The audiobook for Anita de Monte Laughs Last (2024) by Xóchitl González (author of 2022’s Olga Dies Dreaming) completely enthralled me with the alternating stories of both Cuban artist Anita de Monte in the early 1980s and 3rd year art history student Raquel in the late 1990s. There is some controversy that shows up inContinue reading “Anita de Monte Laughs Last”
Category Archives: Anti-Fat Biased
The Dogs of Venice
I was a big fan of The Guncle and The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley, so when I saw his The Dogs of Venice (print publication day October 14, 2025) available on NetGalley, I immediately requested it. As the story opens, Paul finds out that his marriage is over but they had scheduled a tripContinue reading “The Dogs of Venice”
The Many Mothers of Dolores Moore
I really loved The Many Mothers of Dolores Moore (publication day September 16, 2025), Anika Fajardo’s debut novel! Though the theme of grief after losing one’s last living parent was difficult, I loved how Fajardo used magical realism with Dorrie’s ancestors a constant chorus in her head, the interludes about mapmaking, and chapters from theContinue reading “The Many Mothers of Dolores Moore”
Not My Type: One Woman vs. a President
Sometimes I’m in the mood for a voyeuristic memoir, looking over someone else’s shoulder into their life. Not My Type: One Woman vs. a President (2025) by E. Jean Carroll met that mood completely! E. Jean narrates the audiobook herself, which is a treat. She begins with being deposed in the first civil suit sheContinue reading “Not My Type: One Woman vs. a President”
Shutter and Exposure
Shutter (2022) and Exposure (2024) by Ramona Emerson, feature Rita Todacheene, a crime scene photographer for the Albuquerque police department who can see ghosts. Raised both on the Navajo reservation by her grandmother and in Albuquerque with her mother, who died when Rita was 18, she started seeing ghosts when she was a young child,Continue reading “Shutter and Exposure”
The Hotel Nantucket
The Hotel Nantucket (2022) was Elin Hildebrand’s 28th book and the first one I’ve read that’s she’s written. A good summer choice by my library book group, Hildebrand centers the story on 19-year old chambermaid, Grace Hadley, who died in 1922 in a fire that gutted the hotel and has haunted it since, hoping forContinue reading “The Hotel Nantucket”
Slow Horses
Slow Horses (Slough House #1) by Mick Herron (2010) was the book club pick for May. If you’re not familiar with the book or the Apple TV series, it follows a group of MI5 agents assigned to Slough House in London for what remains of their failed careers. They are nominally still part of theContinue reading “Slow Horses”
Disappoint Me
I was charmed by Disappoint Me (publication day May 27, 2025), much more so than Nicola Dinan’s first book, Bellies. Max and Vincent are the two main characters. Max is a trans woman, a lawyer who analyzes contracts as an AI, and is in between boyfriends, bored by the queer London scene. She falls downContinue reading “Disappoint Me”
The History of a Difficult Child
The History of a Difficult Child (2023) is Mihret Sibhat’s first novel, and I wish there had been more buzz about it, as it is so inventive and original, and the primary character–the “difficult child” Selam Asmelash–has such a strong voice! Sibhat uses multiple perspectives to tell Selam’s story, beginning before her birth to DegituContinue reading “The History of a Difficult Child”
The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits
The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits (publication day April 8, 2025) by Jennifer Weiner is the kind of book I typically gravitate to. It’s about sisters, and music, and it has a fat main character, who is also likely on the autism spectrum. One sister is fat and very talented, the other is conventionally attractive butContinue reading “The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits”
Reading While Fat 