Yoke: My Yoga of Self-Acceptance

Yoke: My Yoga of Self-Acceptance 

By Jessamyn Stanley 

Workman Publishing, 2021. 198 pages. Nonfiction. 

Remember Jessamyn Stanley? How could you not? She's the proudly fat, Black, queer yoga teacher and charismatic author of Every Body Yoga, who drops a lot more f-bombs than namastes and refuses to pray at the church of Lululemon. Now she's back, here to take us even further on a personal and provocative journey into what it means to "practice yoga." Where Every Body Yoga, with 59,000 copies in print, taught us how to do yoga, Yoke tells us why ... In a series of deeply honest, funny, gritty, thoughtful, and largely autobiographical essays, Yoke explores issues of self-love, body-positivity, race, sex and sexuality, cannabis, and more, all through the lens of an authentic yoga practice. Every reader is invited to find this authentic spirit of yoga in their own lives and practice. To yoke. 

As someone who knows very little about yoga, this was a great little book that focuses on the reasoning behind practicing yoga and the mental and spiritual benefits that come from practice. Yoga is something I have wanted to get into, but I am worried going into it without having the typical body type of people you regularly see online doing yoga, but Jessamyn is a wonderful instructor and she destigmatizes doing yoga in a fat body. This book is much more focused on yoga as a theory and a spiritual practice than it is an instruction manual. She does have another book called "Every Body Yoga" that might be more instructional, so I am hoping to check that out soon. 

If you like Yoke, you might also like: 

Rest Is Resistance 

By Tricia Hersey 

Little, Brown Spark, 2022. 211 pages. Nonfiction. 

Disrupt and push back against capitalism and white supremacy. In this book, Tricia Hersey, aka The Nap Bishop, encourages us to connect to the liberating power of rest, daydreaming, and naps as a foundation for healing and justice. What would it be like to live in a well-rested world? Far too many of us have claimed productivity as the cornerstone of success. Brainwashed by capitalism, we subject our bodies and minds to work at an unrealistic, damaging, and machine-level pace -- feeding into the same engine that enslaved millions into brutal labor for its own relentless benefit. In Rest Is Resistance, Tricia Hersey, aka the Nap Bishop, casts an illuminating light on our troubled relationship with rest and how to imagine and dream our way to a future where rest is exalted. Our worth does not reside in how much we produce, especially not for a system that exploits and dehumanizes us. Rest, in its simplest form, becomes an act of resistance and a reclaiming of power because it asserts our most basic humanity. We are enough. The systems cannot have us. Rest Is Resistance is rooted in spiritual energy and centered in Black liberation, womanism, somatics, and Afrofuturism. With captivating storytelling and practical advice, all delivered in Hersey's lyrical voice and informed by her deep experience in theology, activism, and performance art, Rest Is Resistance is a call to action, a battle cry, a field guide, and a manifesto for all of us who are sleep deprived, searching for justice, and longing to be liberated from the oppressive grip of Grind Culture. 

More Than A Body 

By Lexie Kite Houghton 

Mifflin Harcourt, 2020. 346 pages. Nonfiction. 

Positive body image isn't believing your body looks good; it is knowing your body is good, regardless of how it looks. How do you feel about your body? Have you ever stayed home from a social activity or other opportunity because of concern about how you looked? Have you ever passed judgment on someone because of how they looked or dressed? Have you ever had difficulty concentrating on a task because you were self-conscious about your appearance? Our beauty-obsessed world perpetuates the idea that happiness, health, and ability to be loved are dependent on how we look, but authors Lindsay and Lexie Kite offer an alternative vision. With insights drawn from their extensive body image research, Lindsay and Lexie--PhDs and founders of the nonprofit Beauty Redefined (and also twin sisters!)--lay out an action plan that arms you with the skills you need to reconnect with your whole self and free yourself from the constraints of self-objectification.

LA

Your Not Forever Home

Your Not Forever Home 

By Katherine Ormerod 

Quadrille, 2024. 224 pages. Nonfiction. 

In Your Not Forever Home, Katherine Ormerod has curated a range of projects for every room in a rented house or flat, guiding you through techniques and invaluable insights that will help create spaces tailored to your taste. Katherine addresses why many of us are renting now for much longer, and provides reassuring guidance on how to approach alterations with your landlord - and, if you are new to DIY, Your Not Forever Home offers projects for a range of skillsets, from entry-level to the more experienced, with Katherine sharing her own experiences along the way. 

