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xtra7s · 10 months ago

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Could you maybe do one where r is a boxer and has like a big fight. Renee x reader

𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐄 ─── 𝘙𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘦 𝘙𝘢𝘱𝘱 𝘹 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳

Synopsis: Renee watches as her girlfriend fights in the ring, cheering for her every step of the way.

Content: Renee Rapp x Fem!Reader, R is a boxer, bit of blood/violence, fluff

Word Count: 1.5k

a/n: loved this request. hope you enjoy!

masterlist

Renee Rapp, adorned in a black jacket and dark clothing, slipped through the bustling crowd at the boxing venue. The air buzzed with anticipation as the murmurs of fans and the distant sounds of a cheering crowd merged into a symphony of excitement. Tonight was no ordinary night. It was Y/N's big fight, and Renee couldn't be prouder.

Her heart raced as she made her way to the ringside. The atmosphere was charged with energy, and the stadium lights illuminated the boxing ring, revealing a mix of nerves and determination on the faces of the fighters. Renee found her VIP seat, eyes fixed on the ring, eagerly awaiting the moment her girlfriend would make her grand entrance.

The announcer's voice echoed through the venue, introducing the fighters one by one. The cheers of the crowd intensified as Y/N, known as the "Silent Fury" in the ring, stepped into the spotlight. Dressed in her boxing gear, she exuded a quiet confidence that spoke volumes about her dedication and skill.

Renee's heart swelled with pride as Y/N's eyes found hers in the crowd. A silent exchange of love and support passed between them, a connection stronger than any applause or camera flash. Y/N gave a nod, acknowledging Renee's presence, before turning her focus to the impending battle.

The bell rang, and the fight began. Renee's gaze remained unwavering on Y/N as she moved with precision and agility, a true force to be reckoned with. The crowd erupted with every punch thrown, and Renee couldn't help but feel a surge of adrenaline with each successful strike.

The air in the arena crackled with energy as the fight unfolded in the ring. Y/N, the "Silent Fury," showcased a masterful display of skill and strategy, her movements a dance of controlled aggression. Each punch thrown, each evasive maneuver, spoke volumes about the countless hours of training and dedication that had brought her to this moment.

Renee sat at the edge of her seat, her eyes never leaving Y/N's figure in the ring. The rhythmic thud of gloves meeting flesh, the sharp exhales with each strike—all resonated with a visceral intensity. The crowd roared with approval, their cheers blending into a symphony of adrenaline.

Y/N's opponent, a formidable force in her own right, pushed back with determination. The two fighters engaged in a riveting exchange of blows, a dance of power and resilience. The ebb and flow of the match kept the audience on the edge of their seats, their collective breaths held in anticipation.

Y/N's strategy became clear—meticulous precision paired with explosive bursts of energy. The Silent Fury lived up to her moniker, a calm exterior concealing the storm of determination within. Renee marveled at the way Y/N moved, each motion a testament to her commitment to the sport.

Between rounds, Renee anxiously watched Y/N retreat to her corner. Their eyes met, and Renee offered a reassuring smile. The silent communication spoke volumes – a shared understanding that went beyond words. Y/N's determination never wavered, fueled by the love and support radiating from the woman who stood at the edge of the ring.

As the fight reached its intense climax, Y/N found herself caught in a fierce exchange of blows with her formidable opponent. The air in the arena was thick with tension, and the crowd's cheers and roars intensified with each well-placed punch. The relentless dance in the ring seemed to transcend the physical, echoing the resilience of a fighter unwilling to back down.

In a moment of quick and unexpected retaliation, Y/N took a solid hit to the face. The force of the blow reverberated through the arena, and an audible gasp swept through the spectators. A trickle of warmth signaled that Y/N's nose had borne the brunt of the impact. The crowd fell momentarily silent, the sight of Y/N, bloodied but unbowed, hanging in the air.

Renee's heart skipped a beat as she watched from the ringside, standing up quickly to hold against the bars of the balcony she was on, a mixture of concern and admiration etched across her face. Y/N staggered back, briefly stunned by the hit, but her eyes remained focused, the fire within undiminished. The referee quickly assessed the situation, checking for any signs that might warrant stopping the fight.

Blood dripped from Y/N's nose, staining her boxing gloves, but she shook off the pain and wiped away the blood with a determined swipe of her glove. The taste of iron lingered in her mouth, a visceral reminder of the brutal reality of the sport she loved. The referee gave the signal, and the fight resumed.

