underappreciated books that feel like ghibli movies
a running list
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson Have you ever wanted a book with a magical library to just linger there chapter after chapter? Do you like books about magic? Do you like characters with deep souls and caring hearts? Are you just a little sick of the morally grey guy? This book is so perfect. It's feels like if Howl from Howl's Moving Castle met a country Snow White carrying an enormous sword. It's earnest and sincere and sweet. And the magic/sorcery is quite unique.
Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery This book feels very much like When Marnie Was There. There's a sweet sadness tinged throughout. But in classic LMM style, there are many lovable characters who create hilarity through their idioscrascy. The titular character wants to be a writer, and we watch her struggles and triumphs. What I especially love is that LMM doesn't force her characters to be anything. They're so refreshingly themselves, so human. If you love Anne of Green Gables, read Emily. You will love the heartbreakingly beautiful and sometimes eerie prose and how LMM lingers to describe nature.
The Harvester by Gene Stratton Porter This book has some lovely dream sequences. You do have to just accept that it's within the logic of the story for a man to fall in love with a woman he doesn't even know exists, but once you do, you'll love it. The honor and care with which the main character treats the women in the story is so refreshing, compared to the casual cruelty in many modern books. This book feels like The Wind Rises. Bonus: lots of cozy herb-gathering and cabin-building scenes and some of the BEST pining I have ever read.
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street. Natasha Pulley is my new obsession. a lonely clairvoyant watchmaker. a genuinely *good* and simple clerk who’s actually a musician. a brilliant morally gray woman who’s a scientist. the softest description. a plot that will genuinely surprise you. This book feels like a love letter to Sherlock Holmes and Hayao Miyazaki and the softness of afternoon light streaming through a workshop window.
