My Top Reads of 2017 SO FAR!

[@perpetualpages]

_Do Not Say We Have Nothing_ has been on my TBR for a while, but hearing your thoughts on it and hearing about all the different layers it encompasses has made me even more excited for it. Loved hearing your thoughts on all these different books!

[@bookninja7715]

Kissing the Witch sounds amazing! I'm actually not a big fan of short stories, but every now and then I come across a collection that I love. Thanks for the recommendation, it's on my TBR list now!

[@nishapan1376]

I'm reading Do Not Say We Have Nothing right now! I fell in love with the writing from the first chapter. So excited to keep going with it.

[@IsabeausLiteraryMusings]

The Essex Serpent sounds so intriguing!! Plus that cover! 😍

[@HannahHodgson]

Sunshine is INCREDIBLE! Glad you enjoyed it. I love the cover of strange heart beating as well! X

[@BooksandLooks]

Sunshine sounds so lovely!!!

[@demi6275]

So glad that Stay with me was a fave as I'm reading that next and can't wait to get to it! I've also got the Essex Serpent but haven't been drawn to read it so far yet. Sunshine sounds interesting - will give that a go!

[@lydiagray8016]

So good to see Do Not Say We Have Nothing getting some love! I thought it was absolutely brilliant.

[@OlyBliss]

You make Sunshine sound like a really interesting read. It makes me want to run to the shops and purchase it straight away 😄

[@katieha12345]

I recently finished The Essex Serpent and loved it! I generally steer clear of historical fiction as I don't tend to click with it, but after soooo much raving I couldn't do it any longer, and I was so pleasantly surprised with absolutely every aspect of it. Writing and characterisation were without fault. Although Do Not Say We Have Nothing was perfectly crafted and I loved Stay With Me, The Power was my fave Bailey's book. I loved the mix of exciting plot and clever satire. I've read a lot of great books this year but I think one that's really stuck with me and I haven't seen about much is Cut: One Woman's Fight Against FGM in Britain Today by Hibo Wardere, very important and affecting.

[@JanuarieTimewalker13]

Excellent video! I still haven't read Stay With Me, I'm waiting on my library to get it in. I have been telling anyone I can to read The Clay Girl...what a book! My fave this year thus far!

[@jenniferarnold1507]

I also really enjoyed "Do Not Say We Have Nothing." And I'm going to add "Stay With Me" and "The Essex Serpent" to my TBR. Some books I've enjoyed so far this year - "The Orphan Master's Son" and "Things We Lost In The Fire" short stories.

[@SavidgeReads]

Oooh I love seeing these fav so far videos. Yaaaaaasssss 😂 Snap feeling on the Goldstone. Snaps. Sunshine is brilliant, ''twas also a gift from the legendary Campbell for Chrimble too. I liked Kathleen Collins lots too. Kissing The Witch sounds AMAZING!!!! Yay, The Essex Serpent. Double yay for Stay With Me, I've bought that for my mum.

[@LaurenWade]

SavidgeReads Twinsies! 😘

[@rosemannering]

Kissing The Witch sounds amazing! That's going straight on my to-buy list :)

[@theampersand2186]

Thanks for the wonderful suggestions! Do Not Say We Have Nothing won all the Canadian awards so I finally got it from the library yesterday. Some recent favourites of mine are Difficult Women by Roxane Gay and Mischling by Affinity Konar

[@diamondsofsix]

I felt I could treat myself a bit today because I just learned I got accepted into my master program (hooray) so after watching this I hurried off to Book Depository and bought myself Stay With Me :D

[@safhirarovida8850]

diamondsofsix that is a fantastic news. congratulations!! ☺️☺️

[@LaurenWade]

Congratulations! Stay With Me is the perfect present :D xx

[@frannieforthoughts9527]

Kissin the witch and The essex serpent definitely sounds like something I'd really like!

[@lissarice1876]

I love "favorites" lists, can't wait to read some of yours. Stay with Me has been on my list since your & Jen's high recommendations for the Booker.I'm currently reading The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy and South and West by Joan Didion.

