Mel The Bookworm

[REVIEW] Yesteryear, by Caro Claire Burke

The black and white Kindle cover of Yesteryear, depicting a bleak frontier landscape, lies on a white wooden picnic table near a red ceramic cup of coffee and a half-eaten breakfast burrito.

(This book is available on Bookshop.) Read time: 4 minutes Tradwife influencer Natalie Heller Mills seems to have it all. She shows off her successful organic farm, cheerful children, home-cooked recipes and red-blooded provider of a husband to millions on social media, proving that the conservative American dream can be a reality. Of course, realContinue reading “[REVIEW] Yesteryear, by Caro Claire Burke”

[REVIEW] It’s Not You, It’s Capitalism: Why It’s Time To Break Up And How To Move On, by Malaika Jabali

The blue hardback cover of It's Not You, It's Capitalism is held up by a Black woman's hand in front of a loaded bookshelf. The cover depicts a series of illustrated emoticons: a broken heart, a bag of money on fire, and an upraised, clenched Black Power fist.

(Buy this book here.) Read time: About 3 minutes 25-year old me would think that 45-year old me is ballin. 45-year old me thinks that I work too hard not to be. Both of us are pissed off. Somehow, the steady rise of my income is far outmatched by the upward sprint of the costContinue reading “[REVIEW] It’s Not You, It’s Capitalism: Why It’s Time To Break Up And How To Move On, by Malaika Jabali”

Last While In Books: Sorry To These Men

Keke Palmer, in a white business jacket, flips a page and says "Sorry to this man"

Read time: about 4 minutes Hello, fellow readers. I don’t seem to have the time to post bookish news updates on social media anymore, so here’s a roundup of some of the more interesting bits of literary news–diverse and otherwise–that I’ve come across recently. That’s it for diverse bookish news of the last while, fellowContinue reading “Last While In Books: Sorry To These Men”

[REVIEW] Crossfire, by StaceyAnn Chin

(Buy this book here.) Read time: about 3 minutes Back in the day, I used to attend poetry performances almost as often as church. (And I went to church a lot!) Unsurprisingly, I was especially drawn to the words of other Black women, and while like most people I’m made up of a million differentContinue reading “[REVIEW] Crossfire, by StaceyAnn Chin”

[REVIEW]Once Upon A Marquess, by Courtney Milan

The Kindle cover of Once Upon A Marquess depicts a young white woman in a Victorian dress sitting in a grassy field. The Kindle lies on a speckled ceramic table, nest to a saucer with a blue ceramic cup of milky coffee and a half-eaten scone on it.

(Buy this book here!) Read time: 2 minutes After her father’s death and her brother’s disgraced exile, Judith Worth is tasked with caring for her three younger siblings and keeping the family name in good, if socially lowered, standing. When a challenge to her hard won domesticity arises, there’s only one person she can turnContinue reading “[REVIEW]Once Upon A Marquess, by Courtney Milan”

[REVIEW] Dungeon Crawler Carl, by Matt Dinniman

The Kindle cover of Dungeon Crawler Carl, depicting a burly man in boxers and a Persian cat running from a fiery explosion, lies on the ground next to a city water department manhole cover.

(Buy this book here.) Read time: 4 minutes One minute Coast Guard meathead Carl is rescuing his absentee ex-girlfriend’s prize Persian cat from a tree in the middle of the night. The next, every building on earth is smashed flat and at the behest of an alien voice, Carl and Donut(the cat) are forced toContinue reading “[REVIEW] Dungeon Crawler Carl, by Matt Dinniman”

[Hear Me Out] A Year of Deeper Reading

Read time: 13 minutes (To skip to the booklist, click here.) I’m still here. Fellow readers, I almost quit the internet last year. And last month. And last week. And about an hour ago. Rest assured, this isn’t some “goodbye, cruel virtual world” post. You’re stuck with me for the virtual moment. But like many,Continue reading “[Hear Me Out] A Year of Deeper Reading”

[Last Year In Books] 2025 In Books: What I Read In The Midst of The Weird

Scrabble tiles spell out Happy New Year on a black background dotted with sequins

Read time: 12 minutes Man, 2025 was a weird year. The weirdest thing, perhaps, is that I’ve been saying the exact same thing for the past five years. You know how history speaks of the Renaissance, the Dark Ages, the Enlightenment? Fellow readers, I fear that future generations may refer to our era as TheContinue reading “[Last Year In Books] 2025 In Books: What I Read In The Midst of The Weird”

[Hear Me Out] Wicked Is Kinda Bad, Actually

Glinda and Elphaba from Wicked, also known as the good witch and the wicked witch from Oz, face off with each other in a Munchkinland village.

So I finally saw Wicked: For Good, the second installment of the film adaptation of the stage adaptation of the novel by Gregory Maguire, which is itself a gritty reboot of both Frank L. Baum’s Wizard of Oz novels and the 1939 MGM film. I have a complicated relationship with all things Oz. I hatedContinue reading “[Hear Me Out] Wicked Is Kinda Bad, Actually”

[REVIEW] On Tyranny, by Timothy Snyder

On Tyranny, a small tan academic paperback folio, lies face up on a shelf clogged with other books. Someone has written "Gird Your Loins" on the cover with a sharpie.

(Buy this book here.) This book has been everywhere since last year’s election in the US–indie shops, TikTok diatribes, little free libraries and coffee shop share shelves with snarky messages inked on the cover. Something about the idea of a little book of twenty short lessons on how to stem the tide of tyranny, basedContinue reading “[REVIEW] On Tyranny, by Timothy Snyder”