The best books on the messiness of life and love

It was on my reading list in college, many moons ago. The first sentence blew me away – and all the ones that followed did the same. It’s a feast of a book, an incredible read that doesn’t shy away from anything. The narrator is an anti-hero, a monster led by his physical desires, but I couldn’t hate him because I was too busy pitying him and his huge, helpless, twisted love for Lolita, his gum-popping streetwise nymphet of a stepdaughter who evokes memories of his first lost love as a young teenage boy. The road trip they undertake, just the two of them, is marvellous. Every scene is a gem. Nabokov’s writing, in a language that wasn’t his first, is sublime. 

This book, set initially in England just before WWII, is rich with big themes – a love that crosses class boundaries, war, jealousy, guilt. Because of a wrongful accusation, a housekeeper’s son is imprisoned and eventually finds himself going to war. His accuser, the younger sister of his lover, attempts over the years that follow to make atonement. It’s a sad and beautifully told tale of lost love and years of regret, and what might have been if one hasty act had gone undone. The twist at the end is amazing. This story stayed with me for a long time after I closed the book. Unusually, the film is a fine adaptation. 

This book overflows with charm, while also managing to balance a very dark theme – the hardship of occupied Guernsey during WWII – with a beautiful love story. The tale begins in the immediate aftermath of the war when London-based writer Juliet Ashton responds to a letter from Dawsey Adams of Guernsey, a total stranger, who has come across her name written in a second-hand book, and has some questions. She enters into a correspondence with him, and in time with all the members of the extraordinary Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. The narrative dips into the past to show the horrors of occupation and the resilience of the islanders. The book led to my travelling to Guernsey to see it for myself, so taken was I with the depiction of life there – and it’s well worth a visit, a beautiful island rich in history. 

This book has one of the most interesting characters I’ve ever come across in fiction. Evie Decker is an introverted and slightly eccentric teen living in small-town America whose ordinary life takes a completely different turn when she hears a young musician, Drumsticks Casey, being interviewed on the radio. Anne Tyler can be depended on to create fascinatingly quirky characters – I’ve long been a big fan of her writing – but I think she outdid herself with Evie. The story is unexpected and moving and funny and sad – really, it provides all the feels. The evolving relationship between Evie and Casey, with its ups and downs and twists, is perfectly told, and the dialogue sparkles with authenticity. 

I’m recommending this because it will break your heart, and everyone needs that experience now and again with a book. It tells the story of a unique and unlikely love that blossoms slowly between a 104-year-old woman (whom you will learn to adore) and a young boy scout who calls to her house to fulfill one of his tasks. There’s a tragic twist early on that introduces us to the boy’s parents, and there are some lovely subsequent turns in this most magical tale. It’s the first Monica Wood book that I read, but I must hunt her down and read more.