Books that Hudson Williams has recommended (this post is an excuse to talk about books)

My preferred genres are nonfiction and speculative fiction. I’m just starting a book called The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee. It’s about a female samurai in space on one final mission.

I’ve read the Exo series and the Green Bone Saga by the same author. Exo was just ok, although I thought the story had a satisfying ending I didn’t like some of the in between. However, the Green Bone Saga really blew me away. I thought the world building was really good, if felt real to me when reading, I was emotionally attached to the characters, some of the twists were genuinely devastating but well earned. The 3rd book has the best use of time jumps I’ve ever experienced, and that is a device I don’t normally like. I cannot recommend the Green Bone Saga enough if you are looking for an epic urban fantasy.

Love a man who reads 😍

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”this is how you lose the time war” is honestly fantastic. i know it’s made its way around online spaces but i do feel it lives up to the hype. it is a bit divisive though not everyone loves it

“the priory of the orange tree” series is great. like are there some pacing issues? sure. did it take me a while to get through the first 100 pages just because the world-building is overwhelming. yeah. but it’s honestly so so so worth it

i know none of these are particularly unique but they have helped me get out of reading slumps before

Reading Swordheart by T. Kingfisher. Kingfisher writes fantasies and most of the FMCs are 30+ 🤯. We love. I just started but this book is so fun and hilarious so far. I die for T. Kingfisher books.

I’m reading my way through the long list for The Women’s Prize for Fiction (1 book and a handful of pages to go!)

I almost always enjoy the winner of this prize so I thought this year I’d try to read all the contenders and I’m so glad I did. I had already read one of the books, and that was the only one I didn’t like (Audition), Flashlight I thought was good but needed to be several chapters shorter. All the others I’ve read so far (I only have A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing to go) have ranged from good to great. I’d recommend any of them!

Martyr! is one of my all time favorite books, i highly recommend it

A book that I return to time and time again is the Poisonwood Bible. As the US moves further to the right and evangelical Christianity takes over American political life, TPWB feels more relevant than ever. Saying that it’s about a family that falls apart feels reductionist. It’s such a good story.

Do you like to weep? Weep hard and ugly tears? What Remains is the memoir of a former ABC reporter, Carole Radziwill. Death plays a large part of this memoir, so read with caution. Carole is the widow of Anthony Radziwill, the cousin and best friend of JFK Jr. While not about the Kennedy’s, she does make them come alive as people—from the perspective of someone who was family. I need to stop writing about What Remains because I am getting teary-eyed all over again.

I just finished Circe. It’s an adaptation of several Greek myths told from the POV of Circe, the daughter of the Titan Helios and the naiad Perse. It’s incredibly well written and makes mythology accessible.

An easy read is The Very Nice Box. It’s about a Type A woman who refuses to let joy into her life after her girlfriend dies. A man at her work worms his way into her life and a romance begins. A main theme of the book is male privilege and how men aren’t questioned about their choices and qualifications.

A short list of some recent favorites:

The Hard Parts by Paralympian OKSANA Masters. Her story starts as a disabled orphan in Ukraine to winning many, many gold medals for Team USA.

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley. A time traveling romance is the easiest way to describe it.

Anita De Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez. Anita is an artist who dies a questionable death and her art fades into obscurity. Decades later, her work comes to the attention of a graduate student who challenges Anita’s art history professor husband. This story is loosely based on my favorite contemporary artist Ana Mendita.

The Women by Kristin Hannah. A young woman volunteers to enlist in the army as a nurse during the Vietnam War. It’s a story about brave women who serve the US and are disregarded by American society. It’s a work of fiction but based on many real life stories of women in the military.

I mostly read depressing historical nonfiction. Happy to share those too!

I looooooove Joan Didion! Please check her out in spite of the Lena endorsement 🙄

I’m halfway through Martyr! and it’s incredible.

Ok so I’ve been reading this awesome book called Prairie Fires. It’s about the real life of Laura Ingalls Wilder and man is it different from the Little House books. Highly recommended.

I also loved Lost Girls, about the Gilgo Beach victims.

