As August begins to mellow out, the golden hour of the year signals the beginning of Virgo season. We’re moving from the wild spontaneity and heat of Leo into a more quiet, thoughtful and introspective era, guided by the earth sign known for its analytical mind, practicality and high standards.
If you’re a Virgo, you likely have a desire to create deeper meaning out of life’s small moments. But beneath your composed exterior lies all that restrained emotion and you often end up putting everyone else’s needs before your own. From emotionally precise novels to sharp societal critiques, these books are going to speak to your desire for depth and detail. Read on to find something just perfect for you...
Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte
Rejection was made for the perfectionist Virgo (who, let’s face it, would much rather read about rejection than have to face it in real life). It’s an extraordinary collection of interlinked stories following a cast of lonely characters experiencing the psychological fallout of rejection in its many forms. It’s a profound look at the perils of the internet and the compulsive need for validation (note, some of it is perverse and graphic – you’ll know which story we mean when you get to it, but it’s part of the tale). One wry story, RE: Rejection, will certainly tickle a Virgo, along with Tony’s precise prose and acerbic wit . All very Virgo.
Exhibition by Alex Hyde
Alex Hyde’s new novel is a gritty reimagining of the 1990s London art scene, from boozy gallery openings to the debaucherous world of the Young British Artists. The author set herself the challenge of only describing contemporary artworks that really exist. That attention to detail is Virgo to the core. Narrated by an androgynous, reserved photographer, the book unfolds as a compulsive address to an unnamed female artist, and traces the two women’s separations and reunions, everywhere from London to Berlin to New York. Immersive and utterly absorbing, Exhibition pulls you into the depths of the art world – ideal for ponderous Virgos.
Things: A Story Of The Sixties by Georges Perec, translated by David Bellos
Virgos are meticulous, detail-oriented and highly analytical – so George Perec’s Things: A Story Of The Sixties aligns with their practical mindset. This 20th-century French literary classic inspired Vincenzo Latronico’s Perfection with its observations of the world and one couple’s life through a razor-sharp lens. In Things, Sylvie and Jérôme can only find meaning through their possessions – it’s a profound critique of consumerism, advertising and corporate climbing, and the ending leaves you with lots to think about.
Slanting Towards The Sea by Lidija Hilje
Moving and gorgeously written, Lidija Hilje’s debut novel follows Ivona and Vlaho, a couple who meet as students in newly democratic Croatia and fall in love against the glittering backdrop of the Adriatic. The sense of place is so strong, you can practically smell the salt off the crashing waves. We first meet Ivona years later, now divorced, still torturously entangled in her ex-husband’s life. As the novel unravels, we learn the heart-wrenching reason why Ivona chose to end their marriage, exploring the tension between the life we live and the one we imagine for ourselves. Ivona embodies plenty of Virgo traits: hyper-analytical, introspective and so busy fixing the lives of those around her that she forgets herself. It’s compelling and knotty enough to keep you hooked for hours.
Real Life by Brandon Taylor
Brandon Taylor’s Real Life serves as a biting critique of the casual racism embedded in the American college system, filtered through Wallace: a gay Black biochemistry graduate student surrounded by his white peers and their ’accidental’, yet mostly intentional, microaggressions. He over-analyses social dynamics, processes his trauma in silence and is deeply restrained. Taylor’s writing style is meticulous and careful, perfectly mirroring Virgo’s love for order, detail and deeper meaning.
The Details by Ia Genberg, translated by Kira Josefsson
As a woman’s fever rises, she reflects on the people who’ve most shaped her life. In four separate sections – ’Joanna’, ’Niki’, ’Alejandro’ and ’Birgitte’ – this novel doesn’t do plot or big picture, rather it invites us to consider those who’ve had the most impact on us. The writing seamlessly transitions from sentence to sentence, with the fragments of memories moving from nostalgia to infatuation to anxiety. See Dua read from the Alejandro section here, and experience the emotional weight of a single moment when the narrator sees him for the very first time. Virgos love to get caught up in our human minutiae, so they’ll love this precise, particular story.
Until August by Gabriel García Márquez, translated by Anne McLean
This one has a backstory as intriguing as the novel itself. Posthumously published after García Márquez’s death in 2014, and against the wishes of the author, the foreword written by his sons tells us that their father’s “perfectionism” prevented him from ever releasing this short novel. He even said that “this book doesn’t work. It must be destroyed.” Murky questions about authorial ownership aside, the result of García Márquez’s ’lost novel’ is the tale of Ana Magdalena Bach. Each August, she leaves her home for 24 hours to lay flowers on her mother’s grave – and indulge in an extra-marital affair. It’s steamy, morally dubious and filled with longing. Perfect reading for Virgo season.
