#author: t kira madden

[haveyoureadthispoll]

Acclaimed literary essayist T Kira Madden's raw and redemptive debut memoir is about coming of age and reckoning with desire as a queer, biracial teenager amidst the fierce contradictions of Boca Raton, Florida, a place where she found cult-like privilege, shocking racial disparities, rampant white-collar crime, and powerfully destructive standards of beauty hiding in plain sight. As a child, Madden lived a life of extravagance, from her exclusive private school to her equestrian trophies and designer shoe-brand name. But under the surface was a wild instability. The only child of parents continually battling drug and alcohol addictions, Madden confronted her environment alone. Facing a culture of assault and objectification, she found lifelines in the desperately loving friendships of fatherless girls. With unflinching honesty and lyrical prose, spanning from 1960s Hawai'i to the present-day struggle of a young woman mourning the loss of a father while unearthing truths that reframe her reality, Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls is equal parts eulogy and love letter. It's a story about trauma and forgiveness, about families of blood and affinity, both lost and found, unmade and rebuilt, crooked and beautiful.

[arthruian]

2. 3. 18 📚

2. - I reread The Locked Tomb books an embarrassing number of times. I read Gideon 5 times, Harrow 4 times, and Nona 4 times. For the record, I read Gideon for the first time in January and was immediately like. Oh yes. I read it, listened to it, made my wife listen to it with me (so she has also heard the series through a few times) TLT really did it for me.

3. - While Gideon was definitely my top book of the year I'm gonna talk about others. This is no particular order.

Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon -- A memoir about growing up as an overweight black man in the south to a genius mother. It talks about weight and bodies, and families and secrets. The prose was so beautiful. I would suggest listening to it, it's read by the author and captures the feel of the words and AAVE that I, as a white person, would have missed.

My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward by Mark Lukach -- Another memoir about Mark's experience with his smart, beautiful wife's unexpected mental health crisis, how it affected both of them and their relationship. I thought it would be rather triggering for me, I was ready to put it down if it was but her mental health issues were far away enough from my own to be fascinating rather than triggering.

Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore -- I definitely learned about the Radium Girls during school but this was a wonderfully informative book with a uniquely person-focused view. It follows specific women and how they deteriorated rather than just talking about the companies involved.

None of This is True by Lisa Jewell -- Love a good unreliable narrator. The uneasy relationship between the two women was really well done. By the end of the book I was honestly still questioning what was real and what wasn't. Probably worth rereading

Long Live The Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden -- I was really into memoirs this year. Story of a queer biracial girl growing up amidst drug addicted parents. Another book with beautiful prose.

WHEW

18. - How many books did I buy? Oh god, this is just from a really quick look on my bookshelves but minimum 10. And those are just the books I bought, didn't count anything my wife got. I read most of them though!

[thebooksaidthat]

No one can hurt you the way a mother can. No one can love you the way a mother can.

T Kira Madden, Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls

[thegingerjedi]

Books by Queer Authors of Color, Day 24:

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls: A Memoir by T Kira Madden

"Acclaimed literary essayist T Kira Madden's raw and redemptive debut memoir is about coming of age and reckoning with desire as a queer, biracial teenager amidst the fierce contradictions of Boca Raton, Florida, a place where she found cult-like privilege, shocking racial disparities, rampant white-collar crime, and powerfully destructive standards of beauty hiding in plain sight.

"As a child, Madden lived a life of extravagance, from her exclusive private school to her equestrian trophies and designer shoe-brand name. But under the surface was a wild instability. The only child of parents continually battling drug and alcohol addictions, Madden confronted her environment alone. Facing a culture of assault and objectification, she found lifelines in the desperately loving friendships of fatherless girls.

