Category: Read Harder

In her memoir, Ariel Henley describes her experience of growing up with Crouzon Syndrome, a genetic condition that caused the bones in her head to fuse prematurely. Henley describes how the only other person that truly understood her experience was her twin sister who also has the condition. A Face for Picasso challenges ideas of beauty, which is based around a non-disabled default. I love Henley’s work and can’t wait to see what she writes next!

Keah Brown hashtag #DisabledAndCute went viral, ushering in a slew of posts by disabled folks raising awareness that disabled people can be sexy too. All too often, non-disabled people infantilize disabled people, especially those with visible disabilities. But Brown is here to remind you that ideas like that need to stop in their tracks. Her memoir, The Pretty One, covers her experience of growing as a queer Black woman with cerebral palsey and how she came to love her body.

Born with spina bifida, Riva Lehrer grew up with a lot of internalized ableism. Doctors didn’t expect her to survive, but she did. She eventually comes across a group of artists who use their experiences as inspiration for their work. There, Leher learns to love her body, creating incredible art pieces in the process.

Deafblind Harvard Law grad breaks all the stereotypes the world throws at her. The daughter of Eritrean immigrants, Girma started life learning to adapt to new situations, which proved a useful skill throughout her life. While studying at university, she invented a piece of tech that helps her communicate with the sighted and hearing people around her.

Cowlitz author Elissa Washuta proves herself queen of the essay with White Magic. This collection of essays takes a look at a wide range of topics, including alcoholism, breakups, the occult, colonialism, and the Washuta’s love for the Oregon Trail computer game. Washuta lives with an autoimmune condition called Sjögren’s Syndrome and much of her writing discusses learning to care for one’s body in a nondisabled society.

I’ve loved reading the Montague Siblings trilogy, but the latest book, A Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks might be my favorite. Adrian Montague had no idea that he had two older—very much disinherited—siblings, but once he learns they exist, he knows he MUST get to know them. Adrian has severe anxiety and OCD, but in the 1700s, they don’t have words for that, or at least nothing that Adrian finds helpful.

Disabled queer Black author Ashanti Anderson won the Black River Chapbook Competition for Black Under. Her writing covers topics around her own identity, examining the intersections of her identity from every angle. She uses such precision in her poetry, and I found myself reading and rereading sections over and over again.

In her latest book, Jen Campbell retells fairytales from around the world. From a sinister merman to a family of skeletons, these stories possess a delightfully creepy feel. With spooky illustrations from Adam de Souza, this collection of scary stories is the perfect pick for a dark and windy night.

As a white American, I know at least the mainstream African American history that’s taught in schools, though the older I get, the more I realize how little I actually know. How much less, then, do I know about the history of Black people in England? This history dates back to Roman Britain, situating Black Britons as part of the history and culture of the nation rather than rare exceptions.

This book makes the case that Indian slavery – technically illegal but openly practiced for centuries – was one of the major causes of Native American genocide and one with which we still have not reckoned. Again, I know mainstream (white) American history pretty well. I don’t know about this.

That subtitle! How could I not want to read it? I know very little about Chinese history in general, so there are centuries to dive into here, but Empress Dowager Cixi lived from 1835-1908 (and ruled China from 1861 on), so that’s the period we’re looking at for this one.

The case this book revolves around – the sterilization of a “promiscuous” socialite by her mother in order to control millions of dollars of her inheritance – took place in 1934, and I’ll admit I’m a 1930s history buff – but I know far less about disability history and reproductive rights than I’d like to, and stories like Britney Spears’s only serve to illuminate how sadly relevant this sort of thing still remains.

You can’t mention that you like history without having a million World War II books chucked your way – but India is almost never mentioned. This book examines the period between 1940 and 1944 and the devastation Churchill’s decisions wreaked on the subcontinent.

I love urban history, especially that of my native New York, but books on the topic tend to focus on the 19th century and earlier, and rarely address disturbing aspects like the way American governments at every level codified segregation in our cities throughout most of the 20th century.

This history of the migration of almost six million Black southerners to other parts of the country over the years 1915-1970 has been on my TBR for ages, and having now read Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste has just moved it higher up on the list.

