A year in (literary) outfits
Everything is just a Spotify Wrapped now, lol.
First things first — it’s time to give thanks! Thank you to my tireless editor James Murphy. He will also be my husband soon. I will continue to require his editing, lol. <3 Thank you to VRK of vrk loves paper for recommending me to many of y’all! Means a lot to me to be trusted with your audience. :) And thank you to YOU for reading — this has been a fun undertaking because of all the support.
A vision I have for 2025 is that I’ll read at least as much (or more) and I’ll do something more substantial with my book “reviews.” As a first dip, I’m going to spend this post fleshing some of my reviews out and picking an outfit from the year that represents it in some way. We’ll start with the 5-star books and move our way down to 1-stars, the outfits will all be ones I have actually worn this year! (Feel free to critique them in the comments if you must. We can fight…’tis the season.) I read 35 books this year - so let’s not waste time and just get right to it.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5-stars: the faves only, please!
Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh
I debated giving this 4 stars because it’s length felt too long for what it was but 🤷♀️ I opted for 5 because of all the things I enjoyed.
Coming off of my last read (The Wasp Factory) I was honestly just relieved to see a more interesting characterization of someone “unlikable” and “unreliable.”
It shouldn’t be that interesting inherently just by being about an elderly woman, but it was, lol. If you get a woman in fiction she’s almost always young; it was refreshing for that alone.
Definitely could’ve been one chapter shorter and done what it needed to, but I’m not mad, I’ve decided.
I can’t add much here in terms of the review without giving away a lot of the intrigue of the book, so we’ll focus on my vision for the outfit.
The protagonist (Vesta) spends a great deal of time in this novel critiquing the locals on their “frumpy” looks. (There’s also a sprinkling of intense fatphobia, which was useful characterization for Vesta as generally ornery/having a cruel streak, but something we will not be indulging in the outfit I’m creating of course!) Rather than creating something Vesta might wear, I instead want to celebrate the suburban! Cheers to the pedestrian!! Long live the cowboy boot that has never been on a farm!!!
I made the vest/sweater included recently from a collection of knitting scraps. It was a fun puzzle to collect the different pieces and lay them out in a way that created something wearable. Aaaaaand, since I made it from existing samples instead of buying it, I skipped my usual requirement of getting rid of 2 things to make room for it. A little treat to myself for the holidays!
Special callout too for these Lucchese boots I scooped up at a steal on ThredUp. (I want to see if the cowboy boot is something I stick with in 2025, so buying secondhand was key! If they don’t get worn they can go right back up for sale.)
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
Absolutely delightful—“cozy” without being plotless. ❤️
I am once again running on assumptions I’ve built from other peoples description of TikTok discourse, but the overuse of the term “cozy” has made me grow weary. I find myself yearning for the un-cozy, the uncomfortable, the cruel… but I was changed a bit by this book! It’s not lacking for romance tropes (ultra-kind protagonist vs. grumpy love interest, a set of colorful and meddling housemates) or witchy tropes (magic teas as potions, a curse no one quite understands, very handwavy aging processes) but it really uses them to their full advantage and blends them in with some genuinely cutting moments social critique (both racial and class, in particular).
The “twists” are somewhat predictable near the end, but delivered in an amusing way. And I am such a sucker for the sunshine/raincloud pairings, what can I say. The Pride and Prejudice of it all gets me every time, smh.
The outfit I selected here reflects one of the meddling housemates, Ian, who spends the majority of the book sporting something neon or just generally LOUD. I thought I’d get more wear out of this really vibrant pink skirt this past summer (a Thakoon find); but the fact that it was silk made me hesitant to wear it out-and-about. A habit I intend to kick in 2025!
Code Dependent: Living in the Shadow of AI by Madhumita Murgia
A must read. Even if you’re familiar with some of the facets, you’ll uncover far more in a read through this.
Unimportant side note that I love the fact it has an index. You just never see that anymore.
The predominant strength of this book was that each chapter was grounded in an actual story; something that has already happened or is actively unfolding with the generative AI that already exists. It is not a love letter to what “AGI” could be nor a doomsday memo about how the world is going to be destroyed by runaway AI-God—it’s an unflinchingly real look at the consequences of this technology push right now and it’s incredibly well researched. I have a lot of thoughts about this topic which I’ve been trying to write down, but it’s slow going and if I post it here, I do want to link it back to style and clothing—which takes some doing! (I feel like Ed Zitron has already covered my most profound, general despair about it, so just read his newsletters honestly).
