You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty

Author: Akwaeke Emezi
Publisher: Atria
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

New York Times bestselling author and National Book Award finalist Akwaeke Emezi (they/them) reimagines the love story in this fresh and seductive novel about a young woman seeking joy while healing from loss.

Feyi Adekola wants to learn how to be alive again.

It’s been five years since the accident that killed the love of her life and she’s almost a new person now—an artist with her own studio, and sharing a brownstone apartment with her ride-or-die best friend, Joy, who insists it’s time for Feyi to ease back into the dating scene. Feyi isn’t ready for anything serious, but a steamy encounter at a rooftop party cascades into a whirlwind summer she could have never imagined: a luxury trip to a tropical island, decadent meals in the glamorous home of a celebrity chef, and a major curator who wants to launch her art career.

She’s even started dating the perfect guy, but their new relationship might be sabotaged before it has a chance by the dangerous thrill Feyi feels every time she locks eyes with the one person in the house who is most definitely off-limits. This new life she asked for just got a lot more complicated, and Feyi must begin her search for real answers. Who is she ready to become? Can she release her past and honor her grief while still embracing her future? And, of course, there’s the biggest question of all—how far is she willing to go for a second chance at love?

Akwaeke Emezi’s vivid and passionate writing takes us deep into a world of possibility and healing, and the constant bravery of choosing love against all odds.

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TL;DR Review

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.

For you if: You like the challenge of morally grey characters and plots (and don’t mind profanity).

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Full Review

Thank you, Atria, for the electronic advanced copy of this book! I, like the rest of the world, love Akwaeke Emezi’s work, and I was so excited and intrigued to see what they were able to do within the romance genre, even though it isn’t my usual scene.

You have likely heard by now that You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty is very different from Emezi’s other work, and that is true. You might call it more conventional (although I’d still argue that it’s actually not). It sort of feels that way, with its familiar romance-novel plot shape and pacing. But it also subtly subverts all our expectations about romance novels, with a messy protagonist, a morally gray plot arc, unabashed AAVE dialogue, and a bold premise. (If you don’t like profanity or characters making choices that you disagree with, this won’t be for you.)

In this novel, Emezi shows us that romance novels — and love stories themselves — can come in all shapes and flavors, and that a relationship doesn’t have to make sense to those outside it. This book is about grief, and living boldly, and seizing happiness, and dealing with the consequences because it’s worth it. It’s about these two characters and them alone, and you as the reader are invited to either witness — or mind your own business.

At the end of the day, it’s this last thing — that Emezi told the story they wanted, and that they could, quite frankly, give a sh*t about what you think of these characters’ choices — that makes this book stand out and adds another tally to their list of literary accomplishments.

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Content and Trigger Warnings

• Death of spouse (car accident)

• Grief

• Homophobia

• Drug and alcohol use

A Psalm of Storms and Silence (A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, #2)

Author: Roseanne A. Brown
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

***Description is a spoiler for A Song of Wraiths and Ruin***

Karina lost everything after a violent coup left her without her kingdom or her throne. Now the most wanted person in Sonande, her only hope of reclaiming what is rightfully hers lies in a divine power hidden in the long-lost city of her ancestors.

Meanwhile, the resurrection of Karina’s sister has spiraled the world into chaos, with disaster after disaster threatening the hard-won peace Malik has found as Farid’s apprentice. When they discover that Karina herself is the key to restoring balance, Malik must use his magic to lure her back to their side. But how do you regain the trust of someone you once tried to kill?

As the fabric holding Sonande together begins to tear, Malik and Karina once again find themselves torn between their duties and their desires. And when the fate of everything hangs on a single, horrifying choice, they each must decide what they value most—a power that could transform the world, or a love that could transform their lives.

The highly-anticipated second—and final—book in the immersive fantasy duology inspired by West African folklore that began with the New York Times bestselling A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, from author Roseanne A. Brown.

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TL;DR Review

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.

For you if: You already read A Song of Wraiths and Ruin.

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Full Review

I read A Song of Wraiths and Ruin back when it first came out, and afterward I knew I’d be reading the sequel. I’m happy to report that Psalm is a great duology conclusion! It’s a bit slower paced than the first one (at least for the first half or so), but that’s in service of deeper character work that I ultimately appreciated. The end, though, had me flipping pages like mad — and what a strong, compassionate ending it was.

There’s so much to love here. Imaginative worldbuilding, a compelling plot, and characters I’d probably take a bullet for. But to me, the most noteworthy thing about this duology is Roseanne Brown’s exploration of mental illness through the lens of a fantasy story. Anxiety, panic attacks, and asserting control over your own mind are all presented in both conventional and metaphorical ways. This second book also includes a heartbreaking but deeply empathetic portrayal of emotional abuse.

I’m so glad I read these books! If you’re looking for a quick escape into a compelling fantasy duology, definitely pick them up.

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Content and Trigger Warnings

• Suicidal thoughts

• Self-harm

• Emotional abuse

• Mental illness

• Panic attacks

Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Author: Joan Didion
Publisher: FSG (first published 1968)
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

The first nonfiction work by one of the most distinctive prose stylists of our era, Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem remains, decades after its first publication, the essential portrait of America—particularly California—in the sixties.

It focuses on such subjects as John Wayne and Howard Hughes, growing up a girl in California, ruminating on the nature of good and evil in a Death Valley motel room, and, especially, the essence of San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury, the heart of the counterculture.

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TL;DR Review

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.

For you if: You are a fan of Didion and want to see her evolution.

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Full Review

“However long we postpone it, we eventually lie down alone in that notoriously uncomfortable bed, the one we make ourselves. Whether or not we sleep in it depends, of course, on whether or not we respect ourselves.”

This was my third Joan Didion, which I read along with a formal reading group with the Center for Fiction, but it’s Didion’s first published book. The course was set up that way on purpose, because next we’re reading The Year of Magical Thinking, and the teacher wanted us to be able to admire the juxtaposition of her early work and her later work.