"With unflinching honesty and lyrical prose, spanning from 1960s Hawai'i to the present-day struggle of a young woman mourning the loss of a father while unearthing truths that reframe her reality, Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls is equal parts eulogy and love letter. It's a story about trauma and forgiveness, about families of blood and affinity, both lost and found, unmade and rebuilt, crooked and beautiful."

https://bookshop.org/books/long-live-the-tribe-of-fatherless-girls-a-memoir/9781635571851

[hungryfictions]

the concept for this list was: fifty books written by women about women, published within the past five years, (2017-now), that aren’t normal people and whatever else sally rooney just released. i also tried to avoid anything that gave explicitly rooney vibes. (here is why.) i stuck mostly with realism, though some have elements of fantasy or magic or horror. if you have questions about triggers for any particular book feel free to reach out.

Everything Here Is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee

We Play Ourselves by Jen Silverman

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi*

Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong

Sweet Lamb of Heaven by Lydia Millet*

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray

No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood*

All’s Well by Mona Awad*

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett*

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson*

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata*

The Push by Audrey Audrain

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers

Sad Janet by Lucie Britsch

Weather by Jenny Offill

If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha

The Comeback by Ella Berman

The Farm by Joanne Ramos

Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami

Writers & Lovers by Lily King*

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Supper Club by Lara Williams

Vacuum in the Dark by Jen Beagin

In the Dream House: A Memoir by Carmen Maria Machado*

Severance by Ling Ma

Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder

Lurkers by Sandi Tan

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

Edie Richter is Not Alone by Rebecca Handler

Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden

Godshot by Chelsea Bieker

Betty by Tiffany McDaniel*

The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré

Ordinary Girls: A Memoir by Jaquira Díaz

The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa

Fake Like Me by Barbara Bourland

Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin

My Life as a Rat by Joyce Carol Oates*

Tell the Machine Goodnight by Katie Williams

The Power by Naomi Alderman

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng*

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Penance by Kanae Minato*

Quicksand by Malin Persson Giolito

a note: this list is obviously limited to books that i have either personally read or know a lot about.

* means the author has other good books that i know of, i just didn’t want to repeat any authors

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

reading every article in my twitter likes part 5

[part one] [part two] [part three] [part four]

ah jeez I'm really gonna get to number 100 today aren't I

article 91: "Femme Fatale" by Zoe Whittall at Harper's Bazaar. an interrogative and self-aware piece about the meaning of the word "femme" as an identity and adjective, and what it means when different people use it.

article 92: "A Mexican Saint of Death Helped Guide Me Back to Life" by Mey Rude at BuzzFeed. a lovely little personal essay about one trans Latina finding a love of life through Santa Muerte, the saint of death.

article 93: "To Georgia Nicolson and All The Normie Girls of YA" by Ashley Reese at Jezebel. a fond little eulogy for author Louise Rennison's books and a seemingly bygone era of young adult literature.

article 94: "Navigating vaginismus when sex before marriage is taboo in your culture" by Sarah N at gal-dem. delighted as always to see vaginismus being talked about, frustrated as ever to see the colluding factors making it difficult for someone to receive proper medical treatment.

article 95: "In Our Fashion: Your Uncanny Guide to the Cosmos’s Best SFF Couture" by Lynne M. Thomas at the Mary Sue. straight up this is just a list of SFF fiction with cool clothing details and I am disappointed.

article 96: an article that feels relevant to my earlier anon, "When You Have Crohn's But Love to Take it in the Ass" by Rax King at MEL. spoiler alert: it's totally fine!

article 97: Ashley Reese at Jezebel again with a truly hard-hitting story: "Dev Patel Hasn't Forgotten Being Called the 'Ugly' Character on Skins." surprise surprise: being a highly scrutinized teenager actor with a racist fanbase that called you ugly and unlikeable takes a toll on you. who'd have thought! (criticism aimed, obviously, at the people who talked about a child like that, not Ashley Reese or the reporter she quotes.)

