books for new beginnings
18 recommendations for 9 kinds of fresh starts
I love this time of year.
I love saying happy new year, I love the concept of resolutions, I love fresh starts and cold mornings and best feet forward. (I don’t love that phrasing.)
I also love reading books that fit this theme — main characters who are rediscovering or pushing or reinventing themselves.
What better time to recommend them?
If you’re like me and have a lot of optimism and intent at the moment, here’s what you should read for protagonists who feel the same.
If you’re resistant to change
The Anthropologists by Aysegül Savas
Synopsis: Asya and Manu are looking at apartments, trying on lives while remaining unsure that they want any other than the one they have.
How it helps: I’m not usually reading books to see myself represented on page — quite the opposite — but I think this nails when you feel you’ve found happiness and purpose in your late twenties, and suddenly you’re being pushed onto the next major life event. There’s peace in accepting not everything is your choice — scary as it is, life will keep moving whether you keep up or not.
Thirst Trap by Gráinne O’Hare
Synopsis: Harley, Róise, and Maggie are stuck, in grief over the loss of their friend, in the house they all shared, and in a phase they may have outgrown.
How it helps: Your twenties are for being irresponsible and horrible. This captures that feeling, and also the ever-growing hangxiety that is growing out of it. I really rooted for these characters and also felt great about the fact that I haven’t been to a club in at least two and a half years.
If you’re finding yourself
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Synopsis: Janie’s story spans three marriages, multiple towns, and several dashed dreams, but the through-line is herself.
How it helps: Janie’s life holds the weight of not only her own dreams, but her mother’s and grandmother’s. Her desire to be truly loved is blighted again and again, but she never gives up on who she is or what she wants. This is a book I was assigned in high school, did not read, and regretted skipping when I got to it in adult life. Sorry to my teachers.
Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes
Synopsis: Evvie and Dean bond over complicated losses (a disliked husband and a baseball career, respectively) when he rents a room in her too-big house.
How it helps: After years of claiming that I’m a romance fan, just really picky, I am finally coming to terms with the fact that I actually like women’s fiction. Watching Evvie discover who she is for the first time is so satisfying, and the yearning and banter going on in the background is a bonus. Hence why I feel I never shut up about this book.
If you’re seeking forgiveness
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Synopsis: Danny and Maeve grow up in a state of perfection, and spend their lives pining when it’s taken from them.
How it helps: The book that began my Patchett love affair. This is a novel about what it means to be haunted by what-ifs, to live your life in the shadow of what you’d thought it would be. In this way, it’s a representation of the experience of dedicating yourself to feeling wronged — both in the pleasure of being seen and the horror of it.
Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan
Synopsis: Neither Max nor Vincent expected their relationship — let alone the happiness it would bring — until they’re reckoning with a past mistake.
How it helps: Well, my penchant for art covers is showing.
Fundamentally this book is about whether we can be better than the worst thing we’ve ever done — and in a time where your misdeeds could go viral and ruin your life, it’s an especially pertinent one. It makes seeing the good in people and moving on from their wrongs feel angelic and revolutionary.
If you’re pursuing your art
Writers & Lovers by Lily King
Synopsis: At thirty-one, Casey has been beat up by the world, and feels like the last person she knows living for the dream everyone else has given up on.
How it helps: I reread this book recently and it hasn’t left me since. Casey’s commitment to the creative and the episodes in which she auditions other things to live for makes for a breathless, unforgettable read. Its ultimate conclusion is life-affirming. I don’t know if literary romance is a genre, but if it is, it’s my favorite.
