People Change by Vivek Shraya is a short and sweet book of essays about change, reinvention, and identity. I found Shraya’s writing to be compassionate and affirming. I particularly liked the sections about how relationships morph over time - friendships, partnerships, and relationships between spouses are constantly changing. Shraya also shares stories about her own experiences with gender fluidity and trans identity. This book was thought provoking for me. I listened to the audiobook and it came in at just under two hours. Shraya narrates the book herself. I always love hearing authors read their own words and this is no exception. I’d recommend this one to anyone interested in thinking more about how identities can change over time.

Nobody’s Magic by Destiny O. Birdsong was a delight. This contemporary fiction book is a triptych novel split into three parts. Each part is about a young Black woman with albinism. They are all from Shreveport, Louisiana. The first story follows Suzette, a sheltered 20-year-old who is naive about the world thanks to her overprotective parents. As she starts to seek more autonomy, her relationships with her parents and closest friend have to change accordingly. This was my favorite of the stories - I wanted a whole novel about Suzette! The second story follows Maple, who has been left untethered after her maverick mother is murdered. The final story follows Agnes, who is struggling to find a job she actually wants and is short on cash despite having a PhD. After she does something completely out of character, she must rely on the help of someone she looks down on to find her way home.

I listened to the audiobook on @librofm (side note: I guess I like fiction on audio now?!) and it completely brought the characters to life. There is a different narrator for each section, and they were all perfectly cast. Many reviewers have mentioned how well Birdsong writes dialogue, I completely agree. The characters and their conversations felt real. I also liked that the stories were about unique women, their hopes and dreams, their values, their recklessness, and their tenacity, and not just about their albinism.

I have to credit @thatgoodgoodbook for sharing this book - her review is what motivated me to pick this up! I really enjoyed it. Each story has strongly developed characters and a compelling plot. It had heavy moments but wasn’t too heavy overall - reading it felt refreshing. If you like contemporary fiction, complicated characters who don’t always make the best decisions but strive to be true to themselves, or novellas that focus on different characters with some shared experience, definitely pick this one up!

Thanks to @randomhouse for sending me Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson! This family story starts with estranged siblings Byron and Benny reconvening for the first time in years after their mother’s death. Their mother, Eleanor Bennett, has instructed her lawyer to play them a voice recording, and has left them a piece of her traditional Caribbean black cake to share when the time is right. Eleanor’s recording tells the story of a young swimmer, Covey, who escapes from her Caribbean island home, and divulges secrets of Eleanor’s own past.

I really enjoyed this one. I like a good family drama. The writing in this one reminds me a lot of Taylor Jenkins Reid but better, in that it is propulsive and we get to hear details about each of the characters lives, but the stories go beyond surface level, and reveal insights into the characters and their motivations. When side characters are introduced, it’s because they are integral to the stories being told.

I really liked both overarching storylines. In the present, the story is about the reconciliation of a broken family. In the past, it’s about a girl whose mother left when she was young, and though she loves her home, she knows that she too must leave if she hopes to pursue real love and freedom. I found both stories to be compelling.

This book is in the sweet spot between contemporary and literary. I’d recommend it if you want your beach reads to dig a little deeper, and like a complex family story. Also if you like food! I’m obviously dying to try black cake now - anyone know where I can get some in the Cincinnati area?

I also just learned this book is being made into a show on Hulu. Oprah is involved so you know it’s going to be great! I think this will make for a really good TV series too and can’t wait to see these characters come to life on a screen!

I recently read my first Natalia Ginzburg, Valentino and Sagittarius. This book consists of two novellas that have some overlapping themes. 

 

Valentino is about an unserious boy, Valentino, who shocks his family by marrying an ugly but wealthy woman, in an act that his family suspects is just for money. The story is narrated by one of his sisters, Caterina, who is studying to become a teacher. The family slowly gives in to Maddalena’s wish to provide for them. 

 

Sagittarius, also narrated by a young woman, follows the woman’s mother as she moves into town. She’s quickly dissatisfied with her life there, disappointed by the marriage of her beautiful daughter Giulia to a poor doctor. When she meets Scilla, they plot to open an art gallery in the town. 

 

Both novellas have palpable feelings of foreboding thanks to Ginzburg’s precise descriptions. They are both narrated from a detached perspective, and the second especially feels cold. I like this type of writing - the characters were interesting and the perfect amount of detail was included to let the uneasy feelings build. In Sagittarius, where you just know the mother is ripe for becoming the victim of a scam, I couldn’t stop reading. It’s a swindler story from before they became such a thing. 

 

Really enjoyed this one! If you like classics, and if you have followed @carolinecalloway and wondered how anyone would ever in their right mind give her their money, this one is for you. 

Thanks to @riverheadbooks for sending me an early copy of We Do What We Do in the Dark by Michelle Hart. This book follows Mallory, a freshman in college, who becomes fixated on and then begins a relationship with an older German married woman who adjuncts at the school. Mallory sees in the woman everything she wants for herself. The woman is successful and seemingly self-assured, while Mallory is lonely and uncertain, still grappling with the recent death of her mother after years of illness.

