* e m m i e * 467K subscribers · Oct 8, 2026

61 oddly specific book recommendations

Reviews31

Liked

the most recent one that I read that fits the bill is Annie John by Jamaica Concaid. This one is more of a motheraughter relationship. very much coming of age of Annie who is living on Antigga and what she goes through as she grows into adolescence and really what happens in the space between her and her mother.

Liked

however, one that I have read about a very niche hobby because I mean I don't know anyone who goes hawking who does hawking, but we have Hes for Hawk by Helen McDonald. This is another non-fiction. , it's all about her relationship with this mostly one specific hawk, but it's also so much about grief and her grappling with losing her father and taking in this hawk.

Loved

you follow their ups, their downs, their friendships, rivalries, helping one another out, being incredibly jealous of one another. This delves into so many topics in contemporary soul society from plastic surgery to motherhood and I really loved it.

Loved

Another cat human relationship that comes to mind for me is Kiki and Gigi from Kiki's Delivery Service. That is another very just like healing, protective relationship for me that I love seeing on screen. I loved reading about it in the book.

Loved

I think Jansen does such a good job at showcasing all of the textures and all of the qualities, the different winds, the different types of snow, the different sounds, the winter landscape, the winter atmosphere. She does such a perfect job of someone encountering that for the first time.

Mixed

To be honest, I read this year. I wasn't blown away. I think if I had read it when it had originally come out and this would have been a very groundbreaking I think piece of feminist literature I would have been blown away reading it this year I wasn't enamored with it as a piece of you know geography fiction.

Liked

I'm going to recommend either The Penelopead by Margaret Atwood or Cassandra, which I have right here. I prefer Cassandra. It's been a long time since I've read either of these, but I do remember loving Cassandra by Crystal Wolf a little bit more.

Liked

This one is about someone who is so devoted to their line of work as a butler, mostly during the time set after World War I, but so devoted to their work, so devoted to what they think is loyalty and duty that they're pretty much watching everyone else and like live their lives, and they're kind of stuck somewhere. This one also works really well because it's about someone looking back at their past and seeing what they've done, how they've chosen to spend their day so far.

Loved

it's very disheartening to obviously read the book, look up and see the same thing, but it is so well done. scarily relevant, like just copy paste, but it's also so creative and so fun and so interesting at the same time because you're in this teeny tiny perspective and it's so beautiful.