‘How to Be Eaten’ A Fairy-Tale Feast

Although most of the stories don’t involve talking furniture or little, burger-scented men falling from air vents, seeing stories about strangers warping and reshaping around us in ways that may or may not be true is a fact of daily life.

‘Build Your House’ Rewards Patience

There are no twists of the traditional sort in Violet Kupersmith’s debut novel, Build Your House Around My Body, but there are a stack of stories that weave themselves around each other before ultimately tying a knot that can only truly be appreciated on the reread.

‘Gentrifier’ Asks Tough Questions Wrapped in Cozy Experiences

Whether she is the gentrifier or isn’t, the perception stubbornly remains that the presence of “[her] whiteness” is linked to upward mobility for the neighborhood by many. 

‘Bones’ a Disturbing, Enlightening Account of Violence and Injustice

Kimmerle doesn’t dwell on the violence; her focus is on telling the story without elaboration or obfuscation to best communicate her belief that every scoop of dirt contributes to long-overdue restorative justice for the dead, the broken, and their families.

‘Archive’ Alternates Between Magical and Heartbreaking

The Archive is a novel, but its parts, while interconnected, are fit together in such a way that they can be separated from each other. But all of these parts, though excellent on their own, come together to make a whole far grander than their sum.

‘Until Proven Safe’ a Timely Tour of Quarantine Past and Present

Manaugh and Twilley have not provided an exhaustive look at all types of quarantine, but it is comprehensive and cohesive enough to fascinate, or squick out, anyone at a cocktail party who makes the mistake of asking what you’re reading these days.