This was a fun interior design book with a lot of fun but very simple DIYs you can do to elevate a temporary living situation! As someone who moves around more often than I would like, these easy pops of personality in a temporary space can be so beneficial. I will say that some of the DIYs are very simplistic, and I wish there were some more complicated or advanced DIYs that would make more of an impact on your home. All in all, a good beginner's guide to decorating a temporary space. 

If you like Your Not Forever Home, you might also like: 

Domino: Your Guide to a Stylish Home 

By Nicole Sforza 

Simon & Schuster, 2016. 272 pages. Nonfiction.

 

The editors of "domino" magazine present a guide to discovering a personal style and creating loved personal spaces, sharing tips on everything from textiles and art to lighting and accessories. 

The Perfectly Imperfect Home 

By Deborah Needleman 

Clarkson Potter, 2011. 255 pages. Nonfiction. 

Describes eighty items that are what the author identifies as all one needs to live comfortably, practically, and stylishly, from essential furnishings to aesthetic accents.

My Best Friend's Exorcism

My Best Friend’s Exorcism 

By Grady Hendrix 

Quirk Books, 2017. 332 pages. Fiction. 

1988. Charleston, South Carolina. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fourth grade. But after an evening of skinny-dipping goes disastrously wrong, Gretchen begins to act--different. She's moody. She's irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she's nearby. Abby's investigation leads her to some startling discoveries--and by the time their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, the fate of Abby and Gretchen will be determined by a single question: Is their friendship powerful enough to beat the devil? 

I would recommend this to anyone who loves 80s horror! It is campy, nostalgic, and horrific. Grady Hendrix is great at writing both gruesome, gory horror paired with social horror. I find some of the most disturbing parts of the story are seeing how people treat each other, possessed by the devil or not. I would warn anyone who is interested in this book to be aware that there are some very gruesome scenes à la The Exorcist. 

If you like My Best Friend’s Exorcism, you might also like: 

Bunny 

By Mona Awad 

Viking, 2019. 305 pages. Fiction. 

Samantha Heather Mackey couldn't be more of an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at New England's Warren University. A scholarship student who prefers the company of her dark imagination to that of most people, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort--a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other "Bunny," and are often found entangled in a group hug so tight they become one. But everything changes when Samantha receives an invitation to the Bunnies' fabled "Smut Salon," and finds herself inexplicably drawn to their front door--ditching her only friend, Ava, a caustic art school dropout, in the process. As Samantha plunges deeper and deeper into the sinister yet saccharine world of the Bunny cult and starts to take part in their ritualistic off-campus "Workshop" where they magically conjure their monstrous creations, the edges of reality begin to blur, and her friendships with Ava and the Bunnies are brought into deadly collision. 

I Was A Teenage Slasher 

By Stephen Graham Jones 

Saga Press, 2024. 372 pages. Fiction. 

1989, Lamesa, Texas. A small west Texas town driven by oil and cotton-and a place where everyone knows everyone else's business. So it goes for Tolly Driver, a good kid with more potential than application, seventeen, and about to be cursed to kill for revenge. Here Stephen Graham Jones explores the Texas he grew up in, the unfairness of being on the outside, through the slasher horror he lives but from the perspective of the killer, Tolly, writing his own autobiography. Find yourself rooting for a killer in this summer teen movie of a novel gone full blood-curdling tragic.

Nothing to See Here

Nothing to See Here 

By Kevin Wilson

Ecco, 2019. 254 pages. Fiction. 

Lillian and Madison were the unlikeliest of roommates at their elite boarding school: Madison, the daughter of a prominent Atlanta family, being groomed for greatness; Lillian, a scholarship student, plucked out of nowhere based solely on her intellect and athletic prowess. The two were as tight as could be, reveling in their unique weirdnesses, until Lillian had to leave the school unexpectedly. Years later, the two have lost touch, but Madison writes and begs Lillian for help. Her husband's twin stepkids are moving in with them and she wants Lillian to be their caretaker. However, there's a catch: the twins can spontaneously combust when they get agitated, flames igniting from their skin in a disturbing but beautiful way. Disbelieving at first but ultimately too intrigued by these strange children, Lillian agrees. And as they hunker down in the pool house, Lillian and the twins learn to trust each other--and stay cool ... It all seems impossible to manage, but Lillian soon accepts that she and the children need each other, urgently and fiercely. 

This was a delightful little story about misfit, wild children who really just need some love and care in their lives. I rarely say this, but I wish this book was like 50 pages longer - it was short and sweet, but the day-to-day experiences with the children were so entertaining, I wish I could read more and more. I loved the dynamic between Lillian and Bessie and Roland. I tend to love stories of weird, magical, and misunderstood children and Kevin Wilson did a great job of incorporating the unexplained (i.e. children spontaneously combusting into flames) with the mundane (i.e. distant fathers in politics). This, for me, is my favorite kind of magical realism. 

