novels to take you new places

+ 3 books I read this month

Hello, my lovelies! Apologies for the brief hiatus. My sister Maddy came to visit, and we had a wonderful, busy time exploring Berlin and then traveling to Lisbon. I love showing people this city through fresh eyes, and then traveling to Portugal — a country neither of us had been to — was magic.

While there, I checked out some really cool bookstores, including Ler Devagar, a three-story juggernaut housed in the trendy LX Factory. Lisbon also has Livraria Bertrand, a bookseller that opened in the Chiado neighborhood in 1732. The Guinness Book of World Records has officially declared it the oldest operating bookstore in the world. Who knew!

Ler Devager in Lisbon

While visiting, I realized that while I’ve read some older Portuguese novels (like Empty Wardrobes by Maria Judite de Carvalho), I didn’t have much exposure to the country’s current fiction scene. Books are my preferred method to learn about places I’ve never been, and my lack of knowledge about Portugal soon felt glaringly apparent.

So this week, I wanted to recommend books from contemporary authors that take place in far-flung corners of the globe — from Europe to South America to Asia and back again. These are just some of my recent favorites, but I want to add more soon if y’all like this series! What’s a country you read about recently, but haven’t visited before? 💌

📍 MONTREAL: When We Lost Our Heads by Heather O’Neill

This utterly strange and addictive novel takes place in the Golden Mile, an affluent strip of 19th century Montreal. The book follows Marie Antoine, a pampered and beloved heiress, and Sadie Arnett, the sly and audacious daughter of social climbers. The two girls develop a deep, borderline obsessive friendship that ultimately careens into violence. On top of the delicious plot, the city of Montreal really sparkles, and I loved catching the historical references (many of the characters are taken from real French figures).

This book is laugh-out-loud funny, and one of my favorites from last year. Shoutout to my pal Lindsay for the recommendation.

Read if you like: gorging on bonbons, Chekhov’s gun, bildungsroman

(Bookshop, Thriftbooks)

📍 ISTANBUL: 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak

I’ve recommended Turkish writer Elif Shafak on Bookpeach before, and this is by far my favorite book from her venerable canon.

Set in Istanbul in the 90’s, the book centers on Leila, a sex worker we meet in her final living moments; we soon learn she’s been brutally murdered and left moldering in a dumpster. But don’t let that opening credo scare you off! Despite the bleak premise, the book is actually vivid and full of life. We meet various characters who float in and around Leila’s life, and throughout the pages, we also get to travel across Turkey — from the rural village of Leila’s childhood to a bustling and forever changing Istanbul.

I’ve had several friends tell me this is their favorite recommendation ever.

Read if you like: banned books, found family, sun-drenched skies

(Bookshop, Thriftbooks)

📍 VENEZUELA: It Would Be Night in Caracas by Karina Sainz Borgo

After reading this glowing review, I picked up this novel at a used book sale last year, and it feels like mandatory reading given our current political climate,

Like 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World, this book opens with a dramatic scene — a young woman, Adelaida, standing over her mother’s grave, worried that robbers will strip the plot clean by nightfall. Unlike 10 Minutes, though, there isn’t a hint of levity in this story. Taking place in a crumbling Venezuela under a violent dictatorship, Adelaida — who once had a normal, even enviable life — now fights for bread and is unsafe in her own apartment. Karina Sainz Borgo was a journalist before leaving Venezuela, and you can tell. Hard to believe this is her debut novel.

Read if you like: Kafka, secret identities, extremely dark books

(Bookshop, Thriftbooks)

📍 LONDON: Evenings and Weekends by Oisín McKenna

Set over just one weekend, this novel follows a loosely connected group of friends in London, navigating a tricky time in young adulthood and a historic heat wave. Moving through a steaming hot pinwheel of people, the London of this book isn’t one of Paddington Bear and crumpets. Instead, rents are out of control, the gig economy has bust, and a whale just washed up on the shore of the Thames. I love the characters in this book, and as the heat cranks ever higher, their secrets continue to unspool.

Read if you like: Conversations with Friends, missed connections, Phoebe Waller Bridge

(Bookshop, Thriftbooks)

📍 SRI LANKA: You’re Invited by Amanda Jayatissa

Ok, now for something fun! If you’re in the mood for a salacious page turner, I humbly offer You’re Invited by Amanda Jayatissa — a splashy book that I think deserved a bigger rollout, á la Big Little Lies or The Perfect Couple. The book’s protagonist is Amaya, a wealthy Sri Lankan running from her scandalous past. When she is invited back home to attend her former friend’s wedding, she’s shocked and confused, especially when she sees her ex-boyfriend is the groom-to-be. Moving across glossy social media screens and a “perfect” wedding tableau in Colombo, this book’s landscape is lush, with a healthy side of murder and intrigue. This would be a great Hulu series, and I’m a bit shocked it hasn’t been picked up yet.

Read if you like: reality TV, The White Lotus, stalking your frenemy on Instagram

(Bookshop, Thriftbooks)

📚 On my shelf

• I just finished Good Girl by Aria Aber, which was one of my most anticipated books of the year. I loved all of the Berlin references, and I think her writing is sharp. But the protagonist is just so self destructive — I have a hard time relating to her (which is fine!). Expect a future post on this one.

• Last week, I finished Intermezzo, and ended up enjoying — with major caveats. I had some frustrations (the Peter chapters drove me crazy, I found the ending unbelievable, and I didn’t relate to Naomi at all), but the sections between Margaret and Ivan really sung.

• I also finished the second Lisbeth Salander novel, The Girl Who Played with Fire. Not nearly as good as the first, but a necessary distraction on my God awful RyanAir flight.

📚 Links and things

• This long read is difficult, but so well done.

• I can’t stop thinking about this piece in New York Magazine 😩

• I had two freelance pieces come out this week!

  • Although now associated with the Nazi's worst atrocity, the town of Oświęcim was once considered a “Jerusalem of Poland” and had a nearly 60% Jewish population. Today, among 34,000 residents, the town has just one Jewish resident. I profiled her for CNN as part of their 80th anniversary of liberation coverage.

  • For the Chicago Sun Times, I wrote a feel-good story about a tour guide I met in Prague who came to surprise the last living Czech fighter pilot in Chicago.

• Am now dying to host a Burns Night after reading about it in

  Jenny Rosenstrach
  ’s

  delightful newsletter 🔥

• 🥕 planning to make this carrot yumminess over the weekend in honor of #SoupSeason

Happy reading! 💛

XOX

Alli