Category: Read This Book

Longlisted for the Booker Prize, All the Little Bird-Hearts has filled my bookish social media feeds. And now — finally! — it’s available in the United States. Set in 1988, the novel follows Sunday, a middle-aged autistic woman living her neurodivergent life long before autism became more commonly diagnosed, particularly in girls and women. On many days, foods with color are too loud. Non-carbonated beverages are hard to swallow. And some days, she wakes up and knows that it’s going to be one of her “silent days.”

Sunday has a neurotypical teenage daughter named Dolly, who’s often embarrassed by her mother’s “eccentricities.” When Vita and Rollo move into the neighborhood, Dolly is smitten, mesmerized by adults who usually live in London, far from Sunday and Dolly’s home in the Lake District. As Dolly becomes closer with their new neighbors, Sunday feels as if Dolly is ashamed of her, as if Dolly has found a home with “normal” people.

Sunday’s experience of feeling on the outside of social interactions is so visceral. As you read, you can feel Sunday’s feeling of otherness as she tries to rifle through her brain trying to figure out how direct the people around her are during conversations. Oftentimes, she’s mentally flipping through an etiquette book she’s memorized, using it as a guide through social interactions. During lulls in conversation, Sunday pulls out a fun fact from Southern Italian culture, a subject she’s researched for countless hours.

Like her protagonist, author Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow is autistic and uses her lived experience and her research in autism to inform her fiction. Her personal understanding of autism shines through the protagonist. Sunday’s feelings on the inside are complex, just like anyone else’s. But for Sunday, she expresses those feelings differently on the outside. Ultimately, this attention to detail and authentic portrayal of an autistic protagonist create a universal story of someone looking for belonging.

This book takes place in the San Francisco Bay Area, and it starts with our hero, Ben Stephens, who is running late to work. Ben works for an ad agency, and they have a major project pitch to give to a tech company. He did a lot of work on the project and knows it backwards and forwards; however, this doesn’t really matter because Ben knows his bosses and the rest of the team will do the presentation and take the glory while Ben, the only Black person, will be present to show how “diverse” their team is. At least, that’s how it normally goes, and that is what Ben is expecting. The universe has other ideas, and he gets a call from the rest of his team, who are stuck in L.A., which is an hour flight but a good six-hour drive from where they need to be, so Ben is going to have to give the presentation alone.

He arrives at the company, about to start his presentation when the most beautiful woman he has ever seen walks in the door to the conference room. This woman is Oscar-nominated actress Anna Gardiner, and she is the talent for this ad campaign. No one expected her to show up to the pitch meetings, and she was counting on that. Of course, she was charmed by Ben, and he got the contract. At Anna’s request, he also oversaw the entire project, and they spent a lot of time together on set.

During one of the shoots, Anna gets a call. Her parents are down near Palm Springs on a trip, and her father has to get rushed to the hospital. Unbeknownst to everyone, Anna deals with severe anxiety. She knew it would be ridiculous to rush down to Southern California to check on her dad when it was likely just dehydration, but she really started to freak out a bit. She called her assistant to get her a flight, but there were none that could work with the schedule. Ben notices Anna’s barely controlled freakout; one thing leads to another, and there is suddenly an impromptu road trip to Palm Springs.

The attraction between the two of them is palpable, and they don’t even try to hide their flirting and chemistry. They get to Palm Springs, but the hotel they get to only has a single room. They keep their physical fun a secret, but Simon, Anna’s manager, catches on. Simon’s not mad; he actually thinks it’s good for Anna’s image, and Ben agrees to no strings and only fun, just how they both want it (this is totally not sustainable).

This book was so incredibly steamy while also being incredibly hilarious.

Bailey first meets Charlie while on a plane, flying solo to her new life in Omaha, where her mom has resettled after her parents’ divorce. He’s a fellow solo traveler and child of divorce, but the two do not hit it off — in fact, they spend the entire flight bickering and annoying each other. Bailey is happy to never see him again…but then they reconnect three years later as coworkers. Charlie is obnoxious and adamant that boys and girls can’t be friends. Bailey finds him annoying and wants to prove him wrong. When they bet on it — and make a few ill-advised wagers on friends and fellow coworkers — they inadvertently become conspirators as they set out to prove their points…but end up falling for each other along the way.

