You’re super-disciplined and ambitious, you probably grew up a bit too fast, and you’re a hyper-perfectionist. See yourself in any of those traits, Capricorn?
Naturally, your reading list will need to meet your high standards. Being a grounded, practical earth sign, you’ll want something that will hook you in immediately, and a writing style so clean you won’t need to copy-edit the grammar or plot points in the margins (even though you may still be tempted to). You’ll give almost anything a go, including any book – so long as you absolutely race through the pages and finish it before anyone else in your book club.
Consider this your curated guide to the best reads for the goat – flawlessly written and guaranteed to please any perfectionist.
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
For a Capricorn whose personality practically begs for a historical novel, the formidable Maggie O’Farrell has reimagined the story of the family of the great playwright. Agnes and her husband (who is ostensibly Shakespeare, but never mentioned by name) have three children. The loss of Hamnet, one of their sons, spurs her husband to write a play called Hamlet. It’s a heart-wrenching tale of grief and overcoming adversity that centres Agnes, a figure erased from history, and her children, as well as the enduring power of love after tragedy. For the Capricorn with a tendency for seriousness, depth and long-term emotional investment, Hamnet is the ideal slow-burner.
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Introducing one of literature’s top-10 most-hated children: Briony Tallis. If you know, you know. Precocious, ambitious and radiating severe Capricorn energy, we meet Briony as a young aspiring writer with a vivid imagination. On a sweltering summer day in 1935, she wildly misinterprets an encounter between her sister, Cecelia, and the housekeeper’s son, Robbie, which leads her to make an accusation that has shocking consequences for all involved. It’s a glorious, soaring story of star-crossed love set around the Second World War, and considers remorse, hope and the lifelong search for redemption. With its intricate structure and unreliable narrator, Atonement offers just the kind of intriguing puzzle a quizzical Capricorn will devour.
The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time by Mark Haddon
For the disciplined, thoughtful Capricorn, there couldn’t be a better read. Told through the lens of Christopher, a neurodiverse teenager with a brilliant logical mind, this novel unfolds like a meticulous mathematical problem (even the chapters are prime numbers instead of the standard consecutive). What begins as a neighbourhood mystery – who killed Mrs Shears’ dog? – quickly unravels into a much bigger story and upends everything Christopher thought he knew about his family. His precise, methodical storytelling, and focus on rationality and problem-solving, is going to deeply resonate with Capricorns with a love for a thoughtful, cerebral novel, full of order and practicality.
Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang
June is a floundering author embittered by the lukewarm reception to her debut and no new novel on the horizon, yet burning with all the ambition of the most driven Capricorn. After witnessing the sudden death of her literary-darling friend Athena, June makes a split-second decision: to steal Athenas’s unpublished manuscript about Chinese labourers in World War I and plagiarise it as her own. In an ill-judged attempt to justify her retelling of Asian stories as a white author, she rebrands herself as the ethnically ambiguous ‘Juniper Song’ and goes on the publicity trail to promote the book. Exposing all the hypocrisy and performative diversity of the cutthroat publishing industry, this unhinged tale is a white-knuckle descent into deceit and delusion. For ambitious Capricorns, Yellowface might just make you consider the lengths you’d go to for success, and what it might cost you.
Dear Senthuran by Akwaeke Emezi
Described as a ‘Black spirit memoir’, this is Akwaeke Emezi’s extraordinary account of uncovering their identity through intimate correspondence with their family, friends and lovers. Brutally open about their own spiritual identity, being a Black and trans writer in the industry, and the pressures of striving to
