fabulist elements – Reading While Fat

A Grandmother Begins the Story

A Grandmother Begins the Story (2023) by Michelle Porter is an inventive, beautifully-written book that tells the story of five generations of Métis women and the bison and the land they live on. The audiobook is read by a full cast of 16 different actors, who read the chapters written from the perspectives of theContinue reading “A Grandmother Begins the Story”

The Library of Flowers

The Library of Flowers (publication day May 3, 2026) by L.C. Chu (aka Lily Chu) has a little bit of everything. This hard-to-categorize, enjoyable fantasy/historical/ romance/family drama/coming of age features Lucy Hua, the latest in a long line of Hua women perfumers who can create perfumes that can affect emotion or even summon true love–calledContinue reading “The Library of Flowers”

Westward Women

Westward Women (publication day March 10, 2026) by Alice Martin is completely unique–speculative fiction, but in an alternate history way. It’s 1973, and an epidemic has gripped the United States at the same time as news of Watergate has broken. Women ages 18-35 are gripped with an itch that’s impossible to satisfy–both internal and external.Continue reading “Westward Women”

The Measure

My book club chose The Measure (2022) by Nikki Erlick for our October 2025 read, and we had a great discussion! The premise is that one day, everyone who is older than 22 receives a box at their front door (later, you receive a box when you turn 22). On the box is an inscriptionContinue reading “The Measure”

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”

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”