This is a rom-com that will genuinely make you laugh, and what I appreciate so much about Lynn Painter’s YA romances is that the characters feel believably like teens. They’re awkward and vulnerable at times; they wear glasses and braces, but they’re also very witty, and they get some really great swoony love stories. I enjoyed the dynamic between Bailey and Charlie a lot — Charlie is contrary but not obnoxious, and Bailey is uptight but able to let loose every now and then. They bring out the best in each other, and they have so much fun together they don’t realize that they’re falling until it’s already happened. They both have parental divorce trauma, and they find common ground in navigating life between households despite their apparent dislike for each other. I felt like this element really gave their characters a serious way to connect, and it will also be a lifeline to readers also dealing with that awkward dynamic. Sometimes the plot feels a little over the top, but always in a very good, fun way — moments feel like Taylor Swift verses come to life, and it’s easy for readers to get swept up in the fantasy of it all — but Painter doesn’t really push the bounds of believability, making for a fun escapist read that doesn’t require too much suspension of disbelief.

Pick this one up if you want to laugh and if you enjoy enemies to lovers! Bonus: The Do-Over by Painter is also excellent!

I spent most of the holiday weekend grooming the Corgis and cleaning my house, anything to keep listening to Naomi Klein’s new book. When a friend of mine recommended Doppelganger, I hit play and settled in for this “through the looking glass” sort of book.

For years, Naomi Klein has found herself continuously confused with Naomi Wolfe. They are both Jewish women who have historically moved through feminist spaces. But in the last decade, Wolfe has steadily become more connected with extremist right-wing politics. In this one-of-a-kind book, Klein details the history of the confusion and misidentification the two women have experienced online.

What first starts as a casual, sometimes even funny, misidentification between Klein and “the other Naomi” turns into a constant confusion that fills Klein’s Twitter notifications. From there, Klein expands into what she calls the mirror world, a place where men like Steve Bannon go off about stolen elections and forced mask mandates. Wolfe joins Bannon on his popular podcast, which astounds Klein as she listens to Wolfe’s guest appearance after guest appearance. Doppelganger is a fascinating look at the evolution of American politics and how we got to the chaos that we’re experiencing now.

In the last major section of the book, Klein examines Wolfe’s anti-vaxxer stance and the constant ableism that Wolfe spouts across all of her channels. As the mother of an autistic child, Klein is all too aware of the passion many “autistic parents” have against vaccinations. These parents see she has an autistic child and hand her fliers about why vaccines are “to blame” for how her son’s mind works. Klein breaks down these arguments, illustrating the history of violent ableism towards disabled people. As a disabled person, I appreciated the solidarity—the push for people like Wolfe to confront how their beliefs about vaccines are based on a hatred for disabled and neurodivergent people.

Klein’s mind is so organized. I constantly marveled as she guided us through Wolfe’s mirror world, pointing out and disapproving of a host of Wolfe’s false claims. I will never be able to properly describe her skill here. So please, don’t take my word for it. Go read Doppelganger for yourself.

The overarching metaphor in this book is of capitalism as a toxic romantic partner who constantly puts you down, gaslights you, and is just using you. The author is unmasking this toxic person and making it clear that they’re just not that into you. The author also teaches us there is a healthier and supportive option available. While this metaphor isn’t necessarily everyone’s vibe, it does serve to make the content so much more accessible and relatable. This book is written in a way that clarifies how capitalism is at play right now in our own lives and not just some nebulous thing that we have nothing to do with.

This book introduces readers to so many people fighting against capitalism. There are dozens of quotes from anti-capitalists, past and present, like W. E. B. DuBois, Ella Baker, Evo Morales, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Kathleen Cleaver. The book repeatedly makes it clear that class struggle cannot be separated from racial equity. It’s been so helpful to learn about it in more detail to better my understanding of all the interconnections.

The author teaches readers about how capitalism tells us that if we just work harder, hustle more, and sacrifice more, we will get ahead. That is actually rarely the case because the system is designed to keep people in the middle class and the lower class in those classes. Capitalism depends on folks’ inability to move upward. There might be anecdotes of this happening, some people here and there, but it doesn’t help the nation as a whole.

