This blog is brought to you by the number 7 (thanks to Sesame Street).
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Has anyone noticed the number of recently published fiction books with the number 7 in the title? Why? Is it because God created the earth in 7 days and everyone is invoking divine wisdom to create a masterpiece?
This month I decided to read as many recently published books with 7 in the title as I could find. Leaning into the energy of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (not a bad read but not recent), I set off.
1) My favourite novel so far is ‘Question 7’ by Richard Flanagan. The writing was vulnerable, open and honest. His evident love for his mother and complex relationship with his father centered the book. He tied together ‘Around the world in 80 days’ and ‘Cat’s Cradle’ – an impressive effort.
2) ‘The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo’ by Taylor Jenkins Reid comes second. She has a strong, confident style and the characters are great. Evelyn is a terrific mess of good and bad, with a clear voice. I really engaged with her.
3) I’ll rate ‘The Seven’ by Chris Hammer next. He has a wonderful sense of space in this novel. I enjoy his characters and it’s interesting to revisit previous characters and watch them devlop
4) ‘The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding’ by Holly Ringland is a book that will work well for some readers. I read it for book club and some members really liked it. It has so many themes that it came across as clunky to me. The psychology didn’t fit together for me, but that could be personal. I liked the island landscapes – it felt very wild and made me want to travel.
My top tip to writers this month is don’t use 7/seven in your title. It’s overdone at the moment and there’s a lot of competition for best book featuring this number.
Will definitely put Question Seven on my list - thank you