The writing style is sparse but still managed to draw me in. Mallory’s loneliness is palpable - partially self-afflicted, partially because of her shame about who she is and what she thinks she deserves. The story slowly unveils more about Mallory’s past and her motivations. I could understand her obsession and longing. I found myself wanting so much for Mallory, hoping that she could find more self-worth, success, and happiness. This is really a coming-of-age story.

I think a lot of people will really love this one! I’d recommend it if you like spare yet moody writing, being inside the head of one character, and coming-of-age stories full of longing.

My first audiobook of the year was Cultish by Amanda Montell. This book was my 12 books 12 friends pick from @worldswithinpages and I’m so glad she suggested it! From the description of this book, I felt meh… I have consumed a lot of content about cults and was feeling a little over them. But this book was so great! It’s a different look at cults and all things cultish. With cults, there’s often a question of how the leaders manage to convince so many people to believe things that seem so bizarre and go against logic and reason. The answer is language! It’s all language!

Honestly should have know that I’d like this book because I took a linguistics class in college and loved it. I’m silly for assuming this book would be boring or not for me. I was wrong, it was for me and now I want everyone to listen to it! I can’t stop recognizing cultish language patterns now. Also highly recommend listening to this as an audiobook. The narration is superb.

If you have even a passing interest in cults, trends, MLMs, CrossFit, Peloton, language, etc, highly recommend this one!

I’m so thankful that @penguinpress sent me an ARC of Either/Or by Elif Batuman. The Idiot is one of my favorite books! I’m so glad it got a sequel. If you liked The Idiot and wanted more time with Selin, you’ll like this one too.

Either/Or is a direct sequel to The Idiot, so you need to read that one first. In Either/Or, we find Selin after her summer of confusion with Ivan, trying to process their relationship as she starts her sophomore year. Through the year, Selin contemplates an aesthetic life, takes lots of classes, hangs with Svetlana and other friends, has plenty of awkward encounters, sends emails, might be depressed, goes to parties, meets other Eastern European guys, and tries to decide where to spend her summer. Also she reads a lot! This book inspired me to add so many books to my own TBR.

I love spending time inside Selin’s mind. She makes the best observations, and is unintentionally so funny. Selin would be so surprised and dismayed that someone enjoyed being inside her mind, since she thinks she’s so ordinary. I am hopeful that we might get four of these books - will we get one for every year of college? That would be wonderful. I loved this one and will read anything Batuman writes.

Nervous System by Lina Meruane was a tough read for me. It follows an astrophysicist, Ella, who is struggling to finish her dissertation in her new country, and comes down with a mysterious illness. In fact, all of the members of her family have had some type of major health issue. Mystery medical ailments and/or cancer as a major topic/plot-line cause me to feel a lot of anxiety, so I usually don’t pick up fiction with that as a central point.

The story is told in a really interesting way. We start with Ella at the present moment in time and work backwards to her life in the country of the past. We learn about traumas that have shaped Ella and manifested in different ways for every person in her family. These include loss of a parent, an abusive older sibling, political turmoil in her home country, and life as a migrant. The book was translated from Spanish. I liked that the translator chose to keep Ella called Ella and her partner called El (the Spanish male and female pronouns).

There were a lot of things that worked really well about this book, I am very interested in reading more by this author! The only thing that gives me pause in recommending it is the focus on medical issues. It felt really heavy and was anxiety-inducing for me, but that’s because of my personal reaction to that type of plot line.

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey was a ToB pick that did not work for me. I can get into sci-fi, and I like some other books and shows about clones (Never Let Me Go and Orphan Black come to mind) but this twist on the topic just fell completely flat. Evelyn, a brilliant scientist who is also just kind of a shitty partner/friend, is not shocked when her husband leaves her for her clone, Martine. One day Martine calls Evelyn for help cleaning up a big mess - her ex’s dead body.

This was marketed as a thriller but was not at all thrilling. It was boring. It made me tired. The science parts were glossed over. Apparently Evelyn could just make entire clones in solitude and peace with no oversight. Apparently nobody would notice or be alarmed when her ex husband vanished and didn’t show up to work, and the new wife gave the flimsy excuse that he took a trip by himself for awhile. So many of the things that drive the plot forward straight up don’t make sense and are clearly only there to drive the plot forward. Evelyn has no good relationships with anyone bc she sucks. The mystery of her father who taught her to be a scientist/bad person wasn’t interesting either. Evelyn doesn’t see clones as people at all - she sees them as objects to be disposed of, except for the one who happens to have her face.

Big meh from me, with an eye roll and disgruntled sigh included. I would recommend skipping this one. I’m shocked this made the Tournament honestly.

Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart is a rich people problems book set during the pandemic. A Russian-born writing professor/novelist recruits friends to wait out the early days of Covid in his upstate enclave of bungalows with his family. The guests include his two best high school friends, an actor, a former student turned published author, and a “gentleman”.

The book follows the cast of characters as they deal with personal problems amid the pandemic and stressful political climate. This book was entertaining, and I wondered what would happen with each of the characters. It didn’t really go beyond entertainment for me though. I didn’t think it said anything interesting or profound about life before or after Covid. I didn’t feel emotional when I was supposed to. I would read Gary Shteyngart again for a fun entertaining read, not for anything deep or insightful. And that’s fine! Not every book needs to have a deeper message or meaning. But I don’t think this book has staying power - I probably won’t remember it in a few months.