There were some essays I loved and others that felt like they flew in one side of my brain and out the other, and then of course her incredible sentences, images, and structure throughout. My favorite essays were those in the “Personals” section, including “On Keeping a Notebook,” “On Self-Respect,” and “On Morality.” But I also really loved the final essay, which is called “Goodbye to All That” and is about how she fell in and then out of New York City in her 20s.

One of the most noteworthy things about Didion’s essays in general, IMO, is her ability to stick the landing — and by that I actually mean she doesn’t “stick” it at all, but they ring out. There’s never a tidy summation of her point; the endings actually take you by surprise, at first seeming like just another sharp image among the many others she employs. That makes you go back and think, why did she leave me with that one? And there’s a lot to be discovered in asking yourself that question.

I’m very very much looking forward to The Year of Magical Thinking!

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Content and Trigger Warnings

• Drug use/abuse, including a 5-year-old child

This Time Tomorrow

Author: Emma Straub
Publisher: Riverhead
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

What if you could take a vacation to your past?

With her celebrated humor, insight, and heart, beloved New York Times bestseller Emma Straub offers her own twist on traditional time travel tropes, and a different kind of love story.

On the eve of her 40th birthday, Alice's life isn't terrible. She likes her job, even if it isn't exactly the one she expected. She's happy with her apartment, her romantic status, her independence, and she adores her lifelong best friend. But her father is ailing, and it feels to her as if something is missing. When she wakes up the next morning she finds herself back in 1996, reliving her 16th birthday. But it isn't just her adolescent body that shocks her, or seeing her high school crush, it's her dad: the vital, charming, 40-something version of her father with whom she is reunited. Now armed with a new perspective on her own life and his, some past events take on new meaning. Is there anything that she would change if she could?

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TL;DR Review

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.

For you if: You’re a litfic reader looking for something a bit on the lighter side, but still excellent.

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Full Review

Emma Straub does it again, y’all. (Did we have any doubts?) Compulsively readable (without being fluffy), This Time Tomorrow is a fresh and fun approach to the time-travel story — sort of a reverse 13 Going on 30, and at once heartwarming and tear-jerking. I read the last two-thirds in a single sitting and just loved the whole experience so much.

The story is about a woman named Alice, who grew up on the Upper West Side with a single father (whose livelihood happened to be secured when his only published novel was turned into a beloved TV show). We start at her 40th birthday — she’s doing OK, but struggling with a meh career, a busy best friend, and the terminal illness of her father. But then she wakes up the next morning, and … she’s 16 again!

I won’t give anything else away, because part of the beauty of this book was discovering how Alice reacted, what she ultimately wanted, and everything that came next. But here’s what you can expect from this one: laughter, tears, nostalgia, deep friendship, regrets (or not), what it means to lead a life well-lived, what matters most and what matters least and how we only know the difference in hindsight — oh, and a possibly magical cat.

If you’re a contemporary reader looking for something a little deeper, or a literary fiction reader looking for something a little lighter, this is the perfect in-between. The perfectly timed beach read for litfic lovers. Fun and heart and time travel.

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Content and Trigger Warnings

• Death of a parent

• Alcohol and drug use

Fevered Star (Between Earth and Sky, #2)

Author: Rebecca Roanhorse
Publisher: Saga Press
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

***Description is a spoiler for Black Sun***

Return to The Meridian with New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Roanhorse’s sequel to the most critically hailed epic fantasy of 2020 Black Sun—finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Lambda, and Locus awards.

There are no tides more treacherous than those of the heart. —Teek saying

The great city of Tova is shattered. The sun is held within the smothering grip of the Crow God’s eclipse, but a comet that marks the death of a ruler and heralds the rise of a new order is imminent.

The Meridian: a land where magic has been codified and the worship of gods suppressed. How do you live when legends come to life, and the faith you had is rewarded?

As sea captain Xiala is swept up in the chaos and currents of change, she finds an unexpected ally in the former Priest of Knives. For the Clan Matriarchs of Tova, tense alliances form as far-flung enemies gather and the war in the heavens is reflected upon the earth.

And for Serapio and Naranpa, both now living avatars, the struggle for free will and personhood in the face of destiny rages. How will Serapio stay human when he is steeped in prophecy and surrounded by those who desire only his power? Is there a future for Naranpa in a transformed Tova without her total destruction?

Welcome back to the fantasy series of the decade in Fevered Star—book two of Between Earth and Sky.

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TL;DR Review

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.

For you if: You read and loved Black Sun.

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Full Review

Well, folks, we’ve been waiting for this since Black Sun came out, and Rebecca Roanhorse did NOT disappoint us (except, perhaps, in that we still have to wait for book three to see how this trilogy will end, lol).

If you loved Black Sun, I think you’ll be just as happy with this sequel — we get the same in-depth POVs of our excellent main characters, plenty of questions (some still open, some deliciously answered), lots of tangly world politics, no clear good guys, plenty of suspense, and no hint about how this story could possibly wrap up in a way that takes care of everyone we’ve come to love (they’re on different sides!). Roanhorse’s immersive world-building is just plain top-notch.

I don’t dare say much else for fear of spoilers. But I can’t wait for book 3!

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Content and Trigger Warnings

• Blood and violence

• Death and grief

When We Were Birds

Author: Ayanna Lloyd Banwo
Publisher: Doubleday
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

A mythic love story set in Trinidad and Tobago, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo's radiant debut introduces two unforgettable outsiders brought together by their connection with the dead.

You were never the smartest child, but even you should know that when a dead woman offers you a cigarette, the polite thing to do would be to take it. Especially when that dead woman is your mother.

The St. Bernard women have lived in Morne Marie, the house on top of a hill outside Port Angeles, for generations. Built from the ashes of a plantation that enslaved their ancestors, it has come to shelter a lineage that is bonded by much more than blood. One woman in each generation of St. Bernards is responsible for the passage of the city's souls into the afterlife. But Yejide's relationship with her mother, Petronella, has always been contorted by anger and neglect, which Petronella stubbornly carries to her death bed, leaving Yejide unprepared to fulfill her destiny.

