdless scene outside, I suddenly want to read a book – any book. As long as it’s shaped like a book and has printing, it’s fine by me. I just want to hold a book in my hands, turn the pages, scan the words with my eyes.”

Kafka on the Shore, a fan favourite from Murakami (and one of my all-time favourite books), is an immersive and otherworldly book to get lost in when you want an escape from everyday life.

It’s also a wonderful book about books, and contains one of my favourite libraries in literature. 

Comprising two distinct but interrelated plots, the narrative runs back and forth between the life of fifteen-year-old Kafka Tamura, who has run away from home, and an aging man called Nakata.

2. The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

The Bookshop on the Corner is a wonderfully cozy book about books, packed with musings on the joys of reading.

It’s also a book about librarians: namely, Nina, a literary matchmaker and librarian with the gift of finding the perfect book for her readers.

However, after losing the job she loves, Nina must make a new life for herself. Nervous but determined and ready for a new start, Nina moves to a sleepy village in Scotland where she buys a van and transforms it into a mobile bookshop.

She drives her bookmobile from neighborhood to neighborhood, changing one life after another with the power of storytelling. With every new reader she meets, Nina slowly realises that this place might just be where she can write her own happy ending.

3. The Bookseller at the End of the World by Ruth Shaw

The Bookseller at the End of the World, one of my favourite new books for 2022, is Ruth Shaw’s immersive, heartbreaking, yet charming story of running two wee bookshops in the remote village of Manapouri in the deep south of New Zealand.

In this beautiful book for booklovers (that is sure to make you want to read even more books), Shaw weaves together stories of the characters who visit her bookshops, musings on the books that have shaped her life, and bittersweet stories from her full and varied life of adventure.

4. The Secret History by Donna Tartt

The Secret History is one of my all-time-favourite books about books; 30+ of them, in fact (if I counted correctly), from The Iliad to The Great Gatsby.

It’s an excellent novel to spark a hunger for classics and mystery-solving, beginning with some of my favourite opening lines in literature: “The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.”

(For more book inspiration for fans of The Secret History, I’ve also curated a list of Donna Tartt’s favourite books.)

5. The Velocity of Being by Maria Popova

Like everything else from Maria Popova, the mind and heart of The Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings), The Velocity of Being is a gorgeously curated book celebrating the joys of discovery.

Here, Maria Popova brings together some of the most wonderful culture-makers – writers, artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, and philosophers — to reflect on the joys of reading, how books broaden and deepen human experience, and the ways in which the written word has formed their character. 

A beautiful illustration accompanies each letter about how books have shaped a contributor’s life, with stories from figures as diverse as Jane Goodall, Neil Gaiman, Shonda Rhimes, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Elizabeth Gilbert.

6. The Library Book by Susan Orlean

On the morning of April 28, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. The fire reached two thousand degrees and burned for more than seven hours, consuming four hundred thousand books and damaging seven hundred thousand more by the time it was extinguished.

More than thirty years later, the mystery remains: did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who?

Weaving her lifelong love of books and reading into an investigation of the fire, The Library Book is Susan Orlean’s love letter to libraries and a dazzling reflection on their past, present, and future in America.

7. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

Inspired by the true blue-skinned people of Kentucky and Roosevelt’s Pack Horse library service of the 1930s, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a story of raw courage, relentless kindness, and one woman’s belief in the transformative power of books.

In this historical fiction novel (which I loved listening to as an audiobook), the hardscrabble folks of Troublesome Creek have to fight for everything. However, what they do have is their very own travelling librarian.

Cussy Mary Carter travels by packhorse to bring books – including Peter Pan, Doctor Doolittle, and The Call of the Wild – to the Appalachian community she loves. But with her skin a shade of blue unlike most anyone else, Cussy has to contend with prejudice and suspicion as old as the Appalachias.

8. The Diary Of A Bookseller by Sean Bythell

If you’ve always dreamed of owning a bookshop, The Diary of a Bookseller is the perfect book to indulge your bookish fantasies.

Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown – Scotland’s largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100,000 books, spread over a mile of shelving, with twisting corridors and roaring fires, and all set in a beautiful, rural town by the edge of the sea.

In these wry and hilarious diaries, Shaun provides an inside look at the trials and tribulations of life in booklover’s paradise, from struggles with eccentric customers to wrangles with his own staff.

Along the way, he recommends books and evokes the charms of small-town life in delightful detail to inspire your own literary self-care and reading rituals.

9. The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

The Reading List is a wonderfully heartwarming book about books and connection. In this debut, a chance encounter with a list of books in the back of To Kill a Mockingbird helps forge an unlikely friendship between two very different people in a London suburb.

Mukesh lives a quiet life in Wembley after losing his beloved wife, now worrying about his granddaughter, Priya, who hides in her room reading. Aleisha is a bright but anxious teenager working at the local library and trying to escape the painful realities she’s facing at home.

Slowly, as the reading list brings these two lonely souls together, fiction becomes their key to escape their grief, forget about everyday troubles, and even, with time and gentleness, find joy again. 

10. The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill is a marvellously laid-back and joyful book about books to get lost in.

Shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Prize, Abbi Waxman’s charming and quirky romance follows introvert and bookworm Nina Hill as she discovers if real life can ever live up to fiction.

Nina has her life just as she wants it: a job in a bookstore, an excellent trivia team and a cat named Phil. And plenty of time for reading.

So when the father she never knew existed dies, leaving behind innumerable sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews, Nina is horrified. And if that wasn’t enough, Tom, her trivia nemesis, has turned out to be cute, funny and interested in getting to know her.

11. Ex Libris: 100+ Books to Read and Reread by Michiko Kakutani

What are your five-star reads, the books that shaped who you are and how you see the world?

Ex Libris is literary critic Michiko Kakutani’s personal selection of over one hundred works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, sharing passionate essays on why each has had a profound effect on her life.

From Homer’s The Odyssey to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Ex Libris covers a rich and vast range of old and new classics, accompanied by gorgeous illustrations from lettering artist Dana Tanamachi.

12. What Writers Read: 35 Writers on their Favourite Book by Pandora Sykes

What do writers read? In this captivating, beautiful collection curated by the author of How Do We Know If We’re Doing it Right, a host of beloved authors from Elizabeth Strout to Derek Owusu and Ruth Ozeki to Elif Shafak reveal their favourite books.

Available as a gorgeous hardcover, What Writers Read is a stunning book about books and the joy of reading that’s perfect to gift to booklovers.

Still looking for new books to read? For more books to retreat into, complement this with the coziest books to read on a quiet night in.

The post 12 of the best books about books that capture the joy of reading appeared first on Tolstoy Therapy.

In this post, I’ve put together my favourite books to get lost in. They’re also perfect books to read when you need a distraction or if you haven’t read in a while, offering sheer escapism through unforgettable worlds and iconic characters.

