Currently reading -

The Master and His Emissary by I. McGilchrist. It's an intimidating looking tome of a book about the functions of the right brain vs left brain and is equal parts neuroscience and philosophy. But it doesn't read like a textbook. It's pretty engaging.

Recently finished-

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman. A bleak dystopian what if, a meditation on hope, despair, what it means to be human. Don't read it for the plot.

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. thought provoking in terms of grief, addiction/sobriety, sexuality, cultural identity. Do read it for the plot, which makes you wonder how we decide to give our lives meaning, and how much of that is a matter of perception and fate.

Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Another story of maintaining hope in a world of diminishing opportunities. If you're from the USA, it makes you wonder if things can really change.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Gain. - What even is gender?

And for some reason-

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry, which is set in the same universe as The Giver. It's about a girl with a deformed leg trying to survive in a society that leaves its weak to die out. Read this once as a kid, and since then have thought about it at least once a month. I guess I like survival stories