This book gives really clear definitions of capitalism and socialism and spends most of the pages giving examples of these frameworks in action. After reading this book, I can confidently say, “Yes, I know what these things are and some of the ways they affect me and my communities.” I also want to mention that this book is packed with illustrations and infographics and graphs and charts and quotes that help make this information very present and relatable to readers.

Catalina lives with her father and brother in the woods of Wisconsin. Life is hard for them, and it’s been especially hardscrabble since Mama died, and her father’s mind isn’t always rooted in the present. One day, a series of apples are left on their stoop, and Catalina’s father begins raving about poisoned apples. When he falls ill, he warns them about the Man of Sap…who appears soon after her father succumbs to his illness and steals Catalina’s brother away. Frightened and alone in the world, Catalina goes after this Man of Sap, determined to save her brother. Along the way, she encounters a lumberjack with his own reasons for wanting to find the Man of Sap and must rely on the stories passed down to her if she’s to survive the journey.

This is such a lovely, dark gem of a novel that infuses American folklore with a dark twist. It’s a slim volume at just over 200 pages, but each of those pages is so entrancing. Catalina has a poet’s soul and is inspired by the poetry beloved by her Mexican mother, but life has turned her hard out of necessity. As a result, she understands the darkness that lurks in the world and isn’t frightened by it, but she has to dig deep within herself to find the strength to face it. Her alliance with Paul, the lumberjack, is really lovely, and their slowly blossoming romance provides some sweetness to this darker story. Interspersed throughout the chapters are pages from the Man of Sap’s point of view, and readers learn that he is not the traditional villain and there’s so much more to this story than anyone thinks. This is a really satisfying read, and I enjoyed that it borrowed from 19th-century tall tales and folklore without ignoring the more problematic issues of American history.

When I first heard about Never Whistle at Night, I couldn’t believe the all-star list of contributors, which included authors like Tommy Orange, Morgan Talty, Darcie Little Badger, Rebecca Roanhorse, Cherie Dimaline, and David Heska Wanbil Weiden. Plus, Stephen Graham Jones wrote the perfect introduction for the collection.

Each author does their own take on horror/dark fiction. In one story, a woman favors her son with a higher blood quantum over the other, with terrifying results. In another, a pregnant woman accidentally lets slip that she’s Native, and her husband’s family tells her she must pay the price for having “impure” blood. In another, a man is confronted with the horror of realizing that he’s stolen stories and important teachings from his elders.

Every story centers Native lives and experiences, examining the lived reality of Indigenous peoples in the face of colonialism. What does it mean to be complicit with colonial violence? How best can one honor one’s culture and one’s ancestors? These big questions return over and over in the stories, creating echoing themes throughout the collection.

Of course, all of these authors are just great storytellers. In such a short amount of time, they capture the reader’s attention and keep it through all of the stories’ twists and turns. I still consider myself a bit new to horror, so I am not up to speed on much of the genre’s history and storytelling trends. But, my goodness, I loved listening to this collection. It contains the perfect balance of creepy and terrifying tales. 

An ensemble of Indigenous narrators perform the stories, making each piece stand out on its own as you’re listening. It was a wonderful listening experience, and I can’t recommend it enough. And, if you haven’t already, be sure to check out each author’s other work. They all have a fabulous backlist of stories to discover.

In Paris, a girl named Marie-Laure loses her sight as a young child. Her father, who works for the Natural History Museum, spends hours building her a scale replica of their arrondissement so that she can learn how to navigate her way through the world. But as war with Germany looms, Marie-Laure and her father flee to Saint Malo with the museum’s most precious artifact. Meanwhile, in Germany, a young orphan named Werner and his sister tune into radio programs from France and envision a better future for themselves. At first, the war seems to offer opportunities…but at what cost?

