Liturgies for Resisting Empire: Seeking Community, Belonging, and Peace in a Dehumanizing World by Kat Armas (4 stars) (book club) In the last decade, I’ve taken some comfort in the thought that none of what we’re experiencing is new – it’s all happened before. This book provides encouraging examples and ways to get through.
This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum (4 stars) Best friends Joy and Benny host a popular survival podcast. When Joy and her husband go missing, Benny searches the manuscript of her memoir for clues. A great summer read.
A Rebellion of Care: Poems and Essays by David Gate (5 stars) (book club) If you’re on Instagram much, you’ve probably seen a David Gate poem. This collection was SO GOOD.
Once, Again, Always by Amanda Gayle (5 stars) (Netgalley) I was psyched for this real-world adaptation of Wait and Hope, a universal Dramione-fanfic GOAT. Molly wakes up in the hospital with no memory of the last six years, during which she married Aster, her boarding-school and college rival. As she puts the pieces of her life back together, he supports her every step of the way and waits to see if she can fall in love with him again. May this kind of love find all of us.
Happiness: The Crooked Little Road to Semi-Ever After by Heather Harpham (5 stars) Harpham’s daughter, Gracie, was born with a rare blood disorder requiring frequent transfusions. This memoir (published about 10 years ago) follows their family’s journey toward curing her. As a fellow mom of a chronically ill kid (though not nearly so traumatically), I was so emotionally invested that I had to google them to see how they’re doing now. This book will stick with me for a long time.
Tehrangeles by Porochista Khakpour (3 stars) A YA novel of Iranian-American Keeping Up with the Kardashians during the pandemic. That’s all you really need to know.
What Does It Feel Like? by Sophie Kinsella (4 stars) Kinsella passed away last December from glioblastoma. This is a short autofiction account of her diagnosis and treatment and how she processed it. In classic fashion, she handles a really sad situation with humor and heart. I admire her for writing this.
Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell (4 stars) Rainbow Rowell is an automatic must-read for me. Her third (?) adult novel is about Cherry, a marketing executive from a big, loud family, dealing with her divorce from a now-famous cartoonist. It didn’t really pick up for me until about a third of the way in, and I think this is a book you need to sit with for a while. It’s kind of subtle and gets better upon reflection.
The Official We Do Not Care Club Handbook by Melani Sanders (3 stars) A funny book for perimenopausal women that felt like a hug from a friend.
The Time Traveler’s Passport Collection by John Scalzi et al. (4 stars) An Amazon short-story collection about time travel. Great variety of takes and all really good, except for the Olivie Blake contribution, which I found exhausting.
American Fantasy by Emma Straub (4 stars) This multi-POV novel is set on a boy band cruise. Another one that took me a while to get into, but was really good by the end, and relatable in unexpected ways.
Exit Lane by Erika Veurink (3.5 stars) As a reader of the author’s Substack, I was sat for her novel inspired by When Harry Met Sally.
The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History by David F. Walker and Marcus Kwame Anderson (4 stars) My friend Jenny loaned me this graphic novel history book from her classroom library. I learned a lot!