The books in this list aren’t Russian classics. Instead, they’re the novels that broke my reading droughts and reminded me precisely why I love books.

Some of these are binge-worthy books you can’t put down, while others evoke intriguing and beautiful worlds that I love getting lost in and don’t want to leave.

To help you to rekindle the joyful habit of retreating into fictional worlds, read on for some of the best novels to get lost in and forget about the world…

The best books to get lost in when you want to escape into a book

1. The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

Full disclosure: I haven’t finished reading The Marriage Portrait yet. But I am completely lost in it right now. I’ve heard a lot about this 2022 bestseller, but as I rarely make time for historical fiction, I approached it tentatively.

A few hundred pages in, it’s been utterly bewitching. Maggie O’Farrell is clearly a magical writer and absolutely capable of following (and exceeding?) the success of Hamnet.

It’s winter in 1561, and Lucrezia, Duchess of Ferrara, is convinced that her husband is going to kill her. She’s sixteen years old and has so far led a sheltered life locked away inside Florence’s grandest palazzo, developing her hidden talent as an artist and stretching the confines of her imagination as her family ignores her.

Now, in a remote villa, Lucrezia is entirely at the mercy of her increasingly erratic husband – and she has no idea what she’ll do against a ruler of a province – and trained soldier – to ensure her survival.

2. City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

Forget about Eat, Pray, Love. Elizabeth Gilbert’s other books are totally different. I adored Elizabeth Gilbert’s most recent novels, The Signature of All Things and City of Girls.

In particular, City of Girls is a perfect novel to get lost in when you want a break. Told from the perspective of Vivian Morris as she looks back on her youth in 1940s New York, City of Girls shares Vivian’s story of female sexuality and promiscuity, pleasure and regret.

It’s a journey of true love and becoming, and an immersive page-turner that makes you feel like you’re there with Vivian.

3. A Place Like Home by Rosamunde Pilcher

I’ve been on something of a Rosamunde Pilcher binge this year. Her gorgeously cozy and slice-of-life writing has been exactly what I’ve needed to bring balance to my life when other things are out of my control.

The Shell Seekers is a good place to start with Rosamunde Pilcher – and Winter Solstice is one of the most perfect books to read in winter – but I also love this collection of short stories, published in 2021 (posthumously, after Rosamund Pilcher’s death in 2019).

Each of the fifteen stories in A Place Like Home is a perfect slice of romance, written with warm and comforting nostalgia and offering an antidote to challenging times.

It’s one of the best books to get lost in, letting you escape through the pages to the Mediterranean sunshine and sparkling blue seas, the fresh spring air of a Northumbrian village, or the fruit orchards of a recuperating stay in the Scottish countryside.

4. Greenwood by Michael Christie

Just like I experienced with its big brother The Overstory, Richard Powers’s bestseller with many similar threads but much greater fame, it took me a few attempts to get into Greenwood by Michael Christie.

The first chapter didn’t pull me in, but after about an hour of reading Greenwood, I was hooked. I read most of this doorstop of a book in a weekend, completely lost in the multi-generational saga.

Greenwood charts a family’s rise and fall alongside its secrets and inherited crimes, accompanied all the while by one steady presence: trees. I didn’t think it could be as good as The Overstory, but I really should have had more belief in it: it’s a superb book.

5. Circe by Madeline Miller

In this stunningly-woven page-turner, Circe sets forth her tale: a vivid, mesmerizing epic of rivalry, love, and loss. It’s a woman’s story told in a man’s world, and her defiance is captivating.

When Circe’s powerful magic threatens the gods, Circe is banished to the island of Aiaia where she hones her occult craft, casting spells, gathering strange herbs and taming wild beasts.

However, Circe isn’t left in peace for long, and it’s an unexpected visitor, the mortal Odysseus, for whom she will risk everything.

Circe is the perfect book to get lost in while waiting for Madeline Miller’s next book and the HBO Max Circe adaptation.

6. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

When I worked in my village bookshop growing up, Cutting for Stone was the book that the shop owner recommended to everyone who didn’t know what to read. I’m so glad I finally picked it up.

This big book is the story of Marion and Shiva Stone, twin brothers born of a secret union between an Indian nun and a British surgeon in Ethiopia.

Bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution.

From Ethiopia to New York City and back again, you’ll meet a fascinating family of doctors who weave an incredible story of heartbreak, loss, and the relationships that shape their lives.

7. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

If you like the idea of a surrealist classic book to get lost in, read Kafka on the Shore. This fan favourite from Murakami (and one of my all-time favourite books) is an immersive and otherworldly book that’s surprisingly tranquil.

Comprising two distinct but interrelated plots, the narrative runs back and forth between the life of fifteen-year-old Kafka Tamura, who has run away from home, and an aging man called Nakata.

It’s also a wonderful book about books. “As I gaze at the vacant, birdless scene outside, I suddenly want to read a book – any book. As long as it’s shaped like a book and has printing, it’s fine by me. I just want to hold a book in my hands, turn the pages, scan the words with my eyes.”

8. Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

If you want a lighthearted book to get lost in, Where’d You Go, Bernadette is a fantastic choice. In this bestselling novel by Maria Semple, the quirky main character flees the anxieties of everyday American life for Antarctica.

It’s the perfect laid-back, easygoing book to immerse yourself in while imagining your own winter escape. I also think it’s one of the best books to read if you haven’t read in a while.

9. I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes

Over the last decade, I Am Pilgrim has been my go-to recommendation for people who don’t read much but love gripping movies, especially crime, action, and detective plots.

“A big, breathless tale of nonstop suspense” is how The New York Times described I Am Pilgrim in 2014. Neither my dad nor my eighteen-year-old brother could stop reading it, which is high praise indeed.

Pilgrim is the codename for a man who doesn’t exist: a man who must return from obscurity, and the only man who can uncover a flawless plot to commit an appalling crime against humanity.

10. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

The Priory of the Orange Tree is an enthralling, epic fantasy about a divided world on the brink of war – and the women who must lead the fight to save it.

I read this book on The Trans-Siberian Railway between Moscow and Russia, and it was the perfect choice for long days with a book as the remote landscape rolled past.

It’s a big book with an even bigger universe inside to explore, including fantastically strong women rulers and protagonists. The sequel, A Day of Fallen Night, is due for release in February 2023.

For more books to get lost in, complement these recommendations with the best books to binge-read or the coziest books to snuggle up with on a quiet evening.

The post 10 of the best books to get lost in if you need a break appeared first on Tolstoy Therapy.

In this post, I’ve curated some of the best cozy books to enjoy on a quiet night in when all you want to do is retreat into the pages of a good book and de-stress.

These books ooze comfort and wholesomeness, offering a balm for the soul in troubled times and a reminder of the beauty and goodness of life.