The writing in this book is masterful. The chapters at the beginning appear at first like vignettes, giving us glimpses into the parallel lives of Marie-Laure and Werner and the very different and tragic directions that war takes them. It becomes evident that their paths will cross, and you just have to sit back and trust that you are in good hands with Doerr’s storytelling. The prose is lyrical and spare at times, but it conveys such tremendous emotion and the feeling of utter helplessness as everyone, no matter their nationality, is swept up in the madness of WWII. Doerr also creates tension by inserting interludes that tell of the destruction of Saint Malo in 1944, coaxing readers along on a suspenseful ride to the fateful day that Marie and Werner will finally meet. This book doesn’t have plot twists or gimmicks, but the characters are all richly portrayed, and the emotions are deeply felt, and you’ll find yourself racing to the end to see how it all comes together. I inhaled this book and found myself a captive audience as I waited to see how it would all turn out. This is a book that reminds us of humanity’s capacity for violence and hatred but also the capacity for love and goodness.

This anthology has won a Locus Award, a World Fantasy Award, a British Fantasy Award, an Ignyte Award, and the Brave New Words Award. After reading it, I could see how it deserved each and every one. The introduction is by Levar Burton, and any book that has Levar Burton’s stamp of approval is an immediate addition to my TBR. There is an absolutely phenomenal line-up of talent in these pages. This book includes stories by Minsoo Kang, Jaymee Goh, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Rebecca Roanhorse, Darcie Little Badger, and so many more brilliant authors. I love the variety of stories in this anthology. Yes, it’s speculative fiction, but it covers a wide range, including science fiction, fantasy, and horror — often at the intersections of these subgenres and sometimes nestled comfortably in the spaces in between.

The first story in the book had me absolutely hooked. It’s “The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex” by Tobias S. Buckell. Imagine Earth in the future with hovercars and the like, but it’s a complete dump that is actually an intergalactic tourist trap. Alien tourists come from all over the universe to Manhattan because the laws and safety regulations are incredibly lax. Maybe too lax. Another interesting story is about how the fate of an empire is in the hands of two translators, which makes readers think about how we never truly know how close we may be to utter destruction. The story “Come Home to Atropos” was incredibly dark, incredibly disturbing, and also made me giggle. I didn’t know I could both cringe and laugh at the same time, yet here we are. I’m a sucker for a story that involves a human making a deal with a non-human, whether it be a god or a demon or the fae or otherwise. “The Fine Print” by Chinelo Onwualu hit so many right notes. It’s the one story that I went back and read again after finishing the book.

This book has so many things: ghosts, witches, monsters that eat little children, terrifying yet lovely mermaid-type creatures, aliens, human colonies on distant planets, technology to take away all bad feelings and replace them only with pleasant ones, Smart Houses of the Future, and so much more. The title of this book stems from an Octavia E. Butler quote, “There’s nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns.” This anthology lives up to its name, for sure.

This past weekend, I traveled down to the Lowcountry to attend my very first Yallfest. Dozens of young adult and middle grade authors from around the country came to Charleston, South Carolina, to talk about their books. Attendees lined up in the wee hours of the VERY cold Saturday morning to get early copies of their most anticipated reads and wristbands to get into Leigh Bardugo’s book signing.

I went with a middle grade author friend of mine, and she showed me the ropes as we trekked around in the rain from panel to panel. In one panel about plotting, I found myself enraptured by Hannah V. Sawyerr, a young adult author whose novel in verse, All the Fighting Parts, just came out this year. As she described the structure of her book, I knew I had to read it.

After grabbing a copy at the booksellers’ tent set up by Blue Bicycle Books, I flipped through the novel as I felt that little spark that told me that the book I held in my hands was something pretty special. My friend said, “I just bought a copy of that book too. Why don’t we listen to the audiobook on our drive back home?” And we did just that.

The novel follows Amina, a 16-year-old Black girl who dislikes her father’s insistence on taking her to church every Sunday and Wednesday. When she gets in trouble at school, her dad says she has to volunteer for some church events. But after a church event one night, the Pastor assaults her, and Amina’s world falls apart.

The book is structured as a “before” and an “after,” describing the events leading up to the assault and then Amina’s experience pressing charges, attending therapy, and trying to heal. The use of poetry adds such emotional depth, adding to the many layers of Amina’s story. She struggles to move forward, to communicate with her friends, and to understand her father’s pain and helplessness after he learns what happened to her.

Hannah V. Sawyerr performs the audiobook in a way that emphasizes, in equal parts, Amina’s teenage vulnerability and immense strength. Sawyerr’s sense of rhythm adds to her performance, making this novel in verse as beautiful to listen to as it is to read in print.