Author: Erica Ezeifedi

This is one that’s on my read-sooner-rather-than-later TBR list. This is because of her other book, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, which I mentioned in last week’s newsletter. With Flights, the Nobel prize winner explores her love of travel after having been barred from it until the age of 28 because of Soviet isolationism. There are 116 nonlinear, existential vignettes here, both fictional and nonfictional.

These vignettes are all connected through travel– travel through space, time, memory, thoughts– and often seem to land in unexpected places. Within these tales there is a story of a flight that lands at the same time it takes off and one about how Chopin’s sister smuggled his heart into Warsaw in her skirt. The author actually took a class on the history of anatomy in Amsterdam as research for this collection, if that tells you anything about what you should expect.

Guadeloupean author Maryse Condé tells the story of the Salem Witch Trials through the eyes of Tituba, the enslaved woman who was among the first to be accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials. TItuba was orphaned at seven as her enslaved mother dared to defend herself from assault. She goes on to be raised by Mama Yaya, a woman with a great understanding of nature and the invisible. Of course, she shares her knowledge of magic and healing with Tituba, and in doing so, one could say she passes her womanhood to her. There are themes that explore womanhood represented as magic and the unknown.

It was Tituba’s love for an enslaved man, John, that led her back into the maw of slavery, by which she would eventually be accused of being a witch. Sis was down bad for John, smh, but I can’t judge the decisions of a Black woman living in the late 17th century too harshly.

It’s interesting to think of the act of erasure and all the resultant lost stories. This ties nicely into what’s going on in public schools in some of the southern and western states.

M is a seven year old girl whose understanding of life seems to revolve around her father’s career as a traveling salesman. So much so that she eventually starts accompanying him during his travels. Their journeys from town to town are often humorous and filled with wonder. M’s innocence and ignorance of impending change is contrasted against the reality of life in Chile under Pinochet’s rule. When they meet a mysterious photographer who sees ghosts, M’s world gets turned upside down. This has been added to my TBR with the swiftness.

This is technically written by a wife-husband duo, but was translated by a woman. When the subject of books in translation come up, this one immediately springs to mind as I’m still waiting for the second in the series to be translated *grumbles*.

Sixteen year old Sasha Samokhina is vacationing with her mom when she notices a strange man following her. She finds out he’s there to recruit her by coercion for a magic school no one has ever heard of. Now, before you get it twisted thinking this is just another story of a magical high school, just know that the magic studied here is unlike anything you’ve read before. The students also have to do things that other magical high school students don’t (it gets dark, y’all). It flirts with metaphysical philosophy, teeters on the biblical, and is plum gibberish at times. This story has been described as what those popular wizard school books would be like if they were written by Kafka. It’s an all around darker take on the magical high school subgenre that’s definitely for adults.

Here, Millet explores climate change with the use of biblical allegory in what has been described as a Lord of the Flies-style story. One summer, a group of teenagers and younger kids are dragged to a vacation home by their parents. The parents neglect their children because of their greater interest in alcohol and the kids, in turn, are ashamed and unwilling to claim them. When there is a storm, the parents forsake their children in favor of Ecstasy and the kids are left to fend for themselves.

Book Club Bonus: What is the significance of the Bible throughout the story? Also, what is being said by how the dynamics between the two generations is shown?

This has been getting a lot of praise lately (it’s on Obama’s summer reading list!), and for good reason. Klara is an android, or AF (“Artificial Friend”) who seems to be a lot more observant and perceptive than other AFs, and sometimes even actual humans. She stands in a store display people watching before a sick girl and her mother pick her out to take her home. This is a world where the class structures we currently experience are still very present and the planet has been polluted.

Book Club Bonus: How can one reconcile Klara’s obvious humanity with the ending? What is it saying about consumerism and its effects on the individual?

The other two books have mostly focused on characters with means. This novel is more realistic and focuses on some of those who may suffer because of overconsumption by the wealthy classes. Salvage the Bones is about a Black family in Mississippi that lives in poverty and how life is for them as they await Hurricane Katrina. The father neglects his children as he medicates himself with alcohol, and his kids are more independent and resourceful as a result. Esch, the novel’s protagonist, is fourteen and pregnant, and often seeks to escape her bleak reality by getting lost in stories (she loves Greek myths). This story of survival is brutal and bloody at times, but it can also be redemptive.