I started reading again in late 2024 after a multi-year slump. I mostly read horror, thriller, lit fic and what’s now being called “weird girl lit” but now that I’m older, I kind of stopped caring about genre and being seen as cool and intellectual with my reading. I just finished the new Dungeon Crawler Carl book, it’s silly and not very deep but I’ll definitely finish the series (potentially reread the books before the last one comes out). I’ve bought some romance books when I’ve seen them used, even though I’ve never been that interested in that genre.

Currently I’m reading *The New Me* by Halle Butler, I’m not far enough in to give a deep opinion but I unfortunately I think the author is mishandling the “unlikeable main character” trope, the voice is a bit grating.

Books I’ve read in the last six-ish months that I’ve enjoyed:

Blacktop Wasteland and My Darkest Prayer by S.A. Cosby – I think he’s going to be a favourite author of mine, I plan to read his other books in the near future

Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito

Daughter of Mine, the Last to Vanish and the Last House Guest by Megan Miranda

Bat Eater by Kylie Lee Baker

The September House by Carissa Orlando

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki.

It’s a truly remarkable book of very dark lows and astonishing highs. It tells the tale of Naoko, a Japanese teenager raised in the US, and the tale of Ruth (the author herself, in a strange metafictional portrayal), starting at two very different points – different times, different continents – but leading to a very unusual collision of worlds. It covers Japanese cultural issues like their xenophobia and isolationism and the inherent shame in Japanese society. It touches on Zen Buddhism and string theory. It is a deeply thoughtful and meditative book, one I had to stop and think about as I read.

It profoundly moved me and changed me and it remains one of my favourite books to this day. It always astonishes me, the sheer scope of the story, whenever I reread it.

I’m working on reading books from important female authors. I started with Agatha Christie’s books last year. I recently moved on to Toni Morrison’s works, but I can’t read a bunch of her work at once or I’ll spiral emotionally. 

Ugh, I love Stoner. I wasn’t expecting to like it, but there’s a very delicate sadness that I wasn’t ever expecting.

I could never be famous, my book recs would be like “ok so she’s a curvy elf jewellery maker who gets in a scuffle with a rude customer and gets rescued by a 9ft y’all purple giant guy who’s really sweet and sensitive” 🤷🏼‍♀️😂🤷🏼‍♀️😂

Martyr is lovely. I just finished it and I like an ambiguous ending 

I need him to read Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte

After a year and a half long reading slump brought on by the first book in the Stormlight Archive (it was a FABTASTIC read. There’s just too much of it) I just finished my 80th book of the year earlier today. I made a resolution to start reading more this year and I’ve stuck with it.

I don’t watch tv anymore. I don’t really have any hobbies other than reading. If I’m not at work, I’m reading. I mostly immersive read so I can finish most books within a day or two depending.

ANYWAY. My recommendations…

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, both by V.E. Schwab. It took me a couple tries to get into Addie LaRue but the last time I absolutely devoured it within a day. I read Bury our Bones in one sitting. Fucking phenomenal.

Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman. This was the book that first got me into audiobooks and I’ve never looked back. Jeff does an incredible job with the narration and deserves everything good in this world. Funniest fucking books I’ve read in a while, though I’ve only made it to halfway through book 4. Book 3 was a bit too confusing for me so I’ve kinda put off finishing them for a bit. Still highly recommend. I’m just dumb.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I have been a fan of this book for over a decade now, back when maybe five people total had heard about it on tumblr. The fandom was TINY and I could not be more ecstatic that it’s finally getting the recognition it deserves. A lot of people complain that it’s slow, but the atmosphere and prose make it a six star read for me.

Into the Blue by Emma Brodie was my first six star romance read ever and has stuck with me for weeks and I’ve not been able to stop thinking about this book. I’ve never cried harder while reading, except maybe during Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I highly recommend the entire TJR universe tbh. I read Evelyn Hugo years ago but read five of her other books this year and you genuinely cannot go wrong.

Honorable mentions since I’ve written a novel… Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum, The Wedding People by Alison Espach, any book by Emily Henry except People We Meet on Vacation.