A few days ago I was at the bookstore and Vicky asked if I’d seen the duck someone had left me as a gift and I was like, “Is it dead? Because I’m running low on space for taxidermy” and she was like, “Of course it’s dead, but also I think you’re going to want it” and then she brought it out and I said, “Well, fuck I have to keep this because she perfectly matches my taxidermied burlesque rat, right down to the sequined nipple pasties” and several customers looked baffled, because I guess they’re new. (Thank you, Pretty Dead Shop.)
(The cat is a fan, as well.)
In other book-related news…my pick for the Fantastic Strangelings Bookclub is Kristen Arnett’s STOP ME IF YOU’VE HEARD THIS ONE. Three words: complicated lesbian clowns.
And my pick for Nightmares from Nowhere Bookclub is THE HAUNTING OF ROOM 904 by Erika T. Wurth. It’s a gritty paranormal thriller that is as edgy as it is heartfelt. (Erika is the same author of White Horse, which I’ve recommended before.)
Here are a few more new releases that I enjoyed you might want to check out:
The Antidote by Karen Russell – A gripping Dust Bowl epic about five characters whose fates become entangled after a storm ravages their small Nebraskan town. So good.
Tilt by Emma Pattee – Set over the course of one day, a heart-racing story about a woman facing the unimaginable, determined to find safety. Quick and heart-pounding.
GothicTown by Emily Carpenter – slow-burn horror as a restaurateur lured by pandemic-era incentives moves her family to a seemingly idyllic town in Georgia where all is not as it seems.
Cry When The Baby Cries by Becky Barnicoat – Born out of a viral “Shouts & Murmurs” piece in The New Yorker, this dark but funny and charming graphic memoir brings the first few years of parenthood to life.
Passing Through a Prairie Country by Dennis E. Staples – A thriller about the ghosts that haunt the temples of sin and excess we call casino, and people who get caught up in a web resting on high stakes and low odds.
Malinalli by Veronica Chapa – An imaginative retelling of the triumphs and sorrows of one of the most controversial and misunderstood women in Mexico’s history and mythology
Luminous by Silvia Park – a debut novel set in a unified Korea that tells the story of three estranged siblings—two human, one robot—as they collide against the backdrop of a murder investigation to settle old scores and make sense of their shattered childhood
Happy reading!
PS. We’ll be opening up new spots for the bookclubs soon and giving out some fun gifts to new and old members, so keep your eyes open if you want to join!