Three books with intense relationships, provocative themes, and big moral questions

Plus standalone fantasy and the best romance guide out there

Hey, readers!

Unintentionally my books this week seemed to speak to each other. Each book is about deep, intimate personal relationships yet set against the backdrop or the threat of an authoritarian power. Each book highlights the personal within the political, explores how the world enacts upon us, and works—in some way—to defy expectations.

I love it when I stumble into accidental book bundles like this. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot and talking with other book reviewers and critics about why I read. I’ve explored this in previous essays, but I’ve learned that while I love finding exceptional books and being an online champion for those books, I often read more for the connective tissue between books than for singular reading experiences.

This got me thinking about my 2024 Paperback Summer Reading Guide (can you believe it’s time to start thinking about that?! ) and what I want to offer this year. I haven’t made any final decisions about structure or offerings—that will come once I get more books under my belt—but I’m feeling my creative energy surge and I’m inspired to try something a little different this year.

And in case you haven’t checked it out, paying subscribers can still access the 2023 Paperback Summer Reading Guide:

The 2023 Paperback Summer Reading Guide

This week in books.

This week I read…

• The Laughter by Sonora Jha. I’ve been eager to read this since it was longlisted for the Aspen Words Lit Prize and since my friend Liz Hein named it one of her best books of 2023. When the Aspen Words team asked me if I’d be up for interviewing Sonora, I leapt at the chance and devoured her book in a matter of days. This novel feels so urgent, both in terms of the momentum Jha brings to the page and the themes she explores with complexity and nuance. The story is told through the perspective of Oliver Harding, a white male professor of literature who becomes obsessed with his colleague Ruhaba, a Pakistani law professor. You know something horrible has happened at the onset, and the novel progresses, you begin to fear for what might occur and realize that you can’t trust the perspective you’re trapped inside. Through this narrative device, Jha is able to tell the story of Ruhaba and her nephew Adil, while filtering them through the lens of Oliver’s lust and hatred. It’s an ingenious apparatus for requiring the reader to confront internal and systemic bias, in particular Islamophobia, while telling a story that’s impossible to look away from. Amazon | Bookshop | Libro.fm

• Real Americans by Rachel Khong (out 4/30). Khong’s debut novel, Goodbye Vitamin, was one of my absolutely favorite reads of 2023. I picked it up in part because I’d seen so much advanced buzz around her followup, Real Americans, and wanted to get a sense for her style. While the two books are drastically different, having read both I am now a devout Rachel Khong evangelist and will be eagerly seeking out whatever she writes next. Real Americans is more expansive and perhaps more commercially appealing than Goodbye Vitamin, but it maintains the heart and the astute eye for relationships that were on full display in her debut. The story begins with Lily, the daughter of two immigrants who fled Mao’s cultural revolution to find relative success as scientists in the U.S. Lily is living in NYC and floundering a bit when she meets Matthew—a ridiculously wealthy and handsome man who wants to sweep her off her feet. While their relationship begins the novel, it is not—in my opinion—the heart of the novel. Instead, Khong is using some classic romantic tropes to draw us in before taking us on a completely unexpected journey. I don’t want to say much more about plot, because I loved being surprised along the way, but I will say that if you aren’t into Matthew and Lily’s love story, keep going! Ultimately this novel develops into a multigenerational family saga that explores questions of choice, fate, and determinism, both genetic and situational. Simultaneously, Khong subtly prods at American dynamics of class and race, and considers what we pass on to our children. While I wouldn’t call this a perfect book (I have some minor complaints about plot points that needed more explanation), I overall found this novel to be epic and beautiful and thoroughly surprising. I highly recommend preordering this one! Amazon | Bookshop | Libro.fm

• Best of Friends by Kamila Shamsie. This is the FictionMatters Book Club selection for February and—not to toot my own horn—but I think this is a great book club pick. Whether your book likes to delve into structure and writing, character and plot, or personal and real world connections, there is a ton to discuss here. The story follows Zahra and Maryam. For the first half of the novel, we meet the girls when they’re 14-years-old living very different, but completely enmeshed lives in Karachi. After a single decision completely transforms the trajectory of their lives, Shamsie executes a time jump, moving us to the London of Zahra and Maryam’s adulthood. I’m going to save my full thoughts for book club, but I am very eager to unpack it with other readers, and highly recommend adding it to your own book club’s TBR. Amazon | Bookshop | Libro.fm

Now I’m reading…

• Ours by Phillip B. Williams (out 2/20) and the first batch of secret reading for my Paperback Summer Reading Guide.

If you are an international reader or just prefer UK covers, you can also order books through my Blackwell’s affiliate page!

Links I love.

This NPR review really captured my feelings about Kelly Link’s The Book of Love. This week I also enjoyed learning about Link’s favorite books and some writing prompts she’s found generative.

I can never resist a “best campus novels” list.

This scandal around the Hugo Awards is deeply disappointing.

5 books featuring older protagonists.

I’m (mostly) with Maris Kreizman here. Some audiobooks need lots of production and voice work, others would be better off with a more subdued reading. And, like Maris, Ronan Farrow’s accents in Catch & Kill still haunt me.

My Novel Pairings co-host Chelsey Feder released a meticulously curated February romance collection. It’s a must for anyone who loves love!

I’ll be keeping this list of standalone fantasy novels in my back pocket. I just can’t do series anymore!

End notes.

This week in views, listens, eats, and moments of joy.

• Louise is still a die-hard Daniel Tiger fan, but lately we’ve all been enjoying the slower paced, song-free vibes of Stillwater on Apple TV.

• I always neglect my skincare when I’m sick. I’m getting back into the groove with my favorite lactic acid and this new-to-me moisturizer that I’m loving.

• My mom watched Louise so my husband and I could sneak out for a Valentine’s Day dinner. Our tradition is to go out for fried chicken and it was delicious.

• We’re in a period of long-term planning for both Novel Pairings and FictionMatters content. It always makes me so excited to think about upcoming projects and little adjustments that make a big impact!

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Happy reading!

Sara