If you like Nothing to See Here, you might also like: 

The House in the Cerulean Sea 

By T.J. Klune 

Tor, Tom Doherty Associates. 398 pages. Science Fiction. 

A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret. Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages. When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they're likely to bring about the end of days. But the children aren't the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn. An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place--and realizing that family is yours. 

Spoonbenders 

By Daryl Gregory 

Alfred A. Knopf, 2017. 399 pages. Fiction. 

The Telemachus family is known for performing inexplicable feats on talk shows and late-night television. Teddy, a master conman, heads up a clan who possess gifts he only fakes: there's Maureen, who can astral project; Irene, the human lie detector; Frankie, gifted with telekinesis; and Buddy, the clairvoyant. But when, one night, the magic fails to materialize, the family withdraws to Chicago where they live in shame for years. Until: As they find themselves facing a troika of threats (CIA, mafia, unrelenting skeptic), Matty, grandson of the family patriarch, discovers a bit of the old Telemachus magic in himself. Now, they must put past obstacles behind them and unite like never before. But will it be enough to bring The Amazing Telemachus Family back to its amazing life?

LA

There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension

There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension 

By Hanif Abdurraqib 

Random House, 2024. 334 pages. Nonfiction. 

While Hanif Abdurraqib is an acclaimed author, a gifted poet, and one of our culture's most insightful music critics, he is most of all, at heart, an Ohioan. Growing up in Columbus in the '90s, Abdurraqib witnessed a golden era of basketball, one in which legends like LeBron were forged, and countless others weren't. His lifelong love of the game leads Abdurraqib into a lyrical, historical, and emotionally rich exploration of what it means to make it, who we think deserves success, the tensions between excellence and expectation, and the very notion of role-models, all of which he expertly weaves together with memoir: 'Here is where I would like to tell you about the form on my father's jumpshot," Abdurraqib writes. "The truth, though, is that I saw my father shoot a basketball only one time.' 

This is the second essay collection I have read from Hanif Abdurraqib and it has convinced me to read everything else he publishes (see my review for A Little Devil in America if you want to learn more about his other collection I have read). Abdurraqib is both a poet and an essayist, and you can tell because his essays are as lyrical as poems, and his poems are meaningful enough to be full essays. I would highly recommend listening to the audiobook version, especially because this collection is narrated by the author himself. I’ll admit that I’m not a huge fan of sports, but I am a huge fan of talented writing and insightful cultural analyses. 

If you like There’s Always This Year, you might also like: 

Punch Me Up to the Gods 

By Brian Broome 

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021. 250 pages. Biography. 

A coming-of-age memoir about Blackness, masculinity and addiction follows the author, a poet and screenwriter, as he recounts his experiences, revealing a perpetual outsider awkwardly squirming to find his way in. 

How to Say Babylon 

By Safiya Sinclair 

Simon & Schuster, 2023. 335 pages. Biography. 

How to Say Babylon is Sinclair's reckoning with the culture that initially nourished but ultimately sought to silence her; it is her reckoning with patriarchy and tradition, and the legacy of colonialism in Jamaica. Rich in lyricism and language only a poet could evoke, How to Say Babylon is both a universal story of a woman finding her own power and a unique glimpse into a rarefied world we may know how to name, Rastafari, but one we know little about.

LA

Magical/Realism: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders

Magical/Realism: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders 

By Vanessa Angelica Villareal 

Tiny Reparations Books, 2024. 370 pages. Nonfiction. 

In Magical/Realism, Vanessa Angélica Villarreal offers us an intimate mosaic of migration, violence, and colonial erasure through the lens of her marriage and her experiences navigating American monoculture. As she attempts to recover the truth from the absences and silences within her life, her relationships, and those of her ancestors, Vanessa pieces together her story from the fragments of music, memory, and fantasy that have helped her make sense of it all. Each chapter is an attempt to reimagine and re-world what has been lost. In one essay, Vanessa examines the gender performativity of Nirvana and Selena; in another, she offers a radical but crucial racial reading of Jon Snow in Game of Thrones; and throughout the collection, she explores how fantasy can provide healing when grief feels insurmountable. She reflects on the moments of her life that are too painful to remember--her difficult adolescence, her role as the eldest daughter of Mexican immigrants, her divorce--and finds a new way to archive her history and map her future(s), one infused with the hope and joy of fantasy and magical thinking. By engaging readers in her project of rebuilding narrative, Vanessa broadens our understanding of what memoir and cultural criticism can be. Magical/Realism is a wise, tender, and essential collection that carves a path toward a new way of remembering and telling our stories. 