Raised in the countryside by a devout Rastafarian mother, Darwin has always abided by the religious commandment not to interact with death. He has never been to a funeral, much less seen a dead body. But when his ailing mother can no longer work and the only job he can find is grave digging, he must betray the life she built for him in order to provide for them both. Newly shorn of his dreadlocks and his past and determined to prove himself, Darwin finds himself adrift in a city electric with possibility and danger.

Yejide and Darwin will meet inside the gates of Fidelis, Port Angeles's largest and oldest cemetery, where the dead lie uneasy in their graves and a reckoning with fate beckons them both. A masterwork of lush imagination and immersive lyricism, When We Were Birds is a spellbinding novel about inheritance, loss, and love's seismic power to heal.

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TL;DR Review

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.

For you if: You like literary magical realism and /or want to read more books set in the Caribbean.

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Full Review

Thank you, Doubleday, for the gifted copy of this book! With some SERIOUS blurb power (Marlon James, Robert Jones Jr., Pat Barker, Avni Doshi, and others) When We Were Birds is exactly the kind of novel I tend to love — literary, but touched with magic. So it’s no surprise that I enjoyed this book very, very much.

Set in Trinidad and Tobago, the story is about two characters: Yejide, a young woman who is last in a line of women who help pass souls into the afterlife (literally — magically), and Darwin, a young Rastafarian man left with no options but to take a job at a graveyard, despite the fact that it goes against his religion. So begins their intertwined fates.

It took me a few days to relax into this one, but I think that was a me/brain space thing and not a book thing. Once I did, I was off — in fact, by the end, I was surprised by how fast the pace had felt. I read most of it in a single Amtrak ride, and it was perfectly suited for that kind of thing. It’s got that quick, immersive love-story feeling alongside that deeper literary feeling. All while completely transporting us into this fictional city and into these characters’ lives and hearts.

Finally, this is a book where I very much recommend listening to the audiobook as you read along — the voice performances by Sydney Darius and Wendell Manwarren really brought the characters, the story, and the setting to life.

A beautiful debut. I can’t wait to see what Ayanna Lloyd Banwo writes next.

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Content and Trigger Warnings

• Death of a parent

• Grief

• Violence

When Women Were Dragons

Author: Kelly Barnhill
Publisher: Doubleday
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

Learn about the Mass Dragoning of 1955 in which 300,000 women spontaneously transform into dragons...and change the world.

Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours. But this version of 1950's America is characterized by a significant event: The Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales and talons, left a trail of fiery destruction in their path, and took to the skies. Seemingly for good. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex's beloved Aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn't know. It's taboo to speak of, even more so than her crush on Sonja, her schoolmate.

Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of dragons: a mother more protective than ever; a father growing increasingly distant; the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed; and a new "sister" obsessed with dragons far beyond propriety. Through loss, rage, and self-discovery, this story follows Alex's journey as she deals with the events leading up to and beyond the Mass Dragoning, and her connection with the phenomenon itself.

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TL;DR Review

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.

For you if: You’re here for women’s anger and like a little magic in your novels.

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Full Review

First, thank you Doubleday for the advanced copy of this book! It comes out May 3. The moment I read the premise — one day in the 1950s, hundreds of thousands of women (and not just cis women) turned into dragons, and the world was never quite the same — I was IN. Also, it’s sapphic. YUP.

Even though this turned out to be not QUITE what I’d expected (slightly slower pacing, slightly more literary), I really, really liked it. The main character and narrator is a girl named Alex, who’s telling the story as an adult but starts all the way back when she was a young kid. Her mother didn’t turn into a dragon, but her aunt did, leaving behind a cousin who became Alex’s sister. What’s especially noteworthy is that the Mass Dragoning became such a taboo subject that people lost jobs or were criminally prosecuted for even mentioning it; it was also seen as a distinctly *feminine* topic, embarrassing and inappropriate, like menstruation.

I’d call this magical realism rather than fantasy because it’s very much set in the real world, just with an alternate history. (Remember, Doubleday published it, not Tor.) So if you’re looking for a fantasy novel with a typical fantasy adventure plot, this isn’t that, just FYI. I think it was that shift in expectations that made the beginning feel a little slow to me; but once I settled in, I zipped right through it. If you’re a litfic reader who also likes magic, this would be a great break between heavier litfic reads (especially now during award season).

Look, this book has so much feminine rage (and joy!). It has sapphic dragons who can fly to space. It has a main character determined to become a physicist. It has an elderly librarian who can fix anything. It explores sisterhood and the danger of suppressing information and vilifying science and discouraging questions. And Barnhill dedicated it to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. Go get a copy!

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Content and Trigger Warnings

• Death of a parent

• Abandonment

• Misogyny

• Homophobia

Paradise

Author: Toni Morrison
Publisher: Vintage (first published 1997)
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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

“They shoot the white girl first. With the rest they can take their time.” So begins Toni Morrison’s Paradise, which opens with a horrifying scene of mass violence and chronicles its genesis in an all-black small town in rural Oklahoma. Founded by the descendants of freed slaves and survivors in exodus from a hostile world, the patriarchal community of Ruby is built on righteousness, rigidly enforced moral law, and fear. But seventeen miles away, another group of exiles has gathered in a promised land of their own. And it is upon these women in flight from death and despair that nine male citizens of Ruby will lay their pain, their terror, and their murderous rage.

In prose that soars with the rhythms, grandeur, and tragic arc of an epic poem, Toni Morrison challenges our most fiercely held beliefs as she weaves folklore and history, memory and myth into an unforgettable meditation on race, religion, gender, and a far-off past that is ever present.

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TL;DR Thoughts

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.

For you if: You love Toni Morrison novels. This one brings it all, again.

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Full Thoughts

I am slowly but surely making my way through all of Toni Morrison’s novels, in order. So this is my seventh of hers. Maybe it’s recency bias, but I do think it’s among my favorites so far. How does she manage to do so much, so quietly, so explosively?

This book starts with the infamous first line, “They shoot the white girl first. With the rest they can take their time.” Convinced that the women living together in an old convent are the source of the all-Black town’s growing problems, a group of men set out to “take care of” them. Then we go back in time, learning more about each of the women and a good handful of key characters in town, plus how things got to this boiling point.

