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Hysteria, lobotomies, and the suffocating grip of 1950s perfection.

The Mad Wife | Meagan Church

A haunting exploration of identity, motherhood, and what happens when society decides a woman is too much. Set against the backdrop of the 1950s perfect housewife ideal, this one gets into hysteria diagnoses and lobotomies and how efficiently the world has always found ways to silence women who didn’t fit the mold. It also touches on how women’s pain is often ignored, pushed aside, or molded to fit a (man’s) belief.

Parable Of The Sower | Octavia E. Butler

I cannot believe I waited this long.

I knew this was a classic. I’d heard the name before. What I did not know was that it was written in the 90s or what it was actually about — and I loved every second of it. I flew through this book embarrassingly fast. The story, the characters, the writing style, all of it. Octavia Butler is everything and if you haven’t read this yet please just go do it right now.

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Painful, difficult, a little ironic, but not shocking.

Men Who Hate Women | Laura Bates

If you know me, you know I hate men. Not YOUR man, not MY man, just men as a concept. And as a woman, somehow I’m the one making people uncomfortable.

Here’s what’s funny though. A whole book, a whole industry, a whole world of men who actually hate women and nobody bats an eye. You’d walk right past this on a bookshelf without a second thought. But flip it? “Women Who Hate Men?” Fox News would combust. Every YouTuber would have a take by Tuesday. Anyway. The book itself is phenomenal and genuinely hard to get through — not because the writing is bad but because the content is relentless. The history of how these movements started and how we just let them grow on the fringes until they weren’t fringe anymore is essential reading.

It was a hard read and I haven’t finished it but I think it deserves a place on the shelf.

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A mother-daughter story with magic and forests and just enough romance to keep things interesting.

We Shall Be Monsters | Alyssa Wees

I don’t even know how to fully explain this one except to say it worked. It’s a coming of age story wrapped in a complicated mother-daughter relationship with magic and forests and perseverance threaded through all of it.

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She was born in the Amazon, gentrified by Christians and is saving the world.

We Will Be Jaguars | Nemonte Nenquimo, Mitch Anderson

I don’t usually gravitate toward memoir but this one stopped me completely. Nemonte Nenquimo grew up in Ecuador’s Amazon Rain Forest in the Waorani tribe, one of the last tribes contacted by missionaries in the 1950s. She tells her story of growing up, watching that world get overtaken, and how she emerged as one of the most important climate activists alive right now fighting big oil and protecting the Amazon. This book is phenomenal and I think about it a lot.

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The woo-woo and the science are closer than you think.

Good Energy | Casey Means

I’ll be honest, I don’t remember this one as clearly as the others. I’m embarrassed to say when I’m even writing this. What I do remember is that the concept is about the energy inside your body — good and bad — and how being in a constant state of negativity and stress can and does lead to physical illness. We kind of all know this but nobody’s really connecting those dots in a way that sticks.

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The Bones Beneath My Skin | TJ Klune

Romance, hotties, an alien girl, a chase, a found family, and a happy ending. What else do you need.

I’m a big fan of TJ Klune after The House in the Cerulean Sea so I picked this up not really knowing what to expect and loved it. It has everything. I don’t want to say more than that because half the fun is going in without knowing too much. Just trust me and read it. Especially if you love a cute man-man romance.

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Heartwood | Amity Gaige

Gripping and quiet at the same time.

An experienced hiker goes missing 200 miles from her destination and the investigation is led by a female Maine State Game Warden. You follow both women through different lenses — the warden navigating a male-dominated career while genuinely caring about the people she’s searching for, and the hiker pieced together through everyone who knew her.

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Cultish | Amanda Montell

The cult mindset has taken over mainstream culture and we barely notice because society basically is one.

I listened to this on audiobook and the big takeaway is deceptively simple: language matters. Which like, OBVIOUSLY.

How we speak, how we frame things, how we build community around ideas — that’s all cultish behavior and it’s everywhere. Skincare brands, wellness spaces, fitness communities. Worth a read, especially if you’ve ever caught yourself stuck in your own echo chamber of thoughts and opinions.

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The Membranes | Chi Ta-wei

Written in the 90s and somehow more unsettling than anything published since.

I’m pretty sure I found this on Pinterest, which is how I find approximately half my books. The description doesn’t do it justice so I went in with low expectations and ended up loving it. I had to stop around a quarter of the way through to check what year it was written because it felt so accurate and eerily real. Highly recommend.

