March 1, 2025

Five Things to Tell You Vol. 13

book pairings, our February movie, March releases and more!

We made it to March! America is in tatters! Read this piece by Anne Helen Peterson if you want to know what dropped me to the floor in despair last weekend, right after getting the news that my oldest daughter’s conservation position is on hold and in permanent severe jeopardy due to the Washington hellfire. 

Now, onward with the distracting stuff …… get some Cheetos, a huge cinnamon roll, or your other favorite snack and let’s dive in.

Friends, I did it. I finished reading Emma earlier this week. One chapter per day since January 1.  I have to ponder before trying to write about it, but for today what I’ll say is that my love for Clueless is what got me through, and overall it was a satisfying academic endeavor that I am happy to have completed. I have yet to become passionate about Austen.

I decided to revisit Curtis Sittenfeld’s novel Prep last weekend before diving into her newest short story collection, and what a fabulous decision that was. I know I read Prep close to when it released in 2005, but I have very little memory of it, most likely because it released right after my first baby was born and that year is a blur. 

Reading it now, almost 20 years after its release, makes me realize just how GOOD it is. How timeless and prescient and the absolutely perfect example of a very adult book about high school. There is absolutely no mistaking this for a young adult story, which is always my issue with adult titles with teenagers as the main characters. If I want to read about teenagers, I would typically vastly prefer to read a young adult novel. This is the rare exception. The novel’s messages about race and class and wealth are (depressingly) just as applicable today, and I know I got much more from this book in my 40s than I did in my 20s. I alternated between print and audio and that made the reading experience so memorable this time around. 

Immediately after finishing the novel, I dove into my review copy of Sittenfeld’s newest release, the short story collection Show Don’t Tell, and paged right to the story that is a follow up to the characters from Prep. I am so very delighted that I chose to revisit the novel before reading this story, because it made me feel so close to them and nostalgic for Ault right alongside them. If you, like me, want to get straight to that story, look for “Lost But Not Forgotten.” I absolutely loved it and so wish it were an entire novel. I then tried to savor the rest of the collection, but raced through it in two days. I adored the stories of middle age and marriage and parenting and divorce. This collection released this week!

I seem to be in a phase of book pairings, because over the past few weeks I experienced TWO science fiction books, already doubling the number of books in that genre that I read in 2024.

I started with Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor after having it on my most anticipated list for months and months. I knew going in that it was a book-within-a book story, and after hearing it comped (kind of) with both Yellowface and Erasure, I suspected that I would love it. I also knew that I would do best with this genre-blending book in print versus audio, and despite having a digital review copy I waited to read it until I could get my hands on the library hard copy.

My verdict? I LOVED IT. I easily loved the realistic fiction chapters about the author main character, and pushed myself to stick with the robot sci fi chapters until I eventually grew to love them as well. Sometimes a book is highly lauded and disappoints, but in this case, the early accolades helped me pick up a book I never would have otherwise, and to stick with something I wasn’t sure about. It blew me away in the very best way. Related: A BookPage interview with the author

It then seemed like a great idea to finally read (mostly listen to) Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler and …. let’s just say it was not a good time for me to experience this book. So bleak. So so so very very bleak. Literary merit to be sure, but it did not at all help with my state of despair. And if Butler predicted the January LA fires, then I am not at all fit for survival in what’s coming next.

We made it to the theater for our February movie last Saturday! This month’s movie was The Unbreakable Boy, which is based on a memoir I did not know existed. It’s a family story about marriage and parenting and autism and brittle bones and special education and inclusion and addiction (with a light faith-based element that was … fine). Despite it not really probably being intended as a sad movie, I sobbed through the entire second half of it. I guess it was a very cathartic movie-going experience? 

My husband, 7th grader and I all really appreciated the story and I’m glad we went. Remember, I am an uncritical and pretty open book of a film consumer ~ I don’t watch things I don’t think I’ll like, and I just sit back and enjoy the show. Look elsewhere for a critical take on movies!

And finally …. well, HELLO THERE, March releases! 

There are so many new books I am excited to dig into someday* ~ I hope you find a few to put on hold or pre-order as well.

You can just tap on the image above or click through here to see all of the titles over on Bookshop!

*But is there any way we’ll be able to read Who Is Government without sobbing?

That’s all for this week ~ thanks for reading! Please feel free to reply to this email or use the link below to leave a comment to chime in about any of these things, or to share one of your own things ♡

Thanks for stopping by!