I loved this collection of essays! As a huge fan of fantasy, I loved seeing how she connected fictional narratives to her real-life experiences and explored how metaphorically they are similar. One of the amazing things about fiction and fantasy is how people across cultures and backgrounds can find deep connections in the same story. Vanessa is candid about her experiences and her history, it truly feels like as much of a memoir as it is an essay collection on media analysis. 

If you like Magical/Realism, you might also like: 

Wannabe: Reckonings with the Pop Culture that Raised Me 

By Aisha Harris 

Harper Collins, 2023. 280 pages. Memoir. 

In nine lively essays, critic Aisha Harris invites us into the wonderful, maddening process of making sense of the pop culture we consume. Aisha Harris has made a name for herself as someone you can turn to for a razor-sharp take on whatever show or movie everyone is talking about. Now, she turns her talents inward, mining the benchmarks of her nineties childhood and beyond to analyze the tropes that are shaping all of us, and our ability to shape them right back. In the opening essay, an interaction with Chance the Rapper prompts an investigation into the origin myth of her name. Elsewhere, Aisha traces the evolution of the "Black Friend" trope from its Twainian origins through to the heyday of the Spice Girls, teen comedies like Clueless, and sitcoms of the New Girl variety. And she examines the overlap of taste and identity in this era, rejecting the patriarchal ethos that you are what you like. Whatever the subject, sitting down with her book feels like hanging out with your smart, hilarious, pop culture-obsessed friend--and it's a delight. 

The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality 

By Amanda Montell 

Atria Books, 2024. 257 pages. Nonfiction 

'Magical thinking' can be broadly defined as the belief that one's internal thoughts can affect unrelated events in the external world: Think of the conviction that one can manifest their way out of poverty, stave off cancer with positive vibes, thwart the apocalypse by learning to can their own peaches, or transform an unhealthy relationship to a glorious one with loyalty alone. In all its forms, magical thinking works in service of restoring agency amid chaos, but in The Age of Magical Overthinking, Montell argues that in the modern information age, our brain's coping mechanisms have been overloaded, and our irrationality turned up to an eleven. Montell delves into a cornucopia of the cognitive biases that run rampant in our brains, from how the 'Halo effect' cultivates worship (and hatred) of larger than life celebrities, to how the 'Sunk cost fallacy' can keep us in detrimental relationships long after we've realized they're not serving us. As she illuminates these concepts with her signature brilliance and wit, Montell's prevailing message is one of hope, empathy, and ultimately forgiveness for our anxiety-addled human selves. If you have all but lost faith in our ability to reason, Montell aims to make some sense of the senseless. To crack open a window in our minds, and let a warm breeze in. To help quiet the cacophony for a while, or even hear a melody in it.

LA

Silver Nitrate

Silver Nitrate 

By Silvia Moreno-Garcia 

Del Rey, 2023. 318 pages. Fiction. 

Montserrat has always been overlooked. She's a talented sound editor, but she's left out of the boys' club running the film industry in '90s Mexico City. And she's all but invisible to her best friend, Tristán, a charming if faded soap opera star, though she's been in love with him since childhood. Then Tristán discovers his new neighbor is the cult horror director Abel Urueta, and the legendary auteur claims he can change their lives--even if his tale of a Nazi occultist imbuing magic into highly volatile silver nitrate stock sounds like sheer fantasy. The magic film was never finished, which is why, Urueta swears, his career vanished overnight. He is cursed. Now the director wants Montserrat and Tristán to help him shoot the missing scene and lift the curse . . . but Montserrat soon notices a dark presence following her, and Tristán begins seeing the ghost of his ex-girlfriend. As they work together to unravel the mystery of the film and the obscure occultist who once roamed their city, Montserrat and Tristán may find that sorcerers and magic are not only the stuff of movies. 

Silver Nitrate is a good introduction to weird horror. It’s not so horrific you’ll want to sleep with the lights on, but it’s spooky and weird enough to make you question whether or not magic could be real. This novel blends supernatural mysticism, occultism, Nazi ghosts, and interesting film history. There are moments in the book that get a little too weird and convoluted even for me, especially towards the end of the book. It was very engaging and left me thinking about the story even when I wasn’t reading it. Montserrat and Tristan are characters that play off of each other well, and each has their own flaws and strengths that add a lot to the story. Overall, a fun read that I would recommend to fans of cursed films and books about the occult. 

If you like Silver Nitrate, you might also like: 

The Invention of Sound 

By Chuck Palahnuik 

Grand Central Publishing, 2020. 228 pages. Fiction. 