Book Club Bonus: Discuss the significance of myth and biblical allegory in the presence of floods/storms. Also, what themes surrounding motherhood are presented throughout?

Janina is an aging astrologist that house sits for some of her neighbors, who usually only return to their houses in the small Polish town for vacations. She also translates the poetry of William Blake. When bodies of some of her neighbors, people she knew that did not respect nature, turn up dead, she assumes that animals are taking their revenge. This is a mystery that has possible supernatural elements, with a main character who is eccentric and just as passionate about the lives of animals as she is that of humans.

Book Club Bonus: Discuss how women are regarded once they enter old age. How did this hamper the main character, and how did it benefit her?

Mailhot tells a poetic and lyrical story of her experiences with child abuse and neglect, being bipolar, and an Indian. I almost felt at times like I was experiencing things as one of her friends or even as her. This is a result of her somewhat stream-of-conscious style of writing and how honest she was about everything. She could be cruel and selfish and contradicted herself at times. She could also be forgiving and vulnerable, and really just seemed to be in search of validation. I felt as though I was finding things out with her, including the huge revelation towards the end. This is a short read, but has so much packed into it.

Book Club Bonus: In the book, Mailhot is almost apologetic for merely existing as a poor child. What are some other seemingly unusual ways poverty influences children? Also, how may conflicting cultural views of the world (for instance, Indigenous views versus European views on things such as property and ownership) dictate one’s sense of self and place in the world when you belong to more than one culture?

With this collection of essays, Wang chronicles her experiences with having late-stage Lyme disease, PTSD, and schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type. We follow Wang as she details her experiences with audible and visual hallucinations, her stay in mental hospitals, how she experienced PTSD following an abusive relationship, and more. There’s even a chapter that she wrote while experiencing a particular kind of psychosis known as Cotard’s delusion, which is a rare condition that causes someone to believe they are dead. She’s very honest about being ashamed of her mental illness when she confesses things like “I’m uncomfortable because I don’t want to be lumped in with the screaming man on the bus, or the woman who claims that she’s the reincarnation of God.”

Book Club Bonus: The criteria for having mental illness has changed through the years. How should we reconcile cultural differences in terms of spirituality, etc. with what is considered mental illness? Who dictates what is considered mental illness and what is not?

Echo’s life as a wizard on the East Side is rife with substance abuse, child abuse, depression, racism, classism, and sexism. Despite this, there is magic everywhere. This YA coming-of-age story is a mix of surrealism and metaphor that shows how Black women’s resilience manifests as magic. This can be hard to read, but is so necessary.

Book Club Bonus: How can the idea of Black women being resilient actually be damaging? Also, how does this book explore intergenerational trauma?

Bonus Bonus: All of the books mentioned here focus on women/girls of color dealing with mental health issues. All of the books also have sexual assault. Discuss the intersection of mental health concerns with the prevalence of assault.

The last we hear of nine-year-old Levi King is when he takes a small boat into Caddo Lake– a huge swampy lake that crosses the border from East Texas into Louisiana– and his boat’s motor just died. Texas Ranger Darren Mathews sets out to look for Levi, although it’s the white supremacists the boy is related to that really interest him. This is the second installation of a series following Darren Matthews after he forgoes a career as an attorney to protect and serve an area that wants him to do neither. He battles a faction of the Aryan Brotherhood all while racing against the clock to find a little boy who is being exposed to the harshest of elements. These elements are why I have grouped this book with the others. At times, Caddo Lake felt like its own living, breathing thing whose darkness could swallow you forever with no one the wiser.

Book Club Bonus: This brings about a great opportunity to talk about being a Black policeman or other authority figure. What challenges do officers of color face from their own community as well as from the white community?

