Here are 2 books that Wordhunter fans have personally recommended if you like
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Emily Van Dyne deeply loves the great poet Sylvia Plath. Many do, but the author of this new perspective on Sylvia Plath’s life, death and body of work has done the intricate research that few have done so well. She digs deeply into the complex ways Plath’s life impinged on her work, including how personal writing and poetic legacy were manipulated by her husband, also a famous poet, after she took her own life and those of her small children.
Van Dyne doesn’t claim to know that Plath was a victim of intimate partner violence, but rather provides us with the evidence that makes her believe so. We can judge for ourselves, though not conclusively.
I like the authenticity of this book, told in the first person, as the author entwines the poet’s life, Plath’s journals and letters, and the author’s experience of the violence she has experienced in her…
Sylvia Plath is an object of enduring cultural fascination-the troubled patron saint of confessional poetry, a writer whose genius is buried under the weight of her status as the quintessential literary sad girl. Emily Van Duyne-a superfan and scholar-radically reimagines the last years of Plath's life, confronts her suicide and the construction of her legacy. Drawing from decades of study on Plath and her husband, Ted Hughes, the chief architect of Plath's mythology; the life and tragic suicide of Assia Wevill, Hughes's mistress; newly available archival materials; and a deep understanding of intimate partner violence, Van Duyne seeks to undo…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
I love books that reimagine a story that is well known, challenging reader's assumptions about the characters or the circumstances they find themselves in, while also standing on its own for readers that haven't read the inspiration. JAMES brings Huck Finn's companion to life, giving him wit, intelligence, and agency. I read it twice, back-to-back. Easily my favorite read of 2025!
'Truly extraordinary books are rare, and this is one of them' - Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author of Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha
James by Percival Everett is a profound and ferociously funny meditation on identity, belonging and the sacrifices we make to protect the ones we love, which reimagines The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. From the author of The Trees, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and Erasure, adapted into the Oscar-winning film American Fiction.
The Mississippi River, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new…