Private detective Foster Gates is a father in search of his missing daughter, and sound engineer Mitzi harbors a secret that may help him solve the case. It's Mitzi's job to create the dubbed screams used in horror films and action movies. She's the best at what she does. But what no one in Hollywood knows is the screams Mitzi produces are harvested from the real, horror-filled, blood-chilling screams of people in their death throes--a technique first employed by Mitzi's father and one she continues on in his memory--a deeply conflicted serial killer compelled beyond her understanding to honor her father's chilling legacy. Soon Foster finds himself on Mitzi's trail. And in pursuit of her dark art, Mitzi realizes she's created the perfect scream, one that compels anyone who hears it to mirror the sound as long as they listen to it--a highly contagious seismic event with the potential to bring the country to its knees.  

Curse of the Reaper 

By Brian McAuley 

Talos Press, 2022. 323 pages. Fiction. 

Decades after playing the titular killer in the 80s horror franchise Night of the Reaper, Howard Browning has been reduced to signing autographs for his dwindling fanbase at genre conventions. When the studio announces a series reboot, the aging thespian is crushed to learn he's being replaced in the iconic role by heartthrob Trevor Mane, a former sitcom child-star who's fresh out of rehab. Trevor is determined to stay sober and revamp his image while Howard refuses to let go of the character he created, setting the stage for a cross-generational clash over the soul of a monster. But as Howard fights to reclaim his legacy, the sinister alter ego consumes his unraveling mind, pushing him to the brink of violence. Is the method actor succumbing to madness or has the devilish Reaper taken on a life of its own? 

Horror Movie 

By Paul Tremblay 

William Morrow, 2024. 275 pages. Fiction. 

In June 1993, a group of young guerilla filmmakers spent four weeks making Horror Movie, a notorious, disturbing, art-house horror flick. The weird part? Only three of the film's scenes were ever released to the public, but Horror Movie has nevertheless grown a rabid fanbase. Three decades later, Hollywood is pushing for a big budget reboot. The man who played "The Thin Kid" is the only surviving cast member. He remembers all too well the secrets buried within the original screenplay, the bizarre events of the filming, and the dangerous crossed lines on set that resulted in tragedy. As memories flood back in, the boundaries between reality and film, past and present start to blur. But he's going to help remake the film, even if it means navigating a world of cynical producers, egomaniacal directors, and surreal fan conventions--demons of the past be damned. But at what cost?

LA

Check & Mate

Check & Mate

By Ali Hazelwood 

G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2023. 352 pages. YA Fiction. 

When eighteen-year-old Mallory begrudgingly agrees to return to chess in one last charity tournament, her surprise upset against Nolan Sawyer, the reigning world champ and bad boy of the chess world, sets her on a whirlwind adventure as she rediscovers her passion for the game. 

As someone who doesn’t read a lot of YA or romance, this YA romance was a pleasant surprise! Ali Hazelwood is best known for her adult romance novels, with this being her first young adult novel. However, I did not know it was young adult until I was later informed and I don’t think I could have guessed it was even after reading. The line between YA and Adult is sometimes blurry, which can be frustrating for some readers who have preferences for certain content. I always recommend readers to check content warnings if there are certain topics that want to be avoided. There are adult themes throughout the book. All in all, I think it was a very fun read! The romance was sweet, although our main protagonist is pretty flawed which can be frustrating at times. I have never paid attention to the world of chess (and I still won’t), but it was fun to take a peak behind the curtain and experience a whole new world of competition and strategy. 

If you like Check & Mate, you might also like: 

Debating Darcy

By Sayantani DasGupta 

Scholastic Inc., 2022. 303 pages. YA Fiction. 

It is a truth universally acknowledged that there are two types of people in the hypercompetitive world of high school forensics competitions: speakers and debaters. Nobody knows this better than Leela Bose, a life-long speech competitor. When she meets Firoze Darcy, an incorrigible debater, Leela has no choice but to try and tolerate him. But why simply tolerate Firoze when Leela can one-up him? She decides to switch into the debate category of the competition to prove that women are just as capable as men. But the situation is more complicated than Leela anticipated, and her participation in the tournament reveals that she might have tragically misjudged the debaters in the forensics league -- including Firoze Darcy. Leela will have to confront her assumptions, not only about other people, but about herself, if she's to have any hope of deciphering her complicated feelings for Darcy or succeeding in the forensics competition. 

My Mechanical Romance 

By Alexene Farol Follmuth 

Holiday House, 2022. 266 pages. YA Fiction. 

