What my friends are reading this spring | Reads With Friends
32 spring reads from my bookish friends: seasonal picks, cosy reads, fresh starts, timeless classics, and more
With spring solidly here (daffodils! tulips! pansies!), we have a whole new season for us to read books, preferably in the sunshine.
To start us off, I asked my friends what they’re reading this spring, and had such a happy time nosing through their reads! When I reached out, I mentioned that I don’t typically read seasonally myself (on the contrary, I read the freezing We Do Not Part by Han Kang while in sweltering Malaysia), and was curious who would.
The friends who contributed to today’s reading list come from all over the world, including countries without dramatic seasonal changes like I experience in London. Some sent books unrelated to spring; others are reading gardening books or see spring as a fresh start, instead of 1 January. Together, my friends are reading 32 books and I hope you enjoy their spring book lists as much as I do!
P.S. Missed my March wrap-up? It’s full of pretty spring blooms, including pictures from the Saatchi Gallery and my own garden.
at Sundaze Book Café
Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum. I found a copy of this cosy fiction book in the Little Free Library that I run in my town, and I’ve been saving it for the right moment. Well, that right moment is this spring when my boyfriend and I travel to Seoul in May!
Yeongju feels burned out from a life she thought deemed her successful—a busy social calendar, a high-flying career in Seoul, and a demanding marriage. Following her divorce and leaving her job, Yeongju moves out of the city and opens the Hyunam-dong Bookshop. This is a book about books, about running a bookshop and its meaningful work, and I can’t wait to read it. [NOTE FROM ALICIA: Michelle and I share a love for cosy fiction, and I reviewed this translated Japanese book last year.]Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. This nature nonfiction by Indigenous author Robin Wall Kimmerer was hugely raved about in The Unseen Review Book Club, and I trust our community’s opinions with my life. To be honest, I read a lot of nature non-fiction and I’m exceptionally excited to welcome in spring with this one. It feels like the perfect time of year to properly celebrate nature’s beauty and wonders.
This Feast of a Life by Cynthia So. While I was busy moving my books to our new place, I spotted this long-forgotten ARC in my collection and it sounds just lovely. The release states that it’s a heartwarming story that brings together identity, food, belonging and love, which sounds just like the lighthearted read I need in the busy season of life.
Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon by Mizuki Tsujimura. Publishing in April, Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon has finally received an English translation by Yuki Tejima (it was originally released in 2010). This is another sentimental translated Japanese fiction story where a smart young man, Ayumi, hosts clients who come to him for a reunion with the person who once changed their life. I gratefully have an eARC of this book and am looking forward to delving into it ahead of our trip to Japan in May!
at Books Worth Sharing
The Vegetarian by Han Kang. I recently read Human Acts, loved it, and am now on a mission to read all Han Kang’s books this year.
The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa. I loved Ogawa’s The Housekeeper and the Professor and I want to read more by her. Other than THTP, this is one of her most popular books having been shortlisted in the International Booker Prize in 2020. [NOTE FROM ALICIA: I read this a couple of years ago and found it fascinating. I hope Jam enjoys it as well!]
The Quiet Ones by Glenn Diaz. I saw this book once in a bookstore and was curious about it. Unfortunately, I had to let it go that time because there were already like five books in my basket. Saw this again online and immediately bought it.
Yñiga by Glenn Diaz. This book is from the same author above. I read this was picked up by Tilted Axis Press and is set to be released this year, and I want to read it now under our local press.
White Nights by Fyodor Dostoevsky. This book has been in my TBR since December. Gotta spring clean that TBR! [NOTE FROM ALICIA:
has kindly written a guest review of this book for Reads With Alicia, so watch this space!]Jam wrote a fantastic guest post for us recently as well, on growing as a more intentional reader. Do check it out!
Mike at
Texas: The Great Theft by Carmen Boullosa. This novel set around the 1859 Mexican invasion of the U.S. sounds fascinating and relevant to today’s issues. The 10th anniversary edition was recently released and includes a foreword from Merve Emre, a critic I enjoy. BoG subscribers picked this one for me to review, and I’m ready to dive in.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. I’ve wanted to read this classic ever since I finished Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys last year. I’ve heard good things about it, and I’m excited we’ll be reading it at the same time, Alicia! [NOTE FROM ALICIA: I’m about halfway through Jane Eyre, and can’t wait for both Mike and I to share our reviews next month!]
A Fairly Honourable Defeat by Iris Murdoch. Books on GIF’s ninth anniversary is coming up in May, and I’m looking forward to celebrating by reading one of my favorite authors. I discovered this novel through
’s newsletter The Literaria Letter. I’m a Murdoch completist, so reading her will make turning another year older a little easier.Small-book summer! Memorial Day weekend is coming up at the end of May here in the States, and it’s our unofficial kick-off to summer. I’m looking at several titles, including Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss and Blue in Green by Wesley Brown, to read over the long weekend.
Grace T
How to Eat by Nigella Lawson. This cookbook is different from most, being all words and no pictures. But this is Nigella at her chatty best—arm, witty, conspiratorial. I have wholeheartedly adopted her mantra of preparing food to feed people pleasurably rather than to impress.
Down to Earth by Monty Don. I love nature and gardens (the two usually being quite different things) and have reread this meandering garden guide many times, curled up in bed in the evenings (is there anything better?).