There’s just so much explored in this novel, and it’s done achingly, precisely, and beautifully. There’s beautiful friendship and terrible violence, the power of community and danger of exclusion, tension between legacy and forging a new future, and much more. As she does in pretty much all of her novels, Morrison asks big questions about Black women living life on their own terms, Black men seeking to control them, and the rest of the world punishing them all.

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Content and Trigger Warnings

• Gun violence

• Self-harm (cutting)

• Death of one’s children

• Racism / colorism

• Misogyny

A Town Called Solace

Author: Mary Lawson
Publisher: Knopf
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

A Town Called Solace, the brilliant and emotionally radiant new novel from Mary Lawson, her first in nearly a decade, opens on a family in crisis. Sixteen-year-old Rose is missing. Angry and rebellious, she had a row with her mother, stormed out of the house and simply disappeared. Left behind is seven-year-old Clara, Rose's adoring little sister. Isolated by her parents' efforts to protect her from the truth, Clara is bewildered and distraught. Her sole comfort is Moses, the cat next door, whom she is looking after for his elderly owner, Mrs. Orchard, who went into hospital weeks ago and has still not returned.

Enter Liam Kane, mid-thirties, newly divorced, newly unemployed, newly arrived in this small northern town, who moves into Mrs. Orchard's house—where, in Clara's view, he emphatically does not belong. Within a matter of hours he receives a visit from the police. It seems he is suspected of a crime.

At the end of her life, Elizabeth Orchard is also thinking about a crime, one committed thirty years previously that had tragic consequences for two families, and in particular for one small child. She desperately wants to make amends before she dies.

Told through three distinct, compelling points of view, the novel cuts back and forth among these unforgettable characters to uncover the layers of grief, remorse, and love that connect them. A Town Called Solace is a masterful, suspenseful, darkly funny and deeply humane novel by one of our great storytellers.

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TL;DR Review

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.

For you if: You like books with multiple narrators and nonlinear timelines.

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Full Review

A Town Called Solace is my first read by Mary Lawson, thanks to the 2022 Booker Prize longlist. And while the plot did feel a little Hallmark Movie-ish (which, on the flip side, actually makes this a much more approachable novel than most Booker books), I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it.

The book has three main characters, all of whom get POV chapters: A young girl named Clara, whose older sister ran away and is missing; her elderly neighbor, Elizabeth (aka Mrs. Orchard), who is in the hospital; and a young man named Liam who’s staying in Mrs. Orchard’s house. I don’t want to give too much away, but suffice to say that we learn a lot more about these three characters, especially how Liam and Mrs. Orchard’s lives once intersected. The plot builds to a big reveal at the end.

What impressed me about this book was how cozy it felt while also dealing with some whopping heavy themes — chronic miscarriage and infertility, for one (that’s not a spoiler, but it is a trigger warning), and a missing teenager/sister, for another. It also somehow feels almost quiet AND like a page-turner (I read it in one day). As we discussed at book club, we can see why people compare Mary Lawson to Anne Tyler.

Overall, most of us agreed that we enjoyed it, even if it sometimes felt too tidy or formulaic. Sometimes we litfic readers just need something less taxing to sink into!

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Content and Trigger Warnings

• Miscarriage/infertility (major)

• Child abuse/neglect

• Death

• Rape (minor)

A Master of Djinn

Author: P. Djèlí Clark
Publisher: Tor.com
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer.

So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case. Al-Jahiz transformed the world 50 years ago when he opened up the veil between the magical and mundane realms, before vanishing into the unknown. This murderer claims to be al-Jahiz, returned to condemn the modern age for its social oppressions. His dangerous magical abilities instigate unrest in the streets of Cairo that threaten to spill over onto the global stage.

Alongside her Ministry colleagues and her clever girlfriend Siti, Agent Fatma must unravel the mystery behind this imposter to restore peace to the city - or face the possibility he could be exactly who he seems….

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TL;DR Review

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!

For you if: You like mystery AND fantasy novels, and/or books that feature Arabic mythology.

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Full Review

A Master of Djinn has been on my radar since it came out, but then it was nominated for the Nebula AND the Hugo Awards, and so right to the top of my TBR it went. And I loved it! This book was just plain fun: easy to read, imaginative, and fast-paced — with a great big heart.

The story is a magical whodunit police procedural set in Cairo, but in a world shaped by an alternate history in which a man named al-Jahiz brought magic back into the world. Cairo is now a major world power, and our main character, Fatma, is one of the only women agents at the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities division (and she’s damn good at it). When an old rich British man who was leading a secret brotherhood winds up dead, and a person claiming to be al-Jahiz takes credit, Fatma is called onto the case. We also get to meet her gorgeous lover, her new agency partner, and some other truly delightful friends.

This is P. Djèlí Clark’s first full-length novel, but it’s not the first story set in this “Dead Djinn Universe” — there are a few prequel novellas. That said, A Master of Djinn is a standalone and can be read without having read the novellas — I am proof of that! While there were a couple of moments where I could tell he was referencing a previous story, and I’m sure there were probably things like inside jokes between characters I missed, all the info I needed to love this book was included.

Still, I loved the universe and the characters so much that it seems like I’ll be going back to read those novellas after all. ;)

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Content and Trigger Warnings

• Violence

• Murder / body horror

End of the World House

Author: Adrienne Celt
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

Groundhog Day meets Ling Ma’s Severance in End of the World House, a thought-provoking comedic novel about two young women trying to save their friendship as the world collapses around them.

Bertie and Kate have been best friends since high school. Bertie is a semi-failed cartoonist, working for a prominent Silicon Valley tech firm. Her job depresses her, but not as much as the fact that Kate has recently decided to move from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

When Bertie’s attempts to make Kate stay fail, she suggests the next-best thing: a trip to Paris that will hopefully distract the duo from their upcoming separation. The vacation is also a sort of last hurrah, coming during a ceasefire in a series of escalating world conflicts.

