Happy Easter!
I hope you are all gorging on Mini Eggs and contemplating resurrection.
Not in a religious sense, but resurrection in the everyday:
….The unflattering trends that come back in style.
….The weird hair on your chin that regrows thicker and thicker.
…The former situationship that reacts to your Instagram story with fire emojis after years of no contact.
….The pop stars who reinvent themselves with each album release.
….The reality TV stars who have a new face every season.
…The desire to have long hair when your hair is short, but short hair when your hair is long.
….The old sitcoms that insist on rebooting.
…Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez.
Life is but one giant cycle of crucifixions and comebacks.
Onto the books
🛏️ The Dream Hotel, Laila Lalami ⭐️⭐️⭐️
In the not-too-distant future, a new mother is detained based on her likelihood to commit a crime, calculated through dream data and surveilled behaviour
If my dreams were being monitored like this, I would have been locked up years ago. Not for a threat of violence, perse, but for genuinely concerning levels of mental instability. Such is the curse of a huge imagination! You never know what the subconscious will hold! Mass layoffs on a company-mandated surfing trip where everyone is in matching boardshorts and bikini tops. Libraries overrun with dinosaurs who eat people with late fees. A day where everything is exactly the same, but one of my arms is 1/6th of the size, and no one says anything about it while I try and fail to do normal tasks…. Just to name a few of my recent adventures in slumber!
This book, unfortunately, was less interesting than 95% of my dreams. The Dream Hotel gets 3 stars on the premise and premise alone. Everything else — the plot, characters, and setting — was forgettable.
🐇 We Love You, Bunny, Mona Awad ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A prequel/sequel to the cult classic, ‘Bunny’. billed as ‘Heathers’ meets ‘Frankenstein’.
Listen. Heathers meets Frankenstein is my exact brand of catnip. There is no other combination that would fill me with more glee. Mona Awad dove deep into the wells of my brain and delivered a level of niche joy I didn’t know was possible. AND! The whole story is an allegory for the creative writing process!!! Like, come on, Bunny!! This was made for me to love! It was weird. Dark. Hilarious. Stupid. Brilliant. JUST the perfect amount of annoying (who in their right mind is using smiley faces in their prose???). I adored it!! Even more than the original!!! :) :) :)
🦬 The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones ⭐️⭐️
An ‘American Indian revenge story’ featuring vampires, a priest, and more than one scene spent inside a buffalo carcass.
Another book with a premise I should love, but didn’t. Alas! This was the first book I read all year that was written by a man (brag). Unfortunately, it felt like it. By that I mean it was too long, too meandering, and too up its own butt. I genuinely struggled to understand what was even happening for large chunks of text. Part of my confusion was from the language choices (having a main character recount a story in semi-broken English was….something), part was from the long detours and huge pockets of time we simply did not need to go over, and part was the 3x timelines for a story that really only needed 2.
Now, the horror elements were awesome! I appreciate any new spin on vampire lore, which The Buffalo Hunter Hunter achieved without using the word “vampire” once. Very fun! I also loved the gory and visceral details peppered throughout. Very yucky, but very memorable!!
Overall, this draggggggeddd. Halfway through, I actually gave up reading the physical copy and switched to the audiobook, hoping it would make it easier. It did not.1
All this to say, I would love a different Native American vampire novel if anyone knows of one! I think this premise could be amazing in different hands. There’s so much symbolism there! Just think of what Sinners did!!!🗽 The Golem Of Brooklyn, Adam Mansbach ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
An art teacher makes a golem out of stolen clay and brings it to life.
This book is a modern-day take on Jewish folklore from the author of Go The Fuck To Sleep, one of the greatest books of all time. This novel is magical realism at its best: wacky, fun, and with a clear point-of-view that justifies the supernatural elements. I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I laughed. I learned a lot about golems. I appreciated the topical cultural commentary. I was moved by the ending, which left the story on a surprisingly philosophical note for a book whose plot hinged on a buddy-comedy-inspired road trip.
Last Thought:
Epilogue
What did you read this month?
Anything I should add to my TBR?
Unfortunate, but this is helping prove my theory that the book format doesn’t matter as much as we think. If you like a book, you’ll like it in print or audio. If you don’t, you won’t.