In the subsequent rounds, Y/N fought with a newfound ferocity. The adversity only seemed to ignite a spark within her, turning the pain into fuel for her determination. Despite the visible toll on her face, Y/N moved with calculated precision, unleashing a barrage of counterattacks that left her opponent on the defensive.

Renee, her worry transforming into awe, could see the resilience in Y/N's every movement. The crowd, initially hushed by the sight of the injury, now erupted into a chorus of support. Cheers and chants filled the arena as Y/N pushed forward, refusing to let the setback dictate the outcome of the match.

As the final bell rang, signaling the end of the fight, Y/N stood in the center of the ring, battered and bloodied but victorious. The crowd's thunderous applause and standing ovation were a testament not just to Y/N's skill but to her indomitable spirit.

As the final rounds approached, the tension in the arena reached its zenith. The crowd's cheers reverberated, creating a cacophony of sound that encapsulated the intensity of the moment. Y/N, sweat-soaked and resilient, pressed forward with unwavering determination.

In a climactic exchange, Y/N delivered a powerful combination that left her opponent staggering. The referee stepped in, declaring Y/N the victor. The crowd erupted into a thunderous applause, and Renee jumped to her feet, overcome with joy.

The roar of the crowd still echoed through the arena as Y/N made her way backstage, the taste of victory mingling with the metallic tang of blood in her mouth. Renee, her concern evident in her eyes, rushed to meet Y/N the moment she stepped off the canvas.

"Y/N, are you okay?" Renee's voice was filled with a mixture of worry and pride.

Y/N managed a weary smile, her face still marked by the battle scars of the fight. "I'm good, baby. Just a little banged up, that's all."

As they retreated to a more private area backstage, away from the prying eyes of the media, Renee gently guided Y/N to a chair. She could see the signs of exhaustion etched on Y/N's face, but the fire in her eyes remained unyielding.

"Let me take a look at that," Renee said softly, reaching for a towel to dab away the blood from Y/N's nose.

Y/N winced slightly as Renee touched the tender area. The cut on her nose, while not deep, had left a visible mark. Renee, however, approached the task with a delicate touch, her love and concern evident in every gesture as she brought a hand up to hold Y/N's face still.

"I can't believe you kept going after that hit," Renee murmured, a mix of admiration and concern in her voice.

Y/N chuckled, the sound slightly muffled by the cotton towel pressed against her nose. "Wouldn't have it any other way. Besides, you should've seen the look on her face when I came back swinging."

As Renee cleaned the cut, she couldn't help but marvel at the strength and resilience of the person before her. Y/N's determination, both in the ring and in life, was a source of inspiration. The adrenaline of the fight had given way to a more intimate moment between them, the backstage chaos fading into the background.

Once the bleeding was under control, Renee reached into a nearby medical kit for some ice and a soothing balm. Gently applying the cold compress to the bruised area around Y/N's eye, she spoke in a soothing tone. "You were incredible out there, Y/N. I've never seen anything like it."

Y/N leaned into Renee's touch, grateful for the comfort and care. "Couldn't have done it without you in the crowd, cheering me on. Your presence is my secret weapon. Now kiss it better."

Renee smiled widely, rolling her eyes. "I love you" she murmured, leaving a light kiss on Y/N's nose, as she held her.

As they sat together backstage, the connection between them deepened. The physical wounds would heal, but the bond they shared, forged in the crucible of the fight, remained unbreakable. In that quiet backstage moment, surrounded by the echoes of victory and the gentle hum of their love, Renee and Y/N found solace in each other's presence, knowing that no matter the challenges they faced, they could overcome them together.

#renee rapp x reader #renee rapp #the sex lives of college girls #lesbian #wlw #leighton murray #leighton murray x reader #lgbtq #mean girls

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epicbuddieficrecs · 7 months ago

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Weekly Recap | April 22nd-May 5th 2024

I'm back!!! You get two weeks worth of fic since I went on vacation last week! :)

Complete

up down jump around by lecornergirl/ @clusterbuck (7x06: There Goes The Groom, Karaoke | 1,6K | Teen): Buck appears out of nowhere, crashing into the seat next to him and landing half on top of him. “We should go,” he says. Eddie frowns. “Go where? I thought you wanted to party?” Buck rolls his eyes, exaggerated in a way that tells him Buck is not on his first beer. “No, I mean, we should go next,” he says, and makes a sweeping gesture in the direction of the karaoke setup.

hold your breath and feel the tension by chromatophorica/ @chromatophorica (9-1-1/Lone Star Crossover, Getting Together | 17K | Teen): Following the arson attack at TK and Carlos' apartment, some of the 126 decide to visit LA for a while to unwind, hanging out with the 118 crew. Buck absolutely is not having feelings about the friendship between Marjan and Eddie. No matter what TK might think he knows.