article 98: "The Parallel-Parking Job That Ignited the Internet" by P.E. Moskowitz at Curbed. I do think it's also important to share the blurb Moskowitz attached when sharing this article on Twitter, which is this: "hi i reached out to the people who told me i deserved to be in jail for parallel parking and interviewed them. and discovered the internet had made us all insane." having now read this article and learned about a 40 year old who saw a tight parallel parking job and was reminded of being raised by a malignant narcissist, I am now forced to agree.

article 99: "I Hate Horses" by T Kira Madden at Refinery29. I'm not horse girl, but this a surprisingly beautiful piece about the brutality of loving horses.

article 100, I am delighted to announce, is "The Inevitable 'Why People Think King Shark is Hot' Thinkpiece" by Kayleigh Donaldson at /Film. you all already know that the The Suicide Squad King Shark is not my personal favorite flavor of King Shark, but Donaldson is right on all counts about why monsterfuckers stay winning.

for the curious: at this point in my backwards trek through my likes we are very nearly finished with August 2021. kink at pride hot takes will be on us before we know it!

[zannolin]

18, 20, 23

18. how do what you look for in your own writing vs someone else’s coincide? how does your writing influence your reading?

good grammar. GOOD GRAMMAR. good fucking grammar. please god let the grammar be good. if i see passive voice used unnecessarily i will just start killing. anyone who has had to listen to me talk about writing knows this. outside of that. i don't really know what i'm "looking for" in my writing i think i'm just writing to expel the demons from the washing machine rinse cycle of my brain. when i read, i want to be able to tell that the author cared, and not just cared about the story they were telling, but cared enough to tell it well. cared enough to know what to leave it and what to take out. you know the t kira madden tweet.

i think i tend to gravitate towards more highly specific stories because of my writing (ann patchett books, for example, or niche aus in the realm of fanfic) but i dunno i'm willing to read a lot. i can tell you how my reading influences my writing but i've never considered the other way around.

20. where do you begin a WIP? ex: a mood, a scene, a certain character dynamic, etc. does this differ per project?

it varies. usually i will be watching/reading/etc something else and go hey this vibe fits x character and it can spiral from there. this is how the gospel tent au was born (i watched an episode of x files and the plot spun itself out pretty wild from there). generally i see the parts that work and figure out how to thread them together differently to fit what story i want to tell. for non-specific aus or canon universe writing it's usually i happen to have a lot of scene ideas build up and i put them all together like a jigsaw puzzle. sometimes i'll want to fill the missing pieces (this is what my mithan fic is a combination of: gap in canon and a ton of scene ideas). sometimes it's purely an aesthetic or motif or character dynamic that niggles at me til i write something. the leon and claire fic i posted today was purely me feeling unhinged over their dynamic in infinite darkness and wanting to explore it. i dunno i'm a jack of all trades. my brain will just start monologuing and i have to write it down or forget it immediately.

23. what do you do to engage with your projects which isn’t actually writing? ex: playlists, pinterest boards, etc. how much do they play a role in the development of your work?

i USED to do playlists for my fics (and just in general) but i don't tend to do that much anymore. i do sometimes make playlists specifically for brainrot though i use my ipod more than spotify so i don't really know Why. there's one for cat's cradle which, huge L. there's one for the ABBA au. there's a l'manberg one lurking somewhere but i think i made that one secret or something. there's a winters family playlist i occasionally yeet stuff on and i also have a playlist of songs i want my writing to feel like which is incredibly self indulgent but fun. the playlists don't really do much they're just for fun and good for stealing lyrics for chapter titles.

i do pinterest boards for a lot of aus as well which is a good way to scroll around until i get inspiration and/or to find things i was keeping on hand for epigraphs. i also doodle stuff for my writing sometimes bc well somebody's gotta make me fanart and it looks like it's gonna have to be me. drawing is good for conceptualizing designs if i need them like for the final girl au but mostly everything is just for fun and can be used as a successful procrastination method to avoid Actually writing.

ask game.