High school senior Bel Maier has an aptitude for engineering and teams up with robotics team captain, Mateo Luna, but after a rough start together the nights of after-school work lead to romance. 

You Don’t Have A Shot 

By Racquel Marie 

Feiwel and Friends, 2023. 376 pages. YA Fiction. 

Seventeen-year-old Valentina jeopardizes her future when she gets into an altercation with her rival, Leticia, during a soccer game, so the two girls must co-captain a soccer team to redeem themselves and what starts as a shaky alliance of necessity blossoms into something more.

LA

First Person Singular: Stories

First Person Singular: Stories 

By Haruki Murakami 

Alfred A. Knopf, 2021. 245 pages. Fiction. 

A riveting new collection of short stories from the beloved, internationally acclaimed, Haruki Murakami. The eight masterful stories in this new collection are all told in the first person by a classic Murakami narrator: a lonely man. Some of them (like "With the Beatles," "Cream," and "On a Stone Pillow") are nostalgic looks back at youth. Others are set in adulthood--"Charlie Parker Plays Bossa Nova," "Carnaval," "Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey" and the stunning title story. Occasionally, a narrator who may or may not be Haruki himself is present, as in "The Yakult Swallows Poetry Collection." Is it memoir or fiction? The reader decides. The stories all touch beautifully on love and loss, childhood and death . . . all with a signature Murakami twist. 

I originally picked up this book because I wanted to read more short story collections, and Murakami did not disappoint. Murakami is one of the most influential writers in the magical realism space. The stories mainly center around mundane day-to-day with little hints and not-so-little hints of magic – like a talking monkey that works in a bath house and literally steals women’s names. Some stories, could be true stories that Murakami experienced, others are obviously not, and others? Well, it’s impossible to tell. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the ambiguity of the stories, but I can see how that would be frustrating to some readers. There are no solid answers in this collection. There are a lot of references to jazz, classical piano music, and baseball, none of which I am particularly interested in so I’m sure some of the meaning flew right over my head. Out of all the stories, “Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey” and “With the Beatles” are my particular favorites. 

If you like First Person Singular, you might also like:

 

Strange Pilgrims: Twelve Stories 

By Gabriel García Márquez 

Vintage Books, 2006. 188 pages. Fiction. 

The 12 stories in this shimmering collection poignantly depict South Americans adrift in Europe. Combining terror and nostalgia, surreal comedy and the poetry of the commonplace, Strange Pilgrims is a triumph of narrative sorcery by the Nobel Prize-winning author of One Hundred Years of Solitude.

The Houseguest and Other Stories 

By Amparo Dávila 

New Directions Paperbook Original, 2018. 122 pages. Fiction. 

Like those of Kafka, Poe, or Shirley Jackson, Amparo Dávila's stories are terrifying, mesmerizing, and expertly crafted you'll finish each one gasping for air. With acute psychological insight, Dávila follows her characters to the limits of desire, paranoia, insomnia, and fear. She is a writer obsessed with obsession, who makes nightmares come to life through the everyday: loneliness sinks in easily like a razor-sharp knife, some sort of evil lurks in every shadow, delusion takes the form of strange and very real creatures. After reading Dávila's debut collection in English you'll wonder how this secret was kept for so long. 

Interpreter of Maladies: Stories 

By Jhumpa Lahiri 

Houghton Mifflin, c1999. 198 pages. Fiction. 

Stories about Indians in India and America. The story, A Temporary Matter, is on mixed marriage, Mrs. Sen's is on the adaptation of an immigrant to the U.S., and in the title story an interpreter guides an American family through the India of their ancestors.

My Hygge Home

My Hygge Home: How to Make Home Your Happy Place 

By Meik Wiking 

Abrams Image, 2022. 271 pages. Nonfiction 

Inspired by Danish design and traditions, this inspiring book, featuring tips based on research from The Happiness Institute in Copenhagen, shows how to turn a home into a cozy sanctuary regardless of available space or budget. 

I’m honestly bummed I read this just after coming out of the winter season, because this book, filled with tips and tricks to make your home cozy and warm, would have been perfect for those dreary winter days. If you’ve read “The Little Book of Hygge” by the same author, this one is very similar but it delves more into the psychology behind hygge and why it’s valuable, especially since the pandemic shook our routines and habits. If anything, the need for intentional coziness has only grown over the last few years. 