For the ensemble, we’re going with an outfit I wore to a work event, lol. If it was appropriate for me to wear to a tech startup offsite event, it’s appropriate for capturing this book in some way.
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
A recent re-read. Just as excellently written and reported as the first time. And just as insane, lol.
There’s something kind of quaint about Elizabeth Holmes’ elaborate runaway startup medical scam in the wake of all the scams that have cropped up after her. Re-reading this felt like going back in time to when you could just move one town over and change your name and run the same game until you got found out, only to move again—but with a tech twist. There are so many moments where you stop to think “oh, surely not” and, in fact, it surely is. From the US military, Henry Kissinger (yikes!), a famous grandkid of an important general, a litigious and vengeful neighbor, an underpaid and overworked whistleblower, a constellation of famous marketing people from Apple… I mean it just has everything you expect. Feels like the quintessential scam story of the generation.
The outfit, naturally, includes a black turtleneck. It’s painful how much this article of clothing is associated with tech CEOs. It’s so flattering!! Like, my god, leave us something to wear that isn’t tarnished by your lizard-vibes, please!
Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein
Easily the best piece of non-fiction I read this year. A must read!
Where to begin with this book… I think the thing that stood out to me most was how cleverly Klein wove in all her threads: the history of how we think about doubles, the ways we produce them of ourselves, her particular situation with being constantly conflated with Naomi Wolf, and the broader, intense polarization of American society. The “framing device” (or I guess just “returning metaphor,” but it frames the telling) of the doppelganger stories are really effective in how painfully evocative they are. The whole book feels a little bit like being repeatedly stabbed, which doesn’t sound like an endorsement, but it is, lol. Remains my favorite non-fiction piece of the year. I stand by the “must read” qualification.
For the ensemble, I selected something that felt like it was incredibly replicable. Something you’d be bound to see someone else wearing at the mall, so I could sneak away if you were following me. Of note with this outfit, is that AGOLDE seems to have discontinued making its criss-cross jeans. It’s all barrel legs and V cuts now… the upside of course being that I’ll be able to snag them somewhere on deep markdown. I knew it was a trend that would come and go but I’ve grown to adore the cut, and I wanted to trade out some poorer fitting black jeans for a pair of the criss-cross in black. Catch me on the resale sites trying to find my size!!
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
“Just tell the truth,” Mom said. “That’s simple enough.”
Walls told the truth in this book—a simple, but deeply challenging thing to do. Bravo.
No one in my book club liked this book, lol. I loved it! Do with that what you will.
[Editor’s note: most of the book club in question is women in their upper 30s and into their 40s.]
Walls has had a life punctuated by intense trauma. It’s not a pleasant or light read. It’s not a glossed-over grocery checkout line celebrity memoir. It is filled with a tenderness for her family—fucked up though they are—and the kind of reflective peace that comes with accepting what’s within your control and without.
If you’ve ever joked to your friends that part of your friendship is built on trauma bonding, I think you’ll find a friend in this book.
Whatever you do, do not watch the movie. A waste of really talented performers…
For the outfit, I’m going for “I have disposable income now, but I had none growing up and you can tell because no one would describe me as Kennedyesque.” Once again shamelessly plugging the Pleats Please line—this time in a mid-length skirt. Truly the best investment pieces in my wardrobe are from this line. Nothing ever wrinkles!! I’ll never shut up about it! Never!!
The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt
So nice to read something with a complete, coherent theme that isn’t padded up to it’s ears for word count.
My shortest read this year and one of the best. Coincidence? I think not!
The speed and precision with which DeWitt paints these characters over a handful of pages should be studied. I want every longwinded asshole “litfic” genius that someone pretends to enjoy for clout to take a class and learn how to actually characterize someone effectively.
The plot is simple but meaningfully constructed. It reads the way you experience seeing a Van Eyck: you know exactly what you’re looking at and there’s confidence in the conviction with which it’s presented.
