The most recent book I finished from this list published by the Huffington Post is The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.
(Image from amazon.com)
At nearly 800 pages, the book is by far the longest on the list, but also one of the best I have read. It follows Theo Decker through several tragedies in his life. We first meet him at age 13, living in New York with his mother, whom he adores.
The Goldfinch won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2014. The story is tragic, and not at all uplifting, yet it is riveting. At first I was frustrated with the ending, but I realized that is because I was expecting a fairy tale ending and Tartt gives us reality.
While reading the book I thought several times of Dickens’ Great Expectations, one of my favorite books. It turns out I wasn’t alone in getting a Dickens vibe from The Goldfinch. I discovered several reviews after finishing it that say the same thing.
Do not be frightened of the number of pages (as I admit I was). This book is worth your time.
Here’s an updated list. The first five books on this list are the ones I had read prior to discovering the list:
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
Yes, Please by Amy Poehler
Bossy Pants by Tina Fey
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
Drink by Ann Dowsett Johnston
Room by Emma Donoghue
The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan
Her by Christa Parravani
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti
Ten Thousand Saints by Eleanor Henderson
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
NW by Zadie Smith
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique
The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin
A HOUSE WITH CHARACTER 