April's prompt is to read a book of ecofiction, and Becca's pick is Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup.  Content warning: miscarriage, death in childbirth, sexual topics Our next book will be The Employees by Olga Ravn, as chosen by our Patreon Patrons. Find it at your local library or bookstore and read along with us! If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your...

It's a book by a translator that's a book by a translator that's translated by a translator about translators translating a book and we loved it. There are also some major time spoilers, but we give good warnings this time. The Extinction of Ireana Rey by Jennifer Croft Next time we are reading Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup. Find it at your local bookstore or library and read it along with us.   If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The...

Correction: in the epsiode we say that the book was published in Barbados, but Condé is actually from the island of Guadeloupe - a French department in the Carribbean. Now THIS is the type of historical fiction that we love. Corinne's pick for March's prompt to read a book with a name in the title is I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Condé. This novel is a fictionalized account of Tituba, an enslaved woman from Barbados who became the first person accused of being a witch during the...

Today we discuss Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya. This is one of the first books of Chicano/a Literature, with Rudolfo Anaya considered one of the founders of the literary movement. It's a coming-of-age story that weaves Catholicism with traditional and indigenous beliefs, and the duality of identity that Antonio, the main character, experiences. Content warning: violence, bodily fluids Sources: Introduction to Chicano Literature, Chicano Literature Next time we'll be reading Corinne's...

This week we read and discussed My Garden (Book): by Jamaica Kincaid. It's memoir, it's essays, it's history, it's botany, it's maybe not what you'd normally choose to read if you're a fan of our typical fare, but it has a lot of great ideas to think and talk about. You should still read Jamaica Kincaid even if this one isn't for you. Becca recommends the novel Lucy or another work of nonfiction about her home, Antigua, called A Small Place. March's prompt for the Bookstore Challenge 2024 is...

For our first read of the February Bookstore Challenge Prompt (read a memoir written by a writer) Corinne chose Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood. It's a memoir about being a poet and having your dad literally be a Catholic priest. And we're of divided opinions for once. Next time we will read My Garden (Book): by Jamaica Kincaid. This is out of print, but can be found at the library or used. Or if you're patient, a new edition will be available from Picador in July 2024. In March we will be...

Our second book for January's prompt to read a book set in a place where you're from is Jim Harrison's True North. True North is set mostly in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and follows David Burkett, descendant of lumber barons as he struggles with his family's tarnished legacy.... hahaha jk it's really just a guy talking about his dick constantly. We do not recommend. Content warning: rape, sexual assault, violence, violence against women, violence against children, adult topics, sex,...

Our first book of the year! Daughters of Eve by Lois Duncan is set in the fictional town of Modesta, Michigan, thus fulfilling January's prompt to read a book set in the place where you're from (we're both from Michigan). A new teacher has come to town and she begins to help a group of teenage girls stand up for themselves against sexism... but will they take it too far? Content warning: domestic violence, sexual assault, pregnancy, fatphobia, offensive language Our next book discussion...

Happy New Year! Out with the old (reviewing last years reading) and in with the new (walking through the 2024 Bookstore Challenge prompts). Books we will be reading in January: Daughters of Eve by Lois Duncan (look for one published before the 2010s to avoid any contemporizing editions). True North by Jim Harrison This is a great resource for finding out what books authors read. You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your...

Last book of the year! It's Becca's pick for December's prompt to read a book by an author who shares the first initial of your surname is Y/N by Esther Yi. We follow a young woman as she descends further into an obsession with a member of a boy band, leading her to even move to another country in order to find him. Content warning: sex, body parts, death Technical note: Corinne was traveling for the holidays when we recorded this, so her audio has some background noise, apologies for...

First book for December's prompt to read a book by an author who shares your surname or first initial of your surname is Ice by Anna Kavan. This is a sci-fi or slipstream novel about a man searching for a girl in a world that is slowly being consumed by ice.  Content warning: sexual assault, violence Books mentioned: Wide Sargasso Sea-Jean Rhys, A Song of Ice and Fire-George RR Martin, Fight Club-Chuck Palahniuk, Deep Water-Patricia Highsmith, In a Lonely Place-Dorothy B. Hughes, Empire of...

Action Items - US Campaign for Palestinian Rights  Action Items - Jewish Voices for Peace November's prompt is to read a book about death and Becca’s pick is The Yield by Tara June Winch. The novel has three different narratives, one being about August, an Aboriginal Australian woman returning to her hometown after her grandfather, Poppy, dies. The second narrative is Poppy writing a dictionary of his Aboriginal language’s words, combined with brief stories from his life. And the final...