Eddie's Housewife by Tizniz/ @tizniz (Getting Together | 2K | General): Eddie buys Buck an apron and dish gloves. Accidentally makes Buck his housewife. Realizes he's in love with Buck. All in that order.

know all the ways to appreciate your design (I'm a damn good lover) by extasiswings/ @extasiswings (Bachelor Party, Buck/Tommy, PWP | 3K | Explicit): He’s a beautiful man, don’t you think? Have you ever wondered what it would be like? Even a little bit? You have, haven’t you? Or: the one where Tommy is here for a good time, not a long time; Buck really likes it when he runs his mouth; and Eddie...well, Eddie doesn't have a clue

just another deathbed confession by actualalligator/ @actualalligator (Near Death Experience | 2K | Teen): Buck ends up buried when the floor gives out underneath him on a call. He calls 9-1-1 and demands to speak to Maddie.

Both Bermuda and Golden (Lost but Doing Just Fine) by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/ @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (PWP, Threesome, BuckTommyEddie | 39K | Explicit): In which everyone has two hands and two holes and is keeping their options fluid. (Or: a collection of threesome fics.)

5. You Knew We'd End Up Here (Daddy Kink): Eddie was raised to say 'thank you' when someone gifts him nice things like ringside seats and helicopter rides. Buck likes honorifics and being good. And Tommy likes when men who look like Buck and Eddie do as he tells them. (Or: three scenes in the evolution of Buck, Eddie, and Tommy's relationship, all united by one particular word.) 6. But Mr. Pilot I Don't Have Any Money: Buck might not have the money to spare, but he's sure he can find a way to pay Tommy for a helicopter lesson... In completely unrelated news, Eddie has a key to Buck's apartment and a habit of dropping by.

yeehaw [revisited] by brewrosemilk/ @gayhoediaz (BuckTommy, PWP | 2K | Explicit): “Do you have a trampstamp?” Buck asks, looking at where the sunlight hits his skin perfectly, highlighting the faint, small, black text - too small for Buck to see exactly what it says from here. Tommy merely huffs a laugh into the crook of his neck, eyes still likely closed as he places a deep, languid, lazy kiss to the base of Buck’s jawline. “Mhm,” he hums. “I was wondering when you’d notice that,” he adds with another exhale of amusement.

🔥 If You Said I Do I Would Too by giselleslash/ @gigi-gigi (Fake Marriage | 5K | General): Eddie starts telling people Buck’s his husband to get out of annoying flirting situations on calls. Buck starts to like it a little too much.

this could be the year for the real thing by fleetinghearts/ @shitouttabuck (Coda, 7x06: There Goes The Groom | 1,7K | Teen): His face is still a smear of soot, and Chris giggles. “Buck. Your face.” Buck frowns in confusion and Eddie steps over to him, hand already reaching to wipe the soot off his face, just like he has a hundred times at work. Except Tommy’s already there, licking his thumb and rubbing firmly at Buck’s chin, a gesture so familiar to Eddie that watching it happen separate from him feels like getting punched in the throat. or, eddie thinks about his best friend at a hospital wedding

tell me all the things that i wanna hear by glorious_spoon/ @glorious-spoon (7x06: There Goes The Groom | 1,3K | Teen): Or: Eddie realizes something at the bachelor party, but he doesn't remember until later.

take a chance (lay all your love on me) by bptlmevyemtc (Not Actually Unrequited Love | 35K | General): “You’re in love with me?” Buck asks, like a laggy computer system that just finished booting up. “Er. Yes?” Eddie says. “I thought we established that.” Buck nods, once, glacially slow, and Eddie sees when the synapses of his brain snap into place. “... But I’m straight?” the one where it takes eddie a while to get over buck, and it takes buck even longer to figure out he doesn't want him to

🔥 the ravi fic by archerincombat (Ravi POV, S4 | 15K | Teen): “Hey,” Ravi says. “Scale of 1 to 10, how bad would it be if I assumed Eddie Diaz’s girlfriend was his wife in front of him?” Lee groans. “Did you do it in front of Buckley?” “Yeah?” “A hundred,” she replies, turning the other direction before Ravi can demand to know why. At three in the morning, it hits him. He bolts upright in his cot. Oh my god, he thinks. Buck and Eddie are divorced, and everyone forgot to tell me.

