Well, I have done it. I have finished this list published by the Huffington Post. I feel a sense of accomplishment, but also a sense of “now what?”
The last book I read on the list was NW by Zadie Smith.
(Image from amazon.com)
NW was a bit fragmented for me. The story centers around best friends Natalie and Leah and follows them from childhood into adulthood in northwest London. The two women face a variety of issues, and ordinarily I would have found their situations interesting, but the writing was all over the place.
For a while I felt that maybe I just wasn’t getting it. That this was a brilliant way of writing that was way over my head. When I finished the book, in a feeble attempt of trying to grasp more understanding, I read some reviews of it on Good Reads and it turns out I wasn’t alone in my opinion.
So NW was one of my least favorite books on the list, but maybe in some ways, that made it easier to complete and part with this reading list that has been so much a part of my life over the past eight months.
I am going to post my rankings of all 21 books soon. In the meantime, please post your suggestions of the next books I should read. I’m going to be a bit lost now!
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
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin
Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique
NW by Zadie Smith
A HOUSE WITH CHARACTER 