Action Items - US Campaign for Palestinian Rights  Action Items - Jewish Voices for Peace November's prompt is to read a book about death and Corinne's pick is Jose Saramago's Death With Interruptions. This book is about an unnamed country where suddenly one New Year's, death stops happening. It reads like a textbook at times, going over logistical issues and government responses, with a sprinkling of regular people's reactions to no one dying. And then, in the third act, death enters the...

Action Items - US Campaign for Palestinian Rights  Action Items - Jewish Voices for Peace This week was an extra week for October (yes, technically it's November, apologies, I've had some personal stuff going on), so we had our Patreon Patrons pick the book and they chose Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed. The novel is one of the six major novels of The Hainish Cycle. Though The Dispossessed is the sixth published book in the cycle, chronologically, the story takes place before the...

Action Items - US Campaign for Palestinian Rights  Action Items - Jewish Voices for Peace Free Ebooks - Haymarket Books Open Letter from ArabLit Recommended titles: Minor Detail by Adania Shibli and Qissat: Short Stories by Palestinian Women edited by Jo Glanville* *These are NOT affiliate links, The Bookstore will NOT receive commission from Bookshop from any purchases made while visiting these links. This is simply the most convenient non-Amazon related listing to link to. Please...

Our first book for October's prompt to read a book set in an alternate dimension or different planet is Present Tense Machine by Gunnhild Øyehaug. This is a dreamlike, speculative novel about a woman who is pulled into an alternate universe. Content warnings: None that we can think of. Our next reads will be Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delaney. You can find them at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can...

Just a teeny tiny mini episode about Becca's experience at the Detroit Bookfest this past summer.  Our next reads will be Present Tense Machine by Gunnhild Øyehaug and Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delaney. You can find them at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can find Instagram graphics for your story or grid in this Google Drive folder. You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for...

We read Gorilla, My Love by Toni Cade Bambara. This short story collection was first published in 1972 and features 15 stories, and the incredible voices of folks in New York City and sometimes in the rural south. Content Warnings (for the book, less so for the episode): sexual assault, child abuse, murder Our next reads will be Present Tense Machine by Gunnhild Øyehaug and Babel-17 buy Samuel R. Delaney. You can find them at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. If you...

Our first book for September's prompt to Read a Book with an Animal in the Title is The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li. We loved reading about this obsessive, codependent relationships between two girls in post-war France.  Content warnings: mentions of violence and sexual assault (not graphically described) Our next book discussion will be on Gorilla, My Love by Toni Cade Bambara. Get it from your local library or bookstore and read along with us! If you want to read along with The Bookstore...

For our last book in August, Corinne picked Crazy Brave by Joy Harjo. Content Warning: racism, abuse, alcoholism  Our next book discussion will be The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li. You can find it at your local bookstore or library and read along with us. If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can find Instagram graphics for your story or grid in this Google Drive folder. You can also join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get...

Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine follows several generations of a family in the Colorado area. Fair warning, we have some criticisms about this book's writing, so if you loved it, you may want to skip this episode.  Content advisory: violence, sexual assault, racism Our next book discussion will be on Crazy Brave by Joy Harjo. Find it at your local library or bookstore and read along with us! If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2023, you can find Instagram graphics...

Or: A Fantastic Journey Across Seven Borders, five languages, And Three Major Religions, not counting the minor sects. Told by the DEAD, supplemented by the AUTHOR, drawing from a range of BOOKS, and aided by IMAGINATION, the which being the greatest natural GIFT of any person. That the WISE might have it for a record, that my compatriots REFLECT, laypersons gain some UNDERSTANDING, And Melancholy Souls Obtain Some Slight Enjoyment Content warning: antisemitism, violence, frank talk about...

July's prompt for The Bookstore Challenge 2023 is to Read a Book Over 500 Pages, and/or a Graphic Novel. Our pick for the 500 pager is coming up later this month, but in the meantime, we have a graphic novel, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton. Is it this generation's The Jungle?! We think so!  Content advisory: sexual assault, sexual harassment, workplace safety, capitalism Our next book discussion will be The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk. You can find it at your local...

This week we read Weetzie Bat and Witch Baby by Francesca Lia Block (both can also be found in the anthologized book Dangerous Angels). These books were massively popular with off-beat teens in the 90s and have a huge following. Will they still manage to charm jaded 30-somethings in the 2020s? Content warnings for the books: some dark themes including sexual assault and addiction. Also some really egregious cultural appropriation and outright stereotyping/tokenizing. If you want to read...