☀️ Don't let summer leave you without a good read📖
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Charlotte from our book-buying group wants to share with you what her favourite summer reads are so far.
🏳️🌈 Nevada by Imogen Binnie
“The light changes and Maria realises: wait, shit, hold on, I am elated…”
This book felt revelatory. I am not trans, and I came to this book late. Still, I found it to be an incredibly raw depiction of what it's like to be trans, not just how it feels, but how living in any body is an evolving process. Binnie shares their unique perspective of what that looks and feels like for a trans person with devastating wit and a chaotic narrative that is intensely readable. 👪 Monstrilio by Gerardi Samano Cordova
“She is not done with her son. Not yet ready to hand him away.”
I read a lot of books about motherhood, and this one was particularly disturbing. It is a story of a mother who is unable to let her son go after he dies, and the way this grief manifests reverberates through her entire family and community. It speaks to the desire a person might have to keep their child alive at any cost, in any form, to avoid having to let them go.
🧠 Die, my love by Ariana Harwicz
”I lay back in the grass among fallen trees, and the sun on my palm felt like a knife I could use to bleed myself dry with one swift cut to the jugular.”
Another book about the madness of motherhood! As much as this is about motherhood, it is about severe mental illness and the isolation that develops when both these factors combine. The protagonist becomes more fevered and disoriented as the novella goes on. Neither the reader nor the characters seems to know what is real and what isn’t. I saw someone describe it on Goodreads as Madame Bovary hardcore, and it certainly has that vibe!
🎨 The Night Alphabet by Joelle Taylor
”When a woman says no it is an act of violence.”
Intergenerational trauma and the legacy of things passed down between the generations are some of the themes woven into this novel and its seemingly disparate stories - some of which are viscerally horrifying. The prose is stunning and poetic as one would expect of Taylor, a renowned Queer poet, and there is gorgeous artwork at the start of every chapter. I thoroughly enjoyed every part of this book and the pay off in the end was really satisfying.
👧 The Lesser Bohemians by Eimear McBride
“To be dead no that’s not right. Twine me round. More kisses perhaps?”
Eimear McBride won the Goldsmiths Prize for her first novel, 'A Girl is a Half-formed Thing' and it shows! This isn’t an immediately accessible book, but it is a truly unique, ultimately rewarding experience that will stay with you long after it is finished. The two main characters are damaged in similar and vastly different ways, and the way they negotiate their developing relationship is fascinating and almost achingly realistic. This is probably the best book I have read so far this year, and the sequel also lived up to expectations.