American Animism: Stories

Written by: Jamey Gallagher

First line: She returned to work at the cryptid museum a week after the attack.

Why you should read this book: This one's a wild ride, and although there are certain themes that seem to recur through the unconnected stories, every one direct the reader to a different place with a different conclusion. Strange creatures, doomed relationships, tourist attractions, ghosts, and drug-fueled escape, both casual and chronic populate these fast-past short stories. Often, I have trouble with short fiction because I have to work to get into the story and then suddenly it's over, but these stories allowed me slip immediately into each world and then seemed to conclude at the perfect moment.

Why you shouldn't read this book: There is a fair amount of violence toward women, not gratuitously so, but not exactly pleasant either.

Dybbuk Americana

Written by: Joshua Gottlieb-Miller

First line: I don't like to guess what kind of Jew/I could have been/in 1492, 1942; pick a year/and I would have thought, "Bad Jew,"/looking in a mirror, under my breath. 

Why you should read this book: This collection of poetry examines the questions of identity, belief, and behavior that are, perhaps, unique to American Judaism. Frankly discussing the concepts of whiteness, assimilation, mixed marriage, antisemitism, family history, world history, philosophy, child rearing, and his own relationship with his community, his relatives, and himself, the author offers an honest picture of a man haunted by the quality of Jewishness that coalesces around spirituality and ethnicity in America. This large format book allows for a layout that seems to communicate the multitude of voices and ideas informing the author's journey and evolution as he places his life in the larger context of history, culture, and family. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: Some of the experimental-feeling layout makes the poetry ambiguous or difficult to read. 

American Dirt

Written by: Jeanine Cummins

First line: One of the very first bullets comes in through the open window above the toilet where Luca is standing.

Why you should read this book: Fast paced and gut wrenching, it tells the story of Lydia and Luca, a mother and young child who survive the cartel's assassination of the rest of their family and must escape Acapulco, join the procession of migrants traveling north to the border, and cross into el norte if they are to have any hope of escaping the long reach of their enemies. The journey is terrifying, treacherous, and punctuated by encounters with true monsters, but Lydia and Luca also meet kind and generous helpers along the way, and create bonds with other migrants. The writing is immersive and evocative, creating an intimate picture of the physical and emotionally devastating journey.

Why you shouldn't read this book: The author received some criticism for writing this story despite not being a Central American immigrant but it seems to me that her research was sufficient to tell it properly and well, and that gives a person the right to tell a story. 

Zarifa: A Woman's Battle in a Man's World

Written by: Zarifa Ghafari and Hanna Lucinda Smith

First line: The men wanted to know everything about Germany.

Why you should read this book: Educated and outspoken from a young age, in a time and place where girls were typically not allowed to be educated or speak in public at all, Ghafari gained fame and notoriety as the little girl who went on national television and demanded answers from the president of Afghanistan as to why her village had no roads and her school had no computers or English classes. Repeatedly blown up by the Taliban, defied by her family, and opposed by ignorant yahoos in her quest to finish school and reform her country, she never backed down regardless of how often people told her she couldn't do the thing she was already doing. Although the Taliban's capture of Kabul in 2021 effectively ended her political career and forced her to temporarily flee the country, she continues to fight for the rights of all Afghan people, and especially for the rights of girls and women to receive an education, to walk freely through their own streets, and to earn their own money.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Ghafari is tough, but she's not made of steel and her distress over the Taliban's murder of her father and their invasion of Kabul is palpable and heart-rending; this is a book about how you can fight your entire life, always do the right thing, and still be overwhelmed by evil. 

Unspeakable: Surviving My Childhood and Finding My Voice

Written by: Jessica Willis Fisher

First line: When I go back to examine the earliest memories of my life, I can distinguish three short scenes.

Why you should read this book: The author recounts the devastating details of her childhood, which involve repeated sexual abuse by her father beginning at a very early age, along with physical, spiritual, and emotional abuse, and the eventual realization that her seven younger sisters were all receiving the same treatment, and that nobody was coming to help or protect them. Meanwhile, Fisher was forced to perform in the family band and held responsible for the family's financial wellbeing, writing most of their music and putting on a brave face for the fans and the television cameras that eventually surrounded her life. While Fisher escaped and lived to speak out about what happened to her and see her abuser incarcerated for his crimes, this narrative also highlights the unknown but assuredly vast number of children who experience the same forms of sexual, physical, spiritual, and emotional abuse do not have the means to escape and never see justice or have a chance to tell their stories. 

