{"id":29836,"date":"2025-08-29T01:47:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T01:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/29836\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T01:47:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T01:47:13","slug":"read-r-f-kuangs-2025-book-recommendations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/29836\/","title":{"rendered":"Read R. F. Kuang\u2019s 2025 Book Recommendations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Shelf Life, ELLE.com\u2019s books column<\/a>, in which authors share their most memorable reads. Whether you\u2019re on the hunt for a book to console you, move you profoundly, or make you laugh, consider a recommendation from the writers in our series, who, like you (since you\u2019re here), love books. Perhaps one of their favorite titles will become one of yours, too. <\/p>\n

R. F. Kuang writes what she knows. The Poppy War<\/a> fantasy trilogy, which she wrote as an undergrad at Georgetown and as a master\u2019s candidate at Oxford, was largely influenced by her parents\u2019 and grandparents\u2019 experiences in 20th-century China. Historical fantasy Babel<\/a> (which has been optioned<\/a> for a screen adaptation by the producers of Twilight) is set in a fictionalized Oxford. Kuang skewers book publishing\u2019s commodification of diversity in her pandemic novel Yellowface<\/a>. Finally, her latest, Katabasis<\/a>, features two graduate students practicing magic at Cambridge (where Kuang earned another master\u2019s degree) and descend to the underworld to save their professor\u2019s soul. (\u201cKatabasis\u201d is Greek<\/a> for \u201cthe hero\u2019s journey to the underworld.\u201d) <\/p>\n

Currently pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale, she recently finished a draft of her next novel, which takes place in Taipei. \u201cThe hardest part of the writing process is sitting down to write, just as the hardest part of the run is getting on the trail,\u201d she says. \u201cOnce I\u2019m off, it\u2019s a perpetual motion machine.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for her reading habits, she loves \u201ctaking blind recommendations. I hate getting stuck in a genre rut!\u201d <\/p>\n

The China-born, Texas-raised, Connecticut-and-Massachusetts-based award-winning author was a Marshall Scholar; learned<\/a> English reading Pride and Prejudice<\/a>; wrote her first story, at 10, called \u201cLiberty or Death\u201d about the Revolutionary War; hosted an early book reading in high school at a local Barnes & Noble, where her mom brought snacks from H Mart<\/a>; thought she\u2019d be a military historian<\/a>; did her first 10K in Athens; is married to a philosopher<\/a>; landed on the 2023 Time100 Next<\/a> list and the 2024 Forbes 30 Under 30<\/a> list; has a Substack<\/a>; and gets bored easily.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Fan of<\/strong>: writing unlikable narrators<\/a>; pandan pancakes; churros; scones with strawberry jam; Edinburgh (her favorite city in the world); vermouth; Yangmingshan National Park and Yehlieu Geopark in Taiwan; Jardin des Plantes de Nantes in France; the Denver Botanic Gardens<\/a> (especially in winter); Maison Bertaux<\/a> in London for cream tea; corgis; teaching.<\/p>\n

Not so much:<\/strong> AI novel writing; the indignities of travel on book tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Good at<\/strong>: making playlists<\/a>; debate.<\/p>\n

Bad at:<\/strong> working titles<\/a>; croquet; being on holiday<\/a> (unless it\u2019s productive).<\/p>\n

Recent convert to<\/strong>: Taylor Swift<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Scroll through her book recommendations below. <\/p>\n

The book that\u2026:\u2026I swear I\u2019ll finish one day:<\/p>\n

I joined a Ulysses<\/a> [by James Joyce] reading group this summer. Progress is very slow.<\/p>\n

    …I\u2019d pass on to a kid:<\/p>\n

    I re-read Brian Jacques\u2019s Redwall<\/a> recently, and those books are timeless!<\/p>\n

      …I\u2019d give to a new graduate:<\/p>\n

      I\u2019d give Joanna Rakoff\u2019s My Salinger Year<\/a> to any new graduate heading off to New York to pursue a career in literature.<\/p>\n

        …made me laugh out loud:<\/p>\n

        Victor Hugo\u2019s Les Mis\u00e9rables<\/a> is underrated for how goofy it is. The bits about Marius courting Cosette recently had me giggling on a plane.<\/p>\n

          \u2026I last bought:<\/p>\n

          Bad Habit<\/a> by Alana S. Portero, a translated Spanish novel that I picked up in Madrid.<\/p>\n

            \u2026helped me become a better writer:<\/p>\n

            Patricia Lockwood\u2019s No One Is Talking About This<\/a> taught me about comedic timing.<\/p>\n

              …grew on me:<\/p>\n

              It took me five tries, but Susanna Clarke\u2019s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell<\/a> finally clicked for me on the fifth attempt.<\/p>\n

                …describes a house I\u2019d want to live in: <\/p>\n

                There\u2019s a treehouse in Richard Powers\u2019s The Overstory<\/a> that I\u2019d like to sleep in overnight.<\/p>\n

                  \u2026I brought on my honeymoon:<\/p>\n

                  I read Umberto Eco\u2019s The Name of the Rose<\/a> in a small cottage outside Florence on my honeymoon. Unforgettable.<\/p>\n

                    \u2026.I could only have discovered in New Haven, Connecticut\u2019s Book Trader Caf\u00e9<\/a>: <\/p>\n

                    I found a copy of A.S. Byatt\u2019s Possession<\/a> with a cut-out of a newspaper review from 1990 inside it. It\u2019s still one of my most treasured possessions.<\/p>\n

                    Read R. F. Kuang\u2019s Book Recommendations\"<i>Ulysses<\/i><\/a>Ulysses by James Joyce<\/p>\n

                    Now 46% Off<\/p>\n

                    Credit: Vintage\"<i>Redwall<\/i><\/a>Redwall by Brian Jacques<\/p>\n

                    Now 42% Off<\/p>\n

                    Credit: Firebird\"<i>My<\/a>My Salinger Year by Joanna RakoffCredit: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group\"<i>Les<\/a>Les Mis\u00e9rables by Victor Hugo<\/p>\n

                    Now 43% Off<\/p>\n

                    Credit: Signet\"<i>Bad<\/a>Bad Habit by Alana S. Portero<\/p>\n

                    Now 41% Off<\/p>\n

                    Credit: HarperVia\"<i>No<\/a>No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood<\/p>\n

                    Now 46% Off<\/p>\n

                    Credit: Riverhead Books\"<i>Jonathan<\/a>Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke<\/p>\n

                    Now 38% Off<\/p>\n

                    Credit: Bloomsbury Publishing\"<i>The<\/a>The Overstory by Richard Powers<\/p>\n

                    Now 11% Off<\/p>\n

                    Credit: W. W. Norton & Company\"<i>The<\/a>The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco<\/p>\n

                    Now 33% Off<\/p>\n

                    Credit: HarperVia\"<i>Possession<\/i><\/a>Possession by A.S. Byatt<\/p>\n

                    Now 53% Off<\/p>\n

                    Credit: Vintage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to Shelf Life, ELLE.com\u2019s books column, in which authors share their most memorable reads. Whether you\u2019re on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[359,1196,23720,13195,18,117,346,19,17,590,23719],"class_list":{"0":"post-29836","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-content-type-round-up-products","10":"tag-contentid-87f5556d-a3ce-427a-ba02-1e4db4940a2a","11":"tag-displaytype-long-form-article","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-hasproduct-true","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-locale-us","18":"tag-shorttitle-shelf-life-r-f-kuang"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}