The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante
…I state, after only reading two of her novels and two of her shorter pieces…but at this rate, I am all-in on Elena Ferrante and I am STILL mad at myself for taking this long to catch on. I’m two books deep in the Neapolitan Novels, but I had to interrupt my trajectory for two reasons: I needed to read this story before seeing the new (read: 2021) film adaptation I need to see the film in order to solidify all of my (mostly negative) […]
Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls
You know how sometimes, when you are doing housework to distract yourself from your crumbling marriage, a 6’11” Frogman named Larry escapes from a scientific institute and comes to your house for good food and better sex? No? Well, I suppose it isn’t an every day situation for all, but it’s certainly Dorothy’s new normal! “but Cait, isn’t this just The Shape of Water?” NOPE! It predates TSOW, having been first published in 1982, and not all aquatic lovers are created equally! While it is impossible to […]
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by Nikolai Leskov
ESPECIALLY if you are the one to damn them into a life of boredom. I sought out this short story after being utterly enthralled by the 2016 Florence Pugh tour-de-force Lady Macbeth. If you are a sucker for a brutal period drama chock full of female desperation-disguised-as-power, then hustle your bustle to your nearest ye olde video rental and check. it. out. The film is phenomenal, and I was immediately curious about the source material! A little Wikipedia creeping led me to Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk […]
Space Invaders by Nona Fernández, Natasha Wimmer
If you too are seeking respite from this surprisingly hot Saturday, I whole-heartedly recommend spending an hour curled up in front of a fan while reading Space Invaders from cover to cover. This is the second fictional account of being a child in Pinochet’s Chile to rise through my TBR pile this year; How to Order the Universe offered one girl’s story, while Space Invaders trades dreams and memories from a chorus of children who grew up too soon against the terror of the 1980s. Unlike the precocious […]
Mars by Asja Bakić
Anything can become normal, if you continue to stick through it. War, murder, cults, doppelgängers, being deported to Mars- whatever world you are dropped into becomes your world. Asja Bakić is a master of normalcy in abnormal times and places. Her short story collection, Mars, is filled to the gills with the weird becoming common place. I was originally drawn to this collection for less than academic reasons: it is short and it has a pretty corner! I was looking to race through my Bingo card, […]
Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E. K. Johnston
Rating: 4/5 Summary: Hermione is in her final year of high school and starts it off by attending her final cheer camp session. However, it ends with her being drugged, left in a lake and raped. Hermione doesn’t know how to feel afterward, though she knows she feels different. Matters are only complicated when she discovers she’s pregnant. I really enjoyed this book. It was a nice break from all the fantasy and magic I’ve been reading. I just needed something grounded in reality […]