The thing about historical events that happen when you’re a child is: you’re too little to understand them, but they’re too recent for you to learn about them in school. So it was for me with the end of the Soviet Union when I was seven. All I’ve ever gotten is a vague sense that America and capitalism are just so gosh-darn superior; I have a feeling it’s a little bit more nuanced than that.

Retelling of: The Legend of King Arthur

After her mother’s death, Bree enrolls in a pre-college residential program at UNC to get away from the memories and the pain. Witnessing a strange magical event her first night there leads her down a path towards a secret society claiming to be the descendents of King Arthur’s knights, and a young mage who calls himself Merlin. And apparently, there’s a war coming. Great.

Retelling of: Romeo and Juliet

When Jubilee and Ridley meet at a comic convention prom, their connection is instant. But Jubilee’s family business is an indie comic shop and Ridley’s family owns one of the biggest comics chain in the country. With their parents in an ongoing feud, the two can’t help but keep their relationship a secret.

Retelling of: Cinderella

Cyn is a farmer who would do anything to gain ownership of her farm back from her step parents—or to at least get away from them. When a chance to attend the Prince’s ball presents itself in the form of a literal fairy godfather, Cyn uses the opportunity to get a plan rolling…but it’s not the one anyone would have expected.

Retelling of: Alice in Wonderland

Atlanta teen Alice is a warrior. Having trained to fight the Nightmares in the magical realm of Wonderland, she is one of the few barriers to keeping the regular world safe. When her mentor is poisoned, she has to travel farther into Wonderland than she’s ever been in order to save his life…but she also has to keep herself alive.

Retelling of: Beauty and The Beast

When a country parson finds himself trapped on a large estate by a grumpy dragon-man type being, he’s not sure what he might find easier: getting out, or helping the dragon-man to free himself from his curse.

Retelling of: Peter Pan

When Peter comes back to Neverland after a decade away, his old home has moved on without him. Sure, Captain Hook has missed his old rival, but the Lost Boys don’t seem to need him. When war breaks out between the two bloodthirsty Neverland groups, the relationship between the two changes into something completely different.

Retelling of: Cinderella

Ash, left at the mercy of her stepmother after her father’s death, has little joy or comfort in the world. She meets a dark fairy, Sidhean, who could offer her everything her heart desires. But what of Kaisa, the King’s Huntress, who she learns from and comes to love, first as a friend and then maybe something else?

Retelling of: Bram Stoker’s Dracula

When Lucy’s brother Harker goes missing, she and her partner—in life and in true crime podcasting—go on a mission to find him. With the help of their social media assistant and Harker’s professor, they go deeper and deeper into the app Harker was investigating, Thrall. And Arthur and Professor Van Helsing go deeper into something different.

Retelling of: Greek Mythology

Hades is one of the most feared people in Khaos Falls, almost to the point of being a myth. The only thing that could possibly bring him down is the vision he sees hanging from silk at a Cirque performance, who he can’t resist, and who should be with anyone except him.

Retelling of: Robin Hood

On the run after a hunting accident, Robyn seeks shelter in the Sherwood Forest. But when the Sheriff of Nottingham levies a tax on the good people of the area, she takes matters into her own hands…with the help of some great women and the Sheriff’s delightful daughter, Marian. 

Retelling of: Cinderella

Two hundred years after Cinderella married her prince, local girls are expected to attend the Annual Ball to be selected as wives. But Sophia would rather marry her best friend, Erin. When a chance encounter with Cinderella’s final descendent leaves her on the path to smashing the patriarchy, anything can happen. 

Retelling of: Twelfth Night by Shakespeare 

When her twin brother Sebsatian, Crown Prince of Belgium, overdoses right before the royals are getting ready to bid for the FIFA World Cup, Viola decides the best way forward is to impersonate him (for some reason). Missy Duke, a reporter covering the Belgium bid, realizes very quickly that Sebastian is actually Viola, but goes along with it. Also, what are those sparks?

Retelling of: Snow-White, Rose-Red, and Swan Lake

In this retelling of the story of Snow White and Rose Red, McLemore weaves a haunting tale of two sisters who are also rivals. Thanks to a curse, sometime in their future, one will remain human while the other is turned into a swan. When the curse draws two local boys into the fray, who knows what will happen.

