Oh, hello! Long time no write!
I have been a reading FIEND in 2015. My life has finally hit a point where things are calm and they make sense and my brain is ready to be filled with all of the books.
In celebration of that, here are some of the best things I’ve read/have been reading. Because, really, books are the only thing I can talk about anymore. Aside from my super cute apartment.*
Onto the books!
Lily King’s Euphoria is just. Oh man oh my oh me. Let’s be real: I mostly purchased this book because of that cover. Just look at it! Rainbow! Gorgeous font! It’s called EUPHORIA! And then I found out that the cover is the bark of an actual tree. Yeah.
This is the story of three anthropologists in the 1930s in New Guinea, studying tribes and becoming part of them. A love triangle ensues. Things happen. You can feel the humidity, hear the bugs, smell the clay. It’s beautiful. So powerful and wonderfully written.
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Andrea Phillips’ Revision is divine. Fireside Fiction’s first book (YAY!) is about 20-something Mira whose boyfriend runs a crazy Wikipedia/Facebook mashup site, Verity. Except when you update someone’s profile, you update their life. Crazy, right?
When said boyfriend breaks up with her, she changes his profile to say they’re engaged. And then he comes over and proposes. That’s just the beginning of the adventure.
Former Verity employee/creator/genius Chandra catches wind of what she’s done, and they team up to try to destroy the site before it destroys the human race. But can Mira trust her? Or should she trust her boyfriend?
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Speaking of which, I’ve been devouring issues of Fireside like mad. I’m biased because I’m a Fireside minion, and Twitter friends with the editor/publisher/minion master. But it’s just such a delight to support good writing and then get to read the tasty bits. If you’re into good storytelling, I recommend peeking in at it — the monthly issues are free on the site.
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Miranda July is just a queen, you guys. The First Bad Man is so bizarre and sad and wonderful. Once you get used to one of middle-aged Cheryl’s crazy antics, like imagining all babies to hold the soul of Kubelko Bondy, a baby she met when she was a girl, July has crafted another and another right behind it. Just accept it and keep reading this tale of loneliness, companionship, love, sexuality, and motherhood. What a carnival ride.
Last year was my first encounter with July, with No One Belongs Here More Than You. It felt like such a wonderful sign from the universe that shortly after reading her first book, which had been out for years, she had another one in the oven. So now I must read everything she writes from here on out. Because she is just too good.
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Right now, I’m in the middle of Jon Krakauer’s Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town and Mariel Hemingway’s Finding My Balance. The former for haunting my days, the latter for easing me into sleep each night after work.
I’ve also been listening to Book Riot’s All the Books podcast, because my to-be-read list apparently isn’t long enough. Liberty Hardy and Rebecca Schinsky are delightful. If you’re into new books from two women who read across all types of books, you should tune into their short and ecstatic weekly show.
*It is SO CUTE and maybe one day I will write about it. Until then, here’s a picture of our “Whimsy Wall,” (also known as a Gallery Wall or a Salon Wall, for all you fancy pants people out there):
Note: Tom Selleck was just a prop to make my mother cringe.
Ashley Holstrom 