The Secret History by Donna Tartt Review

Title: The Secret History
Author: Donna Tartt
Genre: Fiction, Mystery

Blurb: Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality their lives are changed profoundly and forever, and they discover how hard it can be to truly live and how easy it is to kill.

Me: After years of being too lazy (and definitely thinking I was too indie yikes) and multiple glowing reviews from my friends, I decided to use self-isolation time to read some of Donna Tartt's masterpieces. And oh my good lord. This might be the best literary decision I've made all year. This book sucked me in and crushed me in a way no contemporary book has done in a while. I just couldn't stop reading, couldn't take my mind off the characters and the world.

Sula by Toni Morrison Review

Title: Sula
Author: Toni Morrison
Genre: Classics, Fiction
Blurb: Two girls who grow up to become women. Two friends who become something worse than enemies. In this brilliantly imagined novel, Toni Morrison tells the story of Nel Wright and Sula Peace, who meet as children in the small town of Medallion, Ohio. Their devotion is fierce enough to withstand bullies and the burden of a dreadful secret. It endures even after Nel has grown up to be a pillar of the black community and Sula has become a pariah. But their friendship ends in an unforgivable betrayal—or does it end? Terrifying, comic, ribald and tragic, Sula is a work that overflows with life.

Me: I read Beloved about a year ago and was stunned. After Toni Morrison passed this summer, I told myself I'd make it a point to try and read all of her works at some point. The first one I've picked up since is Sula, and wow- Toni never disappoints. 

Villette by Charlotte Bronte Review

Title: Villette
Author: Charlotte Bronte
Genre: Fiction, Classics
Blurb: With her final novel, Villette, Charlotte Brontë reached the height of her artistic power. First published in 1853, Villette is Brontë's most accomplished and deeply felt work, eclipsing even Jane Eyre in critical acclaim. Her narrator, the autobiographical Lucy Snowe, flees England and a tragic past to become an instructor in a French boarding school in the town of Villette. There she unexpectedly confronts her feelings of love and longing as she witnesses the fitful romance between Dr. John, a handsome young Englishman, and Ginerva Fanshawe, a beautiful coquette. The first pain brings others, and with them comes the heartache Lucy has tried so long to escape. Yet in spite of adversity and disappointment, Lucy Snowe survives to recount the unstinting vision of a turbulent life's journey - a journey that is one of the most insightful fictional studies of a woman's consciousness in English literature.

Me: When I read Jane Eyre for the first time a few years ago, it absolutely blew me away with how complex the characters and fictional world were in just a simple story. I received Villette as a birthday present a little bit after, and though I always told myself I would get around to it, I never seemed to have a reason to. But being in self-isolation and trying to get through all the physical I haven't read gave me the time to fully enjoy it and oh my gosh- it might be my favorite Victorian novel yet. 

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong Review

Title: On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Author: Ocean Vuong
Genre: Fiction
Blurb: On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family's history that began before he was born — a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam — and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity. Asking questions central to our American moment, immersed as we are in addiction, violence, and trauma, but undergirded by compassion and tenderness, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is as much about the power of telling one's own story as it is about the obliterating silence of not being heard.

Me: I've heard Ocean Vuong's name again and again now for a couple of years. I'm so glad I finally got to sit down and read one of his works- especially a book as beautiful and heartbreaking as this one.