[snoopysfriendwoodstock]

book recs based off of taylor swift songs!

so, we all want taylor to share her reading recs with us but she still hasn’t! so instead, here are book recommendations based on taylor swift songs! these recommendations are based on both the content of the songs, the vibe of the songs, and the themes present!

goodreads pages for each book are linked for more about them!

A Place in this World - coming of age novels

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo (YA novel told in verse)

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (classic)

A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi (YA realistic fiction)

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth  (YA realistic fiction / tw: conversion therapy, religious abuse, homophobia)

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (children’s/middle grade poetry)

The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf by Mohja Kahf (adult realistic fiction / tw: islamophobia, racist hate crime)

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (classic)

there are a lot here, so the rest are under a read more!

ME! - memoirs and autobiographies that are one of a kind

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden (tw: substance abuse)

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (tw: abuse)

Little Weirds by Jenny Slate

Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer by Chely Wright

Know My Name by Chanel Miller (tw: sexual assault)

Accidental Saints by Nadia Bolz-Weber

My Soul Looks Back by Jessica B. Harris

The Lucky One - novels about the perils of fame 

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Tara Jenkins Reid (adult historical fiction)

Daisy Jones and the Six by Tara Jenkins Reid (adult historical fiction / tw: substance abuse)

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert (adult historical fiction)

Fame Adjacent by Sarah Skilton (adult contemporary)

Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon (nonfiction/memoir)

Famous in a Small Town by Emma Mills (YA romance)

Fake Plastic Girl by Zara Lisbon (YA mystery)

It’s Nice to Have a Friend - novels about perceived friends with who turn out to be lovers OR who spend the novel with homoerotic tension

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (YA historical fiction)

Emma by Jane Austen (classic)

Dare Me by Megan Abbott (YA/adult thriller)

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (YA realistic fiction)

Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden (YA romance)

Only The Young - novels about young people making major change/experiencing societal upheaval

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (YA realistic fiction / tw: police brutality, murder, racism)

Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party by Ying Chang Compestine (middle grade/YA historical fiction)

Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes (middle grade historical fiction/fantasy / tw: police brutality against a black child, depiction of emmett till)

Orleans by Sherri L. Smith (YA dystopian)

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline (YA dystopian / tw: depiction of genocide against native americans)

The Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness (YA science fiction)

The Best Day - songs about mother/daughter relationships (both meaningful and difficult)

Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel (adult graphic novel)

Restless by William Boyd (adult spy novel)

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (adult realistic fiction)

The Mother-Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel Frederick (middle grade contemporary)

Love Story - a reimagining of a classic story

Pride by Ibi Zoboi (YA contemporary / reimagining of Pride and Prejudice)

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer (YA science fiction / reimagining of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White)

Ayesha At Last by Uzma Jalauddin (adult contemporary / reimagining of Pride and Prejudice)

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie (adult contemporary / reimagining of Antigone, tw: islamophobia, depiction of torture)

You Need to Calm Down - these are just a variety of books strictly abt LGBT characters not just a gay side character <3

Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins (YA romance)

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (YA romance)

Charity & Sylvia by Rachel Hope Cleves (nonfiction)

The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater (YA nonfiction / tw: transphobia, transphobic hate crime, misgendering)

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren (YA contemporary)

Treacherous - a love that teeters between labels for too long as neither can resist the pull of the other

Passenger by Alexandra Bracken (YA science fiction)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (classic)

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (classic)

Tell Me How You Really Feel by Aminah Mae Safi (YA romance)

Don’t Blame Me - an all-encompassing, maddening love

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (classic)

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (classic)

The Way I Loved You - love stories about people who are always attracted to the more dangerous option, even when they’re safe where they are

Anna K: A Love Story by Jenny Lee (YA romance)

Playing With Matches by Hannah Orenstein (adult romance)

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick (YA romance)

Heartless by Marissa Meyer (YA fantasy / retelling of Alice in Wonderland from the Queen of Heart’s perspective)

The Awakening by Kate Chopin (classic)

Speak Now - weddings/wedding related activities gone wrong!