If you like My Hygge Home, you might also like: 

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning 

By Margareta Magnusson 

Scribner, 2018. 117 pages. Nonfiction 

In Sweden there is a kind of decluttering called döstädning, dö meaning "death" and städning meaning "cleaning." Margareta instructs readers to embrace minimalism, and suggests which possessions you can easily get rid of (unworn clothes, unwanted presents, more plates than you'd ever use) and which you might want to keep (photographs, love letters, a few of your children's art projects). Digging into her late husband's tool shed, and her own secret drawer of vices, Margareta introduces an element of fun to a potentially daunting task. Along the way readers get a glimpse into her life in Sweden, and also become more comfortable with the idea of letting go. 

Marie Kondo’s Kurashi at Home 

By Marie Kondō 

Ten Speed Press, 2022. 223 pages. Nonfiction

From the #1 bestselling sensation and Netflix star comes her guide to designing not just the home-but the life-of your dreams, fully illustrated with more than 200 photographs from inside the Marie Kondo lifestyle.

LA

A Little Devil in America

A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance 

By Hanif Abdurraqib 

Random House, 2021. 300 pages. Nonfiction 

A Little Devil in America is an urgent project that unravels all modes and methods of Black performance, in this moment when Black performers are coming to terms with their value, reception, and immense impact on America. With sharp insight, humor, and heart, Abdurraqib examines how Black performance happens in specific moments in time and space--midcentury Paris, the moon, or a cramped living room in Columbus, Ohio. Abdurraqib's prose is entrancing and fluid as he leads us along the links in his remarkable trains of thought. A Little Devil in America considers, critiques, and praises performance in music, sports, writing, comedy, grief, games, and love. 

This is one of the most stunning collections of essays I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I, personally, listened to the audiobook, which I would highly recommend. Hanif Abdurraqib writes so poetically that these essays are enhanced by being spoke out loud. He speaks about the subject of each essay with reverence and generosity while delving into critically important social commentary. He is able to paint the bigger picture while highlighting the most beautiful intricacy. The essays “The Josephine Baker Monument Can Never Be Large Enough” and “It Is Safe to Say I Have Lost Many Games of Spades” were particularly profound for me. Highly, highly recommend. 

If you like A Little Devil in America, you might also like: 

Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop 

By Danyel Smith 

Roc Lit 101, One World, 2021. 292 pages. Nonfiction 

From one of the preeminent cultural critics of her generation, a radiant weave of memoir, criticism, and biography that tells the story of black women in music--from the Dixie Cups to Gladys Knight to Janet, Whitney, and Mariah-- as the foundational story of American pop. 

Black Girl, Call Home 

By Jasmine Mans 

Berkley, 2021. 245 pages. Nonfiction 

A literary coming-of-age poetry collection, an ode to the places we call home, and a piercingly intimate deconstruction of daughterhood, Black Girl, Call Home is a love letter to the wandering black girl and a vital companion to any woman on a journey to find truth, belonging, and healing. As a competitive spoken-word poet who draws large crowds of people, Jasmine Mans's collection is divided into six sections, each with a corresponding active telephone number where she has recorded excerpts of her poems. You can listen now, just dial! Using poetry to bring change to the world with positive agitation and hoping to prompt dialogue where there is normally fear, poet Jasmine Mans explores the intersection of race, feminism, and queer identity in her latest collection Black Girl, Call Home.

The Art Thief

The Art Thief 

By Michael Finkel 

Alfred A. Knopf, 2023. 221 pages. Nonfiction 

For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly ten years-in museums and cathedrals all over Europe-Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion. 

This is a nonfiction book that reads like a cinematic documentary. It’s very fast-paced and extremely fascinating, it truly feels like reading a novel. This story shows how obsession, hubris, luck, and maybe even genius, led to the most prolific art thief in history. If you are interested in reading about true crime that doesn’t involve murder or violence in anyway, but is still filled with secrets, lies, deception, and extremely flawed accomplices, this is the story for you. I literally gasped out loud at least twice while reading this book. 

If you like The Art Thief, you might also like: 

The Feather Thief 

By Kirk Wallace Johnson 

Viking, 2018. 308 pages. Nonfiction 

On a cool June evening in 2009, twenty-year-old American flautist Edwin Rist grabbed hundreds of bird skins - some collected 150 years earlier - and escaped into the darkness. Two years later, Kirk Wallace Johnson was consumed by the strange case of the feather thief. What would possess a person to steal dead birds? This is the gripping story of a bizarre and shocking crime, and one man's relentless pursuit of justice. 

