The third book in the Harlem Shuffle trilogy works just fine as a stand alone. Read them in any order you want, but read them all. They are astonishing. Colson Whitehead has no peer.

A woman finds an old newspaper article about 1970s vigilante Lady X in her family’s attic and is shocked to see her mother in the photo. This fascinating story alternates between a contemporary search for the truth and 1977 New York City when three young women start a movement to protect themselves from the chaos around them.

Also loved by Cheryl!

Dietland is a desert island book for me, so I screamed when I saw a new Sarai Walker book. As you can tell by the Caravaggio cover, Sarai is not messing around. In this book we meet Violet, a 49 year old, plus-sized, true crime writer driving around in a Kia Surrender, drinking a Big Gulp Mountain Dew. She’s unapologetically fat, unapologetically Gen X and unapologetically pissed off. My own personal Holy Trinity.

Also loved by Jenness!

Nossett introduces Kelly Williams, a Dolly-loving, Nashville-dwelling P.I. in this quick, tricky, lyrical, and smart mystery. Kelly is full of heart and smarts – I hope this is the first of a new series!

Also loved by Rae Ann!

Every Nina LaCour novel is a lush, sensory experience, and this one is no different. A rich, layered story of queer life and love set during the Great Migration, Meet Me in the Garden is the exploration of art, identity, and connection you’ve been looking for.

The long-term consequences of an unplanned teenage pregnancy in the 1950s highlight issues of class, morality and selfhood…such a good read!

A two time RITA winner with more than 25 books under her belt, Sherry Thomas’s books are filled to the brim with suspicion, seduction, and at least one really good grovel scene. The Luckiest Lady in London is a gorgeous romance between Felix Rivendale, the “ideal gentleman” and Louisa Cantwell a relative nobody. Both have their secrets but if the two can learn to trust one another they might just find their HEA.

Perfect for introverts and people watchers. Ever pretend to be listening to something on your headphones when you were really listening to people around you? Sonny does. She writes stories about the people she observes. After coming into money, Sonny travels to a resort where something happens that makes her have to interact with others.

A gritty mystery in the vein of Liz Moore, Heather follows a young woman who returns to her hometown to take over as chief of police, only to reopen an old cold case that will turn everything she thinks she knows on its head. A thought-provoking meditation on the consequences of our actions and how far some of us will go to outrun them, Heather is one of the very best crime novels of the year.

Also loved by Jenness!

If Sally Rooney’s Normal People featured messy lesbian love stories, you’d get Chosen Family by Madeleine Gray. The book made me laugh out loud at the clever humors involved in queer parenting in our heteronormative world. The alternating timelines show exactly what it means to come to terms with your sexuality and eventually come to celebrate it.

While I can’t think of any other stories off the top of my head that include cannibal bees set during the sweltering summer, Meat Bees feels undeniably nostalgic. It might be all the 90s music references, or maybe the teenage anguish from the main character, but this novel reminds me so much of all the campy horror movies I loved in my adolescence.

No one does “woman on the verge” quite like Julie Murphy. I’ve loved her since Dumplin’, and Vera Stein might just be my favorite of hers yet. There is just something about Vera that has me feeling connected to her on a spiritual level. Not to mention every time I look at this cover my heart squeezes to see such a gorgeously illustrated full bodied woman rendered so beautifully. Read this book and come find me.

The page-turning first installment of the final duology in the Crowns of Nyaxia series. A human bounty hunter, Kyrene, and a vampire prince, Septimus, team up to hunt down and slay the remaining gods of the White Pantheon. Steamy, bloody, and vampy read that is perfect for romantasy readers and vampire enthusiasts alike.

If you support women’s wrongs as much as their rights, this one is for you. Darkly funny and unpredictable. Perfect for fans of Fleabag.

Happy Women in Translation Month! This long-awaited cult classic novel is finally available in English. Superstars is an intimate portrait of a life in the 90s Parisian techno subculture. In three words: French, lesbian, DJs.

A mind-blowing WHAT-IF of a debut novel! When crossing an international border creates another “instance” of you, are you still you? Is your “instance”? What is the meaning of self? Of individuality? Just a stunning novel.

A dark thriller. Yoohee opens a plant shop. A plant shop by day…but at night Yoohee “treats” men the way they have been treating women and gets rid of them like weeds in her garden. But can she avoid the detective who thinks he knows what her green thumb is up to?

A woman out of luck gets a job at a Time Travel Agency. But time travel isn’t real. Or is it?

Family vacations. Family baggage. It’s clear from the start that bringing the family together after the mother’s death is going to be a disaster. Meeting up at an historic hotel, the three siblings have grudges, secrets, and even five pounds of cocaine. Which family member will be your favorite? It was a toss up between the snail expert and child actor.

A women’s protest at the 1968 Miss America pageant leads to changes in not just the women’s movement but in civil rights and politics. Gloria Steinem was not the face of Women’s Lib until she reported on as a journalist. Their voices led to the Me Too Movement and a correction of accepted gender roles. It even improved healthcare treatment. Important.

When a 19-year-old is found dead in the Thames, his parents feel sure foul play is involved. It turns out that he’d been involved with a criminal element of London that his family didn’t even know existed. This book feels simultaneously like an episode of Sherlock, a very long true crime podcast, and hearing from a friend about what the guys you knew in college are up to now. LOVE.

Fash was the first woman to become the NYC Lifeguard Chief. At 19 she was assigned to Rockaway Beach, the city’s only lifeguard assignment on the open ocean. As her stature in the profession grew she became involved in city politics to secure funding for proper staffing and to make the beaches safe for all who use them. This truly is a love story for lifeguarding and that place where the land meets the sea.

Lovers of France will delight in this well-researched history of the Hotel Lutetia, Paris. Early on, provincial shoppers stay, then prominent German artists, authors, and intellectuals who have fled gather to form an opposition group. During the Occupation, the hotel is requisitioned by Nazi leaders, and finally it serves as the location concentration camp survivors are reunited with their families. Excellent read!

Looking for a book to get you out of a reading slump? This is it! In this lush, gothic fantasy, Elspeth, who’s spent her whole life concealing her forbidden magic, must team up with a mysterious highwayman to break the curse of dark magic that’s fallen over their kingdom. However, the two of them hold more secrets – and power – than they know. Gillig is the queen of fantasy!

Estoy tan emocionada de que hayan traducido al español una de mis novelas americanas favoritas. En los días más difíciles de mi vida, este libro me ha hecho sentir que no estoy sola. El colapso mental de Esther Greenwood es iluminador e inquietante. Esta novela es igual de conmovedora hoy como lo fue cuando se publicó hace seis décadas atrás. ¡Que viva Sylvia Plath!

Juan Planchard aprovecha del gobierno corrupto de la Venezuela Chavista para hacer su fortuna. Pero, empieza a cuestionarse su papel en la luz de nuevo amor. Una novela con la acción de una historia 007, contado por la sensibilidad de un cuentista excelente y serio––no quería bajarla por ni un momento.

First Editions Club: August Selection

Love, Parnassus: August Selection