They’re perfect to read in your favourite cozy place, whether that’s by the fireplace, on the sofa, in bed, or soaking in the bath. Read on to warm your heart and ease your nerves…

The most cozy books to read during a quiet evening at home

1. The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher

The Shell Seekers is one of the most cozy and wholesome books ever written, and it will always make me think of summer on the beach in Cornwall and quaint English villages just like the one I grew up in.

It’s a book that’s touched the hearts of millions of readers worldwide, about one family in Southern England and the passions and heartbreaks that have held them together for three generations.

The world that Rosamunde Pilcher created is so warm, rich, and immersive that you can’t help but tumble into its country lanes, delicate artwork, and family tiffs and quirks. It’s a warm and enduring classic that offers the kind of reading experience that only comes along once in a while.

2. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

Described by Martha Wells as “an optimistic vision of a lush, beautiful world”, Becky Chambers’s delightful Monk and Robot series is full of feel-good vibes and hope for the future.

If you love Studio Ghibli-inspired books, I’d recommend grabbing a copy of the first book in the series, A Psalm for the Wild-Built.

In its unique world where nature is adored and respected, it’s been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness, laid down their tools, wandered together into the wilderness, and faded into myth and urban legend.

But one day, the life of a tea monk is turned upside down by a robot at their door, asking “what do people need?” And that is a very good – and difficult – question. Here’s my review of A Psalm for the Wild-Built.

3. Still Life by Louise Penny

“Peter swept aside Yogi Tea and Harmony Herbal Blend, though he hesitated a second over the chamomile. …. But no. Violent death demanded Earl Grey…”

Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache series oozes cozy fall vibes. The first book in the series, Still Life, is the coziest murder mystery you will probably ever read.

It’s set in October in Quebec with families gathering for Thanksgiving, characters sitting by the fire as night falls, and friends meeting for meals at the local bistro.

At least on the surface, life is incredibly idyllic in the village of Three Pines, but long-buried secrets are starting to reappear. This cozy book is best read with a cup of hot tea and a crumbly pastry.

4. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

The four March sisters couldn’t be more different. But with their father away at war and their mother working to support the family, they have to rely on one another – whether that’s putting on a play, forming a secret society, or accepting and forgiving each other exactly as they are.

As one of the most wholesome comfort reads ever written, Little Women is Louisa May Alcott’s classic story of four sisters: grown-up Meg, tomboyish Jo, timid Beth, and precocious Amy. It’s the perfect book to read or reread on a cozy night in.

5. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Each time I think back to The Ocean at the End of the Lane, I imagine cozy autumn days in rural Sussex in England, which is where I grew up and the book is also set.

This is one of Neil Gaiman’s most delicate yet terrifying books, centered on a mysterious farm at the end of the road, the unremembered past, and children who are wise beyond their years.

6. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

For a warm and cozy hotel feeling, read A Gentleman in Moscow. This bestselling book is a beautifully transporting novel about Count Alexander Rostov, a man who, in 1922, is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal and ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel.

Rostov, who has never worked a day in his life, must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors.

Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery – and towards a far deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.

7. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

In Garden Spells, an enchanting novel that feels like a warm blanket of a book, we meet the Waverley family; curious and endowed with peculiar gifts that make them outsiders in their hometown of Bascom, North Carolina.

Claire Waverley is known for the dishes she makes with her mystical plants—from the nasturtiums that aid in keeping secrets to the pansies that make children thoughtful.

Although Claire’s rebellious sister, Sydney, fled Bascom the moment she could, she now suddenly returns home with a young daughter of her own. In this captivating book, Claire’s quiet life is turned upside down and the sisters are left to deal with their common legacy.

8. A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami

Whenever I think of A Wild Sheep Chase, I think of snowy countryside. Some of that is because I read it on a winter train journey to Chamonix, France, but it’s also because of the book’s setting.

In this trippy and quasi-detective tale that’s a perfect book for winter, we follow an unnamed, chain-smoking narrator to snowy Hokkaido in Japan.

The reason for the narrator’s adventure is to search for a strange sheep with a star-shaped birthmark, accompanied by his girlfriend who possesses magically seductive and supernaturally perceptive ears. (What can I say, it’s a Murakami novel.)

9. The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

The Bookshop on the Corner is a wonderfully cozy book about books. Set in a sweet little Scottish town that you’ll soon want to move to, Nina is a literary matchmaker: a librarian with a gift of finding the perfect book for her readers. However, after losing the job she loves, Nina must make a new life for herself.

Determined and ready for a new start, Nina moves to a sleepy village where she buys a van and transforms it into a mobile bookshop. She drives her bookmobile from neighborhood to neighborhood, changing one life after another with the power of storytelling.

Nina discovers there’s plenty of adventure, magic, and soul in a place that’s beginning to feel like home… a place where she just might be able to write her own happy ending.

10. The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller

This full-hearted novel is a cozy book about Olivia Rawlings, a big-city pastry chef extraordinaire who discovers the true meaning of home when she escapes from the city to the most comforting place she can think of – the idyllic town of Guthrie, Vermont.

This is meant to be just a short getaway, until Margaret Hurley, the cantankerous owner of the Sugar Maple Inn, offers Livvy a job. Broke and not sure what else to do next, Livvy accepts – and realises that the most unexpected twists and turns in life can be the best things to happen to you.

So, which cozy book will you read next? Take your pick and treat yourself to a warm cup of tea, a cozy blanket, and freedom from notifications and distractions for some relaxing time to unwind.

For more cozy books, you might also like my favourite books for winter, wholesome books, and feel-good books.

The post 10 of the best cozy books to snuggle up with on a quiet night in appeared first on Tolstoy Therapy.

The books on this list are proof of how non-fiction books can absolutely be page-turners. Including tales of war, survival, adventure, difficult upbringings, and incredible characters, these are some of the most unputdownable non-fiction books.

If you’ve got an empty weekend coming up or just want to escape into the pages of a gripping story, read on…

The most gripping non-fiction page-turners that read like fiction

1. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

Unbroken is one of the best non-fiction books of the last few years – and a moving testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit.

In boyhood, Louis Zamperini was a delinquent. As a teenager, he channeled his defiance into running, discovering a talent that carried him to the Berlin Olympics. But when World War II began, the athlete became an airman, embarking on a journey that led to a doomed flight on a May afternoon in 1943 in which his Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific.

Surviving against the odds – and about to contend with even greater trials than the ocean – this cinematic page-turner shares the unimaginable story of how Zamperini was driven to the limits of human endurance and forced to answer desperation with ingenuity and suffering with hope.

2. The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert

If you daydream about escaping into the woods to live in a cabin by a stream, you’ll probably love reading The Last American Man. Reading like fiction at times and toeing the line between man and myth, it’s Elizabeth Gilbert’s biography of Eustace Conway who in 1977, at the age of seventeen, left his family’s comfortable suburban home to move to the Appalachian Mountains.

