A lot of bangers this month! Enjoy!
Bloodchild and Other Stories – Octavia E. Butler
As you already know, I am a huge Octavia E. Butler fangirl, and how I got introduced to her was actually through two of her short stories, the ritual “Bloodchild” and “Speech Sounds.” It was great to read the rest of the stories in this collection. I loved reading her two essays on writing; they offered great insight and a lot of good advice on the craft!
Slouching Towards Bethlehem – Joan Didion
First things first, Maya Hawk is a fantastic audiobook narrator. A lot of Didion’s observations are still relevant today. One section that stood out to me was Didion talking with a woman who, today, would be described as a “trad wife,” someone who wants things to be “simple” and “back to the way they were.” While startling, it makes sense: the same ideologies have been repurposed and repackaged throughout time.
A Bluestocking’s Guide to Decadence – Jess Everlee
The arc of this book was given to me by my friend’s fiancee, and I finally got around to reading it! Even though it doesn’t quite follow the “cozy story” format, the low stakes and little plot make it one to me. It was enjoyable, don’t get me wrong!
Sizzle Reel – Carlyn Greenwald
One of the contenders for my favorite book this month! The main character’s journey of acceptance with herself and her sexuality, in that she felt she needed to sleep with someone of the same gender to be qualified as bisexual was incredibly well-written and relatable. The conversations about intimacy the main character has with one of her love interests are so down to Earth, and the reader can tell that the author put in time and a lot of consideration into making sure this dialogue had a lot of tact.
Stray City – Chelsey Johnson
While overall I enjoyed this book and even found the friend group and characters both relatable and familiar, at one point in the novel the main friend group, who are all lesbians, are talking to the main character who finds herself pregnant. One character asks if she’s bisexual, which results in all the others, including the main character, reacting in disgust and saying that bisexuals aren’t “queer enough.” With the book published in 2018 (before a lot of pieces of media were critiqued for having biphobic statements), and the first part of the story taking place in the late 90s (therefore the characters representing the exclusionist mentality at the time), some of the ideology makes sense. These characters are a product of their time. Like I said, I did enjoy this novel, and it was fun reading about Portland when myself and my own group of friends had just visited the city recently. I also loved the different points of view in the story, as well as how these different points of view were represented–first person, second? and third person. But the early comments on bisexuality really left a bad taste in my mouth.
Belladonna – Anbara Salam
I was so, so excited to read this novel, since it was marketed to me as a sapphic romance written by a Palestinian author. At first it definitely felt like a romance, but throughout the novel it felt more like literary fiction. The main character, Bridget, becomes incredibly obsessed with her best friend, Isabella, in a way that is definitely reminiscent of one’s “obsessive-homoerotic- best-friendship.” A lot of sapphics who read this book either probably went through something similar to this, or are currently still going through this. While I wanted Bridget to have her happy ending, I think the one she got in the book is the one she deserves, since she became so possessive over Isabella and nearly destroyed her relationship with the nun she was in love with. It’s great to have flawed characters, but Bridget’s actions nearly made me DNF the book. My favorite passage was the very very end, when Bridget’s sister practically puts her in her place.
The Lola Quartet – Emily St. John Mandel
Mandel is another one of my favorite authors. I first read Station Eleven a few years ago, then Sea of Tranquility while in college. In the latter novel, one of the main characters (an author who feels like an allusion to Mandel herself) mentions that she “wrote [crime? mystery?] stories, but no one paid attention to them until [she] wrote the pandemic story, and even then she didn’t mean to write a ‘pandemic’ novel.” That encouraged me to pick up Mandel’s early novels, pre-Station Eleven. I already read Last Night in Montreal last year, and this month I was able to read The Lola Quartet. It reminded me a lot of Last Night, but with a different ending, and the man trying to find the woman actually finds her. Also, another story about the horror of the suburbs.
The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics – Olivia Waite
Maybe historical romances aren’t for me? Maybe romances aren’t for me? There were some great pieces of dialogue, but it didn’t move me.
Red Clocks – Leni Zumas
I remember watching Ron Charles’s totally hip book review on Red Clocks way back in 2018. The book (and his review) still holds up today! In fact, in light of some recent political events, this book felt less like dystopian fiction and more like regular fiction. Far, FAR too close to reality. I urge anyone and everyone to read this.
E. A. Young Writes 