tried and true blue by fleetinghearts/ @shitouttabuck (There Was Only One Bed | 4K | Teen): or, sharing a bed with your best friend is fine, usually, except for when your best friend is the particular combination of tipsy and stoned at his sister’s wedding that transforms him into 200 pounds of cuddlebug

🔥 does he love you better than i can? by diazchristopher/ @captain-hen (Post-7x05: You Don't Know Me, BuckTommy, Tommy POV | 10K | Teen): Nothing has ever happened between us, Evan had insisted. You have absolutely nothing to worry about, Eddie had told him unequivocally. There’s no reason he shouldn’t take them both at their word, Tommy thinks, decisively. or, buck and eddie insist that there's nothing going on between them. tommy wants to believe them. he really, really does.

put my heart inside your palms by markofalover/ @markofalover (Getting Together | 3K | Teen): Buck’s speaking again, telling him, “Go dry your hair, baby.” And like, he’s stuck in his daydream. Completely crazy about it. So it’s not exactly his fault that he doesn’t register what Buck said until he’s in the bathroom again. He straightens his shoulders out and looks at his reflection like maybe he’s actually lost it, but, no, those were real words coming from Buck, who is also real, so— ...or, how an accidental pet name, a thoughtful dinner, and a shared shirt makes them get their shit together.

written all over your face by bucksclipboard/ @excuseme-greentea (BuckTommy | 2,5K | Teen): A completely smitten Buck decides he wants to keep Tommy all to himself for just a while longer. When an accidental goodbye kiss exposes their new relationship, the 118 wants to be respectful – but when has that ever worked? or: buck and tommy try to keep their relationship a secret and fail adorably

with a smile and some hope by iriswests/ @fcntasmas (Established Buddie | 6K | Mature): or; five times buck wakes up before eddie, and one time eddie wakes up before buck

🔥 as easy as defusing a bomb by iriswests/ @fcntasmas (Sexuality Crisis, S5 | 7K | Mature): or; buck moves in with eddie while taylor finds a new place, and prompts what feels like puberty 2.0 for eddie diaz.

Kiss Me Once Cause You Know I Had A Long Night by I_still_dont_understand_13 / @sherlockcrossing (Prompt collection | 31/? | 20K | Teen): 100 kiss prompts.

Chapter 30. 70. what if i told you none of it was accidental: An accidental kiss that confuses you both, but only a moment passes before you crash your lips back against each other's Chapter 31. 72. Accidentally bumping noses

waiting for this moment to be free by glorious_spoon/ @glorious-spoon (Getting Together | <1K | General): Eddie opens his eyes to the dim flickering light of the TV, turned down low but not quite muted on one of those Ninja Warrior things that Buck loves. He's tilted sideways, cheek pillowed against the outside of Buck's arm, and he's apparently been drooling a little, which would be more embarrassing if it were the first or even the twentieth time it's happened. Or: Eddie, and Buck, and another couch.

you'd have to stop the world just to stop the feeling by heartbeatdiaz/ @loserdiaz (Established Buddie, Amnesia | 1,7K | Teen): Eddie is pretty sure the only person he's ever been genuinely attracted to, is Shannon. So, he is very confused when he wakes up in a hospital bed with temporary amnesia and the inability to look away from the pretty, hot guy in a firefighter uniform. And then, procedes to have the second gay panic of his life... because of the same person.

This Old Love Has Me Bound by allyasavedtheday/ @littlespoonevan (Post-7x04: Buck Bothered and Bewildered, BuckTommy, Pre-Buddie | 9K | Teen): In an attempt to better understand his newfound bisexuality, Buck tries to figure out if he ever missed any signs with guys before. The universe keeps interrupting every time he's about to think about Eddie.

all I want (your eyes on mine) by bigfootsmom/ @bigfootsmom (PWP, BuckTommyEddie | 10K | Explicit): Buck is lying there, Eddie instantly recognizes the head of honey blond curls resting on the arm of the couch. But the head of short brown curls between Buck’s shaking thighs takes a second longer to place. But then they look up, blue eyes going comically wide as they lock onto Eddie. Tommy Kinard is on Buck’s couch. He’s on Buck’s couch between Buck’s thighs with his lips wrapped around Buck’s cock. ~ The one where Eddie yearns, Buck pines, and Tommy just wants to have a good time.

of want and need by honestlydarkprincess/ @honestlydarkprincess (PWP | 2K | Explicit): Buck and Eddie fuck for the first time. That's it, that's the fic. (sequel to slowly getting sober from the taste of your skin)

WIP

🔥 change the prophecy by Daisies_and_Briars/ @cal-daisies-and-briars (Alternate Timeline, Curse/Magic | 7/11 | 17K | Mature): Buck has never felt secure in any of his relationships; he’s been searching for someone to see him the way he feels he’s meant to be seen, but after things start going downhill with Tommy, he thinks that person might just not exist. Eddie cannot figure out what’s wrong with him when it becomes clear things with Marisol aren’t going to work out. But what if they’re both forgetting something?

