The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Paperback, read January 2020

Heck, I loved every second of this book. I fell in love right away with the lilt and sway of Morgenstern’s writing, with the whimsy and romance of the story, with the honey and gold, with the perfect twists and turns and surges of a fantastical story for book-lovers. It is beautiful and warm and cozy and familiar, and a younger, more pretentious version of myself might have called it heavy-handed and predictable but today I say it feels like a cup of tea and a soft blanket and a kiss on the forehead.

I love the ache of books that break you open, but I am also a sucker for book-themed knicknacks and cat-patterned sweaters and a cute nerd in a Gryffindor scarf (as a necessary aside, please note that a certain famous author’s stance on trans rights is appalling; trans women are women). The Starless Sea is 100% the latter, and what a relief it is to allow yourself a chuckle at a bar called the Adjective Noun, to give yourself a little pat on the pack for noting a literary reference, to imagine perusing the shelves of the Harbour and dream a little dream of building your own reading room someday.