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You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty won’t be for everyone, but I very much respected the way it stands boldly, tells a deeply human story, and subverts romance novel tropes and expectations.
A Psalm of Storms and Silence is a great sequel/conclusion. If you liked the first, I think you’ll like the second; Brown’s excellent characters and worldbuilding continue.
Slouching Towards Bethlehem is a really interesting look at early Joan Didion. She’s already good, but there are some gems here that hint at the master she’ll turn out to be.
This Time Tomorrow is a heartwarming, tear-jerking super-readable novel about nostalgia and a daughter’s fierce love for (and from) a single parent. I really, really enjoyed it.
Even though Fevered Star (the sequel to Black Sun) definitely has that book-two bridge kind of feeling, I still loved it. I can’t imagine how it will all possibly end, but I also can’t wait to find out.
When We Were Birds — a modern, imaginative, and more literary take on the classic love story — is a quick, captivating standalone. I really liked it.
When Women Were Dragons is a fierce, heartfelt work of magical realism and historical fiction — one day in the 50s, thousands of angry women turned into dragons. Yeah, it’s awesome.
Toni does it again. Paradise is an aching novel filled with so, so much: beautiful friendship and terrible violence, the power of community and danger of exclusion, tension between legacy and forging a new future.
A Town Called Solace is a quick read that manages to cover heavy topics while also feeling comforting. The plot is a big formulaic, but I enjoyed it.
A Master of Djinn is a whodunit magical police procedural set in a Cairo shaped by alternate history, and it’s SO fun with a ton of heart. Now I need to go back and read the prequel novellas!
End of the World House is a trippy literary page-turner with a great premise and an ending I’ll be thinking about for a long time. It manages to be very readable and also very smart.
Scorpica is a solid epic fantasy novel that brings a fresh take to some tried-and-true tropes. It sets us up well for book two, and I’m looking forward to it.
The Intersectional Environmentalist is a short but impactful read. While I did know some of the things it teaches, I learned plenty new and felt re-called to action.
Play It As It Lays, even 50 years after its original publication, remains an echoing and unsettling novel with lots to chew on. I was glad I read it as part of a reading group.
Moon Witch, Spider King is a rich, complex novel with an indomitable protagonist. It’s an easier read than BLRW (though still not easy), and it widens the plot in super interesting ways.
Those who liked Douglas Stuart’s Shuggie will like this, and vice versa. I thought it was a bit repetitive of Shuggie and started a little slow, but I loved the Romeo & Juliet retelling and liked the book overall.
Still Mad was perfect for someone like me, who didn’t take women’s studies or many English classes in college. I learned a lot, and it helped me put famous writers’ names in context with history’s timeline.
Out There is a collection of the exact kind of short stories I love: punchy, speculative, feminist, metaphorical, and weird. Kate Folk is definitely on my watchlist now!
On a Sunbeam is a beautiful graphic novel about young queer love and found family. I read it all over the course of a Sunday afternoon and loved it.
Klara and the Sun is a moving and super-readable novel that asks a lot of questions in engaging, unique ways. It was my first Ishiguro but won’t be my last!
