Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey was on my TBR for awhile, after seeing @thestackspod give it high praise. This slim memoir is a stunning, emotional read. Trethewey reflects on a life-altering event - when she was just 19, her stepfather murdered her mother.

Trethewey tells her story beautifully. Her writing is precise and reflective. Though we know the end from the beginning, the way in which she leads us there is completely compelling and gripping. I read this book quickly but carefully, as I didn’t want to miss a word. This book is a heartbreakingly raw portrait of grief and domestic violence. I can’t recommend it enough.

I picked up With Teeth at a local bookstore after hearing @shelfbyshelf talk about it on the From the Front Porch podcast, and picked it out of my stacks when I was indecisive and asked @literarylauren_ to pick my next read. So glad I read it - I loved it! This is a book about motherhood. Its themes felt familiar after recently reading Nightbitch.

Sammie and her wife have a son, Samson. Sammie is the primary caregiver, while her wife remains the breadwinner. Sammie doesn’t always particularly like Samson, finds him excruciatingly difficult, and struggles over the years with being a good parent (feeling the extra pressure of being a queer parent) while also keeping some semblance of her own identity. The story is propulsive and gripping as Samson acts out and the marriage falls apart.

The most interesting part of the writing for me was that between sections, brief snippets of perspective from side characters make you question whether Sammie is a very reliable narrator, and changed the way I thought about what I had just read. It was really good! I recommend this one if you like family dramas and books about parenthood.
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Thanks to @aaknopf for sending me Ghosts by Dolly Alderton. This was the perfect book for the beach, but it’s also just the perfect book if you need something that is funny but has heart. I read it in a day. It follows Nina, a 32-year-old English food writer, through the year. She meets the perfect guy on an online dating app before getting ghosted out of the blue, deals with the falling apart of an old friendship, and worries about her mom and dad as her dad’s Alzheimer’s gets worse.

This book was so funny and smart. I really loved Alderton’s voice, and I loved reading from the perspective of someone close to my age. It’s modern and relatable. If you like books about or by millennials, if you’re sick of online dating, or if you just want to read something fun and witty but also heartfelt, pick this one up!

This is a book that I feel like in reading it by myself, on my own, without discussion, I missed out. I wish I had read this in English class. It’s so full.

This is an experimental book without plot. We don’t know much about the narrator, besides that she’s a writer from England teaching a summer course in Athens. We eventually learn her name (Faye), that she has two sons, and that she is no longer married. It’s a book in conversations. The narrator talks to colleagues, students, friends, and an older Greek man she sits next to on her flight, and then meets again to go swimming.

The conversations say so much about marriage and divorce, motherhood, and identity, and the ideas are often provocative and even radical, but they are said with such frank directness, it was almost uncomfortable at times to read. I found myself having to pause frequently to consider the words more carefully. I thought it was especially interesting when we’d get someone’s story, and then the narrator would push back against the one-sidedness of their perspective, or would openly disagree with their take.

It feels like there is so much packed into this book. It’s hard to say if I enjoyed it - this book defies a typical star rating system. It’s unlike books I typically reach for, as reading it demanded my full attention and effort. I am looking forward to picking up the remaining two books in this trilogy.

Thanks to @doubledaybooks for sending me this hilariously bizarre book!! Several People are Typing by Calvin Kasulke is written entirely in Slack messages. Gerald, an employee at a PR firm, accidentally uploads his consciousness to Slack, and is stuck there. I cackled loudly many times while reading this! It really captures the current WFH moment. It’s so funny and absurd. I could have read this in a sitting but I started it when I was tired so I had to finish it the next day. It’s really quick and so readable! I highly recommend it for when you want a fast read that will make you laugh.

Thank you to @avidreaderpress for sending me Infinite Country by Patricia Engel! I loved it SO MUCH 😭❤️ This book follows a family from Colombia who leave their country to try and make a better life in the US. It opens with the youngest daughter, Talia, planning an escape from a youth correctional center for girls to try and make her flight to the US, where she is a citizen. I love a novel with perspectives from different characters, and we get that here, as we learn about the decisions and circumstances that left the family separated.

The writing in this book is beautiful - impactful and tender at once. The story is steeped in Andean myths and Colombian history. The story was gripping - I was invested in the plot, and I liked how the story jumped back and forth to show the history of the characters.

This book will be out in February 23. You don’t want to miss it!