Why you should read this book: I think this is the first book I've ever read that included a trigger warning, with page numbers (for the three most shocking incidents of abuse); unlike some survivors, Fisher explains exactly what her father did and it is horrific indeed. 

Sold

Written by: Patricia McCormick

First line: One more rainy season and our roof will be gone, says Ama.

Why you should read this book: Despite her stepfather's gambling addiction, Lakshmi and her mother are getting along pretty well, and Lakshmi is excelling in school and looking forward to one day being married, but following a drought and a flood and heavy gambling losses, she is determined to take a job as a maid in the city, so she can send money home and give her mother a real roof. Unfortunately, the auntie who promises to find her paying work sells Lakshmi into sexual slavery in another country, and she becomes a prisoner in brothel, forced to perform sex work to survive. As she comes to understand more about her circumstances, she must tease apart the lies that control her from the truth that might set her free. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: It's a novel about a 13-year-old girl being sex trafficked. It's not happy. 

Uncle Tom's Children

Written by: Richard Wright

Firstline: My first lesson in how to live as a Negro came when I was quite small.

Why you should read this book: This collection features five short stories and one biographical essay written early in the author's career. These pieces all describe the inherent terror of the Jim Crow south and the way it victimized Black people in twentieth century America, with violence and murder featuring prominently among the arsenal of tools used by segregationists to enforce social control. These are dangerous, frightening stories about a zero-sum game that is always fixed in favor of the house, wonderfully written with deep insight and wisdom, but difficult to read in terms of the suffering of the characters.

Why you shouldn't read this book: There aren't really any happy endings and four of the stories have absolutely brutal endings. 

Unexpected Stories

Written by: Octavia Butler

First line: The Robkohn Hao, Tahneh, was sharing her evening meal with her chief judge and discussing the current drought when she first learned of the foreigners who had entered her territory.

Why you should read this book: Two previously unpublished stories written early in the career of the master science fiction author were discovered after her death and come together in this book, highlighting many of the themes for which she went on to become famous. In "A Necessary Being," a hierarchical alien society requires the most powerful among them to serve for the good of all, even against their will. "Childfinder" was originally sold to Harlan Ellison's final, unpublished Dangerous Visions anthology and discusses issues of race and class through the device of a society where psionic powers are controlled by a powerful cabal. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: If you're unfamiliar with Butler's work, you might want to start with some of her popular novels. 

The Thin Man

Written by: Dashiell Hammett

First line: I was leaning against the bar in a speakeasy on Fifty-second Street, waiting for Nora to finish her Christmas shopping, when a girl got up from the table where she had been sitting with three other people and came over to me. 

Why you should read this book: This is the classic hard-boiled detective story, featuring tough and clever alcoholic (and retired detective) Nick Charles, and his clever and beautiful wife, Nora, who are just trying to have a relaxing vacation. Nick is dragged, very much against his will, into the case of a dead woman who has some connection to people Nick used to know, and to a lot of people that Nick doesn't care to know at all. Even though he swears he's retired, now he's consulting with the cops, interviewing suspects, getting shot at, and gathering evidence while avoiding sobriety at every turn. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: I thought it was pretty unfair to the reader that the story withholds some of the evidence until after Nick solved the crime.

All the Lovely Bad Ones

Written by: Mary Downing Hahn

First line: Grandmother met us at the Burlington Airport, a big smile on her face and her arms open for a hug. 

Why you should read this book: Banned from summer camp due to their constant pranks, Travis and his sister Corey are spending the summer at their grandmother's quaint Vermont hotel, and when they learn that the property is supposedly haunted, they can't help themselves. Little could they know that their carefully orchestrated fake haunting is just the thing to wake up the real ghosts who slumber there, uneasy in their graves. Now it's up to these two tricksters to learn the property's chilling history and set to right the evils of the past. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: For a ghost story it's not especially scary. 

Sing Down the Moon

Written by: Scott O'Dell

First line: On the high mesas above our canyon, spring came early that year.

