Would read again – Page 2

‘Sounds’ a Captivating Journey of Music and Devotion

The cover of Between Two Sounds, featuring a simply drawn adult Arvo leaping from a precipice, implying that he is jumping to the next sound. Arvo and the precipice are in black, while the background is in simple strokes of tan and brown. The title is in the upper left-hand corner, with the author in the lower-left corner.

This is not a story of the Soviet Union versus Arvo Pärt, but about an authoritarian regime demanding performative patriotism against those who have far more interesting things to think about.

‘Bat Eater’ Brings New Fears to Pandemic Lockdown

A realistic-looking bat with flowers on its back and its wings outstretched flies diagonally across a black backdrop. The title, Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng, is in large white font in front of the image. Smaller and at the bottom in green text is the author, Kylie Lee Baker.

Bat Eater is a marvelous friendship bracelet of plot threads that sometimes take turns and sometimes work in tandem but are always engrossing, and all feel like facets of a terrifying and claustrophobic world.

‘Birth Canal’ a Kaleidoscopic View of Obsession, Trauma

The cover of Birth Canal, which features an untidy rectangular border of vines and flowers entangled around the title and author at the bottom of the cover on a background of orange in the center and purple at the edges.

The most fascinating thing with Birth Canal as a whole is its dizzying range of vibes that can be pulled out of a narrow cast of characters in a handful of places and only a couple of eras in history.

‘First Love’ Considers Friendship in its Many Forms

The title of the book (First Love: Essays on Friendship) and author name are superimposed on a photograph of three young fair-skinned girls, one of whom is the author, smoking and laughing on a fire escape.

While her takes on friendship may come from places of personal specificity, they nonetheless find broad resonance in how I think most of us have thought of friendship, even if unconsciously.

‘Serpents’ a Solid Sequel in a Compelling World

Kate Pearsall’s debut, Bittersweet in the Hollow, was a solid and satisfying novel. With Lies on the Serpent’s Tongue, Pearsall delivers a strong second installment in what I hope will be at least a quartet of enchanting stories.

‘Headshot’ Fast-Moving but Hard-Hitting

Most of the boxers’ stakes in Headshot are drawn from the most ordinary of things, which gives the world inside the book more authenticity and the world outside it a reminder of its import.

‘Unmothers’ Sings Thanks to Subtlety

Most characters within The Unmothers grapple with some kind of emotional fracturing; what’s more interesting is seeing how each responds. The nice thing is that the creeping thing in the fog finds all flavors of grief delicious.

‘Woods’ More Human Nature than Thriller

In The God of the Woods, Moore isn’t concerned with crafting a whodunnit so much as a careful sketch of a far more human story.

‘Nest’ a Cozy Exploration of Monstrosity

It’s hard to pick a favorite element in this “cozy horror.” Is it the blood and gore? The love story? The neurodivergent or asexual rep? The family trauma? Somehow, it manages to be all of the above.

‘Chronicles’ An Intimate Look at One ‘Backyard’

It’s lovely and intimate to read such inner thoughts of another person. It’s intimate, too, to see Tan’s drawings improve over the years and the birds within them grow increasingly lifelike.