Three recs, forgotten faves edition

A historical conspiracy thriller, a Spanish gothic-ish adventure, a novel of 1930s New York

It’s strangely rare for the US and the UK to have (bank) holidays on the same day. In fact, apart from Christmas and New Year’s Day, I think the last Monday in May might be the only one both countries have in common. I’m not-so-secretly hoping that the newly announced UK general election on July 4th will somehow also become a bank holiday, so we’ll have one more overlap this year. (I’m not hopeful. Though I am hopeful that 14 years of disastrous Tory rule will finally end!)

All of this is to say that we’re going into a long weekend, my friends! I wish you all lots of sunshine and time spent with people you love. And maybe curling up with a good book or binging a TV show or going to the cinema.

In the name of giving you a fun story to get lost in, I’ve pulled out two of my favorite books for this issue. I think they’re both criminally overlooked, though I’m always pleasantly surprised by how many people tout one of them as also being one of their favorites. I’d love to know if you’ve already read either (or both!), and if you love them, too. And if you haven’t: Enjoy!

Without further ado, onto the recs!

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Rec 1
Manhunt (TV)

This seven-episode Apple TV+ limited series is for two kinds of people: history nerds and fans of political-ish conspiracy thrillers. I happen to be both. The series also happens to be created and showrun by Monica Beletsky, a screenwriter I’ve long admired. Yet again, another series basically made for me.

Set in the 12-ish days after Lincoln’s assassination, Manhunt is the story of the hunt for John Wilkes Booth (for everyone who’s not American: the guy who killed Lincoln). At the heart of it is Edwin Stanton (played by the always excellent Tobias Menzies), Lincoln’s Secretary of War and a man who believed fervently in Reconstruction. Yes, Stanton wants to catch and bring to justice everyone involved in the murder of the president, and put an end to the traitorous Confederacy once and for all.

But, even more than that, he wants to get the guys who killed his friend. And that’s what makes the story sing.

The series walks the tightrope between the character stories (mainly Stanton and Booth) and the fascinating-if-complex politics and historical figures of the moment. And it is a tightrope; the history and politics are genuinely fascinating (and, naturally, very relevant to today), but it’s the character stories that are most compelling. As such, I thought the show really hit its stride around episode three, when the groundwork had been laid and the story could let loose.

The performances in this are uniformly excellent, and I can’t fault the team for casting two stellar British actors as the American main characters (Booth is played by the currently – and justifiably – omnipresent Anthony Boyle). The costume and set design are similarly superb. Unlike many films and TV shows set pre-WWI, this world feels realistic and lived-in. It’s dirty and dark (I mean, not ‘The Long Night’ dark, don’t worry), and you genuinely believe that a cut in your skin could kill you. This seems especially important because the protagonist has asthma, a condition that they pretty much couldn’t treat at the time.

One last thing: I really worried, as I got into this series, that it was going to leave me pessimistic about my country. After all, we all know where things have gone in the last 150ish years. And it’s not like I need to feel shittier about the state of the world these days. Instead, I was pleasantly surprise to have it leave me unexpectedly hopeful. The stories we tell about the past are important, and the people we admire shape our collective and personal identities. I can only hope that this story about Stanton enters our national mythology.

Where: Apple TV+

Rec 2
The Shadow of the Wind (book)

I hope for all of your sakes that this modern classic from Spanish author Carlos Ruiz Zafón is already one of your favorites. But if you haven’t read it yet, I’m so jealous that you get to read it for the first time.

Set in 1940s and 50s Barcelona, in the wake of the Spanish Civil War, this is the story of the son of a bookseller who falls in love with a book only to discover that someone is destroying all copies of the author’s books. (So many books!) Within this is also a forbidden love story from the 1910s. And underneath it all, never looked at head on, is the legacy of cruelty and violence and friends turning on each other during the Civil War, as well as the brutality of the Franco regime – which Spain is still grappling with today.

As you can probably tell, this is a book about books and love and the love of books. It’s sweeping and romantic and exciting and heart-breaking. It has elements of a gothic romance, and might seem over-the-top at times if it weren’t told so beautifully. This is the kind of book you get lost in and can’t put down, a world into which you want to disappear, a story that leaves you feeling a bit lost and forlorn when it’s finished. I honestly don’t remember when I first read it, but it still evokes strong feelings whenever I think of it, and I recommend it all the time.

Fortunately for you, once you’ve discovered this world, you don’t have to say goodbye just yet. Zafón wrote several other related books. I wouldn’t call them a series per se, but many of the same characters recur and they’re all set in the same world.

Where: Borrow it for free from your local library, or buy it from your non-Amazon bookseller of choice. (Here’s the Bookshop US link, and here’s the Bookshop UK link.)*

Rec 3
Rules of Civility (book)

Amor Towles’ second book, A Gentleman in Moscow (which I also super recommend!), may be his most famous. In fact, it recently spawned a screen adaptation that I still haven’t watched, much to my chagrin, because I just can’t quite bring myself to pay for yet another streaming subscription. Despite that one’s fame, it’s his first book that made me a fan of his work and keeps me on the hook for all future things he writes.

Set over one year (1938) in New York City, Rules of Civility follows the Brooklyn-born daughter of Russian immigrants as she tries to social-climb and become a magazine journalist. There’s also a love triangle and lots of glamorous parties, and everyone is pretending to be someone they aren’t, because what was early 20th-century New York if not a place where people went to reinvent themselves? Of course, when everyone is out to ruthlessly change their own fortunes and get what they want, they also end up hurting other people in the process.

If you know me, you should know by now that, once again, someone wrote a book for me. In fact, the only time in my life that I have ever been truly star-struck was when I met Towles at a book festival. I honestly lost my mind and word-vomited as I gushed about how much I loved his work, and I still blush when I think about how uncomfortable the whole situation was.

That said, I honestly think that is the best way to convey how highly I recommend this book. I mean, don’t you want to read something that turned me into a blathering idiot?

Where: Borrow it for free from your local library, or buy it from your non-Amazon bookseller of choice. (Here’s the Bookshop US link, and here’s the Bookshop UK link.)

*(In the name of full transparency: I’ve included affiliate links to Bookshop.org – if you’re going to order from them anyway, please use my link so I can make a little extra cash! If you want to see/order any/all of my book recs, I’ve made lists on Bookshop, too: US version, UK version.)

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That’s all for this week! What are you reading/watching/listening to that I should be aware of? Drop me a line (or comment) to let me know if you check out any of my recs and what you think.

Please spread the word and I’ll see you in a couple weeks.

xo
Kate

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