The National Book Awards are the United States’ biggest book award of the year, and they date back to 1950 when there were three categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry. Over the years, the NBA Foundation has added categories for Young People’s Literature and Translated Literature, which are awarded today, and have even offered awards in retired categories such as Arts and Letters, History and Biography, and Science, Philosophy, and Religion. Some past winners include Herzog by Saul Bellow (1965) and All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (1992).

If you’d like to pick up a queer novel and you were born after 1988, then you can peruse the Lambda Literary awards page to discover award-winners in gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender representation and in a variety of genres. I love these wards because they’ve worked hard to be an inclusive as possible in recent years. Just be warned that once you start throwing it back to the 90’s, the representation gets broken down by just gay and lesbian. Look how far we’ve come! These awards also get the award for easiest past winners directory to browse!

Here’s an award that’s celebrating 100 years in 2022! The Newbery is awarded each year to a children’s book that is a distinguished contribution to American children’s literature, and it was named after a British bookseller from the 18th century. I bet some of your childhood favorites are award winners here, like Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (1986) and The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (1979).

Dating back to 1917, the Pulitzer Prize was established to incentivize the best in journalism and arts and letters. Named after Joseph Pulitzer, the renowned journalist who left money in his will to make this award happen, the Pulitzer has expanded in categories as media has developed. But you can always find great fiction, nonfiction, drama, and more for this prize, although not every genre will be represented in every year. Beloved by Toni Morrison took home the prize in 1988, and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller won in 1949.

Known over the years as both the Man Booker and Booker Prize for Fiction, this honor was first awarded in 1969 and it was first awarded to the best novel in English published in the U.K. or Ireland and the British Commonwealth. In 2014, eligibility expanded to include any novel published in English. Past winners include The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (1992) and Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie (1981).

The Hugo Awards have been presented annual since 1955, and they honor the best in science fiction. It’s one of the few awards where readers can nominate books for consideration and vote on winners (for better or worse), and since the Hugo Award doesn’t have established guidelines to differentiate between fantasy and sci-fi, we often see a blend of both in finalists and winners. Past winners include Coraline by Neil Gaiman (2003) and The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (1975).

If you’re a horror fan born after 1987, then check out the Bram Stoker Awards, named after the author of Dracula. Presented by the Horror Writers Association, this prize honors a superior achievement in the horror genre for novels, short fiction, collections, and nonfiction. These days, the award also honors graphic novels and young adult novels, among others. Past winners include Mary Shelley by Muriel Spark (1987) and The Green Mile by Stephen King (1997).

Presented by the Mystery Writers of America, this award honors the best mysteries in a variety of formats, from novels to short fiction to young adult and juvenile fiction, as well as movies, dramas, and radio programs and TV episodes throughout the years. Named after Edgar Allan Poe, it was established in 1946. past winners include The Spy Why Came in from the Cold by John Le Carre (1965) and The House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton (1969).

Speaking of unforgettable reads, Stephen Graham Jones’ The Only Good Indians is one that I’ll never be able to get out of my mind, and one I can’t stop recommending to people, which is why it’s #1 on a list that’s otherwise in no particular order. When four Blackfoot Indian men go hunting, they end up doing something that will haunt them forever. Quite literally. Now there’s a supernatural entity that’s hunting them, hellbent on revenge.

If you love YA horror, please do yourself a favor and read White Smoke. When teenager Marigold moves with her family from California to the Midwestern city of Cedarville, everyone thinks it’s a chance for them to start over. But in horror language, we know what moving to a new house for a chance to start over means. It means the house is haunted, right? As soon as Marigold and her family move in, things seem off. The neighborhood is practically deserted, and they keep hearing weird sounds (and smelling weird smells) throughout the house. Is it just Marigold’s mind playing tricks on her, or does the house really want them out?

Sorrowland is horror meets sci-fi meets Afrofuturism meets wilderness survival tale. Vern is seven months pregnant when she escapes from the strict religious compound where she was raised. Now she finds herself alone in the wilderness, caring for her twin children, unable to trust anything in the world around her. But the religious compound she fled from isn’t willing to let her go that easily. And she feels herself going through unsettling changes.

