Every week we’re sharing what our some of our writers are currently reading.
For all of our US readers, we now have our own Bookshop! You can find the full list of the below books here and with every purchase you will be helping local independent bookstores! If you do not live in the US please support your local independent stores, lots are now doing local deliveries and they need your help more then ever in these uncertain times. - ❤️
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë - Nikki
Would you believe I majored in English and have never read this? I'm about 100 pages in and — unsurprisingly — I absolutely love it. Bonus points for the gorgeous little vintage edition my mom bought me back in 2010 (!).
Lot by Bryan Washington - Marian
In this series of interlocking stories, Washington paints a vivid picture of daily life for mixed Black-Latinx characters in Houston, Texas. I knew this was a special book from the first story since Washington writes a teenager’s voice with uncanny authenticity. Did I mention that one of the most unusual stories centers on a chupacabra?
What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons - Hannah
A story of identity and self-discovery in the face of grief; it is written by the protagonist Thandi after losing her mother to cancer. Definitely enjoying it so far, although I'm not too sure how I feel about the book's non-linear structure.
Migrant Souls by Arturo Islas - Karen
I had a chance to go back to the Angel family, a family that I had encountered before in The Rain God last year. There's so much richness as we follow this family and I cried tears of joy at being reunited with Miguel Chico. I always mention with the Rain God that Arturo Islas wanted to fight the Chicanx stereotypes of the time (The Rain God was published in 1984 and Migrant Souls was published in 1990) by showing a Chicanx family that went through pain, sorrow, and joy in similar ways to so many family stories we see and in some unique ways that only a family that "just like our souls we are between heaven and earth, so are we in between two countries completely different from each other. We are Children of the Border". I am absolutely loving this sequel and am still so sad that Arturo Islas died a year later since this was supposed to be a trilogy.
Unfortunately, Migrant Souls is out of print.
The Hunted by Gabriel Bergmoser - Courtney
This novel is a perfect speed read. It will get your heart racing and pack a huge punch in under 300 pages. This novel is the perfect creepy Australian horror novel because there is nothing to say its contents couldn't be far from the truth. It is not just a story of survival but rather a story about how survival very often comes at a cost.
Sister, Outsider by Audre Lorde - Victoria
Eternally relevant and so good! Things I'm learning from this book have come up in every conversation I've had this week.
It’s Not Like It’s A Secret by Misa Sugiura - Maggie
After some heavy reading as of late, I wanted a sweet YA romance. I just started this lesbian YA friends-to-lover story and I already know it will be exactly what I need.
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - Jessica Maria
I’m still reading this chilling and descriptive tale that is giving me Rebecca vibes, except replace the haunting spectre of the first Mrs. de Winter with the colonialist aura of a British family’s dead mining company in rural Mexico. This is my favorite kind of summer read and I love love love the writing.
Whispers Through a Megaphone by Rachel Elliot - PL
I picked this from my shelves, mainly due to the bright cover that was filled with sunshine and the back blurb foretold of a tale of isolation, which I thought was quite fitting since I am insolation and sitting in the sunshine. So far it has proved to be more like a cross between Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (which just wasn’t for me) and ADULTS by Emma Jane Unsworth, (which I LOVE). With a sprinkle of suburban drama, and awkward agoraphobic of the brink of exploration of the outside world, a less than desirable lesbian love affair, and a psychotherapist having a mini-mental breakdown in a shed. It is D-R-A-M-A and I’m seriously digging it thus far.
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green - The Book Slut
This is the first time that I have listened to an audiobook and didn’t fall asleep since audiobooks were on tapes that you had to turn over every 30 minutes. Instead of travelling to the land of nod, I have been transported to another world and hanging on for every second. This book is batshit crazy.
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo - This weeks book club
A magnificent portrayal of the intersections of identity and a moving and hopeful story of an interconnected group of Black British women that paints a vivid portrait of the state of contemporary Britain and looks back to the legacy of Britain's colonial history in Africa and the Caribbean.
Twelve central characters of this multi-voiced novel lead vastly different lives: Amma is a newly acclaimed playwright whose work often explores her Black lesbian identity; her old friend Shirley is a teacher, jaded after decades of work in London's funding-deprived schools; Carole, one of Shirley's former students, is a successful investment banker; Carole's mother Bummi works as a cleaner and worries about her daughter's lack of rootedness despite her obvious achievements. From a nonbinary social media influencer to a 93-year-old woman living on a farm in Northern England, these unforgettable characters also intersect in shared aspects of their identities, from age to race to sexuality to class.