For more than two decades he has lived there, making fire with sticks, wearing skins from animals he has trapped, and trying to convince Americans to give up their materialistic lifestyles and return with him back to nature.

3. Bad Blood by John Carreyrou

For a gripping non-fiction book of ambition and hubris that reads like a thriller, pick up Bad Blood. This is the fast-paced story of one of the biggest corporate frauds in history: the Silicon Vally “unicorn” Theranos and its dazzling founder and CEO, Elizabeth Holmes.

4. Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham

Many of us know the basics of what happened at Chernobyl. But the real story of the accident, clouded from the beginning by secrecy, propaganda, and misinformation, has long remained in dispute. With a vast amount of research, Adam Higginbotham changes this with an “account that reads almost like the script for a movie” (The Wall Street Journal).

Midnight in Chernobyl is the mesmerizing non-fiction story of what really caused and followed one of the twentieth century’s greatest disasters, as seen through the eyes of the men and women who witnessed it firsthand for a can’t-put-down reconstruction of an event that changed history.

5. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, the Osage family began to be killed off in mysterious circumstances, alongside those who dared to investigate the killings.

As the death toll rose, the newly created FBI took up the case, and the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try to unravel the mystery. Killers of the Flower Moon, a non-fiction bestseller, is a haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.

6. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison, Trevor was kept mostly indoors until finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule.

Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates the world that shaped him with wit and honesty in this must-read memoir.

Born a Crime is a moving portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love.

7. Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe

In Say Nothing, an intrictately researched book that’s as gripping and finely paced as a novel, Patrick Radden Keefe uses the abduction and murder of Jean McConville – a 38-year-old widow and mother of 10 – to tell the wider history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Everyone in the neighbourhood knew that the I.R.A. was responsible for her murder, but in a climate of fear, no one would speak of it.

This can’t-put-down book conjures a world of passion, betrayal, vengeance, and anguish, including interviews with people on both sides of the conflict. Patrick Radden Keefe manages to transform the tragic statistics into a human, searing saga.

8. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer

This harrowing tale of the perils, bad luck, and heartbreaking heroism of mountaineering is one of the best pieces of adventure writing ever published. Into Thin Air is the epic account of the storm on the summit of Mt. Everest that claimed five lives and left countless more – including Krakauer’s – in guilt-ridden disarray. 

By writing Into Thin Air, Krakauer may have hoped to exorcise some of his own demons and lay to rest some of the painful questions that still surround the event. But further interviews and investigations only lead him to the conclusion that his perceived failures were directly responsible for a fellow climber’s death. Even if you know nothing about high-altitude climbing, this memoir is hard to put down.

9. Educated by Tara Westover

Educated is the bestselling memoir of a woman who, despite being kept out of school, finds a way to leave her Mormon anti-government survivalist family and earn a PhD from Cambridge University. Like Where the Crawdads Sing, this gripping book has similar vibes of introspection, self-discovery, and finding your way as an outsider.

As Alec MacGillis writes for The New York Times, “By the end, Westover has somehow managed not only to capture her unsurpassably exceptional upbringing, but to make her current situation seem not so exceptional at all, and resonant for many others.”

10. Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing

Endurance is one of the greatest adventure stories ever written, defining the harrowing and miraculous voyage that has defined heroism for the modern age. This New York Times bestseller is the harrowing tale of explorer Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 attempt to reach the South Pole in a near-impossible journey.

11. The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson

Erik Larson is one of the very best writers of unputdownable non-fiction. In The Splendid and the Vile, his bestselling book from 2020, Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people “the art of being fearless” with true leadership, courage, and eloquence.

In this gripping and inspiring book, we witness how Churchill held his country together during World War II, persuaded President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally, and found the conviction to fight to the end. But it’s also a story of intimidate domestic drama, set against the backdrop of the prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; Churchill’s wartime retreat, Ditchley; and of course, 10 Downing Street.

12. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

In Cold Blood is probably the most famous true crime novel of all time – and one of the first non-fiction novels ever written. On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from their faces. There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there were almost no clues. 

In this chilling book, Truman Capote reconstructs the murder and the investigation that led to the capture, trial, and execution of the killers, generating both mesmerizing suspense and unsurpassable empathy.

For more can’t-put-down books, you might like my list of the best books to binge-read if you want to escape into a great story.

The post 12 best non-fiction books you can’t put down (that read like fiction) appeared first on Tolstoy Therapy.

Yeah, I get it. (And yep, I do it too.) But each time I find a really great book I can’t put down for a weekend, I remember that a good TV series isn’t the only binge-worthy entertainment.

Sometimes, it’s even more immersive to leap into the world of an unputdownable book and not leave it for a while. You also get to spend some time away from a screen (at least non-Kindle ones).

Here are a few recommendations of the best binge-worthy books I couldn’t put down to get you started. I hope they help you to escape into a new world and forget you’re reading too.

Unputdownable books to binge-read instead of watching Netflix on loop

1. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

If you loved The Martian, give Andy Weir’s latest bestseller a read next. In Project Hail Mary, Ryland Grace, the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission to save both humanity and the earth, is hurtled into the depths of space to complete the mission alone.

Like Andy Weir’s other books, this is a fantastically well-researched, nerdy, and lighthearted show of world-building that’s easy to read and hard to put down. I’d especially recommend listening to it as an audiobook – it’s a perfect choice for road trips.

Over on Goodreads, Bill Gates shared about this sci-fi hit: “[Project Hail Mary] is a wild tale about a high school science teacher who wakes up in a different star system with no memory of how he got there. The rest of the story is all about how he uses science and engineering to save the day. It’s a fun read, and I finished the whole thing in one weekend.”

2. The Gifted School by Bruce Holsinger

If you tore through Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies or the screen adaptation, this gripping page-turner by Bruce Holsinger should be perfect for your next read. In The New York Times Book Review, it’s described as “wise and addictive … The Gifted School is the juiciest book I’ve read in ages.”

In the privileged and uneventful community of Crystal, Colorado, a group of close friends are raising their families in harmony. That is until news begins to spread that a ‘gifted school’ will be opening its doors in town.

Places will be sparse, the competition ferocious, and as the facade of their picture-perfect community begins to fade, long-buried secrets threaten to surface under the pressure.

3. I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes

I’ve recommended this thriller to so many people. I Am Pilgrim was released back in 2013, and I picked it up after seeing several people glued to their copy on the train who would get off at their stop and immediately sit down to keep reading it.

Then, I became one of those people… then my Dad, my brother, husband, friends. Yeah, it’s a good book to binge-read, even for people who don’t usually read.

4. Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

When I first started listening to Mad Honey as an audiobook, I thought this whodunnit might be too intense for how I’ve been feeling (I’ve been gravitating towards easy-going and hopeful books lately).