Five women go into the Australian wilderness for a work retreat. When the group makes it out of the forest, one of the women– Alice Russell– is missing. It turns out that Alice was also a whistleblower. Detective Aaron Falk investigates what might have happened to Alice and the story is told in the present as well as with well-timed flashbacks. As pieces of each woman’s past are revealed, it becomes clear that they’re not telling the whole truth. The setting– the Giralang Ranges, a fictional place meant to embody many aspects of the Australian bushland– may be what’s either keeping Alice or what has killed her. Harper’s description of the Australian wilderness is both beautiful and frightening. There’s a constant sense of dread as you feel the characters being watched by someone (or some thing) from the densely packed trees. The Ranges also offer danger in the form of intense weather and the threat of dangerous animals.

Book Club Bonus: This novel makes a bit of a statement on what we’re really like if you remove the mocha frappé lattes and what not (no shade). Do you feel this is an accurate portrayal of our inherent nature? Also, do you feel like the ending is believable?

Okay, so the title is literal. This girl’s sister, Ayoola, is literally a serial killer. Ummm… and she protects her. Yeah, couldn’t be me, but this is darkly funny and describes what life would be like if your sister was a vapid serial killer who called you to clean up her messes. Things become more complicated when Ayooola sets her sights on a doctor her sister fancies. Braithwaite makes the city of Lagos, Nigeria come alive. I felt like I was plopped right in the middle of the hustle and bustle to witness Ayoola’s murderous shenanigans.

Book Club Bonus: There’s a lot to explore here as far as familial loyalty is concerned. Also, how do female beauty standards in a patriarchal society play a role here?

This one is a little different from the others in that it’s not dealing so much with murder as it is with family secrets and horrors. It also takes place in a small town in Queensland, Australia. Bettina, a reserved girl whose mother has become the center of her world, has her life upended when she sees a message written on a white fence in her neighborhood. This message makes her question everything she knows about her family. Jennings’ mix of Australian lore, family dysfunction, and nuanced prose all combine in a setting that unnerves and is just as affected by the magical elements in the story as the characters are.

Book Club Bonus: What does this say about the element of control in families?

I love mythology! Couple that with an intriguing setting like Mexico City in the 20s, and I’m good to go. I essentially finished this one in a day and a half with a combination of the physical copy as well as the audiobook (which I highly recommend!).

Here, we follow Casiopea Tun as she carries out her life as little more than a servant in her grandfather’s house. She discovers a curious box in his room and opens it, accidentally freeing the Mayan God of Death, Hun-Kamé. The romance that manifests during the journey they take to return Hun-Kamé to his rightful throne is juxtaposed against vivid descriptions of the Mayan underworld and skirmishes with those that oppose his return.

Book Club Bonus: There’s a good opportunity here to discuss how Mayan mythology compares with other religions, mythology, and lore. What similarities are there? What differences? Also, how do colorism and colonialism play a role in the social hierarchy here? Why did Casiopea have the status she did in her grandfather’s house?

Louise Lloyd is a young, queer Black woman living in Harlem in the 1920s. As a teenager, someone tried to violently kidnap her. Although she got away, this ever-present threat of violence finds her again as Black girls are murdered in her neighborhood. After being arrested following an episode of police brutality, she’s given the option to help solve the murders in exchange for her freedom. This is maybe what the show Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries would be with the addition of 20s-era racism+sexism. It’s also the first in a series called the Harlem Renaissance Mysteries, so there’s more to look forward to.

Book Club Bonus: Discuss the prevalence of violence in women’s lives, and the compounding effect of otherness (being queer, a person of color, and/or disabled). What may be some of the lasting effects of these kind of experiences? Also, how did you like the structure of the mystery (how the killer was revealed) compared to other murder mysteries?

This gives a rare glimpse into Zora Neale Hurston’s and Langston Hughes’ intense friendship that shaped the Harlem Renaissance. Their friendship was such that they wrote intimate letters to each other, traveled the rural South in Hurston’s car collecting Black lore (that would later be used in plays and books like Barracoon), and collaborated on creative projects (Mulebone). Their intimacy also meant they shared a patron in the form of a controlling white woman named Charlotte Osgood Mason, who went by “Godmother.” Despite such intimacy, their friendship would be forever damaged in the early 30s.

Book Club Bonus: Discuss what the cost of patronage was as a Black artist. What were the different stances on respectability and how did Zora and Langston fit within them? Why did Zora die in obscurity while Langston remained a well respected literary figure?