Why you should read this book: In the voice of Bright Morning, a young Navajo woman, this book presents a vivid picture of life in Canyon de Chelly in the 1860s, and what happened when white people began to encroach on this territory. Bright Morning has learned to be a diligent steward of sheep and hopes one day to marry the proud Tall Boy, a strong warrior who once killed a bear, but when she is kidnapped and sold into slavery, Tall Boy loses the use of one arm rescuing her. Shortly after that, Bright Morning's tribe, along with all the other indigenous people in the area, are forced on the Long Walk, a deadly forced relocation following the destruction of their homes and resources, and Bright Morning, and all those around her, must decide how much they are willing to risk to survive, and thrive.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Bright Morning and Tall Boy have a happy ending, but many of the people forced onto the Long Walk did not. 

A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy

Written by: Tia Levings

First line: This was my fault.

Why you should read this book: A young woman intent on finding the key to contentment falls hard into a dangerously misogynistic branch of Christian fundamentalism, entering into marriage with a violent and mentally ill man who promises her happiness, provided she can offer complete obedience and subjugate her personality and will to support his increasingly unstable decisions under the guise of church doctrine (spoiler alert: no human on earth could keep that guy happy). This is an intimate look into the high control cults made to appear wholesome and harmless to outsiders in popular media while crushing women, children, and anyone who cannot fully assimilate and stay within the strict and narrow boundaries prescribed by cult leaders. This book will break your heart, but if you aren't already aware of the danger posed by dominion theology (and based on the results of the last US presidential election, tens of millions of Americans are unaware of the danger posed by dominion theology), this book offers a chilling but sharp-eyed view into the workings of a movement that seeks to control your life and undermine American freedom on a macro level in the same horrific way that they almost destroyed Levings. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: Brutal descriptions of domestic violence, infant death, and spiritual abuse. 

Kindred

Written by: Octavia Butler 

First line: I lost my arm on my last trip home.

Why you should read this book: This is a groundbreaking novel about the perilous history of Black Americans and their relationships to the white people who enslaved them, cleverly framed as a time traveling story about a young woman named Dana who, like Billy Pilgrim before her, becomes unhinged in time. Over and over, Dana is called back from 1970's LA to the antebellum south, where she must repeatedly save the life of her distant ancestor, Rufus, a rich white man who owns slaves, including another one of her ancestors, Alice, a Black woman who is the object of Rufus's obsession. As Rufus grows up, Dana must protect him to ensure her own birth, but at the same time, she cannot protect Alice from Rufus without preventing her own conception. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: Slavery is brutal.

The Gryphon Stone

Written by: Thomas Watson

First line: I was eleven years old when the last hope the authorities had for plausible deniability died.

Why you should read this book: David's already led a full life of adventure working for the United Nations Multiverse Survey with his non-human friend Trey, and has settled down into a comfortable early retirement to nurse his own regrets, but now Trey is back with bad news: their greatest enemy has taken over the world where David created his greatest regrets. Trey and David must return to Adrathea to hunt down Trey's evil cousin, Edren, who, disguised as a human, has deposed the rightful ruler, taken the throne, and destroyed the relationship between the people of Adrathea and their greatest allies, the Gryphons. With their technologically advanced swords, a beautiful but deadly traveling companion, and the goodwill left over from their previous good deeds, David and Trey need to uncover a hidden artifact, locate a missing prince, and gather an army of allies powerful enough to defeat invaders from another world before Edren destroys Adrathea forever. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: The plot is perhaps a bit driven by lucky coincidences. 

Tales from the Crypt: Volume 3 (issues 11-15)

Written by: I think writers were sort of embarrassed to have their names associated with these books.

First line: Heh heh! So you're back for more, eh?

Why you should read this book: This is a trade paperback quality reprint of the classic old Tales from the Crypt horror comics from the 1950s, comprising issues 11 through 15, including all the old ads and the fan mail. It's campy, gory stuff, most of which ends badly, especially for bad people who deserve it. Murder, monsters, cannibalism, corpses, sometimes realistic stories of accidental (but deserved) death, sometime fantastical stories of supernatural terror, this brand is often cheesy, but never ever pulls its punches: people are goes to die, horribly.

Why you shouldn't read this book: No stomach for it.

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

Written by: Bessel Van der Kolk, M.D.