But after a bit more listening, I was hooked. I finished the 464-page book in a couple of days… oops. Mad Honey is a gripping book to binge-read, about what we choose to keep from our past and what we choose to leave behind.

Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over, after leaving her picture-perfect life in Boston – married to a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, and raising a beautiful son, Asher— to return to the house she grew up in, taking over her father’s beekeeping business in a sleepy New Hampshire hometown.

This seems like the new start she needed… until Olivia receives a phone call that Lily, the new girl in town, is dead. When she hears that Asher is being questioned by the police, she wonders if she really understands her son at all. 

5. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Looking for something lighter? The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is fantastic. It’s the type of book I can read in just a few days, unable to stop reading it for too long but not wanting it to end either.

Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more surprised (and confused) than Monique herself. As things become clearer, she was right to feel surprised – but should also be concerned.

On Reddit, Impossible_Action_82 shared: “My cousin, my partner, and I all read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in 1-3 days this past month. That book is excellent. Shockingly deep, deals with identity and relationships and family. Just a really really good read. Side note: this cousin doesn’t usually read anything.”

6. 11/22/63 by Stephen King

If you ask book lovers for their best can’t-put-down recommendations, you’ll probably soon get bored of hearing 11/22/63. But it really is good.

When President Kennedy died on November 22, 1963, the world changed forever. But here, Stephen King asks – in his characteristic gripping and terrifying way – what if someone could change it back?

That person turns out to be Jake Epping, a thirty-five-year-old English teacher in Maine, whose friend and owner of the local diner, Al, lets him in on a secret: his storeroom is a portal to the past, a particular day in 1958, where every turn leads, of course, to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald.

Over on Reddit, pkosuda shared: “I could never binge read any book but this one may have been the closest I ever got. Every free moment I had I spent reading the damn thing. Could not put it down. Definitely an underrated book and I wish there was somehow a sequel.”

7. The Secret History by Donna Tartt

The Secret History is one of the best books for dark academia vibes, centered around a group of isolated classic students at an elite New England college. If you want to nerd over the cult-favourite book as you read it, I’ve compiled a list of the 30+ books mentioned in The Secret History.

In a Reddit thread about books you can’t put down, AdamWestsButtDouble shared that, “It’s been more than 25 years, but my answer to this will always be Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. I’d gotten into it a bit and was going to read some before bed one night, about 11pm. Cut to four hours later and I’m still reading.”

8. Verity by Colleen Hoover

Verity has a different vibe than Colleen Hoover’s other books; it’s moodier, darker, and much creepier. You also really shouldn’t start reading this thriller at night if you want to sleep.

Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime: completing the remaining books in a successful series by bestselling author Verity Crawford. But her excitement changes to fear when she stumbles upon the unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read.

9. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

If you’re looking for a brilliantly plotted sci-fi thriller that’s mind-bendingly strange, read Dark Matter. It’s one of the best binge-worthy books to make you forget you’re reading.

The last thing Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious is this question: “Are you happy with your life?” He awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits, and a man who Jason has never met saying, “Welcome back, my friend.” 

This life and world he’s woken up to isn’t the one he knows. But is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves?

10. The Windsor Knot by S.J. Bennet

If you loved watching The Crown but would enjoy it even more with a slice of murder mystery, The Windsor Knot is my top binge-worthy book recommendation for you.

11. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

I’ve been binge-reading Helen Hoang’s books lately. I don’t usually read books with this much romance or sex. But these books with fantastic themes of self-discovery and autism in the mix are a superb place to start.

It was only when researching her first novel in the series, The Kiss Quotient, that Helen Hoang was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder herself. I don’t think I’ve ever read fiction that talks so in-depth about autism spectrum disorder (which I have), and it’s so refreshing.

The Kiss Quotient is the first in a series of three interlinking books, focusing on three characters whose new partners give them a whole new view of love – and themselves.

If you love The Kiss Quotient, here are 8 books to read next with Helen Hoang vibes.

12. Circe by Madeline Miller

Published in 2018, Circe is Madeline Miller’s defiant reimagining of the daughter of Helios, the sun god, and the ocean nymph Perse, known in myth as a dangerous sorceress, perhaps the most dangerous woman a man could come across.

When her gift threatens the gods, she is banished to the island of Aiaia where she hones her occult craft, casting spells, gathering strange herbs and taming wild beasts.

But she won’t be left in peace for long, and it’s for an unexpected visitor, the mortal Odysseus, for whom Circe will risk everything. Binge-read this and get excited for the HBO Max adaptation of Circe which we’ll hopefully hear more about soon.

For more gripping book recommendations to get lost in, remember that unputdownable books don’t have to be fiction. Here are some of the best can’t-put-down non-fiction books that read like fiction.

The post 12 binge-worthy books you won’t be able to put down appeared first on Tolstoy Therapy.

For this post, I’ve compiled some of the books I most frequently recommend to people who don’t generally read fiction. Read on for the most accessible thrillers, love stories, and beautiful worlds to get lost in.

If something doesn’t grab you in the first thirty pages, try something else. Life’s too short for books you don’t like. Once you figure out what works for you, it’s so much easier to find more of the same.

There are a few overlaps between this post and my recommended books to binge-read, so check that out next if you want more suggestions.

The best books for people who don’t like to read

1. I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes

Read this if you want: a book packed with action and suspense to binge-read.

“A big, breathless tale of nonstop suspense” is how The New York Times described I Am Pilgrim in 2014. Pilgrim is the codename for a man who doesn’t exist: a man who must return from obscurity, and the only man who can uncover a flawless plot to commit an appalling crime against humanity.

Over the last decade, this can’t-put-down thriller has been my most recommended book for men who don’t read. (Although I’m a woman who loves to read and enjoyed it a lot too.) My brother read it faster than any other book before, and my Dad re-reads it every few years once he’s forgotten the plot (he sees this as a perk of ageing).

2. Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Read this if you want: the book equivalent of an addictive Netflix music documentary.

Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of today’s best authors if you want to get lost in a book. I listened to the excellent audiobook edition (featuring a whole cast of voice actors) of Daisy Jones & the Six and flew through it in a couple of days.

Daisy Jones & the Six became a sensation from the moment Daisy walked barefoot onto the stage. Their sound defined an era. They played sold-out arenas from coast to coast. You couldn’t escape their music. Then, on 12 July 1979, it all came crashing down. This is the story of their legendary rise and fall, friendship and rivalry, ambition and heartbreak, as told by the intertwining voices of the band’s members.

Despite being utterly fictional, it reads like a music documentary you just can’t stop watching. If you’re anything like me, you need to know what happens next.

3. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Read this if you want: a once-in-a-lifetime story of love and heartbreak in World War II.

All the Light We Cannot See is one of those books that nails the perfect formula for a story. If you’re yet to read it, I’m envious. This New York Times bestseller and winner of the Pulitzer Prize is the story of a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II. It’s a heartbreaking book that changes the way you see the world, and it’s ideal to choose if you haven’t read a good book in a while.