[@thereadingneed2421]

Ooooh those are all great reads, Lauren! I've ordered The Essex Serpent and I'm really, really excited for it. My faves so far this year have been Train Dreams by Denis Johnson, Three Junes by Julia Glass, The Dark Lake by Sarah Bailey, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, and The End We Start From by Megan Hunter. I highly recommend any of them! Really love your channel, all your book talks are so insightful :) I'm avidly watching your 'how to booktube' videos as well because I'm planning to start my booktube channel later this year, very excited! You've given me a confidence boost with your vids :)

[@LaurenWade]

Ahhh, I'm so pleased, good luck with it! And thanks for the recommendations, I especially have been wanting to read The Underground Railroad for a while now, I must get it! xx

[@thereadingneed2421]

it's a wonderful novel - a lot of people were a bit ambivalent about the characters (not feeling very attached to them, not enough development etc.) but I think they serve as great vehicles for the really gripping plot and the bigger discussion on confronting, as modern readers, the horrors of slavery and black history. It's a great read, but I can see why a lot of people didn't take to it. I'll be interested to know what you think!

[@LykaiosFaolan]

I want to read all these books, especially Stay With Me! I'm hoping to nab it from the library but am currently (not so patiently) waiting. My favourites so far this year have been The Unseen World, The Fifth Season, All the Light We Cannot See, and Jeanann Verlee's poetry. Also, thank you for the subtitles! :)

[@LaurenWade]

You're very welcome, I'm glad they help! I loved All The Light We Cannot See too :) thanks for the other recommendations! xx

[@clare6292]

So many wonderful recommendations! Thank you :)

[@molliefoley8853]

Im actually from Colchester and never realised The Essex Serpent is based here - will definitely pick that up 😊 Stay With Me is my next purchase for sure, been really impressed by the Baileys women's prize for fiction shortlist this year!

[@LaurenWade]

Me too, a really strong shortlist! I need to read some more off of the longlist as well, I reckon xx

[@inwalksgrace]

I had the EXACT SAME experience with The Essex Serpent. Dragged my way through probably the first third wondering why I seemed to be the only person not in love with the book, and then it just took off, and I felt like I knew the characters inside and out.

[@CoverToCover5]

I added a few of these to my TBR!

[@laurel9920]

I now want to go off and buy all these books, though I've just promised myself I won't buy anything more until the end of the year. Thank goodness for libraries!! I haven't read much in the way of fiction that I've enjoyed this year. In poetry, however, I recently read Tula by Chris Santiago, which was fantastic. I would also suggest In Full Velvet by Jenny Johnson. Both beautiful collections of poetry that have officially gone on my favorites list.

[@lyndsayreads]

I want to read Stay With Me so so badly but it doesn't come out in the US until the end of August. And Do Not Say We Have Nothing! I need to read that one soon as well. Great video, Lauren! :)

[@amamdathanks]

lyndsayreads I ordered it through Book Depository! I couldn't wait.

[@jacqo4426]

I'm quite sad I did not enjoy 'Essex Serpent'. Can't wait to read 'Stay with Me' asap! :D

[@slim_peach]

haven't heard a book that is set in Latvia. so cool 💗 I'm from Latvia, so that's a quite a surprise

[@LaurenWade]

+Una Kārkliņa oooh, you should definitely try it!

[@anaromanelli1391]

Hi Lauren and thank you for sharing! Since you've said that you haven't read a lot of poetry and that you enjoyed reading a book which is still relevant even though it was written in the 1960s, I do have a recommendation for you! My absolute favourite poet is Percy Bysshe Shelley, and it's incredible (as well as somewhat frustrating) to see that 200 years ago he was fighting for the same causes as we are now. See what you think of his poems (To Jane - all four of them, The Sensitive Plant, Mutability, The Masque of Anarchy, and Adonais) and definitely check his essays (A Philosophical View of Reform and An address to the people on the death of the Princess Charlotte are my favourites). I hope you have a lovely weekend! xx

[@LaurenWade]

Thank you so much! I've not read any Percy Bysshe Shelley, so it's great to have a little direction :) xx

[@anaromanelli1391]

You're welcome - he's absolutely brilliant! I hope you like his work, I'd love to hear your thoughts (: xx

[@Robert.Sheard]

Yes on The Essex Serpent and Do Not Say We Have Nothing. Haven't read the others. Have you read Celeste Ng's Everything I Never Told You? One of my favorites so far this year.