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Anita de Monte Laughs Last | Xochitl Gonzalez

A tale as old as time: spicy Latinas, the white men who love them but can’t stand to see them succeed. But in this book? The women (finally) win. I cannot express how much I love this book! I could not put it down. I highly recommend listening to it as Jessica Pimentel who narrated Anita was PHENOMENAL. I could feel her story, her rage, her passion. It felt like you were in the room talking with friends. 100/10 stars.

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Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism | Kristen R. Ghodsee

The thing I loved about this book, other than the title, was how it leans into my phrase of the year “multiple things can be true”. Capitalism can be good but unregulated capitalism disproportionately harms women. Socialism, when done right can lead to good things for everyone. So instead of writing off each one as ‘failed’ how can we take what works and create a new society where everyone benefits? (BTW Women have better sex under socialism because they’re not dependent on men for income or security so they get to enjoy their lives and sexuality)

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An Indigenous Peoples’ History Of The United States | Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

FINALLY. Finally, finally, finally. You have to dig SO hard to find any information about the genocide of indigenous people’s. Or maybe there’s tons of information about it written from the heroic standpoint. Either way we never hear how it felt to be on the other end of this. How it felt to be lied to over and over and over again. Not just in one lifetime but throughout many. I felt the generational weight of the United States’ broken promises to indigenous peoples as I listened to this book. This is another book I think everyone needs a physical copy of to keep coming back to.

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1984 | George Orwell

Listen I’m just gonna say it – I don’t like classical books. I’m not a very good critical thinker, I’m not good at foreshadowing or understanding how what they’re talking about translates into a criticism/reflection of the real world. So that being said I didn’t ‘enjoy’ 1984. I found it a slow read, parts where my eyes were glazing over and I was struggling to get through, I don’t feel like the characters were developed or even the world – but maybe that’s the point? What I now understand is what people mean when they say that’s Orewellian. Or we’re headed towards 1984. So that kinda sucks.

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In A New York Minute | Kate Spencer

It’s been a while since I read a romance novel – I used to ONLY read romance but I might have overdid myself. But I gotta say this was a cute one. It still carries the super-rich-hot-guy-who’s-actually-super-shy-and-down-to-earth-for-those-who-know-him-best-and-wouldn’t-you-know-there’s-just-one-quirky-lady-who-gets-him-to-open-up trope but I liked it! A fun, easy, feel-good (non-spicy) read.

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In Order to Live | Yeonmi Park

My phrase for 2025 was “multiple things can be true” and that’s what’s happening here. I read this book without knowing anything about Miss Park. The picture she painted of life in North Korea was truly awful and I’m glad she made it out. But once she made it out it does read like every biography ever, turning into a resume of achievements and how great she is. I finished the book only to discover she’s now a conservative activist which is a little ironic. Still, interesting to know what’s happening in North Korea. 

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Fascism: A Warning | Madeleine Albright

It’s only appropriate right? I honestly don’t know what to say about this book other than read it. I probably need to buy a physical copy, I checked out the audiobook (narrated by Alright herself) from Libby. I wasn’t truly sure I understood Fascism (I’m still not sure if I do) but it was wild to look at the fascist leaders of the early 20th century and see the same playbook repeated over and over and over again in the 21st century. I’m so glad she wrote this book and so sad she passed during this administration.

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The Last House On Needless Street | Catriona Ward

This book was recommended to me! And what a wonderful recommendation it was, thanks Jess! At no point did I know where this was going in the best way. I loved every second of it. I don’t even know what else to say other than go read it.

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Harry Potter 1-7

Listen, I know JKR is problematic which is why I’ve thrifted all my HP books, okay? Shop local. But sometimes you just need to re-read the classics. And every time I read Harry Potter I get something else out of it, it speaks to me differently.

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Everything’s Fine | Cecilia Rabess

EVERYTHING WAS NOT FINE! Again not going to lie to you I didn’t finish this book. Not because I didn’t want to but because I simply couldn’t. There’s so many wonderful things about this book. You feel like you’re right there with them as everything happens. I couldn’t stop thinking about them! Jess felt like a friend. A friend I (in 2025) would have shaken and told her to get it together. Josh is the kind of guy I’d hate (in 2025). In 2008 I probably would have found him charming, open-minded & chased after him myself. But this book is about an interracial relationship, a journey of identity, and how a relationship aids or conflicts with that journey.

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Interesting Facts About Space | Emily Austin

A chapter or two into the book had me thinking I recognized the cadence of the writing and sure enough Emily Austin. I read “Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead” last year and loved it. The thing is, as a neurodivergent I like details. I like things explained I don’t always (usually) pick up on the implied. Emily leaves A LOT out in her books – but it works. It feels like it’s less about her trying to imply something happened and more about her letting you feel out the character for yourself. She provides the outline you fill in the details which means you get a more personalized relationship to the main character (IMO).

