Related Recs

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land of milk and honey by c pam zhang

dystopian novel, a smog has settled over the planet and mostly all crops and animals have been wiped out. ppl live on a mung bean protein flour. a chef gets hired at a tech entrepreneur’s private compound in Italy where she’s able to indulge in all pleasures she’s been denied for so long… but isn’t able to find the desire…. at first ;-) lots of lush descriptions of food and sex (i’m rly reading a lot ab these two things lately….hmm), and themes of power, privilege, belief, and DESIRE!!!……..

@pratibha

Mar 26, 2024

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Piglet by Lottie Hazel

Spiraling female rage driven novel Piglet Has The Job, The House, And Her Dream Man (Plus His Parents). Just As The Soon-To-Be Wife Feels Comfortable, The Life She Worked So Hard To Build Crumbles Beneath Her. She's Alone, Stuck In Denial, And Coping With Insatiable Hunger. The Sobering Reality Sets In A Little Too Late. Some Descriptions Go On Too Long And The Ending Was Slightly Disappointing. I Wish She Gave Us A Little More Insight, Though Still One Of My Favorites. Themes of gluttony, existentialism, and betrayal

@MiriahStar

Sep 20, 2024

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"The Book of LovE" by kelly link

High school students Laura, Daniel, and Mo have died. They don’t remember how and they certainly don’t know what they are now doing standing in their music teacher Mr. Anabin’s classroom, with a fourth young man they don’t recognize, who doesn’t even seem to know who he is. Upon detecting their presence, Anabin verifies that they have each indeed perished and have spent a year trapped in the realm of Bogomil from which people typically don’t return. Bogomil himself appears and the pair agree to let the quartet return to their normal lives as if nothing had ever happened, under the condition that while there they must complete a series of tasks, including discovering what caused their deaths, and at the end of the assignment, only two of the four will be allowed to remain alive. Laura finds herself back at home with her single mother and sister Susannah, with whom she shares a sort of love/hate relationship. Daniel returns to his large family just across the street from Laura, and his on-again/off-again relationship with Susannah. Mo finds himself back at the home of his grandmother, a successful romance novelist who basically raised him, only to discover that while the trio were missing she had passed away, leaving him in the care of her long-time assistant. Everyone believes that the group had simply been studying abroad for the past year and each finds that they have memories of doing so despite it not being true, and so they attempt to assimilate back into their previous existences while trying to solve the mystery of their demise and learning to use the magic that allowed them to return. As you would expect from the title this book really is about love in all its many forms, and the ways it shapes and guides us through our lives. Family, friends, and lovers all come into play, as does learning to love and accept oneself, and Link’s often gorgeous prose brings the many intertwined relationships to life. She has a talent for developing people that feel real, imbuing even minor characters with enough personality to make it hurt a little when they suffer. There are moments that feel slightly hokey every now and then, but they are easy enough to look past. Link mostly handles the plot of her sprawling, supernatural, small-town saga well, making it easy enough to keep track of everyone and everything, though some events can occasionally feel repetitive. Rather than use chapter numbers the breaks are delineated with headings reading “The Book of Daniel”, “The Book of Laura”, and so forth, highlighting some of the religious subtext scattered throughout. Despite the fantastical events that surround the story, a lot of the little moments the characters experience feel eminently relatable, and there are several moments that pack an emotional punch, though none of them are allowed to really live long enough to settle in. I really enjoyed The Book of Love and would happily spend time with these characters again, but I was left with the weird feeling that I should have felt something more than I did. ★★★★

@seanf

Mar 6, 2024

Top Recs from @MiriahStar

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Our wives under the sea

Beautifully written -lesbian- novel by Julia Armfield Themes of love, loss, and grief Miri's wife is trapped in a submarine slowly sinking to the ocean floor. We're taken through the story from both Miri's perspective (powerless above sea level left to long for the woman she fell in love with) and her wife Leah's perspective (powerless and bending to the will of her own body.)  10/10

@MiriahStar

Apr 20, 2024

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Piglet by Lottie Hazel

Spiraling female rage driven novel Piglet Has The Job, The House, And Her Dream Man (Plus His Parents). Just As The Soon-To-Be Wife Feels Comfortable, The Life She Worked So Hard To Build Crumbles Beneath Her. She's Alone, Stuck In Denial, And Coping With Insatiable Hunger. The Sobering Reality Sets In A Little Too Late. Some Descriptions Go On Too Long And The Ending Was Slightly Disappointing. I Wish She Gave Us A Little More Insight, Though Still One Of My Favorites. Themes of gluttony, existentialism, and betrayal

@MiriahStar

Sep 20, 2024