4. City on Fire by Terry Hayes

Read this if you want: a gangster movie on paper.

Don Winslow has been one of my guilty pleasure authors these last few years. I first read The Power of the Dog while on the Trans-Mongolian train across Russia, Mongolia and China a few years ago and was hooked. (So was my now-husband, who ended up reading most of it over my shoulder.)

This year, I binge-listened to the audiobook of Don Winslow’s newest release and the first part of a new series, City on Fire. It’s a compulsively readable thriller that transforms the events at Troy and the founding of Rome into a riveting gangster tale as two criminal empires fight to control New England.

5. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Read this if you want: a feel-good classic that’s actually easy to read.

If you browse Reddit for the best book recommendations for people who don’t read, you’ll keep hearing The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. This beautifully silly feel-good classic follows the galactic (mis)adventures of Arthur Dent, beginning one Thursday lunchtime when the Earth gets unexpectedly demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. Here are 12 more classics that are surprisingly easy to read.

6. The Martian by Andy Weir

Read this if you want: a book that’s just as good as the movie.

Another popular Reddit book recommendation for people who don’t read is The Martian. Quadsimotto shared: “I couldn’t put this book down. Finished it on a set of flights and was laughing hysterically at some of the story. The passenger next to me was then trying to read it over my shoulder and was having a hard time keeping pace.”

Even if you’ve seen the movie, this is one of those books that captures everything you love about the movie and gives you even more to enjoy. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read, The Martian is the bestselling story of astronaut Mark Watney, who became one of the first people to walk on Mars six days ago. Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there – but Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, engineering skills, and relentless refusal to quit, he’s determined to figure out a way back home.

7. World War Z by Max Brooks

Read this if you want: a gripping story about the survivors of a zombie apocalypse.

I had an ex-boyfriend who loved this book. Told in the haunting and riveting voices of the men and women who witnessed the horror firsthand, World War Z is a record of the zombie apocalypse by the few that survived. On Reddit, SonOfPlinkett shared: “I never liked reading and didn’t read a novel until I was 20. World War Z was the first book I choose to read and I’ve been reading novels every day ever since.”

8. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Read this if you want: to escape into a fantasy world and forget about life for a while.

If you don’t like reading, try Six of Crows, the hugely popular young adult book that’s now a Netflix series. Immerse yourself in the world of six dangerous outcasts and one impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction―if they don’t kill each other first.

This is Book 1 of 2 in the Six of Crows series, but Leigh Bardugo has also written the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the King of Scars duology if you need more books to read next.

The post 8 of the best books for people who don’t like reading appeared first on Tolstoy Therapy.

But what about Tolstoy’s other books? And in particular, what is the best translation of Anna Karenina, Tolstoy’s classic love story-meets-tragedy?

There are roughly ten English translations of Anna Karenina that are currently in print. However, you’re likely going to be comparing just five translations of Anna Karenina: by Constance Garnett, Louise and Aylmer Maude, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, Rosamund Bartlett, and Marian Schwartz.

These are the translations you’ll find sitting in most well-stocked bookshops, recommended on university reading lists, and suggested at the top of Reddit threads.

Academic Hugh McLean shares that “None of the existing translations is actively bad. From any of them the ordinary English-speaking reader would obtain a reasonably full and adequate experience of the novel. […] One’s choice among the existing translations must therefore be based on nuances, subtleties, and refinements”.

For this post, I’ve looked into the thoughts and reviews of other readers of Anna Karenina for these translations. But ultimately, it’s based on my own thoughts, taking these key points into consideration:

• How easy and enjoyable it is to read in English
• How faithful it is to the original Russian

This is the main challenge of the translator, and there’s no right answer to which version is best. When reading a comparison of the different translations of Anna Karenina, it can be infuriating to work out which one is better. “Just give me a clear answer!” you mutter at the internet… So I’m going to try and make it easier for you.

Which translation of Anna Karenina should you read? (The short answer)

The short answer is that the best translation is the one you enjoy reading. Especially if you’re not a Russian literature academic (which I’m certainly not). That said:

• For a free version of Anna Karenina, choose the Constance Garnett translation.
• For a Tolstoy-approved Anna Karenina, choose the Maude translation.
• For a bestselling translation in American English, choose Pevear and Volokhonsky.
• For an updated Anna Karenina that reads smoothly in British English, choose the Bartlett translation.
• For accurate and literal Anna Karenina that embraces Tolstoy’s clunkiness, choose Schwartz’s new translation.

Personally, I prefer the Rosamund Bartlett translation of Anna Karenina. And fortunately, Anna Karenina is a book that can (and if possible, should) be read multiple times over the course of a lifetime. If you choose a different translation each time, you create your own translation comparison project. (That might sound more interesting to some than others.)

If you need more help deciding, let’s look into the different translations of Anna Karenina in a bit more detail, see some text samples, and weigh up their pros and cons…

Comparing the five best translations of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

1. Constance Garnett – the original translation in the public domain, but dated, overly literal, and sacrifices style

You can’t deny the influence that Garnett’s translations have had on literature. It wasn’t until her translations were published that the Russian classics were read in English. As Rosamund Bartlett writes for The Guardian, Garnett’s translation from 1901 has “stood the test of time and set a high benchmark for future versions”.

That said, her translations can be very literal and sacrifice style for accuracy. Being one of the first major translators of Russian into English, she rushed to translate as many books as possible in the shortest time (which sometimes meant skipping over difficult sections entirely). Her translations can also seem tinged with dated Edwardian English.

You can find the Garnett translation in the public domain (Project Gutenberg), but a good choice for reading Garnett’s translation is a revised edition, especially this thorough revision from Leonard J. Kent and Nina Berberova in 1965, complete with fairly full notes at the bottom of the page. “Kent and Berberova did a much more thorough and careful revision of the Garnett translation than Gibian did of the Maude one, and they have supplied fairly full notes, conveniently printed at the bottom of the page”, writes Hugh McLean.

2. Aylmer and Louise Maude – worked with Tolstoy to get as close to his intent as they could

The Maude translation has an interesting advantage: they knew Leo Tolstoy and worked with him to get their translation as close to his original intent as possible.

While researching this post, the Maude translation seems to be a lot less controversial than the Garnett or P&V translations. The consensus seems to be, sure, it’s fine.

Like the Garnett, the Maude is more at risk of sounding dated in places because of how long ago it was translated, but a revised Maude translation is a good choice. To guide your reading, this Wordsworth Classics edition includes notes from E.B. Greenwood.

3. Pevear and Volokhonsky – bestselling and award-winning, but can be clunky

The P&V version is the translation of Anna Karenina you’re most likely to find in a bookshop or be recommended by a friend. It also tends to be the translation taught in university courses. And it was the version of Anna Karenina I read first – and enjoyed a lot, even if the Bartlett translation nudged ahead on a reread.