Save the Date by Morgan Matson (YA romance)

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren (adult romance)

In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware (adult thriller)

Look What You Made Me Do - women getting their revenge, whether it’s justified or not

Sadie by Courtney Summers (YA thriller / tw: physical and sexual abuse, pedophilia, murder, substance abuse)

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (adult thriller / tw: sexual/physical abuse, murder, suicide mentions)

Find Her by Lisa Gardner (adult thriller / tw: physical abuse, kidnapping, rape, murder, graphic depictions of violence)

I’m Only Me When I’m With You - books with a strong focus on platonic relationships, how they grow and change

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (classic)

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (adult thriller / tw: physical abuse)

This One Summer by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki (YA graphic novel)

Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson (YA mystery)

Sula by Toni Morrison (classic / tw: racism, rape mention, physical abuse, sexism)

A Separate Peace by John Knowles (classic)

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid (adult contemporary / tw: racism)

Haunted - novels about feelings of loss combined with supernatural elements

Beloved by Toni Morrison (classic / tw: depictions of slavery, rape, sexual abuse, physical assault, racism, racist language)

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult (adult mystery)

Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand (YA fantasy/horror)

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (middle grade fantasy illustrated novel)

You Belong With Me - young adult novels with a LOT of pining

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon (YA romance)

Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson (YA romance)

First & Then by Emma Mills (YA romance)

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord (YA romance)

Begin Again - novels about people getting another chance at love

Beach Read by Emily Henry (adult romance)

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes (adult romance)

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson (YA romance)

Persuasion by Jane Austen (classic)

The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver (adult romance)

Enchanted -  love at first sight OR meet cutes!

Meet Cute by Various Authors (collection of YA short stories)

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith (YA romance)

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson (YA romance)

What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera (YA romance)

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera (YA romance)

Lovely War by Julie Berry (YA historical fiction / tw: racism)

Long Live - fighting monsters, both literal and figurative 

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi (YA fantasy / tw: sexual abuse)

A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney (YA fantasy / reimagining of Alice in Wonderland)

When You See Me by Lisa Gardner (adult thriller / tw: sexual abuse, physical abuse, rape, murder, kidnapping)

[phantomqueen]

books i am reading, have read, or will read in an attempt to feel something, anything, again:

fiction about shitty, (usually) rich white women. my life of rest and relaxation by ottessa moshfegh was really good. and im doing a gone girl reread dont look at me

an absolutely harrowing memoir by a half-chinese half jewish lesbian that hit really goddamn hard like i just finished it and i feel fucking hollowed out but in a good way okay it’s called long live the tribe of fatherless girls by t kira madden holy shit it’s really good but it might also be 20 kinds of triggering 

im going to masochistically put myself thru one of the books written by one of the authors involved in the omega verse lawsuit. i will not enjoy it but at this point in my life i will read both really good books and really awful books to try and escape the fact that i dont feel like i can talk about my mental health with anyone. also it was free on my ebooks app. idk if authors get anything from free downloads. im approaching this like a gory horror movie that won’t be good but at least i’ll feel disgusted and not dead inside

[cheshirelibrary]

Books To Read For Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month 

[via Bustle]

Observed each year since the late 1970s, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month draws attention to the contributions of, and challenges faced by, this diverse group of people. To honor AAPI Heritage Month, Bustle has compiled a list of recent books from Asian American and Pacific Islander authors:

If They Come for Us by Fatimah Asghar

If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha

Days of Distraction by Alexandra Chang

The Tenth Muse by Catherine Chung

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong

Deceit and Other Possibilities by Vanessa Hua

The Resisters by Gish Jen

What We Carry by Maya Shanbhag Lang

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden

Girl Gone Viral by Alisha Rai

The Farm by Joanne Ramos

Passage West by Rishi Reddi

The Body Papers by Grace Talusan

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets & Advice for Living Your Best Life by Ali Wong

