No Boy Summer

This is the 200th post on Reading While Fat!! I’ll do another giveaway to celebrate–if you leave a comment here on this post, I’ll choose a name and send you a copy of the book. Please comment by midnight EDST, October 22, 2024 and I will randomly choose a name thereafter. No Boy Summer (2023)Continue reading “No Boy Summer”

The Sons of El Rey

The Sons of El Rey (2024) by Alex Espinoza is a brilliant historical, polyvocal, family drama with a bit of magical realism that was the August selection for Roxane Gay’s The Audacious Book Club. Although this was the third book from her book club that I’ve read this year, I’ve not been able to manageContinue reading “The Sons of El Rey”

The Guncle Abroad

I was very excited to listen to The Guncle Abroad (2024), by Steven Rowley, which was read by the author, as The Guncle had been. I enjoyed it much more than the first book with Patrick, Maisie, and Grant, as Rowley avoided most of the anti-fat bias that had sadly been peppered throughout The Guncle.Continue reading “The Guncle Abroad”

Only Big Bumbum Matters Tomorrow

I didn’t know what to expect from Only Big Bumbum Matters Tomorrow (publication day August 30, 2024) by Damilare Kuku, Described as “a powerful and hilarious debut novel about family secrets, judgmental aunties, and Brazilian butt lifts,” I was interested to see how it handled anti-fatness. Told from the multiple perspectives of the women inContinue reading “Only Big Bumbum Matters Tomorrow”

The Guncle

I am a little late to The Guncle party (2021) by Steven Rowley, but better late than never, although I do have mixed feelings about it, primarily because of the anti-fat bias throughout. Patrick, who was an actor in a popular sitcom, lives alone in his Palm Springs house and hasn’t worked for several years.Continue reading “The Guncle”

The Poet X

The Poet X (2018) by Elizabeth Acevedo is an award-winning YA novel-in-verse that just blew me away. The audiobook is narrated by the author, which I especially loved, as you hear the pacing and intonation as she intended. Xiomara (pronounced See-oh-MAH-ruh) lives in Harlem with her parents and twin brother. They are 15 and Dominican,Continue reading “The Poet X”

Tell It to Me Singing

Tell It to Me Singing by Tita Ramírez (publication date 7/9/2024) takes its title from a Cuban and Dominican greeting “dímelo cantando” which translates directly as “tell it to me singing” but means “tell me everything!” It is a fitting title for this book that reads like a telenovela with unexpected twists and turns. AsContinue reading “Tell It to Me Singing”

Maame

Maame (2023) by Jessica George was on my TBR list as soon as I read the description, and I was not disappointed. 25-year old Maddie is Ghanaian and lives with her father in the London area. He has Parkinson’s and she is is primary caregiver, along with a home health worker that comes in mostContinue reading “Maame”

The Love Songs of W.E.B DuBois

The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois (2021) by Honorée Fannone Jeffers was an Oprah’s club pick, a finalist for the Kirkus prize that year, along with several Goodreads nominations, and I’m disappointed that it wasn’t honored more. Overall, it’s a sprawling, beautifully written, epic work of historical fiction, poetic and heartbreaking and intricate. At nearlyContinue reading “The Love Songs of W.E.B DuBois”