Thanks for visiting my little slice of the internet. I’m so glad you’re here.
Let's be friends.
Case Study is a quick, (I found) engrossing read. The way it explores the idea of the self and performance was also very smart. I don’t think it’ll be for everyone, but I liked it!
Fire Rush is an impressive debut, with an undeniably electric voice and propulsive energy that really makes it stand out. I thought the pacing was a bit uneven, but I still liked it and I’m glad I read it.
Written by the first American woman to win the Boston Marathon in 33 years, Choosing to Run is exactly what I love in a memoir. It was engaging, taught me something new, and made my world a little bigger.
Black Butterflies is a well-researched, captivating, deeply moving novel about war and art set during the siege of Sarajevo. I couldn’t put it down and ultimately loved it.
Demon Copperhead is a smart, hard-hitting modern retelling of David Copperfield that hits all the right notes. I’m not surprised it’s winning so many awards.
Trespasses is a well-written, intentionally tense novel about choice, conflict, and community. I wasn’t quite in the right headspace for it, but there’s no denying its merits.
Ink Blood Sister Scribe is a fast-paced, well-written, bookish standalone fantasy that I absolutely adored. It’s been a long time since a book made me want to text live updates to someone who’d already read it!
Up to Speed is a really interesting, important book. It started a little slow for me because I happened to already know some of the info presented, but that definitely wasn’t the case the whole way through.
Chain-Gang All-Stars is a searing, extremely smart, and compulsively readable novel about incarceration, the use of Black lives as entertainment, and so much more. You gotta read it.
Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea is a lush, poignant dramatization of the life of legendary pirate queen Zheng Yi Sao. It’s very interior, more about her than her adventures. I liked it a lot.
After Sappho is a unique, experimental reimagining of the lives of (mostly) lesbians from history. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I’d known more about the women, but there’s no denying that it’s a feat of a book.
Quarterlife is an insightful and pretty helpful book about the phase of life between the late teens and mid-thirties. I recommend it!
To Shape a Dragon’s Breath s a beautifully rendered, fiercely imagined Indigenous Own Voices fantasy novel set in an academic setting about anticolonialism and dragons. I did think the shape of the plot was a little flat, but overall I liked it a lot.
Spring is my favorite of Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet so far. It’s a deeply felt novel with smart, resonant social commentary.
The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a lush, delicious, completely enchanting (and short!) gothic fairytale with an ending I can’t believe I didn’t see coming. What more could you ask for?
Victory City is a delightful historical literary fantasy by the master storyteller himself. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a delight to read, and Rushdie always leaves us with much to ponder.
The Stone Virgins is a technically challenging and emotionally difficult read, but there’s no denying that it’s also an incredible work of fiction. While I struggled with it, I was also so impressed.
The Bone Shard War is a good conclusion to a pretty strong epic fantasy trilogy, although it felt a bit too drawn out to blow me away. Still, I recommend the series overall!
I had been hoping for a bit more from Essential Labor. The memoiristic parts are its strongest. The rest may be a good introduction to many different social issues for those new to them, but it stayed pretty surface-level.
The Colony is a quietly devastating, gorgeously written book about colonization and agency set on a small Irish island during the Troubles. It has lots of layers!