🔥 Any Other Way by Daisies_and_Briars/ @cal-daisies-and-briars (Canon Divergent, S2 | 10/18 | 53K | Mature): In a switcheroo alternate universe, Buck spends young adulthood in the military, while Eddie, who has no idea Christopher exists, spends his twenties messing around, finally enjoying freedom away from his family’s expectations. When they both end up in Los Angeles, at the 118, some things are different, and others will be the same in any universe.

🔥 Steal My Sunshine by Daisies_and_Briars/ @cal-daisies-and-briars (Altered Memories | 4/9 | 15K | Mature): Memories hazy and unreliable, Eddie Diaz wakes up every morning in a house at the end of a cul de sac, goes to his office job at a petroleum engineering company, and comes home to his wife and son. But something is missing, and the more Eddie begins to put the pieces together, the stranger the predicament he finds himself in.

some things fall when they're meant to fall by sibylsleaves/ @sibylsleaves (Post S7E5 | 2/4 | 11K | Teen): or, Buck tells Eddie some news. Eddie has a realization and breaks up with his girlfriend. Not necessarily in that order.

🔥 stuck now so long, we just got the start wrong by Daffi_990_ao3/ @daffi-990 (Canon Divergent, Different First Meeting | 3/10 | 24K | Not Rated): Probational Firefighters Evan “Buck” Buckley and Eddie Diaz meet on a call which ends with them at odds with each other. As the months roll by, they keep running into each other on the job, much to Eddie’s dismay and Buck’s delight. Can they put aside their first opinions and misunderstandings and allow the seeds of friendship, and possibly something more, to take root?

🔥 Cowboy With a One Track Mind by Daisies_and_Briars/ @cal-daisies-and-briars (Canon Divergence, Not A Firefighter Buck | 3/4 | 16K | Mature): Spin-off Sequel to Evan Buckley & the Coma-Verse of Madness - Chapter 7 (Land): Grieving and tortured, Evan Buckley has been living alone in Montana in a remote cabin for nearly a decade. After an incident that leaves him missing six months of his life, and suddenly in connection with a group of strangers from Los Angeles, Evan must decide whether to remain in his self-imposed exile, or take a chance at life again.

🔥 for all the haunts and homes of men by euadnes/ @kananjarus (Canon Divergent, Post-Apocalyptic, Station Eleven Crossover | WIP | 14/? | 126K | Mature | Warning: Violence): The year by the old calendar is 2025. Home is gone. Home is a failed rescue mission and an echo of a memory. Home is a lost boy living in a wooden house by the sea. But first, there was a promise. Christopher, when it's safe, I'll take you back to your father. Buck had all but given up on keeping it after the world had died and everyone in it. But just as some oaths refuse to be forgotten, so the same can be said about the endurance of love.

🔥 Things We're All Too Young to Know by Daisies_and_Briar / @cal-daisies-and-briars (Canon S1-S6, S7 Spec | 126/? | 393K | Mature): This is a love story. Even if it doesn’t always look like it. Even if it doesn’t always feel like it. A look back on Eddie and Buck's lives up to now, and what led them to each other, interpreted from the current 9-1-1 canon.

Podfics

🔥 Leave The Light On (I'll Be Coming Home) by Mad_Lori/ @madlori // fic by @hmslusitania (Post-S5, Missing Presumed Dead, Amnesia | 4.5-5h | Mature): An accident on a call leaves Buck with custody of Chris after Eddie is... missing presumed. While they navigate their new family circumstances -- and fight to stay together, despite Eddie's parents' best efforts -- a John Doe wakes up in a coma ward with no memory of his own life beyond the knowledge he has a son named Christopher and, somehow, he needs to get home.

[podfic] Chimney's Guide to Dating a Buckley by Howard Han by Matriaya (Getting Buddie Together | 3-3.5h | Not Rated): And how stupid is it that reading 10 chapters of a guide to dating a Buckley by his coworker is how Eddie finally got his shit together and asked Buck out for a date? But, Eddie’s happy and so is Buck, so Chim might have had a point.

