Top 5 Wednesday | Books You’re Thankful For

Since having recently moved to the US, this is my first experience of Thanksgiving!  This is also only my second participation in Top 5 Wednesday, a weekly feature hosted by ThoughtsOnTomes. You can join the group on Goodreads to find out the topics for each week.

Here goes…

1. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

I am thankful for this book because it is one of the most beautiful, horrifying, sublime novels I’ve ever read. It gets under your skin and refuses to leave. If you haven’t read it yet, make sure it is on your 2018 TBR.

2. Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling

It would be disingenuous not to have Harry Potter on this list – a series that moulded an entire generation of young readers, myself among them. I will forever be grateful to J.K. Rowling for creating this world.

3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Jane is our Victorian feminist, and I love her. Streets ahead of her time, Jane Eyre holds on to her ideals and individuality, maintaining her independence in the face of wildly patriarchal forces. I am thankful for her strength.

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”

4. Age of Ambition by Evan Osnos

Evan Osnos’ book is essential reading for anyone wanting to try to understand the maze that is Modern China. He writes with clarity, sensitivity and insight and taught me how to get to grips with the country I once lived in. I am thankful for his balanced and thoughtful account of this complex nation.

5. The Waves by Virginia Woolf

I am thankful for this book because Woolf is a genius. The Waves is a beautiful, incomprehensible book, defying all novelistic conventions as voices ebb and flow like the tide. This book is a poetic masterpiece, and a true showcase of Woolf’s talent.

“Let us again pretend that life is a solid substance, shaped like a globe, which we turn about in our fingers. Let us pretend that we can make out a plain and logical story, so that when one matter is despatched—love for instance—we go on, in an orderly manner, to the next. ”

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Look forward to seeing what other readers have picked — feel free to link to your post!