Madeline's Picks
The Romantic
(In no particular order)
Reading Style
When I read a good book, I usually binge it like Netflix, cover to cover. I love fiction either with an element of fantasy or that references a real historical moment.
Literary Likes
01
Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon
Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance, Series, Time Travel
The eight book series begins with Outlander. Outlander begins in 1945, with Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, who is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an “outlander”—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of Our Lord...1743. Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life, and shatter her heart. For here James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire—and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.
02
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Genres: Autobiography, Humor
The compelling, inspiring, and comically sublime New York Times bestseller about one man’s coming-of-age, set during the twilight of apartheid and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed. The eighteen personal essays collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love.
03
Circe by Madeline Miller
Genres: Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Mythology
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child—not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power—the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves. With unforgettably vivid characters (including many of the most famous figures in all of mythology), mesmerizing language and page-turning suspense, Circe is an intoxicating epic of family rivalry, palace intrigue, love and loss, as well as a celebration of indomitable female strength in a man's world.
whimsical romance, myths and legends, e-books (so transportable, and I love the word look-up function!)
Literary Dislikes
overly wordy prose, characters that fail the Bechdel test, fantasy novels without maps
What's on my bookshelf
Books on deck to read next
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
Cien Años de Soledad by Gabriel García Márquez
04
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
Genres: Fiction, Cultural Fiction
Seen through the eyes of the 15-year-old narrator named Esch, this novel explores the plight of a working-class African-American family in Mississippi as they prepare for Hurricane Katrina and follows them through the aftermath of the storm. A wrenching look at the lonesome, brutal, and restrictive realities of rural poverty, Salvage the Bones is muscled with poetry, revelatory, and real.
05
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
Genres: Fiction, Humor, Satire, Romance, LGBTQ
Who says you can't run away from your problems? You are a failed novelist about to turn fifty. A wedding invitation arrives in the mail: your boyfriend of the past nine years is engaged to someone else. You can't say yes--it would be too awkward--and you can't say no--it would look like defeat. On your desk are a series of invitations to half-baked literary events around the world. So how do you arrange to skip town? You accept them all. What could possibly go wrong? Less is a satirical comedy novel following gay writer Arthur Less while he travels the world on a literary tour, as his fiftieth birthday looms. The book covers themes such as romantic love, relationships, aging, and travel.
06
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Genres: Fiction, Youth Adult, Fantasy, Adventure, Series
When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder—much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. And she’s more than a little startled when the body disappears into thin air. Soon Clary is introduced to the world of the Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of warriors dedicated to driving demons out of our world and back to their own. Along with Jace, who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk, Clary is introduced to his world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a grotesque monster. How could a mere human survive such an attack and kill a demon? The Shadowhunters would like to know…City of Bones is the first in The Mortal Instruments series.
07
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Genres: Science Fiction, Dystopian, Feminist, Satire
Set in a near-future New England, in a totalitarian state resembling a theonomy that overthrows the United States government, Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived with her husband and daughter and had a job, before she lost even her own name. But all of that is gone now. Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force.
08
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Genres: Historical Fiction, Horror, Fantasy, Paranormal, Gothic, Mystery
To you, perceptive reader, I bequeath my history....Late one night, exploring her father's library, a young woman finds an ancient book and a cache of yellowing letters. The letters are all addressed to "My dear and unfortunate successor," and they plunge her into a world she never dreamed of, a labyrinth where the secrets of her father's past and her mother's mysterious fate connect to an inconceivable evil hidden in the depths of history. Crossing time, borders, and generations, from dusty Ivy League libraries to Istanbul, Budapest, and the depths of Eastern Europe, a daughter follows in her father's footsteps oh a quest for the truth of Vlad the Impaler, the medieval ruler upon whom the legend of Dracula was based.
09
Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop
Genres: Fantasy Fiction, Romance, Series
Daughter of the Blood is the first book in the Black Jewels Trilogy about a race of witches and warlocks whose power is channeled through magical jewels. The Dark Kingdom readies itself for the arrival of its Queen, a Witch who will wield more power than even the High Lord of Hell himself, as seen in a seven-hundred-year-old prophecy. Whoever controls the Queen controls the darkness. Three men – sworn enemies – know this. And so begins a ruthless game of politics and intrigue, magic and betrayal, where the weapons are hate and love – and the prize could be terrible beyond imagining.
10
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Time Travel, Romance
A funny, often poignant tale of boy meets girl with a twist: what if one of them couldn't stop slipping in and out of time? Highly original and imaginative, this debut novel raises questions about life, love, and the effects of time on relationships. The Time Traveler’s Wife depicts the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare’s marriage and their passionate love for each other as the story unfolds from both points of view. Clare and Henry attempt to live normal lives, threatened by something they can neither prevent nor control, making their story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.