As usual, Lisa See has crafted an engaging historical fiction novel centering on women and their relationships in Lady Tan’s Circle of Women (2023). In the late 1400s, in China during the Ming dynasty, child Tan Yunxian witnesses her mother’s death because of infection in her bound feet and the lack of medical care forContinue reading “Lady Tan’s Circle of Women”
Author Archives: bbwesquire
The Sons of El Rey
The Sons of El Rey (2024) by Alex Espinoza is a brilliant historical, polyvocal, family drama with a bit of magical realism that was the August selection for Roxane Gay’s The Audacious Book Club. Although this was the third book from her book club that I’ve read this year, I’ve not been able to manageContinue reading “The Sons of El Rey”
The Guncle Abroad
I was very excited to listen to The Guncle Abroad (2024), by Steven Rowley, which was read by the author, as The Guncle had been. I enjoyed it much more than the first book with Patrick, Maisie, and Grant, as Rowley avoided most of the anti-fat bias that had sadly been peppered throughout The Guncle.Continue reading “The Guncle Abroad”
The Emperor and the Endless Palace
I was drawn to the beautiful cover of The Emperor and the Endless Palace (2024) displayed on the “New” shelf at my local library. I was thrilled to find out it was one of my favorite genres–historical fantasy–and it was super-queer! Huang takes us to three different time periods. First in time is the yearContinue reading “The Emperor and the Endless Palace”
Body Phobia: The Western Roots of Our Fear of Difference
Body Phobia: The Western Roots of Our Fear of Difference (published September 17, 2024) by Dianna E. Anderson is, in many ways, exactly what the title says it is–a book about how, in 2024, so much of what is wrong with our world today can be traced back to the times when people only sawContinue reading “Body Phobia: The Western Roots of Our Fear of Difference”
The Third Rainbow Girl
I sought out The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia (2020) by Emma Copley Eisenberg because of her brilliant 2024 novel Housemates, even though true crime is not a genre I often choose to read. The Third Rainbow Girl is more than just true crime, though, as Copley EisenbergContinue reading “The Third Rainbow Girl”
We Need No Wings
I read We Need No Wings (publication day September 10, 2024) by Ann Dávila Cardinal in one sitting! Teresa, known as Tere, is a literature professor of Puerto Rican descent stuck for the last year after her beloved husband’s unexpected death, until one day, while watering his garden, she begins to levitate. Startled and bewilderedContinue reading “We Need No Wings”
Killers of a Certain Age
I thoroughly enjoyed Killers of a Certain Age (2022) by Deanna Raybourn! While mystery/ thriller is a genre I read now and again, I was not familiar with Deanna Raybourn, but she has an extensive backlist and is an Edgar winner. We meet Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie, all 60-something women on the vergeContinue reading “Killers of a Certain Age”
Go As A River
Go As A River (2023) by Shelley Read was a book group selection I probably wouldn’t have chosen myself. I did quite enjoy it, though, despite some unnecessary anti-fat bias in at least one character description. Victoria Nash is a 17-year old living on a Colorado peach farm in 1948, tending house for her father,Continue reading “Go As A River”
Ash
I so enjoyed Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo that I sought out Ash (2009), Lo’s first published novel. A partial gender-swapped sapphic YA re-telling of Cinderella, it won multiple awards, including a Locus and a Lambda. In Ash’s world, there are those who live in the country, or woods, and followContinue reading “Ash”
Reading While Fat 