Whoops! It’s November!
Hi folks,
Thanks for sticking with me and my barely regular newsletter updates!
I had all the plans to send something super cool last month, especially since October is historically my favorite month, or at least one I make special on purpose. This isn’t so much because of Halloween, which is rad, but because for me it feels like the month where at least in this part of the world, there’s a shift from the blazing heat and light of summer to dark, cold, rainy fall, and that takes me to a headspace that started when I was a kid, stomping around the woods, which were soggy and musky in a completely different way than in spring. Plus, I have always liked the sense of impending closure, the feeling of witnessing shadows slipping around in the trees and undergrowth, and now when October comes, it feels like an invitation to walk around in the less well lit parts of my brain, maybe embrace chaos, acknowledge what can’t thrive in the sunlight.
With that in mind, and since I missed last month, here are more than five books that I think are perfect for late autumn introspection.
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend
This book is both a nice cup of post WWI feminist tea AND a walk in the woods when the wind is biting and you’re not sure if you’ll make it home before dark AND it was published in the 1920s, so the politics of a spinster aunt quietly choosing Satanism and solitude I think are notable. Also, there’s a kitten, and we love a Satanic kitten in this house. Truthfully, I’m not sure how to do this book justice in a description. It’s a book that feels like everything is crackling below a quiet surface.Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova
Y’all, this is one of my all time favorite books to intentionally draw parallels between monstrosity and queerness, and it is truly such a tender and tenderizing read.Bitter Over Sweet by Melissa Llanes Brownlee
I’m so excited this is out! Melissa is one of my favorite writers, and I think the title, stories, and concept of "Bitter Over Sweet” make it the kind of read I like in this season: small but leaves you feeling a little bit emotionally shanked, but still hopeful, but also yes there is crying.Lives of the Dead by Fiona McKay
This book hurt me, and I’m mostly glad it did. It deals with complicated relationship dynamics, demanding the reader look at the lines between what is invisible partner abuse and what is not, and while it was a difficult read, it’s so gorgeously done.I Do Know Some Things by Richard Siken
Richard Siken’s poems pretty much always hit for me, but this latest collection is a book full of bruises. By which I mean, its an exploration of family and trauma and I carry it around with me, by which I mean it lives in my head, and also my backpack. I think “Landmark” is the poem I’m most obsessed with, though I love the prose-poem, block format of the entire collection. You can read an interview as well as “Landmark” here.Skin Thief by Susan Palumbo
There’s a lot of heat and anger and rage in this one, and it opens with “Pull of the Herd”, a complex story weaving in layers of otherness, some literally expressed by ill-fitting skin.Family Night: Stories, Mason Jar Press, Late 2026 — okay, this one is cheating, obviously, but very excited to tell y’all that I have a collection coming next year!
I don’t even have a raccoon for you this time, ain’t that some shit??