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Sara

@seesararead

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"She read books as one would breathe air,
to fill up and live."

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Spooky season reading...

In efforts to will the cooler, crispier weather to arrive, I pulled some October books off my shelves. Also, spooky season is the best of the seasons, amiright? These are four I'm most interested in reading this year. Considering how my reading is going as of late, there's a chance I won't get to any of these but I'll choose optimism for now.

What's everyone else planning to read this October? by @seesararead

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13 days ago

Sweet Days of Discipline, Fleur Jaeggy

I loved this book so much it deserved an actual post and review. This is my third from Fleur Jaeggy and my favorite so far. I find Jaeggy to be a really unique writer and her style very immersive.

Sweet Days of Discipline is the story of an unnamed narrator, who is attending an all girls boarding school, and has an obsession with a classmate, Frédérique. This book is short but very emotive and atmospheric. Jaeggy very much makes you feel as if you're inside the book. The way Jaeggy presents the obsession it almost feels dizzing, as most adolescent obsessive love does. Highly highly recommend this book, and Fleur Jaeggy in general.

Translated from the Italian by Tim Parks. by @seesararead

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17 days ago

Life of M, Rachel Cusk

"We think of our own history as a series of collisions to which we attached a narrative of wrong and right that obscured their essential violence. We see that there was nothing especially intentional about the wrongs that were done to us. It was simply the collision of another character with our own. We do not operate any longer through character..."

First and foremost, I love Rachel Cusk. And I have fallen in love with many of her books. However, unfortunately, this was not one of them. While still, in Cusk fashion, there were moments of perfect prose and gorgeous writing, I felt this novel lacked in other areas. I felt a lack of cohesion or direction as to what this novel was trying to say. It seems Cusk strayed a bit too far into the vague white space that she likes to play with in her more recent fiction. I still enjoyed parts of it, and I will remain a Cusk fan and continue to read all things Cusk in the future. If you are a fellow Cusk fan, I still recommend reading it, as Cusk Completionist is a title that bears pride. But if you are new to Cusk, I don't recommend starting your journey here, but rather with Second Place or the Outline trilogy.

Thank you always to @fsgbooks for sending me this galley copy to read early! by @seesararead

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2 months ago

Recent Favorites

As of late, I haven't been reading a whole lot. And the majority of what I've been reading has erred on the side of fluffy. But these two books were not fluffy in the least and I really loved them both. Deborah Levy's new nonfiction collection was perfect. I love Levy's fiction but her nonfiction really stands out for me and this one in particular was so so good. Fourteen Ways of Looking is a mediation on grief through the number 14. Very à la Maggie Nelson's Bluets. Really beautiful.

Nonbookish recent favorites: tripes to the Zoo and aquarium with my toddler, toddler flower gifts, being reunited with the ocean and having a sense of rejuvenation as if a piece of me was missing, surprise flower blooms in the yard, new puppy family addition (Gus), new outdoor cat friends, garden success, bees in my squash flowers, new ink, returning to live music, and mama cardinal nesting in my fig tree. by @seesararead

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3 months ago

February reading.

Mostly focused on reading poetry around my reading of East of Eden. I truly cannot get enough of both Ada Limón and Sharon Olds. Immediate favorites. And though I didn't finish East of Eden this month, I did still manage to get in a classic for @an__otherbook's reading project. Virginia Woolf is so big brained and thinky and A Room of One's Own remains a relevant text. Thanks to @katsfieldnotes for reading with me :)

Planning to finish the second half I have left of East of Eden in March. Still loving it and it feels like such a masterpiece and I'm ok with taking my time with it. by @seesararead

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7 months ago

January.

Books: A very good start to the year. All books read were excellent and I would recommend each one. Really looking forward to the adaptation of Train Dreams, it looks so so good.

I also watched some great film and television in January that felt worth mentioning.

Television: If you haven't seen Hal & Harper yet, you must. It's beautiful and full of emotion and just so well done. I also watched Pluribus and it's brilliant. So smart, not a surprise coming from the creators of Breaking Bad, but I haven't seen a show in a long time that felt so smart and well written.

Film: I watched the adaptation of Die, My Love and I think I'm still not recovered. The way Jennifer Lawrence evoked such raw emotion that made the book fully come to life was extremely affecting. The entire film and casting was really well put together but Lawrence's performance was such a strong portrayal of not only the book but also an uninhibited version of post partum depression. I'm still reeling from it. by @seesararead

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8 months ago

December.

Fell more in love with Sharon Olds. The Chronology of Water was heavy and heartbreaking, but beautifully written. Antiquity was just ok, but the writing was full of promise. Patricia Lockwood's poetry is strange and wild and very Lockwood. And Die, My Love is an honorable mention to my top books of 2025. Perfect writing, realistically representative of the disorientation and rage present in post partum depression. Can't wait to see the film. by @seesararead

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9 months ago

2026 Goals

1. Book buying ban. This year I'm going to put myself on a mostly strict book buying ban. I tend to give in to hype around new releases and I currently have an overwhelming amount of unread books (I'm weak and easily influenced). The only exceptions will be gift cards / book credit and potentially a birthday book purchase. (Especially this year, as it's the big 4-0 and while I believe aging is a privilege and I'm grateful for every line, crease, and gray hair, I still may need some book shopping therapy to get through it.)

2. More non-fiction. I only read 2 non-fiction books in 2025 and I hate that, haha. So I'm going to try to get in enough that it's at least a quarter of my reading. These are a few at the top of my list.

3. Lastly, tackling a few classics. Specifically planned is East of Eden and Wuthering Heights. I started East of Eden a couple years ago and was really loving it but put it down when life got busy and never got back to it. So that will definitely be where I start. And with encouragement and positivity from @jessdekkerreads, I'm confident I'll at least get to these two. :)

Tell me about your new year bookish goals! by @seesararead

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9 months ago

Top Ten of 2025. by @seesararead

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9 months ago

November.

November was an excellent month for reading. I really enjoyed every book read. The White Hot and Helen of Nowhere absolutely blew me away, cannot speak highly enough of both books. Tokarczuk is new favorite and I can't wait to dive into more of her work. Ocean Vuong is clearly a poetic genius and I feel so very late to the party just now getting to his work. The Safekeep was a solid read but unfortunately, did not stand up to all other books read this month. by @seesararead

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10 months ago

October (& a bit of September)

In September I only read one book, Days of Light. But I enjoyed it so much, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention it. It was beautiful and intimate and I loved the writing. Highly recommend.

I also enjoyed all books read in October. Officially an Olivia Sudjic & Claire-Louise Bennett completionist. Newly obsessed with Sharon Olds and I'll be seeking out all her poetry. And I can't wait to watch the Shy adaptation now having read the book. Claire-Louise, as always, took the month for me. Her and her writing are perfect and my love has basically moved to worship level. by @seesararead

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a year ago

Happy Pub Day to Olivia Laing's The Silver Book!

The Silver Book is the story of Danilo and Nicholas in the months leading up to the murder of Pier Paolo Pasolini's murder in 1975. The two men meet in Venice and work in Italian cinema. Described as both a queer love story and noir thriller, The Silver Book is a story of art, power, desire, and illusion.

I'm still working my way through this one but I can already recommend going out and grabbing it. I'm a big Olivia Laing fan and I can't wait to get to the rest of it!

Thank you to @fsgbooks for the early copy! by @seesararead

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a year ago