books that i've read (and loved) as of late

unrequited love, time travel, nature, and the fragility of life

Feb 02, 2025

Hi, I'm Darrel and welcome to my substack!

For this first post, I thought I would talk about some of the books I've read and loved recently. I'm still really new to this whole thing and I'm still trying to figure out how everything works but I want this space to be a collection of all my musings and notes on the things that I love. An attempt to keep all of my random and incoherent thoughts in one place.

Okay without further ado, let's get into the books.

(I'll still be posting all of my recommendations on tiktok, just that I'll be sharing more of my thoughts here on substack)

Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali

“The pain of losing something precious - be it happiness or material wealth - can be forgotten over time. But our missed opportunities never leave us, and every time they come back to haunt us, we ache. Or perhaps what haunts us is that nagging thought that things might have turned out differently. Because without that thought, we would put it down to fate and accept it.”

Madonna in a Fur Coat is definitely a book that will stay with me for a long time. I love stories about love even if it's devastating and heart-wrenching. This book truly made my heart ache and not to mention the prose is just so beautiful.

One of my favourite things to read about are the complexities of human relationships and this book really explores that through the characters. We follow Raif and Maria in the story and they are both interesting and deeply flawed.

I will surely be adding this novel into my 'best books' list at the end of the year. So bittersweet and heartfelt.

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

“It's amazing how much blue there is in the world, if you look. You're different colors of flame: Bismuth burns blue, and cerium, germanium, and arsenic. See? I pour you into things.”

This might be one of the most interesting books I've read.

A story that stretches out across different time and dimensions. Two characters communicate with each other by using letters while time travelling through worlds.

The worldbuilding can be a little complicated and messy which I found to be confusing at times, but it does get better as the story goes on.

The entire story truly reads like poetry and I fell in love with the lyrical writing style.

Upstream: Selected Essays by Mary Oliver

“Attention is the beginning of devotion.”

This is actually a reread. I have previously read and loved Mary Oliver's poetry and her essays are just as good. If you have not read the poem 'Wild Geese' yet, you definitely should! It's one of my favourite poems by her.

This is a collection of essays that range from reflections on nature to musings on literature. I enjoyed some essays more than others but they were still beautifully written.

The White Book by Han Kang

“Each moment is a leap forwards from the brink of an invisible cliff, where time’s keen edges are constantly renewed. We lift our foot from the solid ground of all our life lived thus far, and take that perilous step out into the empty air. Not because we can claim any particular courage, but because there is no other way.”

Han Kang is an author that I've been meaning to read for the longest time and I'm glad that I've finally read something from her. The White Book is one of my favourite reads of last year and now I desperately need to read the rest of her works.

Through a series of vignettes, this book is a meditation on the colour white and a tender examination of grief and the fragility of life. Kang has this ability to describe and turn ordinary, mundane moments into something beautiful and deep.

It's a rather short read but it's filled with so much profound observations.