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Storm of Locusts | Rebecca Roanhorse (#2)

The thing I like about Maggie (main character) is she’s a reluctant hero. She’s not the one the people asked for, they definitely don’t want her – they don’t even like her – and she agrees. But through book 1 she grows and it’s always made clear she doesn’t have to do or be anything. What does she want? What kind of a future is she fighting for? Can she lead with her values and conscience? Kinda like we’re all trying to do.

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The Darkness Within Us | Tricia Levenseller (#2)

#1 was cute enough that I had to read #2 which stars Main Character #1’s (Alessandra) sister (Chrysantha). The best part is the first book is told from Alessandra’s POV so you’re expectiing to feel some type of way about Chrysantha but as you get to know her she’s just as charming, spunky, and cunning as her sister. I feel both of these books do a great job of a woman making her life instead of letting life hpapen to her.

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The Shadows Between Us | Tricia Levenseller (#1)

I checked this book out to listen on my flight to Europe and it did not disappoint! It was a fun YA novel that didn’t feel too age-inappropriate. You know the ones where 17 year olds are saving the world with quivering loans and rock hard bodies? Definitely a fun, cute read!

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Trouble Island | Sharon Short

Let me not lie to you. I remember liking this book while reading it but 7 months later as I’m updating this blog I can’t remember how it ended! It has a lot of DNFs on StoryGraph if that means anything to you. It has the whole who-done-it vibe: people trapped on an island and someone dies. It takes plce in the Prohibition 1930’s on a remote island in Lake Erie told from the POV of a ‘maid’ to a very dramatic lady, wife of a gangster.

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Trail of Lightening | Rebecca Roanhorse (#1)

Life after the apocalypse but on the Rez. Which is where you want to be because the rest of the country is living like Mad Max but Dinétah (formerly the Navajo reservation) was protecte by Gods and the heroes of legend. Now they walk the Earth but so do monsters – and what is the difference between God & monster?

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How To Be Eaten | Maria Adelmann

This book was weird. But like, weird good. It reimagines the (now) women from the fairy tales of our childhood as adult women with severe emotional trauma. It extrapolates what happens if your life as a young girl is made into an example of what not to do/warning tale for little girls everywhere. The story doens’t end with the lesson. Who do these girls become? How do they interact with society? Are they angry? Traumatized? Scared? Yes. Will telling their stories free them from their trauma? And will men ever stop exploiting them/us? No.

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The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi | Shannon Chakraborty

Book 2 is coming May 2026! I loved this book. I don’t think you read that sentence correctly, I looooooooved this book! And I would love to believe that every single piece of it is true. This is essentially how history looks in my head. Amina is a grumpy, cocky and oh-so-likable lady pirate set in the 12th century. Not only do we NOT have enough relatable books set in the 12th century, we don’t have nearly enough positive, fun, enchanting and entertaining stories set in the area of the Indian Ocean.

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My Dark Vanessa | Kate Elizabeth Russell

I don’t even know where to begin with this book. I was (listening to it) walking around my house with my mouth hanging open. I suppose THIS is dark academia? Student has affair with teacher. She’s 15, he’s in his 40s. As an audience we watch the manipulation and how this can fuck you up for life. We also learn how society treats victims which in turns teaches them how to treat themselves. GO READ IT. BTW the audiobook narrator did an amazing job of doing an adult voice and a teenage voice. BTW in October 2025 I’m STILL thinking about this book.

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Judy Moody Está De Mal Humor | Megan McDonald

My reading comprehension is horrible en espanol so I’ve decided an ‘easy’ way I can work on my Spanish is listening to books! Unfortuntely I’m not fluent, fluent so finding the level of book I can read is difficult. This was fine! I’ll definitely need to repeat it but this is really good practice. Highly recommend!

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Queste | Angie Sage

Septimus Heap Series #4. Okay, so I read 1-3 in October, they started to annoy me so I stopped. In January I kind of missed the characters and wanted to hear about their adventures so I picked up the next (audio)book. And now I understand why I dislike this series. This series is written like a child wanted every negative thought, action, and word published. The whole book, from every character, reads like one big series of negatives and bad lucks. No one understands each other, no one waits for the other to finish telling a story, everyone is always misunderstood and confused. I will not be continuing this series. BTW Goodreads disagrees with me.