The Year of the Witching is a dark fantasy/horror novel set in the puritanic lands of Bethel where Immanuelle Moore’s very existence is blasphemy because she is proof of her mother’s tryst with an outsider of another race. But her mother was hiding even more secrets than Immanuelle could have imagined, and something is calling her out to the woods surrounding Bethel.

Empire of Wild is inspired by the traditional Métis story of the Rogarou, a legendary werewolf-like creature. Joan’s husband Victor has been missing for over a year, but Joan refused to give up hope and keeps searching for him. Then one day in a Walmart parking lot, there he is. At first she’s relieved to see him, but he insists he is not her husband and that he does not recognize her at all. He says he is the Reverend Wolff and that he only wants to bring people to Jesus. But of course, it turns out that’s not his only mission.

Looking for more haunted house-y type stories? Okay, you’ve got it. Here’s White is for Witching, a story about the Silver family, who moves to a mysterious house on the cliffs near Dover in the hopes of starting up a bed-and-breakfast. The matriarch of the family has gone missing, and the daughter, Miranda, feels the spirits within the strange house and the women who haunt the walls. And they are quickly pulling her in.

What would a horror novel list be without at least one vampire story? Although I guess calling Fledgling a vampire story is oversimplifying things… by a lot. Shori is 53 years old, but on the outside, she looks like a young girl. When we first meet her, she has no memory of who she is and she’s exhausted and hungry. But when she’s picked up by a man named Wright, together the two begin to uncover the secrets of her past and a world of vampire-like creatures that are unlike anything you’ve ever read about before.

Beloved is the most haunting ghost story you will ever read. This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is the story of Sethe, who was born into slavery but escaped to Ohio. Still, eighteen years later, living with her daughter Amy, Sethe still does not feel free. She’s haunted by the memories of her past and the horrifying things she had to endure to find freedom. Then a teenaged girl who calls herself Beloved shows up at her doorstep, and all of Sethe’s horrors of the past come to meet her in her present.

Discontinued categories include: Nonrequired Reading; Comics; Sports Writing; Spiritual Writing; Infographics; and Recipes. I don’t know why they stopped or if they’ll ever come back, but since this task lets you select your year, don’t let that stop you!

If you think I’m not eyeballing Best American Travel Writing 2021 edited by Padma Lakshmi and Jason Wilson, you’re very wrong. If sci-fi and fantasy are more your bag, N.K. Jemisin edited the 2018 edition alongside series editor John Joseph Adams, and it was glorious. And if you want to go a touch further back and get visual, Roz Chast of New Yorker fame guest-edited The Best American Comics of 2016.

The Best European Fiction series from Dalkey Archive Press ran from 2010 to 2019, with a few different editors, and it was my first exposure to a “Best” series outside of Best American. This is a good one if you’re looking to broaden your literary horizons; some of the stories in question hadn’t been translated into English before their inclusion. The first one I encountered was 2010’s, which also happened to be its inaugural year. Editor Aleksandar Hemon assembled stories originally written in Gaelic, French, Dutch, and more, from many different countries, and for someone relatively new to translated literature it was an eye-opener. 

You didn’t think I’d leave my fellow romance/erotica readers hanging, did you? There are series for that too! Cleis Press has a few different iterations, including Best Women’s Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica, and Best Bondage Erotica. We actually have a Book Rioter in Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Volume 4 (2018), edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel! Patricia Elzie’s story, “Breathe,” takes kink in a silly-sweet new direction. This collection also includes Alyssa Cole’s “Essential Qualities,” which is a must-read for fans of her book The A.I. Who Loved Me.

Various publishers put out other “Year’s Best” collections, from Night Shade’s Best Horror with Ellen Datlow, to Lethe Press’s Wilde Stories: The Year’s Best Gay Speculative Fiction, and Year’s Best Weird Fiction from Undertow Publications. Da Capo’s got their own Best Music Writing series! Search for “Year’s Best” in your library’s catalog and you’ll find a bonanza of options.

