Like many people, Samantha Koon Jones found herself with a lot of time on her hands at the start of the pandemic. So she turned to reading.
“I knew a couple of people on Bookstagram—a subgroup of Instagram users who post primarily about books and reading—and I liked the idea of keeping a virtual reading journal,” says Jones, who can be found @_bookstasam. “It’s all impossibly nerdy, but it’s also really, really fun.” We asked her to help stock our bookshelf for fall.
My Heart is a Chain Saw by Stephen Graham Jones
horror, literary fiction, Indigenous author
Seventeen-year-old Jade, a horror junkie and social outcast, is uniquely positioned to recognize when a series of murders in her small Idaho town start to mirror the opening scenes of one of her beloved slasher flicks. Stephen Graham Jones’ latest novel is a love letter to horror movies, a tongue-in-cheek homage that picks horror tropes apart and reassembles them as something totally new and socially relevant. Through the chaotic lens of gory slasher movies, Jones is able to direct our attention to the real-life horrors of colonialism, gentrification, and Indigenous displacement.
The Arsonists’ City by Hala Alyan
literary fiction, Palestinian-American author
I’m a seasonal reader, and cozy fall weather has me reaching for a complex family drama to sink my teeth into. The Nasr family, spread out across the U.S. and Middle East for years, reconvenes one last time in Beirut when the patriarch decides to sell the family home. The Arsonists’ City is an intensely personal, timely novel whose strength lies in exceptional relationship-building and characters that are complex and beautifully flawed.
All’s Well by Mona Awad
literary fiction, dark academia, speculative fiction, female author
What’s a fall reading list without a little dark academia? Miranda is a chronically ill theater professor hell-bent on putting on a production of Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well. The other stakeholders are more interested in producing the famously cursed Macbeth, but Miranda manages to secure a major donation from three mysterious benefactors to bring her dream production to life. All’s Well is a very weird but very engaging work of literary fiction chock full of Shakespearean references, black magic, and revenge.
Owls of the Eastern Ice by Jonathan C. Slaght
nonfiction, white male author
Wildlife biologist Jonathan C. Slaght has devoted his career to the conservation of the elusive Blakiston’s Fish Owl, the world’s largest species of owl boasting a six-foot wingspan and native to Eastern Russia. His book, Owls of the Eastern Ice, is a fascinating blend of science and memoir. It will pique your interest in both the endangered owls at the heart of Slaght’s work and the remote forest in which they life.
Here for It, Or How to Save Your Soul in America: Essays by R. Eric Thomas
memoir, humor, essays, gay Black author
R. Eric Thomas’ memoir-in-essays is laugh-out-loud funny, a coming-of-age story that perfectly balances humor with heart. The essays span the breadth of Thomas’ life, touching on everything from a summer spent shelving books at his school library to the awkward Thanksgiving dinner at which he introduced his white now-husband, a Presbyterian minister, to his extended family. Thomas touches on racism, homophobia, writing, and self-love all with his signature comedic flavor and wealth of pop culture references. (Thomas also performs the audiobook, and it is outstanding.)
The Secret Life of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
short stories, literary fiction, Black female author
The Secret Life of Church Ladies is a collection of nine short stories, all centered on Black women and their connection to the church, each in some way addressing the conflict between the protagonists’ wants and needs with the expectations of their faith. From sleeping with the preacher to caring for a difficult parent suffering from memory loss, Philyaw covers a lot of ground and reminds us that there really is no drama like church drama.
