Hey hi hello friends, and welcome back to my blog!
I feel like titles really make or break the book. After all, the book title is literally the very first thing people see, before the cover or the synopsis or anything else. Often times for upcoming releases, all future readers have is the title for months on end. If the title doesn't grab you, you're not very likely to actually read the book.
That's why today I'm going to talk about the books on my TBR that have the most intriguing titles to me. I'll probably do another post later on about my favorite book titles from my "Read" shelf, if you'd be interested in that.
These books can either be nonfiction or fiction, manga or novel, poetry or play. Basically, anything on my TBR, physical or potential, that I think just have the best titles. I'll explain why I think these titles work for me, but I feel like most people will understand regardless. They scratch my brain in just the right way.
Fair warning: this is going to be a very long blog post, because there are so many incredible book titles on my TBR. These aren't in any particular order, either. Also, since these are books I haven't read yet, I won't be able to give you a full in-depth synopsis or my thoughts. I hope you still like this despite all of these things!
Okay, let's get right into it!
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One Hundred Years of Solitude
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
This was the book that inspired this whole blog post. Out of all of the classics on my TBR, this seems to be the one that I'm pushed the most to read. And I'm very excited to pick it up! This is a translated classic from Columbia about a mythical town through the eyes of one family. It won the Nobel prize for literature, so I have very high expectations for this novel. It's also magical realism, which I've been loving lately in adult fiction. Overall, I'm very intrigued by
One Hundred Years of Solitude, and I'm hoping to get my hands on a copy this year.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
by John Berendt
This is a nonfiction book about 1980s Savannah, Georgia. While the main story it looks into is a murder case, it seems that John Berendt gives the readers a little bit of everything in this history/true crime book -- high society, drag queens, poison, con artists, and voodoo. I mean, if that doesn't get you to pick this book up, then I'm not sure what will. I've been really interested in true crime lately, and I'm hoping that this will keep that interest piqued. I especially enjoy historic true crime, so this is ticking all of the boxes I have in my head. I do own a copy of this book, so I'm planning on reading it this year.
Women Who Run With the Wolves
by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes
This is another nonfiction book that looks into the psychology of the "Wild Woman" archetype that shows up in mythologies and fairytales from around the world. While this is considered a self-help nonfiction, I'm more interested in reading it from a researcher point of view, how Dr. Estes breaks down this archetype and how it persists throughout the world. I feel like this is a good book to read in tandem with the original myths. I bought this originally as a helper for my college degree, but I'm definitely still interested in reading it even though I'm no longer in school.
Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree
by Adaobi Tricia Nwuabani
I've had this book on my TBR for ages, and I've only just now looked up the synopsis of it. This is a historical fiction novel (ish) set in Nigeria in 2014. It's based on real events, when 276 girls were kidnapped from their school by a terrorist group. The author used accounts and interviews from survivors of this event as a basis for her book. And now I want to read this even more. This seems like a very difficult novel to pick up, full of disturbing things and dark thoughts, but it's also important. I, for one, never even heard of this mass kidnapping until just now. It's just skyrocketed up to the top of my TBR.
Perfectly Preventable Deaths
by Dierdre Sullivan
Not only do I love this title, I'm obsessed with this book cover. Just look at it! This is a YA horror novel about two twin sisters who move to a new town that has been the source of multiple disappearances over the years. I have to admit that I'm pulling away from YA more and more these days, but this book has been on my radar since it was first announced, so I'm not letting go of it without a fight. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a
single copy of the book apart from an e-copy from Amazon. And I
really want this gorgeous book on my shelves. It's also listed on Goodreads as the first in a series, with the sequel
Perilous Catastrophe having come out in 2021.