An exciting new-to-me find was the Transcendent: The Year’s Best Transgender Speculative Fiction series, edited largely by Bogi Takács. There are four years available currently, 2016-2019, and it’s another “many of these authors are new to me” situation — my favorite.

This work of young adult nonfiction is a series of personal essays about growing up as Black and queer, and the complexity of those intersecting identities. In interviews, Johnson has said they wrote the book as a way to help other teens see themselves in stories in a way they didn’t as a kid. They write about their relationship with their grandmother, early sexual relationships, joining a fraternity in college, and more.

Meredith Talusan was born with albinism in a rural village in the Philippines. Raised by a grandmother, Talusan eventually came to the United States on an academic scholarship to Harvard – providing a strong education, but also a complicated relationship with race, class, and sexuality. After college, Talusan transitioned and came out as a woman and continued on a career as an artist and activist. This memoir explores love, identity, gender, and more.

A decade ago, Samantha Allen was a Mormon missionary. At the time of writing this book, she was a reporter for the Daily Beast and married to a woman. In it, Allen heads out on a cross-country trip to experience “something gay every day” in places where queer communities full of people opting to stay where they’re from instead of fleeing to potentially friendlier territory. I love the way Allen is able to tell stories about people from all walks of life, emphasizing tales of chosen families trying to make the world a better place.

There’s just so much to be excited about in this memoir about growing from “a god-fearing Muslim boy enraptured with their mother to a vocal, queer drag queen estranged from their family.” In the book, they write about how a teenage obsession with marine biology helped illuminate their nonbinary gender identity, discovering the power of drag in college, learning to understand Islam with a queer lens, and finding a way back to family with this new perspective.

In this book, trans artist Vivek Shraya explores “how masculinity was imposed on her as a boy and continues to haunt her as a girl.” As a child, Shaya had to learn to perform masculinity to survive, while as an adult she must push in other ways to be recognized as feminine. Shraya explores what the cumulative effect of that misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia has been on her, and offers ways that we can cherish and celebrate what makes us different.

This autobiographical comic is about Maia Kobabe’s journey of self-identity and an attempt to explain what it means to be nonbinary and asexual. Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, writes about early crushes, coming out, connecting with friends, and more. The result is a book that is both a guide to gender identity and a personal story about what it means to be a nonbinary person.

In 2016, Sarah McBride became the first transgender person to speak at the Democratic National Convention, a giant leap on her journey as a transgender activist. In this memoir, Sarah shares how she came out to her family, friends, and community and how that led to her political activism. The memoir is also a love story about Sarah’s relationship with her first husband, Andy, who passed away from cancer in 2014 shortly after they were married. This is a good book for people newer to reading about the issues transgender people face and who want to understand those discussions better.

More essays! This final book on the list is a collection of witty essays about gender and identity through the lens of pop culture, with everything from The Addams Family to Captain Kirk to Lord Byron. It’s also a book that talks about what it is like to transition genders and the complexities of family can bring to that experience. If you loved The Toast, grab this one.

A longtime San Francisco-based journal with over 35 years in publishing that prides itself on focusing on West Coast poets, writers, and artists. I appreciate their editorial mission which includes “risk-taking and egalitarianism […] focus on inclusivity and excellence.” Notable contributors include Kaveh Akbar, Tommy Orange, Amy Tan, Rebecca Solnit, Adrienne Rich, Ursula K. LeGuin, and others.

One of the more “seasoned” literary magazines, Granta was founded in 1889 by students at Cambridge University and was named after the river that runs through the town. In its early days, the magazine published works by writers such as A.A. Milne, Michael Frayn, Stevie Smith, Ted Hughes, and Sylvia Plath. Its latest issue (at writing, Fall 2021) features a focus on travel writing.

Don’t let its outdated webpage deter you; The Threepenny Review, based out of Berkeley, is according to Louise Glück, “as lively and original a literary magazine as exists in this country.” It is a quarterly magazine that, in its Fall 2021 issue, featured contributors such as Wendell Berry and Sharon Olds, among others.

Best known as a short-story print journal, Portland-based Glimmer Train ended its nearly 30-year run in December 2019. But that doesn’t mean you can’t access its well-respected collection of curated stories. Archived issues can be found at the Library of Congress and select libraries. Definitely worth tracking down for literary buffs!

