I don’t do book reviews often as I am much more inclined to share a list of what I’m reading and why I’m intrigued by those titles. Instead, I’d like to do a reading recommendation post. But, for the following book, I will make an exception.

This post has one directive/recommendation for you, dear reader and fellow book lover (and I am not paid or compensated in any way for saying this): read The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow. It is masterful, beautiful, thought provoking and creative in all the best ways.

This book popped up as a recommended read because of my love for Diane Peterfruend’s For Darkness Shows the Stars, a book I like to re-read when my bookshelf is empty. The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a gorgeous tribute to books, reading, adventure and magic. It falls into the realm of Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire and Miss Perigrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, so, if you like those books, then I’m positive you will like this one.

Ten Thousand Doors of January follows the journey of a young woman named January whose father is off gallivanting around and collecting rare items for his employer who also happens to be January’s peculiar guardian in her father’s absence. January is given to play and imagination, things that are squelched out by her guardian. The narrative has an interesting perspective, sometimes first person and sometimes third and the narrator has a peculiar obsession with doors. In between spaces, of which doorways are one version, have drawn writers and magic lovers and more. Midnight, shadows, dawn and dusk are all additional examples of in-between places. Anyway, the book continues as January discovers a strange book that carries the scent of other worlds and begins to unravel the mystery around her family and her origins and the truth about the world. I won’t go into too much detail as I don’t want to spoil the plot for you. But, the prose is beautifully written and the concept is clever and unique. I hope I’ve intrigued you enough to get you to check it out at your local book store or online. 🙂

What books have captured your attention lately?