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

the most recent book i loved was karen russell’s swamplandia!. i greatly enjoyed how she combined engaging magical realism and rich characters with history lessons about florida and its swamps worked in. it was lush and quite frightening at times. definitely for the girls who love coraline, spirited away and labyrinth. big trigger warning for csa though; i barely saw that mentioned when reading up on the book and i think it’s an important disclaimer, as it has one of the most intense scenes of that nature i have ever encountered.