One night in Paris, they meet a strange man in a bar who offers them a private tour of the Louvre. The women find themselves alone in the museum, where nothing is quite as it seems. Caught up in a day that keeps repeating itself, Bertie and Kate are eventually separated, and Bertie is faced with a mystery that threatens to derail everything. In order to make her way back to Kate, Bertie has to figure out how much control she has over her future—and her past—and how to survive an apocalypse when the world keeps refusing to end.

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TL;DR Review

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.

For you if: You like novels that border commercial and literary fiction with a weird, speculative premise.

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Full Review

Thank you, Simon & Schuster, for the review copy of this book! As soon as I saw the synopsis, I knew I had to read it — and it did not disappoint.

End of the World House is about a young woman named Bertie who is a cartoonist at a tech startup in a near-future, apocalyptic, WWIII-type world. She and her soon-to-move-away best friend, Kate, decide to go on a vacation to Paris while the world is at (what could be its last) ceasefire. A man they met in a bar gets them into the Louvre while its closed But in the midst of their exploration, Bertie finds herself not only separated from Kate, but also in a Groundhog-Day-esque time loop.

I don’t want to spoil anything, but one of the best parts of this book is that it goes in a totally different direction than you probably expect based on the synopsis. I was totally hooked and finished the book in one sitting — it’s not a thriller or anything, but it’s definitely got a good pace to it.

This book is readable and also smart, a great fit for people who like to land in that sweet spot between a contemporary and literary type of feeling. The apocalyptic state of the world feels eerily possible and only a few steps up from how things are today, which makes for resonant ideas to ruminate on — that we are all wildly imperfect in relationship to one another, and all just doing our best; the way we cling to those imperfect relationships when things are scary and we are lonely; the feeling of futility around going to work and leading normal lives as society crumbles around us; the question of whether it’s worth following our dreams as the world burns.

I can’t wait for more people to read this so I can talk to them about it!

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Content and Trigger Warnings

• Death of one’s parents

• Grief

• Bombing/warfare

• Toxic relationship

Scorpica (The Five Queendoms, #1)

Author: G.R. Macallister
Publisher: Saga Press
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

A centuries-long peace is shattered in a matriarchal society when a decade passes without a single girl being born in this sweeping epic fantasy that’s perfect for fans of Robin Hobb and Circe.

Five hundred years of peace between queendoms shatters when girls inexplicably stop being born. As the Drought of Girls stretches across a generation, it sets off a cascade of political and personal consequences across all five queendoms of the known world, throwing long-standing alliances into disarray as each queendom begins to turn on each other—and new threats to each nation rise from within.

Uniting the stories of women from across the queendoms, this propulsive, gripping epic fantasy follows a warrior queen who must rise from childbirth bed to fight for her life and her throne, a healer in hiding desperate to protect the secret of her daughter’s explosive power, a queen whose desperation to retain control leads her to risk using the darkest magic, a near-immortal sorcerer demigod powerful enough to remake the world for her own ends—and the generation of lastborn girls, the ones born just before the Drought, who must bear the hopes and traditions of their nations if the queendoms are to survive.

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TL;DR Review

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.

For you if: You like epic fantasy with vast, sweeping worldbuilding and multiple POVs.

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Full Review

Thank you to Saga Press for the advanced copy of this book! I really enjoyed it.

Scorpica is the first book in a new epic fantasy series by super-successful historical fiction author Greer Macallister, writing here under the pen name G.R. Macallister. As soon as I read the premise — a matriarchal society of five queendoms in which girls stop suddenly stop being born — I was in.

Each queendom in this world has a specialty: battle, knowledge, trade, agriculture, and magic. The one that gets the most focus in this book is the warrior nation Scorpica, which of course is the title. We follow a handful of POV characters, including two Scorpican queens, a few Scorpican warriors, a mother and her daughter (one of the last four girls born) from Sestia (the queendom specializing in magic), the Sestian queen, and our villain.

This is a solid epic fantasy novel, and if you like books with sweeping worlds and lots of characters, I think you’ll like it. While the “each country has a specialty” trope is well-worn, I found that the twist of the fully matriarchal society helped it feel fresh. What’s especially noteworthy is that women didn’t have to take power in this world; they simply are more powerful and always have been, a true gender role reversal.

There are plenty of open questions and plot lines that set the next book up nicely; no cliffhanger, but not quite a tidy ending either. We also hardly got any worldbuilding outside Scorpica and a bit in Sestia, but given that the first book’s title is Scorpica while the series is called The Five Queendoms, that makes sense, and I think we can expect a lot more to come.

I’ll be watching for book two!

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Content and Trigger Warnings

• Death and grief

• Sexual content

• Blood and violence

• Pregnancy

The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet

Author: Leah Thomas
Publisher: Voracious
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Cover Description

A primer on intersectional environmentalism aimed at educating the next generation of activists on how to create meaningful, inclusive, and sustainable change.

The Intersectional Environmentalist is an introduction to the intersection between environmentalism, racism, and privilege, and an acknowledgment of the fundamental truth that we cannot save the planet without uplifting the voices of its people -- especially those most often unheard. Written by Leah Thomas, a prominent voice in the field and the activist who coined the term "Intersectional Environmentalism," this book is simultaneously a call to action, a guide to instigating change for all, and a pledge to work towards the empowerment of all people and the betterment of the planet.

In The Intersectional Environmentalist, Thomas shows how not only are Black, Indigenous and people of color unequally and unfairly impacted by environmental injustices, but she argues that the fight for the planet lies in tandem to the fight for civil rights; and in fact, that one cannot exist without the other. An essential read, this book addresses the most pressing issues that the people and our planet face, examines and dismantles privilege, and looks to the future as the voice of a movement that will define a generation.

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TL;DR Review

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.

For you if: You want to start to merge your feminism, antiracism, and environmentalism.

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Full Review

The Intersectional Environmentalist is a quick and easy read (the audiobook is only four hours long), but it packs a lot of good stuff in. Leah Thomas is the founder of a climate justice collective by the same name; it’s well known, with 423K followers on Instagram. No surprise that she’s written such an impactful little book.

