Reading Room · Proceed With Caution
Good Books I Would Never Recommend to Everyone
Because “I loved it” and “you should read it” are two very different things.
Recommending a book is strangely personal. Saying I loved this is easy. Saying I think YOU should read this is something else entirely.
Because some of my favourite books are brutal. Some are painfully slow. Some will confuse you. One might keep you awake for a week. Another will break your heart. So yes, I loved the books on this list. Would I recommend them?
Well.
How much do I know about you?
01 — The One Where Almost Nothing Happens
Normal People
I loved Normal People. But if you’re waiting for me to follow that sentence with “I couldn’t put it down because I HAD to know what happened next”… No. There isn’t much of a next to desperately wait for.
What kept me there were Marianne and Connell. Their awkwardness. Their conversations. The things they say and, probably even more importantly, all the things they don’t.
Would I Recommend It?
Yes — if you don’t need things to happen all the time.
02 — For Those Who Aren’t Afraid to Get Lost
Piranesi
How do you recommend Piranesi without ruining Piranesi? Because the less you know, the better. You enter this strange place and very quickly realise that you don’t quite understand where you are. Or what’s happening. Or why.
There is something strangely beautiful about being completely lost inside a book and allowing it to lead you somewhere without demanding an explanation every five minutes. But you have to be willing to surrender to it.
Welcome to the labyrinth. Try not to ask for directions.
Would I Recommend It?
Yes. But don’t ask me what it’s about. Just get lost.
03 — The One I Genuinely Wish Had Scared Me Less
How attached are you
to sleeping?
Hell House was real horror for me. Not “oh, this is wonderfully atmospheric and slightly creepy” horror. I mean I couldn’t sleep properly for a week horror. The kind where suddenly your perfectly normal home starts making suspicious noises at night.
Would I Recommend It?
Sure. How attached are you to sleeping?
04 — The One That Will Emotionally Ruin You
Me Before You
You will love it. And then it will destroy you. That’s basically the recommendation. You get attached. You hope. You care. And eventually the book takes your heart, does unspeakable things to it and leaves you sitting there sobbing.
Would I Recommend It?
Yes.
And I’m sorry. 😂
JESUS
CHRIST.
A Clockwork Orange is brilliant. It’s important. It’s inventive. It’s also incredibly brutal — and not brutal in a way you can comfortably observe from a distance. There are things in this book that are genuinely hard to digest.
Would I Recommend It?
Proceed With Caution
Yes. But prepare yourself.
Skincare. Hair. Clothes. Restaurants.
Patrick, darling, I understand. You exfoliate. Can we move on? 😂
06 — The One I Love but Hesitate to Admit Recommending
The level of detail doesn’t disappear when Bateman’s thoughts turn to what he wants to do to other people. Those parts are difficult to read. Sometimes extremely difficult. But loving what a book is doing doesn’t necessarily mean enjoying every moment of reading it.
Would I Recommend It?
Define “recommend”.
07 — The “What the Actual Fuck Is Going On Here?!” Book
Everything is fine.
Everything is probably fine.
Okay.
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK
IS GOING ON HERE?! 😂
It starts with this picture of a traditional family, a ranch, motherhood, marriage. And then you start noticing things. Little things. Cracks. Questions. And then it keeps going. And going. Every time you think you’ve reached the maximum possible level of madness, the book seems to look at you and say: Cute.
Would I Recommend It?
Yes. But don’t expect me to explain what just happened.
So no, I wouldn’t recommend every book I love to everyone. Maybe you love slow books and Normal People will be perfect for you. Maybe uncertainty makes you deliciously uncomfortable and you’ll disappear happily into Piranesi. That’s the fun of it.
Tell me what kind of reader you are
and I might know exactly
which one to hand you.
