Category Archives: Weight-Neutral

Olga Dies Dreaming

Olga Dies Dreaming (2022) by Xochitl Gonzalez is an engaging and darkly funny novel that deals with gentrification in Brooklyn, the aftermath of colonialism and Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, living up to parental expectations, whether they are unreasonable or not, all with the background of a sweet romance. Olga and her brother Prieto areContinue reading “Olga Dies Dreaming”

Forever This Summer

Forever This Summer (2021) by Leslie C. Youngblood is a bittersweet and heartwarming middle-grade novel set in Bogalusa, Louisiana, and starring 11-year old Georgie, who is visiting with her Mama and baby sister Peaches to help take care of Mama’s Aunt Vie, who has Alzheimer’s. Georgie misses her best friend back in Atlanta, Nikki, andContinue reading “Forever This Summer”

All My Rage

In All My Rage (2022), Sabaa Tahir has created a compulsively readable book that draws you in to Salahudin’s and Noor’s lives, and you can’t help but watch the slowly unfolding disastrous train wreck. She tells the stories of Sal, Noor, and Sal’s mother, Misbah, going back and forth in time. It’s contemporary YA, unlikeContinue reading “All My Rage”

That Woman Next Door / The Woman Next Door

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”

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”