[@bookishshenanigans4769]

Every time I watch your videos my book wishlist gets longer! You should definitely check out The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, A Horse Walks Into A Bar by David Grossman, Hillbilly Elegy by J D Vance and The Girls by Emma Cline is SO GOOD!

[@LaurenWade]

I reeeaally need to get The Underground Railroad, it sounds amazing. Thanks for the recs! xx

[@Tinahgirl83]

I've got The Essex Serpent but haven't read it yet. I'm currently suffering from a book hangover, and have been for about three days. I'm hoping I'll be able to start up reading again soon once I've digested the last book I read. I'm also really interested in Whatever Happened to Interracial Love and Stay With Me.

[@ericamangin1184]

Out of your selection of I've only read Kathleen Collins selection - I thought it was good but not great. Really want to read the other novels you mention though! The top books for me this year are: The Lonely Hearts Hotel (loved the writing and characters!), Hillbilly Elegy (enlightening non-fiction), All the Light We Cannot See, and If I Was Your Girl (own voices - and you can tell. Really heartbreaking but hopeful)

[@LaurenWade]

I loovved All the Light We Cannot See! Thanks for the other recs :) xx

[@bubblegumbitch8454]

I recommend "Marilyn Monroe" by Gloria Steinem, if you have even the slightest interest in her. After I finished it, I just couldn't stop crying because it showed and taught me so many things that I had no idea about and ultimately just broke my heart. 😊

[@LaurenWade]

Thank you! I loved Blond by Joyce Carol Oates, so that sounds really interesting x

[@sarahoflaherty1541]

I really tried to get into 'Do Not Say We Have Nothing' but I kept comparing it to 'Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China' by Jung Chang, and it just fell so far short of Chang's memoir. I would really recomend Wild Swans if you want an even more in depth exploration of life in China through the revolution, then cultural revolution and post Moa China. It's so stunning, and intimate and wide sweeping. You'll love it!

[@LaurenWade]

That sound amazing, thanks for the recommendation!

[@lester___pepper]

ok, ok i give in, i will stop "saving" (why do i do that anyways?) the essex serpent and read it asap.

[@barbarahansen-duncan4105]

I've been dying to read it! I have just two more exams to get through and then I can get to it!!!

[@amamdathanks]

Lovely list. Really want to try Kissing the Witch but must not buy more books.

[@michelea2326]

I just finished Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. SO GOOD.

[@LaurenWade]

I love Chimamanda! Have you read her others? I liked them even more than Purple Hibiscus! :) xx

[@michelea2326]

Reads and Daydreams I just ordered Americanah and A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions. Can't wait to read them!

[@lavenderrosecosplay5639]

Oh my goodness, i will have to read Kissing the Witch. That sounds really good. i have a question for you. Do you have any recommendations for retellings or written adaptations of shakespeare's plays? I've been rereading my favorites (your shakespeare videos inspired me) and i would love to see what other writers bring to Shakespeare's work. Thank you!

[@LaurenWade]

Do you know, I can't think of a Shakespeare retelling that I've read! The Hogarth Shakespeare series is meant to be good, which includes The Gap of Time, Vinegar Girl, Hagseed and Shylock, but I can't actually think of any others! I'll do some research and maybe do a video as part of the series - thank you! :) xx

[@ellexamines]

ooooh, I LOVE Kissing the Witch. Originally I gave it four stars and I just reread it recently and had to change it to a five. Have you read any other Emma Donoghue that you'd recommend? (I need to read more by her!!)

[@LaurenWade]

Would highly recommend Room, and I quite enjoyed The Wonder, that came out last year but think it had mixed reviews generally xx

[@widadlitim6274]

What does honorary mention mean !!