For the ensemble, I’ve opted for nothing but thrifted or secondhand finds—something something “you can’t buy taste” and all that. The book plays on this theme really well. The skirt is FARM Rio that I bought from a consignment store in Northern Virginia. I keep my eye out for the brand mainly for their prints, but the nod to squiggles (a trend I enjoyed despite it’s explosive overexposure) and the deeeeeeep pockets on this skirt made it a winner for me. You could fit a whole book in them!
A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella Lucy Bird (introduction: Daniel J. Boorstin)
Racism certainly pervades, but it was an otherwise fascinating read.
Bird is the most common sort of racist you’d expect from someone of means in the time, so I really can’t emphasize enough that her books will be tremendously upsetting throughout in this regard.
Bird’s life is winding and somewhat dilettante—a factor of what she’s able to indulge in being from means—but not without it’s genuine struggles. Her strategies to deal with chronic pain and her reflections on that pain feel especially prescient; a kind of foreshadowing for the myriad ways women’s pain is overlooked today. I really connected to these passages in particular.
The way she describes the men she meets along the way in this book is also hilarious. She does not pull punches on them, lol, but in that kind of reserved way. I chuckled.
Fun fact: there is a manga dramatization of her travels in Japan. Going on my TBR list for 2025.
For outfit, we’re breaking out the blue jeans! She does not wear jeans (she wears trousers as part what she describes as her iteration of ‘Hawaiian riding dress’) but it has the same spirit.
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
Can't-put-it-down non-fiction from Grann yet again. Excellent.
I love good non-fiction because it so often reads even more baffling and surprising than fiction. There are so many elements of this story that make you go “oh, if someone wrote that in a script the reviews would come back like ‘that would never happen.” Not because the cruelty and dehumanization would surprise you, but the extent of conspiracy is immense. It was informative and the pacing was quick—never felt like I was reading some kind of recitation of fact: this is a story that also happens to be true.
The outfit I selected to represent this one is a simple sheath dress with a pop of bright color from the bag. A dash of hope amidst an otherwise bleak landscape—a bit literal of me, I confess.
Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka
Felt like the freshest take on this subject in quite a while for me. Excellent.
Realizing that I have a weird obsession with using “excellent” in my reviews. Let me add “diversify my vocabulary” to my list for 2025…
Anyway! This book was such a relief. Not in the subject matter, of course, but in the approach to the subject matter. I don’t mind plumbing the depths of depravity if it’s to some reasonable end, but there’s been this deluge of what feels like ‘serial killer justification apologia’ that it was a relief to read something that’s ultimately unconcerned with justifying or understanding men’s acts of violence as much as it is with the ways those acts connect the women they impact.
The outfit here is inspired by Lavender, the killer’s mother, who eventually joins a women’s commune after leaving her abusive husband. I figured her for a blend of practical with a bit of girlish whimsy—a nod to the childhood and young adulthood she was effectively robbed of. I picked up this horse-print skirt at a Goodwill in New York City back in college and it’s a forever favorite. Equal parts easy and fun.
Excellent as usual. Obsessed with the research that went into this and how beautifully it’s integrated into the work — wish more historical fiction was this thoughtful. Will 100% read again.
The way this book scratched every one of my itches ⋙ History. Magic. Intrigue. Romance. Drama. Phew! I read this nearly cover to cover in one day, so I need to return to it for a deeper read, but a favorite line that I grabbed: “…let it be my ambition and not my fear that seals my fate.”
I love that this is not only well researched but so close to Bardugo’s own heart—you can feel her respect and interest for her ancestors throughout. 16th century Madrid has never felt so vivid for me.
For ensemble, we’re going with a nod to the period—ropa inspired—with an opera coat I made back in college and a loosely fitting ankle length cashmere dress I found at Beacon’s Closet (before they started letting you donate Shein there 🙄).
Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne
Fascinating, challenging, moving. Among my favorites this year.
There’s so much controversy around this book that I feel totally unable to discern if it’s true, entirely fictional, or somewhere in between. Even if it’s totally fabricated, I have to commend Gagne for writing something so compelling to read. Never once put this down and felt like I was tired.
She asserts that she’s a sociopath. It’s a memoir. That’s really all there is, but it comes together to feel like significantly more.
Outfit? Something that feels like it could be worn to a recording studio—one of the locations where Gagne worked. There’s something about houndstooth that screams “punk band” to me!
