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Category: Literary Fiction

Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

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Jonny Appleseed is the first novel by Two-Spirit/Indigenous Queer writer Joshua Whitehead. Whitehead’s protagonist, Jonny, is also Two-Spirit/Indigenous Queer, and the novel is about Jonny ruminating on his upbringing on “the rez”. Jonny Appleseed is an introspective novel; if you prefer novels that are plot-focused, then you will probably not like it. However, if you enjoy immersing yourself in other people’s lives and experiences, then I think you should definitely give Jonny Appleseed a read.

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Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas

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You are either going to really like Catherine House or be like me and wonder, WTF did I just read?? Catherine House is a strange, fever dream of a novel with no clear-cut resolution. I am not even sure that I fully understand what was going on in the novel and what the purpose of the novel is.

In the novel, Catherine House is a college located deep in the Pennsylvania woods with an unusual liberal arts curriculum that somehow has produced some of the world’s best minds as its graduates, such as inventors, prize-winning scientists, Supreme Court justices and at least two presidents. The college is best known for its mysterious “new materials concentration” and the study of “plasm”. The students that attend Catherine House get free tuition and room and board, but the catch is that they must give Catherine House three years of their lives completely removed from the outside world. During these three years, they cannot contact their family and friends, they cannot watch television to keep up with the news and they cannot bring any personal possessions, including clothing, with them (the novel is set in the 1990s, but if it were set in the present, they definitely would not be allowed smart phones either).

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Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

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I have not read many of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novels, and I really should rectify this because his novels are so engrossing and beautifully written. But I am also a little reluctant to read Ishiguro’s novels because the ones that I have read end up making me feel depressed. If you have read Never Let Me Go, you may know what I am talking about. I absolutely love that novel, but I do not think I could ever read it again because it is so heartbreaking. Klara and the Sun is much easier to read, but the ending still left me feeling sad for the sweet, little android at the heart of this novel.

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The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

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The Other Black Girl is currently being majorly hyped as the book to read this summer. Although I did enjoy reading this novel, for the most part, and it kept me up later than I should have been up on a work night because I did not want to put it down, I saw the ending coming a mile away, so I am on the fence if it is worth all the hype.

The premise of The Other Black Girl is very intriguing, especially when you learn that the author has based some of it on her own experience in the publishing industry: it is about an editorial assistant named Nella Rogers, who is the only Black girl that works at the prestigious Wagner Books (a fictional publishing company) in New York, until the other Black girl shows up, Hazel-May McCall. At first it seems like Nella may have finally found an ally in Hazel at the very white Wagner, but then things begin to happen and suddenly Hazel has become the office darling while everyone has turned against Nella. Then Nella finds a note on her desk that says, “LEAVE WAGNER. NOW.”

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Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson

Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson

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Monkey Beach is the first novel by Indigenous writer Eden Robinson and was first published in 2000. It is set in Haisla territory on the British Columbia coast just north of Vancouver Island, where Robinson was born. Monkey Beach is an engrossing read, but the ending devastated me, and I actually woke up in the middle of the night thinking about it.

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The Leavers by Lisa Ko

The Leavers by Lisa Ko

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The Leavers is an interesting and compelling novel about living as an undocumented Chinese immigrant in America and about being caught between two cultural identities.

It is about Deming Guo and his mother, Polly, who is the undocumented Chinese immigrant. Deming was born in New York City, but his mother sent him to live with his grandfather in China when he was about a year old because she could not afford to work and take care of him at the same time. His grandfather dies when he is five, so he ends up back in New York, reunited with his mother. Deming has a close relationship with his mother; they live in a small apartment with Polly’s boyfriend, Leon, and Leon’s sister and her son, Michael, who becomes Deming’s best friend.

One day when Deming is eleven, his mother goes to work as usual at a nail salon, but never comes home. No one knows what has happened to Polly, not even Leon. Deming spends the next ten years of his life wondering if she abandoned him on purpose and where she might have gone.

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Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

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I am very late to the Where the Crawdads Sing party, but better late than never, right? After reading this novel, I can see why it was such a hit when it first came out. I really enjoyed reading it and had a hard time putting it down; I finished reading it in two days. I very highly recommend you read this novel if you are like me and are also late to the Where the Crawdads Sing party.

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Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

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Hench is an entertaining novel set in an alternate reality where some people are born with “superabilities” and they grow up to become either superheroes or villains. But Hench questions whether there is really a difference between superheroes and villains. Are superheroes really any better than villains, or are they just as bad, or worse, for society as villains?

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My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

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My Dark Vanessa was published to much fanfare in March 2020. At the time, I was indecisive about whether I wanted to buy a book that I felt for sure, based on the subject matter, I was not going to like. In the end I decided not to read it. About a year later, My Dark Vanessa went on sale on Kindle books and once again I found myself dithering over whether I wanted to buy it. In the end curiosity won out and I decided to read it. It turns out that I was right, I did not enjoy reading My Dark Vanessa. I do not know how anyone can enjoy reading a novel about a 15-year-old girl being sexually groomed by her 42-year-old English teacher. However, that does not mean I think you should not read this novel.

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The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

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I am beginning to feel confident that Kate Quinn is a writer that I can rely on to churn out a great historical fiction novel. The Alice Network, The Huntress and now The Rose Code are all novels that I very much enjoyed reading. These three novels all have World War II as the backdrop, but each focuses on a different aspect of the war, and each one is well researched and intricately plotted. The Rose Code is about the people who worked at Bletchley Park during the war and helped win the war by cracking enemy military code and deciphering enemy communications.

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