bbwesquire

The Queen’s Gambit

I wanted to like The Queen’s Gambit (1983) by Walter Tevis. Although he died in 1984, many writers list him as one of their favorite authors. (See The Writer’s Library, by Nancy Pearl and Jeff Schwager.) I’ve always wanted to learn to play chess, so was drawn to the idea of a girl/woman chess player,Continue reading “The Queen’s Gambit”

Fat Girl Finishing School

Fat Girl Finishing School by Rachel Wiley (2014 and reprinted in 2020) is the Columbus, Ohio area poetry slam artist’s first published book of poetry. It includes more than forty poems, including the widely-shared (and linked above) “10 Honest Thoughts on Being Loved by a Skinny Boy.” Wiley is biracial and unapologetically fat and queer.Continue reading “Fat Girl Finishing School”

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

This memoir by noted Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami is highly fatphobic and didn’t make me want to begin a running habit.

Lightning Men

Lightning Men (2017) by Thomas Mullen, is the second in a series of historical mystery/ police procedural novels that begins with Darktown (2015), which I reviewed here. They are set in Jim Crow Atlanta, and are centered around the first black police officers, who patrol the black part of town, known as Darktown. Lightning MenContinue reading “Lightning Men”

In the Time of the Butterflies

I highly recommend this book despite a couple of fatphobic descriptions, because overall it portrays a compelling portrait of feminist resistance, sisterhood, and courage despite an uber-patriarchal dictatorship.

Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead

Do you have a friend who tries her best but struggles all the time? Or maybe that’s you? Either way, you will enjoy the story of Gilda, a twentysomething lesbian atheist who ends up working as a receptionist in a Catholic church. It’s coming in July 2021.

The Night Tiger (spoilers)

Spoiler and Fatphobic Writing Warning: Don’t keep reading if you don’t want to read specific instances of fatphobia or the identity of one of the villians from Yangsze Choo’s The Night Tiger, which is generally reviewed here. I didn’t see the subtle fatphobia present while I was reading The Night Tiger, which I generally loved,Continue reading “The Night Tiger (spoilers)”

The Night Tiger

The Night Tiger, by Yangsze Choo (2019) transported me back to 1931 Malaya (now Malaysia) with a tale of murder, romance, and weretigers. I loved Choo’s 2013 The Ghost Bride and have no idea why I didn’t highlight it in my best of 2020 posts, so I was looking forward to The Night Tiger. IContinue reading “The Night Tiger”

This is How It Always Is

This Is How It Always Is (2017) by Laurie Frankel is contemporary fiction that tells the story of the family created by Rosie, an ER doctor, and Penn, a writer, and the five children they have: Roo (Roosevelt), Ben, the twins Rigel and Orion, and baby Claude. At first it seems that all five areContinue reading “This is How It Always Is”

Tell The Wolves I’m Home

Tell The Wolves I’m Home (2012) by Carol Rifka Brunt was a achingly beautiful novel about grief, families, growing up, and being different, set in 1986-1987 in New York. The teenage narrator, June, and her sister, Greta, visit their Uncle Finn every weekend in the City so that he can paint their portrait. Finn isContinue reading “Tell The Wolves I’m Home”