Angie C
Babel by R F Kuang. It was a truly enjoyable read, and I particularly enjoyed how much detail the author put into the book. She intricately described the effects and the characters’ feelings towards imperialism. The slightly disappointment ending seemed to be the author overthinking and overcomplicating the plot. All in all, I still enjoyed the book and I didn’t want to put it down.
at I Recommend Books
I Served the King of England by Bohumil Hrabal. Hrabal couldn’t legally publish his work due to censorship by the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, so he read his stuff out loud to his friends in bars. And it shows! Every sentence of his short book Too Loud a Solitude is moving, funny, and precise–calculated to get laughs and tears from his audience. I’m excited to read this longer work.
Hombrecito by Santiago Jose Sanchez. This was on a roundup of new books by trans writers by the Chicago Review of Books. I picked a few that sounded interesting and requested them from my local library. If you see a gap in your reading or you would like to show publishers demand for work from underrepresented writers, roundups like these are a great place to browse for stuff that gets you excited. Another great resource is brittlepaper.com, a website devoted entirely to new fiction from Africa.
The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki Shikibu. Every year my local library chooses a difficult book to read over the course of the year. The Tale of Genji is 1,000 years old and 1,000 pages long, and most of us in the group are finding it to be a mixture of pleasure and pain. My favorite is all the vengeful ghosts who keep attacking Genji’s lovers.
Elley L
Nothing quite like spring to hit me with the gentle panic that the year is nearly a third over and my ‘learn something new’ resolution hasn’t quite taken off. Conveniently, there is a Chinese saying, 一年之计在于春 (the year’s plan starts in spring). Technically then, spring is (yet another) new year, new me restart clock.
Currently ‘reading’ (and I use that term loosely): a very serious nutrition textbook and an equally serious 伤寒论. Nothing screams health louder than Spring. Progress is slow. Morale is medium. But hey, it is spring, we are all allowed delusion and hope.
Follow along for updates that I probably won’t have.
at Teacher by Trade; Mentor by Mistake
Here’s my spring plan, but I often change things on a whim. I’m trying to read things that will help me in my own writing journey. Only the first one is a definite read.
The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez. This will be my 5th book of Nunez’s and I expect it to be as delightful as her previous ones. I love her style, especially the way she references other writers and weaves their thoughts so effortlessly into her narrative.
Heroes and Villains by Angela Carter. Like with Nunez, I discovered Carter six years ago when I was making a conscientious effort to read more women’s fiction. I’m going to focus on her use of world-building, even though this is something that doesn’t feature much in my writing.
Area 52 by Lee Bacon. This is a Middle Grade book by a fellow Substacker. I like supporting our friends and this is a book I’m going to read with my daughter (I don’t make a habit of reading Middle Grade!). I’m considering writing a book for teenagers/YA and so this is part fun, part research.
Long Lost Log: Diary of a Virgin Sailor by Michael Chapman Pincher. I picked this book up from the independent Lilliput Press bookshop when I was in Dublin in the autumn and it was recommended by the head publisher himself. It’s the true story of an Irishman looking for adventure with his mistress on a yacht across the Atlantic in the 1970s and it’s the kind of reckless escapism I’m longing for.
Freddie S
Nova Scotia House by Charlie Porter. This book was recommended to me as an exploration of what it means to have a sense of place in life, to be part of a community in tune with one another. It delves into the social history surrounding the AIDS crisis. Aside from being research for a work project, I am also obsessed with the idea of creating these kinds of spaces, so I'm excited to read it.
Brotherless Night by V V Ganeshananthan. This book has been on my shelf for a while, and I’ve seen it recommended several times since. The Sri Lankan civil war is a period of history I don’t know much about, but I am fascinated and I do quite like an emotionally wrecking journey through a book, so will be finally getting around to it this spring! [NOTE FROM ALICIA: Interestingly, two books about the Sri Lankan civil war have been quite popular recently, with the other one being the 2022 Booker Prize winner, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, which I mention in my upcoming guest post for
.]Ways of Seeing by John Berger. I've dipped in and out but never read the whole thing, so I intend to now. Ways of Seeing is an art classic, challenging what we think we know about art and the world around us. A more necessary skill than ever today.
at Words On Words
Beautiful Chaos: On Motherhood, Finding Yourself and Overwhelming Love by Jessica Urlichs. I loved her book of poems, From One Mom to a Mother, and I'm looking forward to reading her newest release this month—National Poetry Month!
I Watched You from the Ocean Floor by Erin Cecilia Thomas. This is a debut collection of short stories centered around grief. I love a good short story collection, and I think the cover is fabulous.
Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier. I read Rebecca and couldn't stop thinking about it. In fact, I still haven't. Fans of Daphne du Maurier say this is another great book, and I found it used at my favorite indie bookstore recently and I'm eager to get started!
The first two books were sent to me by the publishers and I'm really looking forward to giving them a read!
Let’s chat in the comments—my friends and I would love to hear from you!
Have you read any of these books, or are they on your TBR?
What are you reading this spring?
Do you read seasonally? What does this mean to you?
Thanks so much to my lovely Substack and irl friends who contributed! I’m so excited about all their lovely spring reads. To join the summer edition of Reads With Friends, comment or DM me!
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So many interesting reads! Glad to know I’m not the only one who’s not a seasonal reader 😂
Amazing list. Thank you for curating it, Alicia!