Here are some of my most memorable reads from 2023 – for more reviews, follow instagram.com/stylechapel 📖 #stylechapelreads
The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn
🐳 A crumbling estate in deepest Dorset, endless adventures, plays acted out in a freezing attic… it sounds like an Enid Blyton novel. Except the wayward children eventually become adults and have to decide the roles they will play in World War II. A brilliant debut novel and the perfect escapism read!
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Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
🌎 A daring adventure story. One that switches between the life of Marian Graves, a female aviator in the 1930s and the modern-day story (set in Hollywood) of Hadley Baxter who portrays Marian in a biopic of her life. I thought Marian's story was by far the most compelling. She spent most of her life dreaming of flying a complete circle around the Earth, pole to pole.
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The Secret History by Donna Tartt
🏛️ Part thriller, part coming-of-age campus novel and part Greek tragedy, The Secret History begins with one of literature's most memorable first lines; “The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation”.
Inner cliques, trust fund kids and murder. Welcome to the world of dark academia. It was published in the early 90s but still feels very current. A brilliant, well-paced read.
“Books are other lives. They enable us to be other people.” Donna Tartt
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The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
🇮🇹 This is the story of Lucrezia, the third daughter of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo de’ Medici. The setting is Florence in the 1550s – the story is loosely based on some historical events, combined with the wonder of O’Farrell’s imagination... particularly when she describes the world of Renaissance Italy and the power of painting. She writes pages and pages of beautifully rich descriptions of Lucrezia’s childhood spent roaming her family’s palazzo and how, at the age of 15, she was forced to marry the much older Alfonso II d’Este, Duke of Ferrara.
⚜️ The story alternates between the past and present, with little threads of historical detail weaved throughout. I also loved the author’s note at the end about the inspiration for this book: when the words of Robert Browning’s ‘My Last Duchess’ came to mind while waiting for her daughter who, as it turns out, was on her last playdate before the pandemic hit.
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Pour Me A Life by AA Gill
AA Gill's memoir recalls his life in his typical no-holds-barred manner, recounting lost days, lost friends, failed marriages ... but also an “optimum inebriation, a time when it was all golden”. An unflinching (yet definitely uplifting) account of the life of an extraordinary man. I loved AA Gill for his acerbic wit and brilliant, poetic style of writing – a master of one liners. Vanity Fair called him “a circus master with a comma for a whip”. Love that!
He talks a lot about Soho and how desperate he was to be part of it all and those days come to life in extraordinarily vivid detail in this book. "I loved Soho. It's louche, weary, dog-eared smutty brilliance." My favourite quote: “This book isn't written by me, it's written by Michelle. She's typing it now. I speak it into the phone. Michelle is sitting in her kitchen with chickens... we've known each other for a lot of years now... but we've never actually met. Talking to her in the quiet evenings has been one of the most enduring pleasures of my life with words… and now I can tell she’s blushing.” Follow this up with Breakfast at the Wolseley by AA Gill.
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Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
🩵 Everyone tells Martha Friel she is clever and beautiful, a brilliant writer, and completely loved by her husband Patrick. But, to Martha, everything is broken. This is a novel about mental illness, a genuine love story and the dynamics of a dysfunctional family. It’s funny and tragic, and light and dark in equal measure.
💛 Martha is at times extremely unlikeable but I always felt I was in her corner. It's the kind of book you could read in one sitting… save it for a long train journey where you can get truly immersed. It’s been compared to Nora Ephron (packed with witty one-liners) and also Fleabag (the sister and eccentric family dynamic). I think Meg Mason is a gifted writer. I loved this book and how she created this rollercoaster of a life for Martha where she exists in the world but doesn't feel part of it.
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The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher
🇫🇷 This is a lovely homage to Sylvia Beach, an American who moved to Paris and fell in love not just with the city but also with bookseller Adrienne Monnier. Sylvia went on to open a bookstore/lending library called Shakespeare and Company. The store attracted bohemian artists such as James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound, and this book gives you a glimpse into their lives in 1920s Paris. Although the story is historically accurate, it is fiction and the characters are Maher's interpretations of their personas.
🤍 There are so many interesting parts to Sylvia’s life. Paris was more open-minded at that time (compared to the States), so Sylvia was able to live her life openly with another woman. I also thought Sylvia’s relationship with James Joyce was fascinating. She published the first edition of his legendary novel Ulysses which became a classic and one of the most important novels of the 20th century. The book was banned at the time, so Sylvia fought really hard against censorship to get it published, even though doing so very nearly broke her.
❤️ The author’s note at the end of the book is probably my favourite bit. Much as I liked this book, I think Sylvia’s own account will definitely be worth reading and there’s an amazing YouTube clip (search ‘Sylvia Beach interview’). It’s very special to hear her telling stories about Joyce and Hemingway. Through this book, I also discovered The Shakespeare and Company Project, which uses Sylvia's lending library records to reveal what members read and where they lived. So you can look up which books were borrowed by the likes of James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and Simone de Beauvoir!
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Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
"Literature makes our hearts grow bigger and that’s how we change the world”
🧡 This modern reimagining of Dickens’ David Copperfield is the kind of book you’ll become utterly immersed in. Barbara Kingsolver is a master storyteller who has created a powerful voice for Demon: funny, hopeful and spirited. Someone whose endurance is tested to the limit every day. “Sometimes a good day lasts all of about ten seconds.”
It’s a tough read, set in southern Appalachia during the opioid epidemic – the poverty and addiction are unrelenting and the state of the care system is heartbreaking. But there’s also chinks of light throughout and she brings a lot of humour too in Demon’s quick wit. As Demon says, “It’s not over until the last page.” And you will never stop rooting for him. A Dickensian tale for sure!
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The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
📚Meet Shaun Bythell, bookshop owner, bibliophile and a bestselling author. I’ve loved all of his books – you can read them in any order, but I would start with The Diary of a Bookseller. Shaun lives and works in The Bookshop in Wigtown (the largest second-hand bookshop in Scotland). His diaries are a very honest (and funny) account of the highs and lows of being in the book trade. He takes you behind the scenes on buying trips to private libraries and auction houses, recommends books (from lost classics and new discoveries to the thrill of the unexpected find), and evokes the charms and horrors of small town life. His descriptions and stories of his customers are hilarious. Here’s one of my favourites: "A customer with a ponytail that stuck out near the crown of his head leaving a sort of mullet-style around his neck bought a bookshop bag. I thought twice about selling him one, as I suspect seeing him with it might put more people off than it attracts."
I’m not sure I’ve read a series of books that I’ve loved as much as these. I’m looking forward to starting them all over again. And I can’t wait to visit! You will probably never order a book from Amazon again🤞and certainly never walk out of an independent bookshop empty-handed (I can’t relate to anyone who does that).
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Tin Man by Sarah Winman
🌻 Despite the title, this book is all heart. It’s beautifully written, full of tender moments and compelling characters. And at only 195 pages, you can read it in one or two sittings. The first half of the story belongs to Ellis and the second half is narrated by his friend Michael. It’s about the power of friendships, art and human connections.
Sarah Winman has a beautiful writing style and her words around grief and loss are exceptional; yet there is also a lot of humour and life-affirming moments here too. She really brings to life the emotional impact a painting can have, in this case Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. It becomes something that bonds the characters together. My favourite line: “What’s a complement? Ellis asked. Complementing colours are ones that make the other stand out. Like blue and orange, said his mother, as if reciting off the page. Like me and Ellis, said Michael. Yes, she smiled. Like you two.” 🧡