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I think I'm gonna love this one.

A reread in celebration of Carson's Nobel win.

feed me to lesbians

I think my biggest issue with this so far is how the prose seems so desperate to be profound. There's a self-consciousness to the writing that makes even its more introspective moments feel a little cringey, like every sentence knows it's supposed to mean something. I wish it trusted itself a little less to be profound and a little more to simply be good.

36% in and I have such a soft spot for Mika, even when she's being an absolute disaster. There's something painfully relatable about wanting to be wanted, knowing better, and still letting yourself hope anyway.

Reading/listening to this new Green novel is like talking to an old friend!

purtee goode

I already know this book is going to wreck me. Bryan Washington has this incredible ability to take the most mundane things his characters do and somehow make them feel profound. I love his quiet prose, the way he lets emotion sit beneath the surface instead of announcing itself, and I will always get excited whenever he has a new book out.

There’s a particular kind of melancholy in reading this one. It feels like watching someone sift through the fragments of her past, not quite trying to reconstruct a life so much as revisiting all the different lives she has lived within it. It’s nostalgic without ever feeling sentimental, and I love how the book makes memory feel both intimate and strangely elusive.

criminally underrated

31% into this and I’m already completely taken by how strange and slippery it feels. There’s something dreamlike about the way Silver writes, in which everything seems slightly off-kilter yet still emotionally recognizable. No idea where this is going, but I’m very much along for the ride.

A little over halfway through this and I genuinely have no idea what Tulathimutte is going to do next. It’s caustic, uncomfortable, hilarious, and deeply unhinged in a way I’m completely fascinated by. I’m not sure I’m enjoying these people, but I’m absolutely enjoying being trapped inside their heads.

Finished Part I. I haven't stopped annotating. Every chapter leaves me with another sentence to underline or another thought to sit with. It's one of those rare books that rewards close reading without ever feeling like it's trying too hard. I'm already in love with this novel.

I wasn't expecting to fall for this book so quickly. The prose is gorgeous without trying too hard, and the premise already feels rich with history, longing, and heartbreak. I'm so glad I finally picked up a copy. If this gets me out of my reading slump, it'll have earned a permanent place on my shelf.

Only a few pages in and I already know this is going to hurt me. There's a quiet melancholy hanging over every page, like grief has settled into the walls of the farmhouse. Bakker trusts silence more than exposition, and I have a feeling this book will break my heart very, very gently.

a pride month reread

Just a few pages into this and I already feel quietly drawn in. There’s a softness to the writing, but also a sharp attentiveness to how people see and misread each other, especially in the way Red seems to observe Mara through a mix of admiration, distance, and quiet tension. It already feels like a novel interested in perception, longing, and the emotional weight of what goes unspoken.

Feeling quietly undone by how these poems hold the exhausted resilience of women, especially the kind shaped by performance, motherhood, class anxiety, and the pressure to remain “composed” through all of it.

67 lol sorry THIS BOOK IS SO SADD

Easy to read, but quite wordy... The premise carries the kind of weight that makes you feel like you're walking on eggshells.

Great premise, but I think the presentation is quite boring... I'm already 87% done and I'm still waiting for something about what its blurb said to happen.

54% in and I’m still unsettled. The premise hits too close to reality, which makes it all the more disturbing. Melquíades feels terrifyingly plausible. There’s a kind of unease here that lingers while reading. A few repetitions and word choices pull me out at times, but the tension holds.

In the midst of my growing fascination with Gothic literature, I picked this up and was surprised by how quickly it drew me in. The prose leans into the rhythms of the Deep South, rich and grounded, yet still easy to follow, helped by the short chapters. I’m usually not a fan of multiple POVs, but this one works; each voice feels distinct, and together they carry the same weight in different ways.

Started reading this last night and dreamt of a garden I didn't know I wanted: flowers opening without hesitation, leaves given over to birds and small, soft-bodied hoppers that arrive each morning to take what they need. Limón's poems feel like an offering, a quiet consent to be touched by the world, even when it takes more than it gives back.