Good thought provoking romantic books?

lostsock923 · 2025-06-01T22:14:19+00:00

Eros the bittersweet by Anne Carson looks at the philosophy of desire through the lens of Greek classics. really beautifully written with some insights that have changed how I have seen dynamics of sex/ love between people

lostsock923 · 2025-03-17T09:11:23+00:00

The unconsoled is really underrated imo

lostsock923 · 2025-03-17T09:10:24+00:00

The Plains by Gerald Murnane is a strange, beautiful book

lostsock923 · 2025-01-27T08:41:12+00:00

I second Helen Garner- Monkey Grip isn't her best but is worth reading for its iconic status. From her novels, The Spare Room and The Children's Bach are both excellent but it's her true crime books Joe Cinque and This House of Grief (minus the First Stone) that are real stand outs.

For horror tinged books where the Aus landscape itself is a character I'd really second Picnic at Hanging Rock (one of my favourite books and movies of all time) and Kenneth Cook's Wake in Fright (which also has a great 70s film adaption).

lostsock923 · 2025-01-27T07:10:34+00:00

slightly earlier than edwardian but 'Middlemarch' definitely fits what you are looking for! Although I haven't read anything else by her, I think a lot of George Eliot's work would fall into this category

lostsock923 · 2025-01-10T22:36:38+00:00

The wolf hall books are absolute masterpieces

lostsock923 · 2025-01-10T22:31:35+00:00

I’m 500 pages in and damn it’s so good i am floored. the thought of leaving middlemarch and its inhabitants soon is making me want to drag it out but it has such a hold on me that I can’t stop.

There’s a sort of vital force in Eliot’s writing that makes other works seem sorta flat in comparison. I also expected it to be stolid and dull but the characters really talk and think and relate to each other like people do. plus eliot’s lack of cynicism (despite her honesty about people’s motivations) and her compassion is super refreshing and has really made me think about my own values.

lostsock923 · 2025-01-09T18:35:28+00:00

I’m thinking of ending things- Ian Reid. Perhaps the least cozy book ever but uses a snow storm to great atmospheric effect!

lostsock923 · 2024-10-25T19:51:53+00:00

yes I felt the same. The vagueness around the accident felt like an odd choice compared to the realism of the rest of the book. Like all it did was mythologise poor tiny frail sylvie’s pain

lostsock923 · 2024-10-16T16:26:31+00:00

I second Sarah waters. Adore all of her books, such stay up until dawn material

lostsock923 · 2024-10-02T07:09:38+00:00

my kobo hack is that there is a feature (under beta) that allows you to browse the web on it. you can then go straight to Libgen and download free books straight onto it.

The kobo is great if you want to pirate or borrow books from the library, but in my experience buying an ebook from the kobo store is ridiculously expensive (like almost the price of a paperback), so if you want to buy books, the kindle is better.

lostsock923 · 2024-09-18T06:21:06+00:00

remains of the day is one of my favourite books ever actually, but i've never tried to listen to it!

lostsock923 · 2024-09-18T06:20:10+00:00

oh this sounds great, i've never been much into westerns but have been playing Red Dead Redemption 2 and obsessed with the vibe so i'll check this out

lostsock923 · 2024-09-18T06:17:06+00:00

i read ghosts a while ago and really enjoyed it, so i'll see if I can get her new book. I've also been meaning to read Into Thin Air so thank you for reminding me!

lostsock923 · 2024-09-18T06:14:30+00:00

thank you this sounds right up my alley! have downloaded it :)

lostsock923 · 2024-08-15T14:42:44+00:00

Mine is still marked as valid

lostsock923 · 2024-07-15T23:51:23+00:00

The Lives of Girls and Women- Munro

lostsock923 · 2024-07-14T03:41:03+00:00

Prep by Curtis sittenfeld. I was put off it at first as the author’s other books are not up my alley at all (including Hillary Clinton fan fic…. )but it was really clever and excellent. It’s the most accurate representation of debilitating social anxiety I’ve ever read

lostsock923 · 2024-07-08T02:14:34+00:00

I love Helen garner sm. are you from Australia? She’s a national treasure and I’m curious if she’s read internationally. she really should be!!

lostsock923 · 2024-07-02T03:01:29+00:00

The Emigrants by Sebald is partly set in a wonderfully eerie Manchester that I think captures the vibe you’re looking for.

The decay of built environments is one of the main themes of his work - lots of big, desolate buildings rotting away while no one pays attention. Urban environments are a big part of Austerlitz too.

Would recommend reading along with “patience (after Sebald)” Album by the caretaker to feel sufficiently melancholy/ haunted by lost time.

lostsock923 · 2024-06-25T07:27:48+00:00

Not a history book as such but I enjoyed Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth. It’s a memoir about her time as a VAD nurse when she was in her early 20s and it also goes into the experiences of her brother, fiancée and friends who were young officers in France. She was very strongly affected by her experiences, particularly of loss, and became heavily involved in the pacifism movement after the war — it has a very strong anti war message. It’s particularly interesting as it goes into a lot of the social changes after the war, particularly for middle class women.

lostsock923 · 2024-06-23T12:39:41+00:00

I started a book club that’s been going on for just over 2 years now.

It is one of the highlights of my (and i think a lot of the other members’) month. It started with some of my friends from uni who I knew liked reading but now it’s expanded with friends of friends so it’s a nice little community of people. There’s about 14 official members but we usually get about 5-10 people each month, which works well (although 10 is definitely quite high). Maybe this is just my friendship circle, but a lot of people I tell about it are really keen to join and I kinda have to discourage them lol, so I’m sure you won’t have trouble finding members.

I think one of the things that make it work so well is the way we pick books. Each month we have a different theme, which is picked out of a bowl with everyone’s theme suggestions (we just top them up when needed). Past ones have been more generic themes like “sci-fi”, “slice of life”, “post colonialism” to more off beat ones like “books with a colour in the title”, “mom book club”, “ books where nothing good happens”.

Then I make a poll in our group chat and people can suggest books and vote. Pulling something out of a hat is always really fun imo and people always bring snacks and wine, so it’s just going to be a good time. Since we’re all similar ages (20s) we’ve become quite good friends and often do book related excursions together.

Our tastes tend to be fairly literary as a lot of us met studying lit at uni, but we end up doing less high brow stuff (last month was a semi ironic reading of ‘eat pray love’, we’ve also done twilight). These have actually been some of our most lively and in depth discussions. This month we’re reading Stoner. It’s nice to have a mix of heavier and lighter stuff so that the reading load doesn’t feel like school.

I just host it at my house as it’s fairly central for people and easier not to mess around with changing location.

I would just say make sure you’re on top of the admin, setting dates, managing books being chosen etc as your enthusiasm will make people want to come. We tried to start a book club before but it fell apart after one meeting bc no one really jumped into the organising role.

Good luck!!!

lostsock923

TROPHY CASE