[podfic] Karen's Guide to Dating and Marrying a Firefighter with a Kid by Matriaya for KatieWrites (Getting Buddie Together, Karen POV sorta? | 1-1.5h | Not Rated): OR Buck's in love with his best friend and doesn't know how to figure out if Eddie shares his feelings.

#buddie #buddie fanfiction #buddie fic rec #buddie fanfic #epic buddie fic rec #buddie fic #bucktommy #bucktommy fanfic

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macrolit · 1 year ago

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NYT's Notable Books of 2023

Each year, we pore over thousands of new books, seeking out the best novels, memoirs, biographies, poetry collections, stories and more. Here are the standouts, selected by the staff of The New York Times Book Review.

AFTER SAPPHO by Selby Wynn Schwartz

Inspired by Sappho’s work, Schwartz’s debut novel offers an alternate history of creativity at the turn of the 20th century, one that centers queer women artists, writers and intellectuals who refused to accept society’s boundaries.

ALL THE SINNERS BLEED by S.A. Cosby

In his earlier thrillers, Cosby worked the outlaw side of the crime genre. In his new one — about a Black sheriff in a rural Southern town, searching for a serial killer who tortures Black children — he’s written a crackling good police procedural.

THE BEE STING by Paul Murray

In Murray’s boisterous tragicomic novel, a once wealthy Irish family struggles with both the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash and their own inner demons.

BIOGRAPHY OF X by Catherine Lacey

Lacey rewrites 20th-century U.S. history through the audacious fictional life story of X, a polarizing female performance artist who made her way from the South to New York City’s downtown art scene.

BIRNAM WOOD by Eleanor Catton

In this action-packed novel from a Booker Prize winner, a collective of activist gardeners crosses paths with a billionaire doomsday prepper on land they each want for different purposes.

BLACKOUTS by Justin Torres

This lyrical, genre-defying novel — winner of the 2023 National Book Award — explores what it means to be erased and how to persist after being wiped away.

BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN by Jessica Knoll

In her third and most assured novel, Knoll shifts readers’ attention away from a notorious serial killer, Ted Bundy, and onto the lives — and deaths — of the women he killed. Perhaps for the first time in fiction, Knoll pooh-poohs Bundy's much ballyhooed intelligence, celebrating the promise and perspicacity of his victims instead.

CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

This satire — in which prison inmates duel on TV for a chance at freedom — makes readers complicit with the bloodthirsty fans sitting ringside. The fight scenes are so well written they demonstrate how easy it might be to accept a world this sick.

THE COVENANT OF WATER by Abraham Verghese

Verghese’s first novel since “Cutting for Stone” follows generations of a family across 77 years in southwestern India as they contend with political strife and other troubles — capped by a shocking discovery made by the matriarch’s granddaughter, a doctor.

CROOK MANIFESTO by Colson Whitehead

Returning to the world of his novel “Harlem Shuffle,” Whitehead again uses a crime story to illuminate a singular neighborhood at a tipping point — here, Harlem in the 1970s.

THE DELUGE by Stephen Markley

Markley’s second novel confronts the scale and gravity of climate change, tracking a cadre of scientists and activists from the gathering storm of the Obama years to the super-typhoons of future decades. Immersive and ambitious, the book shows the range of its author’s gifts: polyphonic narration, silken sentences and elaborate world-building.

EASTBOUND by Maylis de Kerangal

In de Kerangal’s brief, lyrical novel, translated by Jessica Moore, a young Russian soldier on a trans-Siberian train decides to desert and turns to a civilian passenger, a Frenchwoman, for help.

EMILY WILDE’S ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF FAERIES by Heather Fawcett

The world-building in this tale of a woman documenting a new kind of faerie is exquisite, and the characters are just as textured and richly drawn. This is the kind of folkloric fantasy that remembers the old, blood-ribboned source material about sacrifices and stolen children, but adds a modern gloss.

ENTER GHOST by Isabella Hammad

In Hammad’s second novel, a British Palestinian actor returns to her hometown in Israel to recover from a breakup and spend time with her family. Instead, she’s talked into joining a staging of “Hamlet” in the West Bank, where she has a political awakening.

FORBIDDEN NOTEBOOK by Alba de Céspedes

A best-selling novelist and prominent anti-Fascist in her native Italy, de Céspedes has lately fallen into unjust obscurity. Translated by Ann Goldstein, this elegant novel from the 1950s tells the story of a married mother, Valeria, whose life is transformed when she begins keeping a secret diary.