When it was chosen for Oprah’s book club, the P&V translation sold hundreds of thousands of copies – yet, as the New York Times shares, it’s worth noting that Winfrey had not read the book and chose this particular translation out of consideration of convenience. It was the most recent and therefore the most widely available at that moment. And that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Although the P&V translation of Anna Karenina won the 2002 PEN translation prize, read any Reddit thread about the best translations of Anna Karenina (or any other Russian classic) and you’ll see one comment praising P&V translations and the next saying how awful and clunky they are. (Or to quote one critic, “awkward and unsightly muddles”.) Their translations are more polarising than others on this list, mostly because they’ve had such a monopoly on marketing.

The husband-and-wife team has a unique translation process: Volokhonsky first prepares her English version of the original text, trying to follow Russian syntax and stylistic peculiarities as closely as possible, and then Pevear turns this version into polished English. 

Hugh McLean shares, “It is certainly a good translation and generally follows Tolstoy’s style more closely and with less editing and ‘prettifying’ than other versions. But one must still regret that it is not better than it is”. He commends them for their explanatory notes, but adds that they’re inconveniently tucked away at the back of the book.

Ultimately, the best way to see if it’s a good translation for you is to download a Kindle sample or sit down with it in a bookshop (and ideally, compare the first few pages with those of other translations in this list). If you want to keep reading, go for it. If not, try another. Such as…

4. Rosamund Bartlett – modern and intended to read as if it were written in English

I enjoyed Bartlett’s biography Tolstoy: A Russian Life in 2010, and was interested to see how she would approach her 2014 translation of Anna Karenina. I liked it a lot. She creates a more British Tolstoy, but considering I’m British, I probably notice that less than others. In her introduction, Bartlett writes:

“This translation seeks to preserve all the idiosyncrasies of Tolstoy’s inimitable style, as far as that is possible, including the majority of his signature repetitions, so often smoothed over by previous translators”.

However, she also adds that “[Tolstoy] would have surely expected his translators to draw on the particular strengths of their own languages. The aim here, therefore, is to produce a translation which is idiomatic as well as faithful to the original, and one which ideally reads as if it was written in one’s own language.”

There are plenty of footnotes and endnotes to give you more background information, as well as a character list with the various names and nicknames of each character in case you start getting confused.

5. Marian Schwartz – an embrace of Tolstoy’s awkward style, in a faithful translation of the original

The Schwartz translation of Anna Karenina is the one I know the least about. I’m intrigued by it though, and will probably choose it for my next re-read. The most direct competitor of the Schwartz translation is Bartlett’s; after all, they were published within a year.

However, while Bartlett wanted an Anna that seemed crafted in English, Schwartz was focused on translating an accurate Anna, not shying away from Tolstoy’s awkwardness or “correcting” supposed mistakes.

In this translation, Schwartz uses repetition where Tolstoy does, uses clichés when he does, and re-creates his style in English more than any other translator has aspired to.

Michael Holquist, author of Dostoevsky and the Novel, shares that, “The translation is the most accurate Tolstoy we have in English. Marian Schwartz has been a major force in bringing Russian literature into English for many years, but this is her masterpiece.”

If you go by the New York Times comparison of the Bartlett vs. Schwartz translation of Anna Karenina, you might be left feeling a little confused, though. They say that Schwartz has a better ear for the Russian. But her translation is often less readable than Bartlett’s. But Bartlett introduces “an awkwardness that is absent in the original”. Hmm.

As is the recurring advice in this post, start with the translation that sounds the most interesting to you. Continue reading the translation you like to read. And don’t be afraid to switch.

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Sample text from each Anna Karenina translation

Remember that the main goal of reading Anna Karenina should be to enjoy reading Anna Karenina. Let the translation you choose help you with that, and don’t be afraid to read the first pages of a few different translations before picking your favourite.

If you’re really not sure though, I’d recommend trying Rosamund Bartlett’s translation as a starting point. See how you get on.

The post What’s the best translation of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy? appeared first on Tolstoy Therapy.

Reading can and should be about nurturing ourselves. Even with no one watching, even with no goals achieved, reading can soothe us, inspire us, and heal us.

To help you get back into reading, here are some of the best books if you don’t know what to read right now. I’ve included some popular newcomers, a handful of my old favourites, and some of the most popular recommendations I’ve shared here on Tolstoy Therapy.

The best books to read if you don’t know what to read right now

1. Fairy Tale by Stephen King

In this new book from Stephen King for September 2022, the storytelling master digs deep into his imagination to create a world that blurs the boundaries between magic and reality.

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid. But when he accidentally inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, he realises that the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Early on in the pandemic, King asked himself: “What could you write that would make you happy?” This book is the answer.

2. The Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller

Madeleine Miller’s writing is a real gift for bookworms. I often talk about how much I love Circe, Miller’s first book, but Song of Achilles is another magically beautiful book to pick up when you don’t know what to read. (Even bestselling author of The Goldfinch Donna Tartt has described it as “a hard book to put down”.)

This thrilling and utterly captivating retelling of the legend of Achilles and the Trojan War is a tale of gods, kings, love, and the desire for immortal fame.

3. Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Taylor Jenkins Reid has written some of the best books to binge-read from the last few years. I first read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and loved and hated the characters in equal measure. I loved the themes of family and self-discovery in Malibu Rising. I listened to the full-cast audiobook of Daisy Jones & the Six and it was fantastic.

Now in 2022, Taylor Jenkins has published Carrie Soto is Back, her story of a tennis legend supposedly past her prime at thirty-seven, brought back to the tennis court for one more grand slam. Carrie Soto sacrificed everything to become the best, and now she needs to give everything she’s got to defend her record.

4. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

After years of trying, I’ve finally convinced my husband to read Pachinko… mostly because I really wanted to watch the TV adaptation that came out earlier this year, but also because I know he’d love it. (He’s nearly finished with it, and has a lot of good things to say.)

Pachinko is a five-hundred-page epic about a poor Korean immigrant family covering ground in their homeland, Japan, and the US. It’s compulsively readable. I just re-read it and found so much to fall in love with all over again.

5. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

When I worked in my village bookshop growing up, Cutting for Stone was the book that the shop owner recommended to everyone who didn’t know what to read. I was so glad I finally picked it up. It was incredible.

It’s the story of Marion and Shiva Stone, twin brothers born of a secret union between an Indian nun and a British surgeon in Ethiopia. Bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution.

Moving between Addis Ababa and New York City, Cutting for Stone is a great book to read if you’ve already read and enjoyed Pachinko by Min Jin Lee.

“Wasn’t that the definition of home? Not where you are from, but where you are wanted…”

6. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

If you don’t know what to read right now, how about making it the time you try War and Peace?

War and Peace is a book that’s helped me through so much over the last few years. I first read it when I was about fifteen years old and really struggling with anxiety. Unexpectedly, the enormous Russian tome became a balm for my soul.

