Currently Reading: July 2023

 Maybe I've just been keeping up with more indie authors, but this month has been filled with so many eye-catching books it's been hard to keep up! July tends to be a time when I read a bit less with everything going on from a holiday I don't really celebrate (July 4th) to a "holiday" I really celebrated this year (my birthday, I'm finally 21!), and this year is a weird middle-ground. I have a lot of books that I've been reading, but I think I've been reading fewer pages overall? We'll figure that out at the end of the month. Either way, I've been going through a ton of books and am excited to share my current thoughts on them!

Devout: An Anthology of Angels curated by Quinton Li with Cas Trudeau, Aurélio Loren, Morgan Dante, Emily Hoffman, rafael nicolás, Dorian Yosef Weber, Daniel Marie James, Freydís Moon, Ian Haramaki, Angela Sun, Tyler Battaglia, Rae Novotny (cover to be revealed)

👼 Angels, angels, angels ... in a variety of forms

🔥 Heat, both literal and figurative

👁 So many eyes ... they're cool, creepy, enchanting, and so much more

(Please note I received a free digital advanced reader copy — all of my thoughts are 100% my own!) I'm currently about halfway through this book and I am so happy that I was selected to be one of the ARC readers! This anthology has a variety of pieces, including creative non-fiction, flash fiction, and even artwork (which is very pretty). This book works with different locations, time periods, and degrees of surreality ... I can say there is definitely something for everyone. I have found authors through this anthology that I already know I need to buy books from as soon as I can. I cannot wait to finish this book and write up a full review.

Blood Feast: The Complete Short Stories of Malika Moustadraf by Malika Moustadraf, translated by Alice Guthrie and narrated by Amin El Garmal and Lameece Isaac

💝 Collection of short stories (perfect for when you only have a few moments of time)

👩 Examinations of sexuality and gender, specifically in North Africa

🌍 Non-American (Moroccan) author, perspective, and focus

I am a little over a third of the way through this audiobook, and I have really enjoyed hearing Moustadraf's writing. Much of it is hard to read, from discussions of virginity tests to a mother wanting the best for her child in a home of uncaring men, but these stories are, I think, meant to be hard-hitting and stark. The audiobook has great narrators, but I wish there was a little bit more done to separate the stories because I would sometimes think I was listening to the same story when the narrator had started another. As with any collection of short stories, I like some more than others (so far the story about the virginity tests has actually been a highlight, alongside a story about a trans woman), but I look forward to finishing this book and being able to really dissect some of it.

Orlando by Virginia Woolf (I couldn't find the actual cover of the book I'm currently using)

📜 Classic fiction's become huge for women's writing

💅 Weird gender stuff (affectionate)

✍ Written about a(n aspiring) poet

I will never be shy about the fact that older writing is hard for me to get through, and this is no exception. I've read a page or two every few days, but I think I'll just have to sit down and push through it soon. I think I might end up enjoying it due to some of the magical realism elements, but I don't know if that will override the generally slow pace and the stagnancy of the part of the story I'm at (which is only about 20 pages in, to be fair). Also, the first page really hits you with some "casual" racism straight off the bat, which was hard to get through. Woolf is herself polarizing for her range of takes on controversial topics, so finding that content in her work is unsurprising (another reason many old works are harder for me to read).

Unnatural Creatures by Kris Waldherr

🔩 Frankenstein reimagining from a different perspective

👩 Focus on the woman around Frankenstein in three different ways

I'm a third of the way through this book, and I find it intriguing but is hard for me to read, personally. I picked this book up for a book club, and I think it's definitely worth a lot of discussion. You don't need to have read Frankenstein, but I think it adds a bit of a unique dimension to it because a majority of that aspect is really off-screen from what I can tell from what I've currently read and what I've heard people say during the book club I attended. I look forward to reading it and seeing how the rest of the characters are developed.

28 Barbary Lane by Armistead Maupin (an omnibus)

🌈 Variety of queer characters

🌇 City focus and a cast of apartment residents

🌟 The first three of a nine-part series

I keep trying this book because it is one of my mother's favorites, but I haven't been able to finish it just yet. During my last attempt, I got pretty far into the first book, but I have decided to restart it, so I'm currently only about 20 pages in. I actually really like this book, but I have found myself more drawn to newer releases just because I've been seeing a lot of hype about them. I think once I get past the bits of this story that I remember I'll get through it a bit quicker, but it is over 700 pages so not that quickly.

Sign Here by Claudia Lux

😈 Interesting take on demons and Hell

📂 The real hell was bureaucracy all along

I'm about 15 pages into this book and I really enjoy the writing and premise so far! I can tell this would be a quick read if I sat down and dedicated some time to it, which I think I'll do soon. I can't wait to find out more about the worldbuilding in this story and the characters, and I am curious about what isn't quite as it seems. I think I've shied away from this book a little more because I've been focused a lot more on LGBTQ+ work, but I have been loving things about "monsters" (which can include angels and demons, depending on how you sort it), so that could be the push for me to finish this up!