It’s essentially a starter/introduction to intersectionality in environmentalism, covering common terms and a brief history of related movements (ecofeminism, environmental justice, etc) and then making the case for merging them. I work at/write for a company focused on gender equality, so there were sections that reiterated info I already knew, but it also taught me plenty new (especially as she shed an intersectional light on things like fast fashion, climate change, renewable energy, and food justice) and framed everything together in a really compelling, effective way. I found the first few and last few chapters especially engaging. I also loved that each chapter provides a slew of questions for reflection, which would be great to use as you do your own work, or even in a book club. There are also a ton of resources in the back of the book.

All in all, the info Thomas presents here is a good reminder and re-call to action for those who are involved in this work, and a great introduction for folks who are looking to enter it. Aka everyone should read it!

Play It As It Lays

Author: Joan Didion
Publisher: FSG (current paperback edition; first published 1970)
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

A ruthless dissection of American life in the late 1960s, Play It as It Lays captures the mood of an entire generation, the ennui of contemporary society reflected in spare prose that blisters and haunts the reader. Set in a place beyond good and evil — literally in Hollywood, Las Vegas, and the barren wastes of the Mojave Desert, but figuratively in the landscape of an arid soul — it remains more than three decades after its original publication a profoundly disturbing novel, riveting in its exploration of a woman and a society in crisis and stunning in the still-startling intensity of its prose.

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TL;DR Review

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.

For you if: You like books that leave a lot of room for the reader to insert their own interpretation.

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Full Review

“What makes Iago evil? Some people ask. I never ask.”

This was my first novel by Joan Didion, and I read it as part of a formal, instructor-led reading group with the Center for Fiction. I was glad I did! Play It As It Lays has a ton of layers, lots to peel back, lots to explore. Definitely one of those books where it’s especially helpful to have others to discuss it with.

The story itself is about a woman named Mariah in Hollywood in the 1960s. She had one or two acting jobs but became especially noteworthy as the wife of a famous producer. The two have an unwell four-year-old daughter who lives full-time at a mental health institution. Longing for her daughter, wistful about life, and jealous of her husband’s success, Mariah lives in a very in-between state of life, alternating between just sort of floating through it and self-destructing. Narratively, we barrel toward a hinted-at, tragic ending.

This is a very fast read; only four hours on audio. During my class’s discussion about the book, we talked a lot about it being “disembodied.” It has a very eerie, surface-level type of feeling that really leaves a ton of room for a reader to insert themselves and interpret as they will. But where Didion really shines is, as always, at the level of the sentence.

While I wouldn’t say this is a favorite, I did enjoy it (especially after having processed it more with a group), and I’m glad I read it. Up next in our class: Slouching Toward Bethlehem!

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Content and Trigger Warnings

• Abortion (major)

• Suicide / overdose (major)

• Mental illness

• Drug abuse

• Infidelity

• Forced separation from one’s child

Moon Witch, Spider King (The Dark Star Trilogy, #2)

Author: Marlon James
Publisher: Riverhead
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

From Marlon James, author of the bestselling National Book Award finalist Black Leopard, Red Wolf, the second book in the Dark Star trilogy, his African Game of Thrones.

In Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Sogolon the Moon Witch proved a worthy adversary to Tracker as they clashed across a mythical African landscape in search of a mysterious boy who disappeared. In Moon Witch, Spider King, Sogolon takes center stage and gives her own account of what happened to the boy, and how she plotted and fought, triumphed and failed as she looked for him. It’s also the story of a century-long feud—seen through the eyes of a 177-year-old witch—that Sogolon had with the Aesi, chancellor to the king. It is said that Aesi works so closely with the king that together they are like the eight limbs of one spider. Aesi’s power is considerable—and deadly. It takes brains and courage to challenge him, which Sogolon does for reasons of her own.

Both a brilliant narrative device—seeing the story told in Black Leopard, Red Wolf from the perspective of an adversary and a woman—as well as a fascinating battle between different versions of empire, Moon Witch, Spider King delves into Sogolon’s world as she fights to tell her own story. Part adventure tale, part chronicle of an indomitable woman who bows to no man, it is a fascinating novel that explores power, personality, and the places where they overlap.

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TL;DR Review

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.

For you if: You like very literary fantasy (and read Black Leopard, Red Wolf).

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Full Review

Hurray for the next installment of Marlon James’ Dark Star Trilogy, which started with Black Leopard, Red Wolf. I liked BLRW, but like many, also found it very dense and challenging. I’m happy to report that MWSK presents an easier read (although I would still not go so far as to call it easy).

You may have heard the MWSK tells the same story as BLRW, but from the Moon Witch Sogolon’s perspective. This is actually only part of the story — the novel actually goes back much further than that, to when Sogolon was a girl, all through her life, how she became the Moon Witch, and how she got tangled up with the search for the boy. The events of BLRW only come into play in the last third or so of the book.

I tell you this so you don’t spend as much time as I did wondering when all that was going to start. But even so, by the end, I understood exactly why James set it up this way; the story BLRW drops us into is so much bigger, so much older, than we knew before. MWSK shows us what’s at stake here — and sets us up for an epic trilogy conclusion, I think.

Part of what makes MWSK more readable is that we’re prepared for the trilogy’s episodic storytelling style (which doesn’t settle into the shape of a traditional plot until deep into the book), not to mention the world the story takes place in. But I also really, really loved Sogolon as a protagonist. Her voice is so strong, her desires so pointed. She tells you like it is, unlike Tracker. And she takes absolutely NO shit from anyone. Such a badass. The audiobook narrator did an incredible job bringing her to life, too, and I highly recommend listening along on audio as you read the print version (especially given that it’s still relatively long and challenging).

If you liked BLRW enough to consider continuing with the series, even if you’re feeling a bit intimidated, I say pick this up. I think chances are good that you will like it.

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Content and Trigger Warnings

• Rape

• Death of one’s child

• Child abuse

• Violence / gore

• Domestic abuse

• Suicidal thoughts

• Sexual content

Young Mungo

Author: Douglas Stewart
Publisher: Grove Atlantic
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

A story of queer love and working-class families, Young Mungo is the brilliant second novel from the Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain.

