A sci-fi rescue, a literary memoir, and two poetic migration stories

Plus thoughts on traveling with a baby and how Barnes and Nobel became a bookstore hero

Hey, readers!

We’re back from a fun week in Palm Springs with baby Lou and a couple of our good friends. Flying with a baby is very very low on my list of activities I enjoy, but this trip was so worth it. Louise seemed to fully recognize that we were somewhere new and different…in a good way! We took her to the botanic gardens and the art museum, both of which she seemed to genuinely love. She went into a pool for the first time and was completely unfazed—surprising because she is most definitely fazed by the bath. It was all just really truly fun and made me realize that it’s worth the plane ride to experience travel with children.

Yet as I type this, I have to admit that I kind of hate social media posts and thinkpieces about how you can still travel, go out and about, and just live your life with a baby. It’s true that there’s probably too much scaremongering about everything you’ll have to say goodbye to once baby arrives. But the opposite of that—the idea that you can still do all the things that matter to you if you just try hard enough is just as frustrating to me and seems like a new “you can do it all” narrative for the Instagram age. Because what often goes unacknowledged is that babies may have their own ideas about all of that, and not every baby can be cheerfully toted to happy hours or brunch spots. It’s taken until right about now with Louise to feel like we can get out with her and do some of the things we used to do. It’s also taken until right about now for me to accept that that’s because of her temperament and not because I was doing something wrong.

So, yes, I’m so glad we got to travel and explore with her this week. And, no, you don’t have to give up everything you once loved to become a parent. But I’m also reminding myself that it’s more than okay if parenting doesn’t always or ever look like what I see in my social media feed. And on the rare occasions it does look like that, it probably means I had to give up something else, like my reading time. With that in mind, here are the few books I have finished recently and the ones I’m enjoying now.

This week in books.

This week I read…

• The Martian by Andy Weir. This was fun and fine, and I think Mark Watney is a wonderful character and narrator. I really don’t have much else to say about it except that I didn’t love the structure of the ending, and I wish Andy Weir would let his audiobooks exist on non-Amazon platforms. Amazon | Bookshop

• My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead. I’d been looking forward to reading this since recording our Middlemarch episodes of Novel Pairings and I thought it was a lovely way to deepen and reflect on my own experience of reading George Eliot’s masterpiece. The book is part memoir, part biography, and part literary criticism, and I found the way Mead intersected all of those aspects felt very authentic. I enjoyed learning about the way she has returned to the novel as a touchstone throughout her life, while also gaining a much greater understanding of who Eliot was as a woman and a writer. I highly recommend this one if you’ve read and enjoyed Middlemarch, but also if you simply enjoy accessible literary analysis and learning more about classic authors. Amazon | Bookshop | Libro.fm

Now I’m reading…

• The Arsonist’s City by Hala Alyan. I’ve been wanting to read this since it showed up as an Aspen Words Prize finalist and my library hold of the audio finally came in. It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve been listening to something that keeps me reaching for my Airpods at all hours of the day and this is it. Amazon | Bookshop | Libro.fm

• On Fragile Waves by E. Lily Yu. I’ve very excited to be diving into this one (it’s the FictionMatters Book Club selection for April). I’ve heard it’s beautiful but brutal. Amazon | Bookshop

You can get two LIBRO.FM audiobooks for the price of one by using code my link or FICTIONMATTERS.

Links I love.

This New York Times piece about how Barnes and Noble went from bookish villain to hero of the bookselling world is fascinating.

Vulture’s best books of the year so far list has been updated to include March releases.

As someone who doesn’t care at all about—or even actively seeks out—spoilers, I loved this thinkpiece on spoilers from someone who feels similarly.

The National Book Foundation announced their 5 under 35 list…I’ve yet to read any of the authors 😩

I have a love/hate relationship with Romantic poetry in general, but I thoroughly appreciated this discussion of John Keats.

The “What is Poetry?” collection from the NYT is a great resource to explore for National Poetry Month.

The New York Public Library has made banned books available for free for everyone—even non-New Yorkers. You can check out the initiative and start reading here.

End notes.

Watching:

• We finished The Dropout and absolutely loved it. This article about how it managed to land the ending even though Holmes’ story isn’t over was really interesting.

Listening:

• It had been awhile since I listened to the book podcast, From the Front Porch, but I recently caught up on some recent episodes and was reminded how delightful it is.

Making: 

• Some tweaks to the Ranked Reading Recaps I offer for Patreon members. Every month, I record a solo podcast where I share every book I read the month prior, ranked from least favorite to favorite. I love putting it together, but I’ll admit that it’s gotten a little fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants in the last several months. I’m eager to make a few changes that will make it more helpful to patrons looking for their next great read.

Loving:

• My new Hill House Nap Dress. It’s true, I caved. They got me with an Instagram ad announcing that the dresses now have pockets, and I’m not mad about it. It’s super comfy and so cute (I really wish I’d gotten one while I was pregnant!). They also have great customer service and when my shipment went missing, they sent me a replacement no questions asked. Thank you, Hill House!

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Readers, I hope your Sunday is filled with bookish goodness. For questions, comments, or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out by emailing fictionmattersbooks@gmail.com or responding directly to this newsletter. I love hearing from you!

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Happy reading!

Sara