The Last Mona Lisa 

By Jonathan Santlofer 

Sourcebooks Landmark, 2021. 376 pages. Fiction 

August, 1911: The Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincent Peruggia. Exactly what happens in the two years before its recovery is a mystery. Many replicas of the Mona Lisa exist, and more than one historian has wondered if the painting now in the Louvre is a fake, switched in 1911. Present day: art professor Luke Perrone digs for the truth behind his most famous ancestor: Peruggia. His search attracts an Interpol detective with something to prove and an unfamiliar but curiously helpful woman. Soon, Luke tumbles deep into the world of art and forgery, a land of obsession and danger. A gripping novel exploring the 1911 theft and the present underbelly of the art world, The Last Mona Lisa is a suspenseful tale, tapping into our universal fascination with da Vinci's enigma, why people are driven to possess certain works of art, and our fascination with the authentic and the fake.

LA

How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures

How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures 

By Sabrina Imbler 

Little, Brown and Company, 2022. 263 pages. Nonfiction.

 

Imbler profiles ten of the ocean's strangest creatures, drawing astonishing connections between their lives and ours and illuminating wondrous models of survival, adaptation, identity, sex, and care on our faltering planet. 

Sabrina Imbler has masterfully crafted a memoir, critically essential discussions about gender identity, and fun facts about sea creatures into one collection of ten essays. Vulnerable, honest, and hopeful, Imbler describes the methods sea creatures use to survive in particularly hostile environments while comparing these resilient creatures to their own experience as a queer, mixed-race scientist.

 

When I picked this up, I decided to read one essay a day, but the writing was so lyrical and captivating that it was hard to put down. Each essay in and of itself deserves a dedicated review. It is a collection that I hope to turn back to because I am sure I could learn something new every time. 

If you like How Far the Light Reaches, you might also like: 

Hijab Butch Blues: A Memoir 

By Lamya H 

The Dial Press, 2023. 284 pages. Biography. 

Spanning childhood to an elite college in the US and early adult life in New York City, each essay places Lamya's struggles and triumphs in the context of some of the most famous stories in the Quran. She juxtaposes her coming out with Musa liberating his people from the Pharoah; asks if Allah, who is neither male nor female, might instead be nonbinary; and, drawing strength from the faith and hope of Nuh building his ark, begins to build a life of her own--all the while discovering that her identity as a queer, immigrant devout Muslim is, in fact, the answer to her quest for safety and belonging. 

Bad Feminist 

By Roxane Gay 

Harper Perennial, 2014. 320 pages. Nonfiction. 

A collection of essays spanning politics, criticism, and feminism from one of the most-watched young cultural observers of her generation, Roxane Gay. 

The Soul of An Octopus

By Sy Montgomery

Atria Books, 2015.  261 pages. Nonfiction

In pursuit of the wild, solitary, predatory octopus, popular naturalist Sy Montgomery has practiced true immersion journalism.

Monstrilio

Monstrilio 

By Gerardo Sámano Córdova

Zando, 2023. 326 pages. Fiction. 

Grieving mother Magos cuts out a piece of her deceased eleven-year-old son Santiago's lung. Acting on fierce maternal instinct and the dubious logic of an old folktale, she nurtures the lung until it gains sentience, growing into the carnivorous little Monstrilio she keeps hidden within the walls of her family's decaying Mexico City estate. Eventually, Monstrilio begins to resemble the Santiago he once was, but his innate impulses--though curbed by his biological and chosen family's communal care--threaten to destroy this fragile second chance at life. 

Monstrilio is a stunning examination of grief and the lengths people will go to in search of solace. This book has beautifully written prose which complements the graphic nature of the story. While I personally loved this book, it deals with many sensitive subject matters that should be approached with caution. Throughout the story we get many different perspectives on loss, grief, family, and unconditional love. Both beautiful and horrifying, Monstrilio is an excellent horror debut novel. 

If you like Monstrilio, you might also like: 

Our Share of Night 

By Mariana Enriquez 

Hogarth, 2023. 588 pages. Fiction. 

In 1981, a young father and son set out on a road trip across Argentina, devastated by the mysterious death of the wife and mother they both loved. United in grief, the pair travels to her family home near Iguazú Falls, where they must confront the horrific legacy she has bequeathed. For the woman they are grieving came from a family like no other--a centuries-old secret society called the Order that pursues eternal life through ghastly rituals. For Gaspar, the son, this cult is his destiny. As Gaspar grows up he must learn to harness his developing supernatural powers, while struggling to understand what kind of man his mother wanted him to be. Meanwhile Gaspar's father tries to protect his son from his wife's violent family while still honoring the woman he loved so desperately 

Baby Teeth 

By Zoje Stage 

St. Martin’s Press, 2018. 304 pages. Fiction. 

An ailing woman fights to protect her family from her mute daughter's psychologically manipulative schemes, which are complicated by her doting husband's denial about their daughter's true nature.