I loved Lessons in Chemistry (2022) by Bonnie Garmus and have no idea why it took me so long to get to it! Elizabeth Zott is a chemist in 1959, at a research firm in southern California. She meets Calvin Evans, the hotshot of the office, when she appropriates beakers from his lab because, asContinue reading “Lessons in Chemistry”
Category Archives: Weight-Neutral
Les Be Honest
I had high hopes for Les Be Honest (Pub. Date February 13, 2024) by Sarah Robinson, a multicultural queer lesbian romance by the author of Baby Bank, which I really enjoyed. The story is told from the perspective of Yasmeen, a queer black millennial trust fund young adult with ADHD, who has just had toContinue reading “Les Be Honest”
Starling House
Starling House (2023) is Alix E. Harrow’s newest fantasy, this time a contemporary gothic featuring a former coal-mining town in Kentucky and a fictional creepy children’s book called The Underland, written by an E. Starling. Harrow describes it as a “southern gothic beauty and the beast, sort of”. It was a Reese’s Book Club selection,Continue reading “Starling House”
Remarkably Bright Creatures
I was absolutely delighted by Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (2022)! I am happily in the majority of people who loved this book, the story of widowed Tova Sullivan who lost her teenage son Erik thirty years before, and Cameron, annoying screw-up, man-child, who shows up in Sowell Bay, Washington, looking for hisContinue reading “Remarkably Bright Creatures”
Salt Houses
Salt Houses by Hala Alyan (2017) told the story of one Palestinian family over multiple generations, beginning in the late 1960s through the 2010s, centered around Alia and her husband Asif, who is best friends with Alia’s brother Mustafa. Alia and Mustafa’s mother is forced to leave with the Six-Day War in 1967, and MustafaContinue reading “Salt Houses”
State of Wonder
State of Wonder (2011) by Ann Patchett has been on my TBR stack forever, so I was really glad when it was a monthly book group pick. I even knew lore about it, as the writer Elizabeth Gilbert writes about her exchange with Ann Patchett about this book, in her 2015 creativity book Big Magic:Continue reading “State of Wonder”
My Big Fat Desi Wedding
My Big Fat Desi Wedding, ed. by Prerna Pickett (pub. date 1/16/2024) was exactly as described–an anthology of short stories set around South Asian weddings featuring primarily young women and men. The stories were each pretty light and didn’t delve into a lot of controversy, generally. I enjoyed the cultural aspect of them, since I’veContinue reading “My Big Fat Desi Wedding”
Now You See Us
Now You See Us (2023) is the newest novel written by Balli Kaur Jaswal (Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters) and is just as good as the others of hers that I’ve read, in a completely different way. Set in Singapore, Jaswal tells the story of a murder throughContinue reading “Now You See Us”
Master Slave Husband Wife
Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom by Ilyon Woo (2023) read like fiction, although it is an exhaustively-researched true story. Ellen and William Craft were enslaved in the same town in Georgia, married, though living in different households. Ellen, a seamstress, was a very light-skinned woman and the half-sister ofContinue reading “Master Slave Husband Wife”
Zero Days
Zero Days by Ruth Ware (2023) had a cover review and interview with the author earlier this year in my favorite place to find recommendations: BookPage. I was completely intrigued by the idea of a penetration tester on the run and having to use her skills to save herself. Jacintha (Jack) Cross and her husband,Continue reading “Zero Days”
Reading While Fat 