I listened to That Woman Next Door by Harper Bliss (2021) and The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotoso (2017) consecutively and was amused by the similarity in the titles. Although both stories involve two women who live next door to each other, they couldn’t be more different. That Woman Next Door is a slow-burnContinue reading “That Woman Next Door / The Woman Next Door”
Category Archives: Weight-Neutral
The Tenant
The Tenant by Katrine Engberg (2016/2020) was my library book club’s June selection and a murder mystery set in Copenhagen, Denmark with detectives Jeppe Kørner and Anette Werner on the case. The story is mostly told from Kørner’s perspective–he is newly divorced, with a bad back and something of a painkiller dependence. The banter betweenContinue reading “The Tenant”
Four Treasures of the Sky
Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang (2022) is a beautifully written and heartbreaking novel set in the 1880’s in China, San Francisco, and Idaho. Daiyu is a young girl living with her parents, who are tapestry-weavers, and her grandmother, in a small village near the ocean. Both her mother and grandmother tellContinue reading “Four Treasures of the Sky”
True Biz
I devoured True Biz by Sara Nović (2022) as if I hadn’t read anything in months! True Biz has something for everyone: family dramas, coming-of-age stories, a would-be terrorist thriller, all interspersed with deaf history and “Did You Know” explanations of ASL, deaf history, and activism. River Valley School for the Deaf, in southwest Ohio,Continue reading “True Biz”
Detransition, Baby
I first became aware of Detransition, Baby (2021), by Torrey Peters, when it was one of Roxane Gay’s first picks for her book club. It is the story of Reese, a trans woman; and Ames/Amy, a trans woman, who is Reese’s former girlfriend who detransitioned, and then had an affair with Katrina, his boss, aContinue reading “Detransition, Baby”
The Chill
The Chill (2020) by Scott Carson was almost too creepy for me, but I couldn’t stop reading about a town, Galesburg, flooded by a dam that created the Chilewaukee Reservoir in upstate New York. The reservoir is part of the water supply system for New York City, and, as happened all over the country whenContinue reading “The Chill”
Fevered Star
Fevered Star (2022) by Rebecca Roanhorse, is the sequel to Black Sun (which was one of the first reviews on this blog and a 2021 Hugo, Nebula, and Lambda Finalist!) and second book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy. I was anxiously awaiting its release so I could find out what happened after Serapio,Continue reading “Fevered Star”
The School For Good Mothers
The School For Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan (2022) is frightening because it is our world taken just one not-so-unlikely step further. Frida Liu is the 39-year old Chinese-American mother to Harriet, a toddler, and shares custody with her ex-husband, Gust, who had an affair with Susanna while Frida was still pregnant with Harriet. FridaContinue reading “The School For Good Mothers”
The Reading List
The Reading List (2021) by Sara Nisha Adams was lovely and heartbreaking at the same time. Set in London in Wembley, it follows widower Mukesh as he begins to try new things after the death of his beloved Naina; and young adult Aliesha who has just started working at the library, but isn’t sure it’sContinue reading “The Reading List”
News of the World
I had no previous knowledge about and didn’t know what to expect of News of the World (2016) by Paulette Jiles. My first clue was the inside cover map of 1870’s Texas and jacket description of an elderly former military man, Captain Jefferson Kidd, being asked to escort a young girl from the Indian TerritoryContinue reading “News of the World”
Reading While Fat 