The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea
by Yukio Mishima
This novel is translated from the Japanese by John Nathan. I've been wanting to read a book by Yukio Mishima for a while now, although I'm not quite sure if this is the place to start or not. The consensus is that this is a uniquely disturbing story about a group of young teenage boys who reject the concept of adulthood and in turn grow increasingly more unhinged and violent. It reminds me vaguely of
Lord of the Flies, where it's more of an allegory of the human condition than about the actual characters themselves. I've also read that Mishima's life was extremely dark and brutal and that this book might be a reflection of his most personal thoughts, which doesn't exactly make me inclined to pick it up any time soon. Of all of these novels, this is probably the one I'm most apprehensive about reading.
In the Miso Soup
by Ryu Murakami
At first glance, this might seem like a rather boring book title, especially compared to the others on this list. I certainly felt that way myself when this book first popped up on my Goodreads. That was, until, I saw that it's actually a horror novel.
Now I'm intrigued beyond imagining. Translated from the Japanese by Ralph McCarthy, this book looks at the darkest of dark through the lens of Tokyo's nightlife. I've seen it described as the grossest and most macabre book ever written. I'm sure that turns quite a few people off, but for me, I just really want to know: what's in the soup?
Of Love and Other Demons
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
I know I've already talked about a book by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but I have to mention
Of Love and Other Demons, too. Like
One Hundred Years of Solitude, this is a historical fiction novel set in Colombia. We follow a 12 year old girl as she is sent to a convent due to belief that she's possessed by a demon. However, it seems like the true demons are really the other people around us. This book tackles a lot of taboo and unsettling topics, like most Gabriel Garcia Marquez books seem to do. I have a feeling that this book will leave me very, very angry.
The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas
by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis
This Brazilian classic (published first in 1881) was translated from Portuguese by Gregory Rabassa. Written like an autobiography, Bras Cubas tells the story of his life, after his death. Yes, that's right, we are reading the words of a true dead man. Separated from his life, Bras Cubas is sardonic and brash, dedicating his memoir to the worms that are cleaning his bones. Everyone I know who has read this novel has said that they laughed out loud, but also felt extreme heartbreak and sympathy for the narrator.
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World
by Elif Shafak
Another book set after the death of the narrator,
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World follows Leila, a Turkish prostitute who experiences a whirlwind of memories in the minutes directly following her death. I'm sure you've heard the phrase "as you die, your life flashes before your eyes," and it looks like Elif Shafak takes that and spins it quite literally. I am expecting this novel to be emotional and evocative.
Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head
by Warsan Shire
This poetry collection was a nominee in last year's Goodreads Choice Awards. Warsan Shire explores feminism, race, and immigration through the narrative of a young girl guiding herself through womanhood. I love reading poetry from authors with much different backgrounds than my own, because I learn so much about how their environment shaped them as people.
Build Your House Around My Body
by Violet Kupersmith
This historical fiction/horror novel takes place in Vietnam in two distinct time periods; 1986 and 2011. We follow two young girls who disappear in each timeline, but this book is also so much more than that. Vietnamese folklore and mythology is explored right alongside history as the country is ravaged by war. It was longlisted in the 2022 Women's Prize for Fiction. Right now the copies at my local library are being held for like, six months, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to read it, but I'm definitely keeping a close eye on any potential copies to get my hands on.
What We Fed to the Manticore
by Talia Lakshmi Kolluri
This is a short-story collection told entirely from the perspective of animals, but explores very human themes, such as environmentalism, identity, conservation, and belonging. There are nine different short stories in this collection. And each story seems to explore a different part of Asia, places like Delhi and Gaza. This was only published last September so it's still fairly new, and I'm very excited to read it!
==========Alright, that's all I have for today. Sorry if this was a little long, I just got really excited to look through my TBR and pick the most interesting titles (to me, anyway). I'm kind of surprised at how many are classics, because I feel like the intricate titles are a more modern trend. I'm not surprised that a lot of these are translated fiction, because translated works are somehow always more poetic than books originally written in English.
I think the consensus is that I like long titles that are vague and also make you think. What's buried under the baobab tree? What did they feed to the manticore? What's in the soup?
I want to know what the most intriguing title on your TBR is! Let me know in the comments, or DM me on Instagram (link in the sidebar under "More Media").
Until next time, friends!
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