Douglas Stuart's first novel Shuggie Bain, winner of the 2020 Booker Prize, is one of the most successful literary debuts of the century so far. Published or forthcoming in forty territories, it has sold more than one million copies worldwide. Now Stuart returns with Young Mungo, his extraordinary second novel. Both a page-turner and literary tour de force, it is a vivid portrayal of working-class life and a deeply moving and highly suspenseful story of the dangerous first love of two young men.

Growing up in a housing estate in Glasgow, Mungo and James are born under different stars--Mungo a Protestant and James a Catholic--and they should be sworn enemies if they're to be seen as men at all. Yet against all odds, they become best friends as they find a sanctuary in the pigeon dovecote that James has built for his prize racing birds. As they fall in love, they dream of finding somewhere they belong, while Mungo works hard to hide his true self from all those around him, especially from his big brother Hamish, a local gang leader with a brutal reputation to uphold. And when several months later Mungo's mother sends him on a fishing trip to a loch in Western Scotland with two strange men whose drunken banter belies murky pasts, he will need to summon all his inner strength and courage to try to get back to a place of safety, a place where he and James might still have a future.

Imbuing the everyday world of its characters with rich lyricism and giving full voice to people rarely acknowledged in the literary world, Young Mungo is a gripping and revealing story about the bounds of masculinity, the divisions of sectarianism, the violence faced by many queer people, and the dangers of loving someone too much.

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TL;DR Review

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.

For you if: You like emotionally devastating queer literary fiction.

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Full Review

Thank you, Grove, for the advanced review copy of Douglas Stuart’s highly anticipated second novel, Young Mungo. I was a big fan of Shuggie Bain, and so it’s no surprise that I enjoyed this one too.

Young Mungo is about a 15-year-old boy in Glasgow, Scotland who’s secretly gay and caring for an alcoholic mother (sound familiar, Shuggie readers?). We bounce back and forth in time; in the “present,” Mungo is whisked off on a “fishing trip” with two imposing men his mother met at AA. In the “past,” we see him meet and fall in love with another young man named James, manage the expectations of his infamous older brother and doting older sister, and forgive his mother over and over — until the two timelines crash together, tragically. No spoilers, but I will say this: mind the trigger warnings on this book, if you have any need of them.

I liked this book overall, but I’ll start with the parts that didn’t work as well for me: First, this felt really, really repetitive of Shuggie. That’s sort of obvious from the synopsis, but even the mood, tone, and pace mirrored Stuart’s first novel. And that leads to the second thing: I felt so impatient as I made my way through the slower first half of the book; when would I get to something that felt different?

But if you can make it to the halfway mark, you’ll be rewarded; it does pick up and distinguish itself. Young Mungo is, eventually, a much more explicitly gay story (a love story!). And I didn’t realize this before I read it, but it actually turns into a legit Romeo and Juliet retelling, which was a fun discovery that I loved. It’s what finally lent the book a fresher feeling, in my opinion. By the end, I couldn’t tear my eyeballs away.

Fans of Shuggie will like this one, I think, and vice versa. I can’t wait to see what others think!

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Content and Trigger Warnings

• Rape / pedophilia

• Alcoholism

• Homophobia

• Domestic abuse

• Violence

• Sexual content (consensual)

• Abortion

• Domestic abuse

Still Mad: American Women Writers and the Feminist Imagination

Author: Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar
Publisher: W.W. Norton
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Cover Description

Forty years after their first groundbreaking work of feminist literary theory, The Madwoman in the Attic, award-winning collaborators Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar map the literary history of feminism’s second wave.

From its stirrings in the midcentury—when Sylvia Plath, Betty Friedan, and Joan Didion found their voices and Diane di Prima, Lorraine Hansberry, and Audre Lorde discovered community in rebellion—to a resurgence in the new millennium in the writings of Alison Bechdel, Claudia Rankine, and N. K. Jemisin, Gilbert and Gubar trace the evolution of feminist literature. They offer lucid, compassionate, and piercing readings of major works by these writers and others, including Adrienne Rich, Ursula K. Le Guin, Maxine Hong Kingston, Susan Sontag, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Toni Morrison. Activists and theorists like Nina Simone, Gloria Steinem, Andrea Dworkin, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and Judith Butler also populate these pages as Gilbert and Gubar examine the overlapping terrain of literature and politics in a comprehensive portrait of an expanding movement.

As Gilbert and Gubar chart feminist gains—including creative new forms of protests and changing attitudes toward gender and sexuality—they show how the legacies of second wave feminists, and the misogynistic culture they fought, extend to the present. In doing so, they celebrate the diversity and urgency of women who have turned passionate rage into powerful writing.

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TL;DR Review

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.

For you if: You like non-narrative nonfiction, feminism, history, and women writers.

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Full Review

I’ve had my eye on Still Mad since it came out, and grabbed a copy in B&N’s hardcover sale earlier this year. I decided to pick it up in March in honor of Women’s History Month, which turned out to be an even more fitting choice than I’d expected.

Based on the title, I think I’d assumed this was an essay anthology. It isn’t. It’s a much more academic analysis of feminist women writers and their work, opinions, and influence dating back from the 50s through today. Think Joan Didion, Sylvia Plath, Audre Lorde, Gloria Steinem, Ursula Le Guin, etc.

It turned out to be a perfect read for me, as I didn’t have time in college to take any women’s studies or many English classes. I’m always looking for catch-up materials, and this book really helped me place so many of these famous feminist writers in context in history. But I still think that you might like this if you do have some knowledge of these women’s work, because it was fascinating and super useful to have them framed together against historical events this way.

My only complaint here was that I feel like it was sparse on Black women in the 60s, when I would have expected a little more about women writing in the civil rights movement. I know that part of the problem is who was and wasn’t being published — and there were certainly many more Black women included in more recent history — but that felt like a big gap.

If you are a fan of more academic-style nonfiction that teaches you new things, pick this one up.