This journal has been publishing stories, poems, essays, and reviews since 1926, as part of the University of Nebraska Press and the Creative Writing Program of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln English Department. In addition to their print issues, Prairie Schooner has also started a new online series working with “interesting, innovative online literary entities from around the world that seek to create dynamic fusions in literature and art.”

Founded in 1979, the Southeast Review is a literary magazine managed by graduate students of the English department at Florida State University. They publish literary fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, book reviews, interviews, and art in their biannual print issues, as well as online. In the past, contributors have included *some of my favorites* Carl Phillips, Danez Smith, D.A. Powell, Denise Duhamel, and more.

Okay, I didn’t purposefully arrange the list by ordination (from southeast to northwest haha!), but I did want to mention this literary magazine, as they are, like me, also based in the PNW (Northwest Review is published by the University of Oregon). While I have been following their work for some time, admittedly, I have not had a chance to dive into the issues since their new inception in Fall 2020. I look forward to reading more in 2022!

As a writer who also identifies as Asian, I am drawn to work by writers across the diaspora, as it includes such a wide range of writing (style/genre, life experience, perspective, etc). An online magazine that publishes 1-3 “micro issues” per season, Lantern Review showcases poetry and art specifically written by Asian Americans… I’m eager to see what’s in store this coming year.

While I’ve only ever read Emma by Jane Austen, I’ve seen this adaptation with the all-star cast, including Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, and Alan Rickman. I imagine this version is very close to the book. Although, who knows! Maybe I’ll read it and discover everyone is eaten by giant pandas at the end. (Awww, so cute.) That’s one of the fun things about adaptations—they’re not always faithful and sometimes the changes are for the better!

This is about head butler Stevens, who works in a stately manor in house post-World War II England. UGH. I still feel sad thinking about the unspoken love between butler Anthony Hopkins and housekeeper Emma Thompson. (Although nothing made me sadder than when his dad fell down.) Do they get a happy ending in the book? WAIT. Don’t tell me, I want to be surprised.

This is the only nonfiction pick on my list today, but it’s a good one, because it highlights the criminally overlooked contributions to the race to space by four Black women mathematicians. Our place among the stars would not have been possible without their three decades of dedicated hard work while traversing a sexist, racist work space. The film is excellent, with a stellar cast, and I know I’ll be picturing the actors in my head as I read the book.

Like Wharton’s Age of Innocence, this is a story of societal niceties, class, and scandal, where people can’t do things or be together because of appearances. I would watch Gillian Anderson in anything, which is how I ended up watching this film. Dan Ackroyd is the cartoonish villain and is not nice to poor Gillian, who must *shudder* get a job to work off a debt.

There Will Be Blood is my second-favorite movie of all time. (Yes, I keep a list, and the first is The Lives of Others, which is not based on a book but OMG watch it now.) Despite not having read it, I have heard that the film version is verrrrrrrry loosely based on the book. Seeing as it is one of my favorites, I’m not sure why I waited so long to read the book. Perhaps because I know it will not be as fun as watching Daniel Day Lewis chew up every scene and spit it out.

And somehow I missed reading this wildly popular story of a woman who discovers her boyfriend is a member of Singapore’s wealthiest family. I’ve heard the book is quite funny, and a funny novel is a hard thing to find, so I should should definitely pick it up soon. (And why is funny so much harder to pull off than sad?)

This is the story of how younger siblings ruin your life. Well, sort of. Laura Jean is in over her head when her younger sister mails the letters she wrote (and never planned to send) to the boys she loved. I haven’t seen the follow-ups to this first film, but I did think this one was extremely charming. (And the soundtrack is fantastic!) And since I own a copy of the book—story of my life tbh—I have no excuse not to read it. Maybe I’ll watch the other movies first, lol.

And finally, this classic! This uber-famous film, about a young woman from a small town trying to live a glamorous life in NYC, is based on a novella. I hear that the book is quite a bit darker than the legendary adaptation. So, Holly Go-not-so-lightly? (Sorry, not sorry.) Related: I am firm in my opinion that the film contains one of the best cats in cinema, whose inspired real name was—wait for it—Orangey.