Sansei and Sensibility by Karen Tei Yamashita

How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang

[dd-is-my-guiltypleasure]

David Duchovny (pictured here with members of Pop-Up Book Groups) will be returning online with his new book TRULY LIKE LIGHTENING (date TBD). Other authors confirmed for Winter/Spring 2021: Brit Bennett (THE VANISHING HALF ), Lily King (WRITERS AND LOVERS), Natasha Trethewey, ((MEMORIAL DRIVE: A DAUGHTER’S MEMOIR), Madeline Miller (CIRCE), Joanna Rakoff (MY SALINGER YEAR), Paula McLain (WHEN THE STARS GO DARK), Bess Kalb (NOBODY WILL TELL YOU THIS BUT ME: A TRUE (AS TOLD TO ME) STORY), Sophie Ward (LOVE AND OTHER THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS), Derek DelGuadio (AMORALMAN: A TRUE STORY AND OTHER LIES), Danielle Trussoni (THE ANCESTOR), Tom Dyja (NEW YORK, NEW YORK, NEW YORK: FOUR DECADES OF SUCCESS, EXCESS, AND TRANSFORMATION), T. Kira Madden, LONG LIVE THE TRIBE OF FATHERLESS GIRLS, and Talia Lavin (CULTURE WARLORDS: MY JOURNEY INTO THE DARK WEB OF WHITE SUPREMACY)

Stay tuned for registration opening in a few weeks. In the meantime, there are a few openings for three of the remaining fall 2020 book groups (Mike Birbiglia and J. Hope Stein, Abby Ellin.) If you attend one of these, you will get on the priority email list for the new season.

Link to purchase tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/bookthewriter-11155250949

[thoughtportal]

In this episode, Rachel Thompson talks with Robin Richardson, founder of the Minola Review. She discusses how she overcame early critiques of her writing by men—critiques she internalized. And they talk about getting men to listen. Minola Review is named after the protagonist in The Taming of the Shrew after all. One theme of their conversation is taking control of your narrative.

Episode Links

Minola Review Robin Richardson’s website: Sit How You Want

Writing from Minola Review Discussed in the Episode

PALM TREES, POST­-RAPE by Cade Leebron BLITZED OUT by Lauren Turner ON TENDERNESS by Shannon Bramer LULLABY by T. Kira Madden (author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls) COLD HANDS by Paola Ferrante

[thebooksaidthat]

Sometimes it feels like we are only this: moments of knowing and unknowing one another. A sound that is foreign until it’s familiar. A drill that’s a scream until it’s a drill. Sometimes it’s nothing more than piecing together the ways in which our hearts have all broken over the same moments, but in different places. But that’s romantic. Sometimes it’s realer than that.

T Kira Madden, Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls

[greedyreverence]

I Don't Think of You (Until I Do) by Tatiana Ryckman Future Tense Books — Free (Kindle Unlimited) / $5.99 (Kindle) / $12.00 (Print) Novella

An elegiac and dirty and horribly beautiful examination of love and the lack of it; Ryckman has written the anti-love story within all of us. A book so earnest and sharp in its examination of heartbreak, it will make you ache for all the people you haven’t even loved yet. (T Kira Madden, No Tokens)

Tatiana Ryckman was born in Cleveland, Ohio and lives in Austin, Texas. She is also the author of two chapbooks of short prose, Twenty-Something and VHS and Why It’s Hard to Live. Tatiana’s work has appeared on Tin House’s The Open Bar, Barrelhouse, Opossum Lit, The Establishment, Nonbinary Review, Flavorwire, and many other publications. Tatiana has been an artist in residence at Yaddo and Arthub, and she is the editor of Awst Press and Assistant Editor at sunnyoutside press.