THE FRAUD by Zadie Smith

Based on a celebrated 19th-century trial in which the defendant was accused of impersonating a nobleman, Smith’s novel offers a vast panoply of London and the English countryside, and successfully locates the social controversies of an era in a handful of characters.

FROM FROM by Monica Youn

In her fourth book of verse, a svelte, intrepid foray into American racism, Youn turns a knowing eye on society’s love-hate relationship with what it sees as the “other.”

A GUEST IN THE HOUSE by Emily Carroll

After a lonely young woman marries a mild-mannered widower and moves into his home, she begins to wonder how his first wife actually died. This graphic novel alternates between black-and-white and overwhelming colors as it explores the mundane and the horrific.

THE HEAVEN & EARTH GROCERY STORE by James McBride

McBride’s latest, an intimate, big-hearted tale of community, opens with a human skeleton found in a well in the 1970s, and then flashes back to the past, to the ’20s and ’30s, to explore the town’s Black, Jewish and immigrant history.

HELLO BEAUTIFUL by Ann Napolitano

In her radiant fourth novel, Napolitano puts a fresh spin on the classic tale of four sisters and the man who joins their family. Take “Little Women,” move it to modern-day Chicago, add more intrigue, lots of basketball and a different kind of boy next door and you’ve got the bones of this thoroughly original story.

A HISTORY OF BURNING by Janika Oza

This remarkable debut novel tells the story of an extended Indo-Ugandan family that is displaced, settled and displaced again.

HOLLY by Stephen King

The scrappy private detective Holly Gibney (who appeared in “The Outsider” and several other novels) returns, this time taking on a missing-persons case that — in typical King fashion — unfolds into a tale of Dickensian proportions.

A HOUSE FOR ALICE by Diana Evans

This polyphonic novel traces one family’s reckoning after the patriarch dies in a fire, as his widow, a Nigerian immigrant, considers returning to her home country and the entire family re-examines the circumstances of their lives.

THE ILIAD by Homer

Emily Wilson’s propulsive new translation of the “Iliad” is buoyant and expressive; she wants this version to be read aloud, and it would certainly be fun to perform.

INK BLOOD SISTER SCRIBE by Emma Törzs

The sisters in Törzs's delightful debut have been raised to protect a collection of magic books that allow their keepers to do incredible things. Their story accelerates like a fugue, ably conducted to a tender conclusion.

KAIROS by Jenny Erpenbeck

This tale of a torrid, yearslong relationship between a young woman and a much older married man — translated from the German by Michael Hofmann — is both profound and moving.

KANTIKA by Elizabeth Graver

Inspired by the life of Graver’s maternal grandmother, this exquisitely imagined family saga spans cultures and continents as it traces the migrations of a Sephardic Jewish girl from turn-of-the-20th-century Constantinople to Barcelona, Havana and, finally, Queens, N.Y.

LAND OF MILK AND HONEY by C Pam Zhang

Zhang’s lush, keenly intelligent novel follows a chef who’s hired to cook for an “elite research community” in the Italian Alps, in a not-so-distant future where industrial-agricultural experiments in America’s heartland have blanketed the globe in a crop-smothering smog.

LONE WOMEN by Victor LaValle

The year is 1915, and the narrator of LaValle’s horror-tinged western has arrived in Montana to cultivate an unforgiving homestead. She’s looking for a fresh start as a single Black woman in a sparsely populated state, but the locked trunk she has in stow holds a terrifying secret.

MONICA by Daniel Clowes

In Clowes’s luminous new work, the titular character, abandoned by her mother as a child, endures a life of calamities before resolving to learn about her origins and track down her parents.

THE MOST SECRET MEMORY OF MEN by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr

Based on a true story and translated by Lara Vergnaud, Sarr’s novel — about a Senegalese writer brought low by a plagiarism scandal — asks sharp questions about the state of African literature in the West.

THE NEW NATURALS by Gabriel Bump

In Bump’s engrossing new novel, a young Black couple, mourning the loss of their newborn daughter and disillusioned with the world, start a utopian society — but tensions both internal and external soon threaten their dreams.

NORTH WOODS by Daniel Mason

Mason’s novel looks at the occupants of a single house in Massachusetts over several centuries, from colonial times to present day. An apple farmer, an abolitionist, a wealthy manufacturer: The book follows these lives and many others, with detours into natural history and crime reportage.

