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The Girl With the Louding Voice

Recommend with reservations because of anti-fatness. Otherwise compelling read from the perspective of a Nigerian child bride forced into an arranged marriage who goes from one bad situation to a worse one, when all she wants is to go to school.

The Companion

The Companion (2020) by Katie Alender was a creepy weight-neutral YA thriller/ horror that beautifully walked the line between–is this supernatural horror or plain old human cruelty? Margot is a teenager living in a group home because she’s the only survivor of a terrible car crash that killed her entire family–both parents and two youngerContinue reading “The Companion”

The Ten Thousand Doors of January

I was completely enthralled by The Ten Thousand Doors of January (2019) by Alix E. Harrow from very nearly the first page. Set in the late 1800s, January is a teenager cared for by a guardian, Mr. Locke, because her father is always traveling on expeditions for him. His house is filled with wondrous thingsContinue reading “The Ten Thousand Doors of January”

The Bastard of Istanbul

I came across several used copies of The Bastard of Istanbul (2006) by Elif Shafak in quick succession, and, because her 2010 The Forty Rules of Love was one of my favorites when I read it in 2017, I knew that I had to read it and was really looking forward to the experience. ItContinue reading “The Bastard of Istanbul”

The Old Woman With the Knife

The Old Woman With the Knife (2013, audiobook released 2022) by Gu Byeong-mo, translated by Chi-Young Kim. The author is a popular South Korean writer, but this is the only book she’s written that has been translated into English, that I could find. Hornclaw has spent her career as a “disease control specialist,” the euphemisticContinue reading “The Old Woman With the Knife”

You Should See Me in a Crown

You Should See Me In a Crown (2020) by Leah Johnson is so good!! Liz Lighty, senior at a suburban Indianapolis high school, band geek, straight-A student, lives with her grandparents in a small town on the outskirts of Indianapolis that feels very familiar. Her mother has passed away, and her brother is often sickContinue reading “You Should See Me in a Crown”

A Merry Little Meet Cute

A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone was a cute, steamy Christmas-themed, fat-positive and sex-positive, M-F romance. Bee Hobbes is a twentysomething fat adult film star who is cast in a squeaky-clean holiday movie (think the Hallmark Channel) opposite her teenage boy band crush, Nolan Shaw, who has taken the roleContinue reading “A Merry Little Meet Cute”

Rebecca

Rebecca (1938) by Daphne du Maurier is considered a classic of modern gothic fiction, and was voted Britain’s favorite book written since 1800, but I hadn’t read it until late 2022, having felt guilty that I had never picked it up. I should not have felt guilty, as I had a near-instant strong dislike ofContinue reading “Rebecca”

Ship Wrecked

Ship Wrecked (2022) by Olivia Dade, is the third and final book in the series that began with Spoiler Alert (2020) and All the Feels (2021), with characters drawn from the fictional television series Gods of the Gates. It is undeniably and deliciously fat positive! Unusual for most romance novels, Dade begins mid-intercourse between theContinue reading “Ship Wrecked”

Sea of Tranquility

Wow! Sea of Tranquility (2022) by Emily St. John Mandel was just as brilliant or better than the hype about it! (New York Times, Goodreads, and NPR one of the best books of the year; on Barack Obama’s 2022 list.) It’s hard to describe, but I will try. The novel opens with a younger sonContinue reading “Sea of Tranquility”