[stainedglassgardens]

Read in June 2021

Ruby Elliot, Silly Me

Liu Cixin, Le Problème à trois corps

Kate Elizabeth Russell, My Dark Vanessa

Leah Lakshmi Piepzna Samarasinha, Care Work

Helen Zahavi, Dirty Weekend

Ellen Forney, Marbles

Megan Nolan, Acts of Desperation

T Kira Madden, Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls

Ruby Elliiot, It’s All Absolutely Fine

Currently reading

Liu Cixin, La Forêt sombre

Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch

Not bad for my first full month of work this year! But this is less impressive if you consider that there are three comic books in my read books, and that I’ve only just started the two biggest books.

When I heard Silly Me was coming out, I thought I’d better read It’s All Absolutely Fine first, and that’s how I ended up reading the two Ruby Elliot books this month. I liked It’s All Absolutely Fine better, partly because there is a lot more material, partly because it captures so well this feeling you get in early adulthood that you must have missed something along the way because clearly, clearly you cannot be left in charge here. I love the way Ruby Elliot’s mind works, and not only when she’s being “relatable”.

We finished The Three-Body Problem this month and went straight on to the second volume in the trilogy (we’re reading the French translation). I probably wouldn’t have gone on to read the second volume if my bf wasn’t so into this. It’s not bad per se, just not my thing. I don’t find it particularly “ambitious” (a word used on the back cover blurb); like most science fiction, I find it slightly boring (don’t tell him I said this).

I’m giving My Dark Vanessa five stars on Goodreads, which, if you know me at all, you realise is a cause for celebration. In truth it’s more of a four-and-a-half rating, but I’m trying to be more positive, and this book is already so good. I don’t typically read stories about sexual abuse because I find them triggering, but I heard so many good things about this book that I wanted to try it. And this one really has it all. Compelling, credible main protagonist. Depiction of the spiderweb of wreckage that sexual abuse will leave in every single part of your life. Complex, nuanced evocation of victimhood and who qualifies for it, of consent and who can actually give it. Two interweaved timelines that work perfectly together. Prose sober and to the point. Just perfect.

I was a little disappointed by Care Work because I expected so much from it. I don’t think I quite “got” it. Maybe I need someone to explain it to me?? Some passages were perfect though.

Dirty Weekend is a solid five-star for me and my second-favourite read of the month, and it’s probably going to end up on my ten favourites of 2021 as well. Just a rock-solid, funny, action-packed feminist revenge fantasy novel. For fans of SCUM Manifesto, Baise-moi and Promising Young Woman.

Marbles spent a good ten years on my wishlist I think? And I finally got a cheap second-hand copy online recently. It’s good enough I suppose but I don’t think it portrays the typical experience of bipolar disorder, like... the author has a lot of privilege and a lot of freedom. But for some reason this is the kind of mental illness story that is the most successful -- which reminded me of Shoot the Damn Dog, which I loved but really doesn’t portray your typical experience of depression.

I don’t know what I was supposed to get out of Acts of Desperation but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t what I did end up getting, which is just like, why the fuck did this woman make me read an account of what an average straight relationship looks like when you’re in your twenties?? Truly I’m still confused. Am I supposed to think that the love interest is abusive? That the narrator is a bitch? Both??? Anyway I didn’t like the book much.

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls is an okay memoir, quite unremarkable, especially if you, like me, do not like rich people.

I’ve already talked about Liu Cixin, so my other currently-reading is The Goldfinch. Very excited for this. Ever since I finished The Secret History a couple years ago I knew I would read Donna Tartt’s other books. I read The Litlle Friend last year, which was all right. And now here we are. I’ve only just started this one, so I can’t say much about the actual contents of the book. We’ll see!

I’ve got a small handful of recently-bought books to read in July, and some that have been waiting a bit longer, but I might make a new order soon? Or just stop by at the independent bookshop conveniently located between my flat and my workplace... We’ll see.

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Be my friend on Goodreads!