It’s a book about life, death, love, loss… everything, really. I loved getting lost in the worlds of the characters and following their right and wrong turns in life.

“Here I am alive, and it’s not my fault, so I have to try and get by as best I can without hurting anybody until death takes over.”

To help you get started, here’s my guide to reading War and Peace (and actually maybe enjoying it). I’ve also shared my comparison of the best translations. I love this clothbound hardcover edition of the Anthony Briggs translation.

7. From a Low and Quiet Sea by Donal Ryan

From a Low and Quiet Sea really hit me hard. Starting in Syria and crossing the water to reach Ireland, this story of three men is one of the most quietly emotional books I’ve read. I love author Rachel Joyce’s review: “It’s a beautiful, luminous kind of piece – full of mystery, compassion, woven with such skill; heartbreaking and restorative. I will carry these splintered men around with me for a long time, along with the women who have loved them.”

“Trees live, like you and me, long lives, and they know things. They know the rule, the only one that’s real and must be kept. What’s the rule? You know. I’ve told you lots of times before. Be kind.”

8. A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler

I’ve recommended A Whole Life many times on the blog before, and it also features in my memoir of my time living in the Swiss Alps. In this novel, Robert Seethaler gently shares the story of one man’s quiet life in the Austrian mountains in which not much happens and yet everything happens. It’s a quietly earth-shattering book.

“You can buy a man’s hours off him, you can steal his days from him, or you can rob him of his whole life, but no one can take away from any man so much as a single moment. That’s the way it is.”

The post 8 books to read if you don’t know what to read appeared first on Tolstoy Therapy.

“It is is better to know one book intimately than a hundred superficially.”

The Secret History is one of my all-time favourite books. It’s one of those books that as soon as I think of it, I feel something. I think of autumn leaves, the start of a year on campus, and thick knitted jumpers.

It’s a book about characters who love learning, but it’s also a book about books. The Secret History is full of intertextuality, or mentions of other books and authors, and that’s one of the things I love most about it.

Many of the books mentioned are Donna Tartt’s favourites. In an interview with Rivista Studio in 2021, Donna Tartt shared her “worshipped writers”:

“Homer, the Greek poets and tragedians, Dante and Shakespeare are my constant touchstones. I went back and read Macbeth and Hamlet during the pandemic. I also venerate Dickens, Nabokov, Proust, Dostoevsky, Yeats, Borges, Edith Wharton, Evelyn Waugh, Salinger, Virginia Woolf. Dickens was a part of my familial landscape, the air I breathed.”

(For more recommendations like this, here’s my list of Donna Tartt’s favourite books.)

After I read The Secret History for the first time, I made a note of every single book that was mentioned in the novel (hopefully I didn’t miss any).

So here goes, the books mentioned in The Secret History for other book nerds like me…

Some of the best books mentioned in The Secret History

1. Inferno by Dante

“Those really hideous parts of Inferno, for instance, Pier de Medicina with his nose hacked off and talking though a bloody slit in his windpipe–” “I can think of worse than that,” Charles said. “So can I. But that passage is lovely and it’s because of the terza rima. The music of it.”

Francis disusccing iambic trimeter with Charles

2. The Iliad by Homer

The Iliad is one of the books mentioned most in The Secret History. Donna Tartt is writing about a clever group of classics students, after all. We hear that Julian holds lectures on it, and the characters mention a few other quotes and moments from Homer’s classic in their interactions with each other.

“The descriptions of Troy in the Iliad are horrible to me – all flat land and burning sun. No. I’ve always been drawn to broken, wild terrain.”

Henry to Charles in The Secret History

3. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

One of the bookish moments that I remember best from The Secret History is when Richard picks up a copy of The Great Gatsby to help him deal with insomnia…

“When I could no longer concentrate on Greek and the alphabet began to transmute itself into incoherent triangles and pitchforks, I read The Great Gatsby. It is one of my favourite books and I had taken it out of the library in hopes that it would cheer me up; of course, it only made me feel worse, since in my own humorless state I failed to see anything except what I construed as certain tragic similarities between Gatsby and myself.”

Richard on reading The Great Gatsby to try and fall asleep

4. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

“It was I killed the old pawnbroker woman and her sister Lizaveta with an axe and robbed them.”

From Crime and Punishment, without citation, in The Secret History

5. The Final Problem by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (alongside other mentions of Sherlock Holmes)

I first read The Final Problem a few years before it would mean a lot more to me, when I moved to Switzerland and had a view of the Reichenbach Falls from my living room. I love the parallel that Donna Tartt makes with Sherlock Holmes in The Secret History.

“It’s kind of like Sherlock Holmes. Going over the Reichenbach Falls. I keep expecting to find that it was all a trick […]”

Francis in The Secret History

6. Paradise Lost by John Milton

“What are you doing, Greek?” Henry sat the cup back into its saucer. “A translation of Paradise Lost.” “Into which language?” “Latin,” he said solemnly.

To admire another literary young male who likes to translate books and music for the sheer joy of it, you might like Call Me By Your Name. It’s André Aciman’s basis for the hit film of the same name, about the sudden romance that blossoms between an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his parents’ cliffside mansion on the Italian Riviera.

Other books mentioned in The Secret History

• Poetics by Aristotle
• Agamemnon by Aeschylus
• The Bacchae by Euripedes
• Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
• The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot
• Memoirs of the Duc de Saint-Simon
• Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
• The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
• The Divine Comedy by Dante
• The Greeks and the Irrational by E.R. Dodds
• The Republic by Plato
• The Aeneid by Virgil
• The Superman comic
• The Upanishads
• “With Rue My Heart is Laden” by A.E. Housman
• “Lycidas” by John Milton
• “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Lord Alfred Tennyson
• “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae
• The New Testament
• Anthony Janson’s History of Art
• “Why so pale and wan fond lover?” by Sir John Suckling
• Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
• Treasure Island by Robert Lewis Stevenson
• The Revenger’s Tragedy by Cyril Tourneur (now attributed to Thomas Middleton)
• Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
• Terence – Andria (“Hinc illae lacrimae, hence those tears)

Other authors mentioned

• Plotinus
• Plato
• Parmenides
• Pliny
• John Donne
• John Ford
• Marcel Proust
• Christopher Marlowe
• George Orwell
• P.G. Wodehouse 
• Philip K. Dick
• Raymond Chandler
• Charles Dickens
• Leo Tolstoy

“He was pleased, however obscurely, with the aesthetics of the thing…”Like something from Tolstoy, isn’t it?” he remarked.”

Henry in The Secret History

For more Donna Tartt-inspired books to add to your reading list, here’s my curated list of Donna Tartt’s favourite books.

The post The 30+ books mentioned in The Secret History by Donna Tartt appeared first on Tolstoy Therapy.