NOT EVEN THE DEAD by Juan Gómez Bárcena

An ex-conquistador in Spanish-ruled, 16th-century Mexico is asked to hunt down an Indigenous prophet in this novel by a leading writer in Spain, splendidly translated by Katie Whittemore. The epic search stretches across much of the continent and, as the author bends time and history, lasts centuries.

THE NURSERY by Szilvia Molnar

“I used to be a translator and now I am a milk bar.” So begins Molnar’s brilliant novel about a new mother falling apart within the four walls of her apartment.

OUR SHARE OF NIGHT by Mariana Enriquez

This dazzling, epic narrative, translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell, is a bewitching brew of mystery and myth, peopled by mediums who can summon “the Darkness” for a secret society of wealthy occultists seeking to preserve consciousness after death.

PINEAPPLE STREET by Jenny Jackson

Jackson’s smart, dishy debut novel embeds readers in an upper-crust Brooklyn Heights family — its real estate, its secrets, its just-like-you-and-me problems. Does money buy happiness? “Pineapple Street” asks a better question: Does it buy honesty?

THE REFORMATORY by Tananarive Due

Due’s latest — about a Black boy, Robert, who is wrongfully sentenced to a fictionalized version of Florida’s infamous and brutal Dozier School — is both an incisive examination of the lingering traumas of racism and a gripping, ghost-filled horror novel. “The novel’s extended, layered denouement is so heart-smashingly good, it made me late for work,” Randy Boyagoda wrote in his review. “I couldn’t stop reading.”

THE SAINT OF BRIGHT DOORS by Vajra Chandrasekera

Trained to kill by his mother and able to see demons, the protagonist of Chandrasekera’s stunning and lyrical novel flees his destiny as an assassin and winds up in a politically volatile metropolis.

SAME BED DIFFERENT DREAMS by Ed Park

Double agents, sinister corporations, slasher films, U.F.O.s — Park’s long-awaited second novel is packed to the gills with creative elements that enliven his acerbic, comedic and lyrical odyssey into Korean history and American paranoia.

TAKE WHAT YOU NEED by Idra Novey

This elegant novel resonates with implication beyond the taut contours of its central story line. In Novey’s deft hands, the complex relationship between a young woman and her former stepmother hints at the manifold divisions within America itself.

THIS OTHER EDEN by Paul Harding

In his latest novel, inspired by the true story of a devastating 1912 eviction in Maine that displaced an entire mixed-race fishing community, Harding turns that history into a lyrical tale about the fictional Apple Island on the cusp of destruction.

TOM LAKE by Ann Patchett

Locked down on the family’s northern Michigan cherry orchard, three sisters and their mother, a former actress whose long-ago summer fling went on to become a movie star, reflect on love and regret in Patchett’s quiet and reassuring Chekhovian novel.

THE UNSETTLED by Ayana Mathis

This novel follows three generations across time and place: a young mother trying to create a home for herself and her son in 1980s Philadelphia, and her mother, who is trying to save their Alabama hometown from white supremacists seeking to displace her from her land.

VICTORY CITY by Salman Rushdie

Rushdie’s new novel recounts the long life of Pampa Kampana, who creates an empire from magic seeds in 14th-century India. Her world is one of peace, where men and women are equal and all faiths welcome, but the story Rushdie tells is of a state that forever fails to live up to its ideals.

WE COULD BE SO GOOD by Cat Sebastian

This queer midcentury romance — about reporters who meet at work, become friends, move in together and fall in love — lingers on small, everyday acts like bringing home flowers with the groceries, things that loom large because they’re how we connect with others.

WESTERN LANE by Chetna Maroo

In this polished and disciplined debut novel, an 11-year-old Jain girl in London who has just lost her mother turns her attention to the game of squash — which in Maroo’s graceful telling becomes a way into the girl’s grief.

WITNESS by Jamel Brinkley

Set in Brooklyn, and featuring animal rescue workers, florists, volunteers, ghosts and UPS workers, Brinkley’s new collection meditates on what it means to see and be seen.

Y/N by Esther Yi

In this weird and wondrous novel, a bored young woman in thrall to a boy band buys a one-way ticket to Seoul.

YELLOWFACE by R.F. Kuang

Kuang’s first foray outside of the fantasy genre is a breezy and propulsive tale about a white woman who achieves tremendous literary success by stealing a manuscript from a recently deceased Asian friend and passing it off as her own.

#new york times #100 books #reading list #2023 #books #reading #have you read any of these titles?

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