Friday Book Debrief Vol 48

Every week we’re sharing what our some of our writers are currently reading.

The full lists can both be found in our US & brand new UK Bookshop! With every purchase you will be supporting independent bookstores. Nearly EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS has been raised so far, and all that change keeps bookstores around the country open rather than lining the pockets of a certain billionaire *cough cough*

The Truants by Kate Weinberg - Jessica

I love a good campus novel - the more pretentious the literature students featured, the better. This one seems to be developing into an Agatha Christie-esque mystery, too, so it's becoming quite a page-turner.

Buy it from our Bookshop - US & UK.

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Shit, Actually by Lindy West - Mel

Exactly the kind of humor I needed as a distraction this week. Lindy doesn’t hold back her judgment on some of the most popular movies of the last 20-30 years. For example, the title is from the essay she uses to eviscerate everything wrong with Love, Actually. She comes also goes after Forrest Gump, The Notebook, and Titanic and it’s wonderful.

Buy it from our Bookshop - US & UK.

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When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago - Karen

This autobiography is fully engrossing since the beginning. Santiago took the experience of eating a guava and transported me back to my childhood and with it grabbed my hand, took me back to her childhood in rural Puerto Rico, contending with being the oldest of a family with sparring parents, and an imagination that refuses to be contained. I am only a few pages into this story but Esmeralda's writing is enchanting, insightful, majestic, and completely engrossing. Highly recommend it.

Buy it from our Bookshop - US.

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Bastard Out Of Carolina by Dorothy Allison - Maggie

A backlist I’ve had on my shelves for years after reading her short story collection in college. It is absolutely amazing so far.

Buy it from our Bookshop - US & UK.

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Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin - Karla

I read this for the first time a few years ago and Baldwin instantly became a favorite. I decided given this tumultuous year during which we’re all reckoning with race that it’s the perfect time to revisit it.

Buy it from our Bookshop - US & UK.

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Kudos by Rachel Cusk - Jessica Maria

I read the first two books last year and I loved them so deeply it’s like I almost couldn’t read the last book. I’ve been able to concentrate on nothing lately, but I instantly felt the magnetic pull of Cusk’s prose and I’m back in, baby!

Buy it from our Bookshop - US & UK.