First line: One does not have to be a combat soldier, or visit a refugee camp in Syria or the Congo to encounter trauma.

Why you should read this book: Written for a lay audience, this is the summation of thirty years of research, experimentation, theory, and work on the subject of trauma: what it is, what it does, and what we, as vulnerable humans can do to counteract its pernicious effects. Van der Kolk describes his introduction to working with traumatized Viet Nam veterans and how his experience led him to dig more deeply into the neurology of trauma and its potential treatments, as well as the important discussion of childhood trauma, and how it impacts untreated adults. Almost half of the book, however, details the various types of treatment that the author and his colleagues have found most effective, with impressive data demonstrating how appropriate treatment can turn around the life of an individual who has always suffered from the pain of the past, returning to them the possibility of a fulfilling life. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You yourself have never experienced anything unpleasant in life, and neither has anyone you've ever met.

Chew

Written by: John Layman and Rob Guillory

First line: Prologue: slow-simmered shredded chicken, vegetable, and three-bean soup.

Why you should read this book: Tony Chu is a detective who receives psychic impressions from almost anything he eats (except beets), which means that he can't enjoy any food whatsoever (because he doesn't like beets) and also that he can solve murder cases by cannibalizing the victim's corpse. When his stakeout is interrupted by a federal agent (with the FDA), he stumbles onto a serial killer case, loses his partner and his job, and ends up working for the Food and Drug Administration. With a new boss who hates him, a new partner who's ever weirder than he is, and a fresh infatuation with a restaurant critic whose work allows him to enjoy food for the first time in his life, he is plunged into the cut-throat world of black market meat—specifically a Yakuza chicken smuggling operation—and mysteries he has to eat to believe. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: This book is equal parts hilarious and gruesome, so if that doesn't sit right with you, probably best to skip this one.

Manuelito

Written by: Elisa Amado and Abraham Urias

First line: This story just happened to me earlier this year.

Why you should read this book: A realistic (but apparently fictional) account of a child traveling to America to seek refuge from violence in his home country. Manuelito's parents are afraid he will be kidnapped and forcibly inducted into a violent gang in Guatemala, they send him, along with his best friend, to his aunt in America, accompanied by an unscrupulous coyote, or human trafficker. The journey is difficult, the coyote is useless, Manuelito's experience at the American border is inhumane, and this is a story that needs to be understood by any fools railing against immigrants.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're one of those assholes who decided to buy a gun and patrol the Mexican border.

Nubia Real One

Written by: LL McKinney and Robyn Smith

First line: Nubia, you tellin' me you actually wanna work all summer?

Why you should read this book: Throughout her childhood, every time Nubia accidentally revealed her powers of super strength and super speed, her moms packed up house and moved her to another city to keep her safe, but now that she's in high school and has some real friends and a crush who could possibly like her back, she's not so sure why she has to hide her abilities. When she foils a convenience store robbery to protect her crush (by throwing an ATM at the thieves) she sets into motion a series of events that stir up all the unspoken racism, sexism, and classism of her community, and when she learns who she really is and where her power comes from, she has to decide for herself whether to remain hidden or to show the world what she's really capable of. A timely and relevant reimagining of an underdeveloped DC character (the original Nubia was the first Black female hero in the pantheon) with great potential for the genre. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: Some of the details (racial violence, sexual harassment, school shootings) may be triggering for sensitive readers.

Buy Nubia Real One here!

Nisrin's Hijab

Written by: Priya Huq

First line: Alright, big hand for Nicole!

Why you should read this book: Following a sudden, gruesome, and apparently racially motivated act of violence, Bangladeshi-American teen Nisrin chooses to wear a headscarf, although her family is secular and their reactions to her decision range from confusion to anger. In school, her hijab elicits aggression from teachers and students, made even more complicated by the fact that she knows very little about Islam (the narrative makes it seem like her choice is motivated by PTSD rather than religious sentiment, which is then further complicated by her family's experience of violence prior to Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan in 1971). By holding firm to ideas that she always feels but can't always express, Nisrim is able to find a new path forward while also repairing the relationships that suffered after her original ordeal. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: I wonder how a reader who wore a hijab for religious reasons would feel about this story, in which the hijab symbolizes many things, but not a submission to God.

Buy Piece by Piece the Story of Nisrin's Hijab here