Books by Americans – Page 4 – Equal Opportunity Reader

[REVIEW] Milk Fed, by Melissa Broder

In front of a half gallon and a gallon container of plant-based milk, the Kindle cover of Milk Fed is propped up. It depicts a dear God is that a nipple? I just realized that's an art deco nipple!

(Buy this book here.) Rachel is a non-religious queer Jewish woman in L.A. By day she works for a talent agency. By night, she’s a stand-up comedian. She dresses well, goes to therapy, is politically progressive, and is probably the coolest person a lot of her friends know–at least until you factor in her toxicContinue reading “[REVIEW] Milk Fed, by Melissa Broder”

[BOOKLIST] Complex Love; A Booklist of Diverse and Intersectional Romance Novels

Six hands, all belonging to different people, are placed on a pink background to form a heart shape.

Every year, Valentine’s Day rolls around, and every year, we all have to endure lists of monolithic romance novels about very boring people. Aside from the usual “hot blonde meets borderline emotionally abusive hockey player/CEO/pop star/cowboy/hometown hero” lists, there are also lists of Black romance, Asian romance, Latin romance, queer romance and all sorts ofContinue reading “[BOOKLIST] Complex Love; A Booklist of Diverse and Intersectional Romance Novels”

[REVIEW] Lunar New Year Love Story, by Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham

The Kindle cover of Lunar New Year Love Story, depicting a young Asian couple in front of a pinkwashed sunset sky, is propped up in front of a lily plant and surrounded by wooden hearts and wrapped chocolate hearts.

(Buy this book here.) Valentina Tran loves the holiday she’s named after. Every year she makes heart-decorated cards for all her classmates, and an extra special one for her dad, who’s still trying to cope years after his wife’s death. To the disgust of her realistic bestie Bernice, Val maintains a belief in romance soContinue reading “[REVIEW] Lunar New Year Love Story, by Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham”

[REVIEW] The Mountain In The Sea, by Ray Nayler

The Kindle cover of The Mountain In the Sea, depicting a giant octopus floating in the ocean, is propped up on a cafe countertop, an empty mug behind it.

(Buy this book here.) Ha Nguyen is many things; a brilliant researcher who studies octopi, the best-selling author of a book on cephalopod thought, an orphan, and the latest addition to a small team assembled on a near-future Vietnamese island to study strange activity in the local tentacled sea life. The local octopodes, protected asContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Mountain In The Sea, by Ray Nayler”

[REVIEW] Worm, by Edel Rodriguez

The Kindle cover of Worm, depicting a small boy in a Communist Party hat and tie, all drawn in red and green and black. In the background the spine of the famous Che biography can be seen.

(Buy this book here.) If you haven’t heard the name Edel Rodriguez before, you’ve almost certainly seen his work. Think back to the bright orange cartoon of a melting Donald Trump on the cover of Time magazine in 2016, or subsequent images of the former president holding the severed head of Lady Liberty or drapedContinue reading “[REVIEW] Worm, by Edel Rodriguez”

Last Year In Books: Words I Adored In 2023

A collage of the 5 books I adored this year

(Purchase these and other books I read this year here.) 2024 is only fourteen days away. In a total departure from the near-panic of previous years, I think I’m totally ready for it. I do hear that there’s this thing called Christmas sometime in between now and the new year that I’m not at allContinue reading “Last Year In Books: Words I Adored In 2023”

[HEAR ME OUT] I Don’t Think I Like the Film Adaptation of Killers of the Flower Moon

The film crossover book cover of Killers of the Flower Moon, featuring photographs of Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert DeNiro, and Lily Gladstone

(Buy the book here. It’s better than the movie.) If you haven’t read Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, you should. It’s an excellent work of non-fiction that illustrates one of many examples of how America’s present wealth and power were created by systematically disenfranchising and murdering Black and Indigenous people who assumedContinue reading “[HEAR ME OUT] I Don’t Think I Like the Film Adaptation of Killers of the Flower Moon”

[REVIEW] Wild Spaces, by S. L. Coney

A Black woman's hand holds the cover of Wild Spaces up in front of trees and fallen leaves. The cover depicts a boy and his dog in silhouette, walking in twilight surrounded by tentacles.

(Buy this book here.) This debut horror novella was a very nice surprise. In the double magics of pre-internet childhood and coastal South Carolina, an eleven-year old boy, his biologist father and his pretty, secretive mother have their peaceful beachfront cottage life disturbed when the boy’s grandfather shows up one day. Nothing’s quite right aboutContinue reading “[REVIEW] Wild Spaces, by S. L. Coney”

[REVIEW]The Rose That Grew From Concrete, by Tupac Shakur

(Buy this book here.) So, the poems in this book are absolutely terrible and we need to talk about that. Put away your pitchforks and torches. I said what I said. This book of posthumously published poetry by one of hip-hop’s most lauded voices is…pretty bad. The rhymes are trite, the metaphors banal (when they’reContinue reading “[REVIEW]The Rose That Grew From Concrete, by Tupac Shakur”

[REVIEW] Chlorine, by Jade Song

The Kindle cover of Chlorine by Jade Song, which depicts a mermaid tail flashing out of view into the water. It's held up by a Black woman's hand in front of a grimy collegiate swimming pool.

(To buy this book, click here.) Ren Yu– daughter of Chinese immigrants, indifferent high school student, favorite pupil of her lecherous coach, unrequited love of teammate Cathy’s budding lesbian life — knows deep down that she’s really always been a mermaid. The Pennsylvania suburbs are a bit far from the beach, but Ren feeds herContinue reading “[REVIEW] Chlorine, by Jade Song”