Out There: Stories

Author: Kate Folk
Publisher: Random House
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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

With a focus on the weird and eerie forces that lurk beneath the surface of ordinary experience, Kate Folk’s debut short story collection is perfectly pitched to the madness of our current moment. A medical ward for a mysterious bone-melting disorder is the setting of a perilous love triangle. A curtain of void obliterates the globe at a steady pace, forcing Earth’s remaining inhabitants to decide with whom they want to spend eternity. A man fleeing personal scandal enters a codependent relationship with a house that requires a particularly demanding level of care. And in the title story, originally published in The New Yorker, a woman in San Francisco uses dating apps to find a partner despite the threat posed by “blots,” preternaturally handsome artificial men dispatched by Russian hackers to steal data. Meanwhile, in a poignant companion piece, a woman and a blot forge a genuine, albeit doomed, connection.

Prescient and wildly imaginative, Out There depicts an uncanny landscape that holds a mirror to our subconscious fears and desires. Each story beats with its own fierce heart, and together they herald an exciting new arrival in the tradition of speculative literary fiction.

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TL;DR Review

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!

For you if: You like weird short stories with strong metaphors.

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Full Review

Thank you Random House for the advanced review copy of this book! I had such a good time diving in and out of these weird, speculative, feminist short stories. In fact, these are my exact favorite kinds of stories.

If you like weird, speculative stories, you’ll like this collection as well. It opens with the title story, which takes place in a world/future where women have to be wary of accidentally dating “blots,” aka artificial men who lure them on a trip to Big Sur to steal their identities. The final story in the collection returns to this world, too, which was delightful. Other examples include grad students living in a house that’s alive, a woman who takes her desperation not to be alone a step too far in a medical ward where she’s being treated for nightly bone melting, and a woman fleeing the apocalypse determined not to go into the afterlife tethered to anyone else.

The stories are well placed and nicely arranged, with super-short ones interspersed with medium and long ones. Kate Folk has a talent for pulling on the string of a metaphor until it’s taut and humming. Also, just a warning: Several of these stories rely on what could be considered body horror — their weirdness is tied to organs, or the central metaphor uses bodies as a symbol for something else. I thought this was really well done, but if you’re particularly squeamish just keep that in mind.

Kate Folk is definitely on my author watchlist now!

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Content and Trigger Warnings

• Body horror

• Violence

On a Sunbeam

Author: Tillie Walden
Publisher: First Second
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

Throughout the deepest reaches of space, a crew rebuilds beautiful and broken-down structures, painstakingly putting the past together. As new member Mia gets to know her team, the story flashes back to her pivotal year in boarding school, where she fell in love with a mysterious new student. Soon, though, Mia reveals her true purpose for joining their ship—to track down her long-lost love.

An inventive world, a breathtaking love story, and stunning art come together in this new work by award-winning artist Tillie Walden.

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TL;DR Review

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.

For you if: You want to try graphic novels and / or are drawn to stories of found family.

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Full Review

“I like ALL of you, Grace. Even the parts I don't get yet. I'm not dating the 12% of you that I understand, I'm dating 100% of you. Including all your secrets that I don't know.”

This is the first graphic novel I’ve read in years — not because I don’t like them, just because I’ve failed to pick one up in a while. But what a return!

Recommended by and borrowed from my friend @christophermetts, blurbed by Becky Chambers and Martha Wells, and nominated for the Hugo and Lambda Literary Award (among others), On a Sunbeam is a beautiful story of young queer love and found family. The main character, Mia, settles into life with her new crew as they travel to different parts of space, restoring or renovating old buildings. In flashbacks, we watch her fall in love with a girl — and become tragically separated from her — back in 9th grade.

As you can see from the few photos I snapped while reading, this book isn’t just a beautiful story, but also beautifully rendered. I read it over the course of a Sunday afternoon and loved every second. Mia and all her friends — all women and nonbinary people, by the way, no cis men in this book (or seemingly this universe?) — will just burrow into your heart and stay there.

If you’re looking for an escape into an uplifting story, grab a copy of this one.

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Content and Trigger Warnings

• Bullying

• Transphobia / refusal to use correct pronouns

• Death of a parent (minor / in the past)

Klara and the Sun

Author: Kazuo Ishiguro
Publisher: Knopf
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

From the best-selling author of Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day, a stunning new novel—his first since winning the Nobel Prize in Literature—about the wondrous, mysterious nature of the human heart.

From her place in the store, Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her, but when the possibility emerges that her circumstances may change forever, Klara is warned not to invest too much in the promises of humans.

In Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro looks at our rapidly changing modern world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator to explore a fundamental question: what does it mean to love?

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TL;DR Review

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!

For you if: You like literary sci-fi (or maybe don’t even consider yourself a sci-fi reader).

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Full Review

“Rooms within rooms within rooms. Isn’t that how it might be, trying to learn Josie’s heart? No matter how long you wandered through those rooms, wouldn’t there always be others you’d not yet entered?”

I feel like I’m one of the last people to read Klara and the Sun, and even more so one of the last people just reading Kazuo Ishiguro for the first time. But it made for a GREAT book club discussion, and I really liked it.

Klara is an AF, or artificial friend — essentially, a sentient robot whose sole purpose is to be a steadfast, loyal companion to a child. The whole book is told through Klara’s eyes, and we watch her learn more about the world, get purchased (adopted?), and become entwined in her new family’s lives. But Josie, the 14-year-old girl she’s paired with, is sick, and so Klara sets out to try something to save her that the humans haven’t thought of yet, all while the humans have plans of their own involving Klara.

Ishiguro is one of the greats for a reason, so it almost goes without saying that this book is just so incredibly written. Klara’s voice, as our narrator, is singular, but other characters’ voices are also so strong in dialogue that you can’t help but admire his skill.

Technically, I’d say, this novel is a very literary sci-fi — but if you’re not a sci-fi reader, don’t let that stop you. In fact, my book club had a lively discussion about what genre this best fits into. But you’ll find it among other literary fiction at the bookstore, so let that speak for itself. That said, if you’re more of a sci-fi reader, don’t go into this expecting a hero’s journey — this book asks more questions than it answers. In fact, you can tell that’s fully the point. This can either be frustrating or engaging, depending on what you like. I liked it a lot myself.

I’ll definitely be reading more of Ishiguro!

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Content and Trigger Warnings

• Terminal illness

• Death of a child/sibling

• Classism