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4-stars: you were so close.
The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson
Ronson writes some of the most readable nonfiction out there—not his strongest all throughout but deeply compelling overall. Great read.
I don’t think I read this right before Sociopath: A Memoir but it would’ve been hilarious if I had! Covering all the pathologies…
Ronson really went all out in this—it felt like no stone was unturned in his pursuit to understand the myriad ways we diagnose one another with madness—and I had to knock a star off here for how far away it meanders from the core investigation to account for his little asides. He’s hilarious, though, so there’s that!
The outfit here is one that I might wear to speak to a CEO and evaluate their relative sanity. There’s something about wearing kitten heels that suggests you’re a professional evaluator of some kind. If you don’t have a pair, they’re a great investment.
The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim
Absolutely delectable. Will not be elaborating further, lol.
In retrospect, this might’ve been a 3-star — but I did really enjoy the journey. The protagonist spirals so hard; slowly and then alllllll at once. It’s a nightmare vision of an intrusive thought that goes a little too far, and the protagonist is oddly relateable for that, lol.
Another where if I elaborate, the fun will fade a bit too much, so I’ll end it there.
The clothes? College kid trying to get through finals. Overstressed, underdressed collegiate chic. This sweatshirt is a controversial one. My friend Ryan insists I stole it from him and I still contend he gifted it to me. We’ll never agree on this one Ryan!!
Popular Music from Vittula by Mikael Niemi, Laurie Thompson (Translator)
Hilarious, heartbreaking, beautiful to read.
I came in with very high hopes for this, given that To Cook a Bear is one my all time favorites shelf. It didn’t disappoint, but it wasn’t as cohesive or thematically coherent, so it wasn’t another 5-star experience.
Since it’s a coming-of-age tale divided into a series of vignettes, I suppose strict coherence isn’t something I should’ve expected (after all, what is growing up but a series of random events that shape us), but the connection across them is sometimes so tenuous that I spent the entire next chapter trying to understand how I was supposed to make any reasonable sense of the prior.
There is a chapter devoted to rat-catching for a (suspected?) former Nazi in the town, and it will stay with me forever. It’s worth reading for that chapter alone.
I laughed, I was troubled, and I was disgusted in equal parts. It felt like I got a genuine glimpse of rural Swedish life, warts and all.
In the outfit I constructed here, I went for warmth, lol. Sweden sounds cold as hell. I would definitely get frostbite; my hands and feet are already constantly cold and the temp rarely drops even remotely so low here in Virginia (Uniqlo HeatTech layers and my heaviest coat get me by just fine).
The framing device/unreliable narrator aspect is standout; it makes for a very novel take on this "true crime industrial complex critique" angle. Does feel like it meanders significantly throughout in parts, which is part "doing the thing that the unreliable narrator needs to do to prove the point" and also part "author doesn't quite seem to know when to stop doing that meandering and know their point is proven", but didn't mind overall. Would recommend, and the audiobook is well performed.
There’s a murder in a small town. It’s a teen girl, killed by teen girls. Inevitably, Tumblr is involved. I stand by my initial review here; it’s got an excellent framing device, it’s a relatively new take, and the audiobook is a great format to experience it.
Bravely, I have elected to include this outfit that feels like something I’d reblog on Tumblr circa 2014. Sandwiched right between a runway shot of Alexander McQueen and a black and white still from a Lana Del Rey music video with a Sylvia Plath quote. The jacket is, in fact, a McQueen piece from around 2012. Really glad it still fits!
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
Beautiful, haunting, and just ever so a bit drawn out—but since it's written so beautifully, forgiven!
Sapphic horror! Sign me up!
Seriously though, what a nice change of pace to read something that isn’t about tragic heteronormativity. Instead, some weirdly magical body horror connected to the sea. Also tragic, but very different!
It’s a fairly classic setup: one person goes somewhere, and—dun dun dun—they appear to have brought something back with them. But that’s where the predictability ends, thankfully. The prose is lyrical, the love devastating, and the experience is somewhat longer than it needs to be, but I wholeheartedly recommend it.
The ensemble is something I would wear to the beach and be incredibly wary of the sea in. Respect our oceans, folks! 👍 (The Crocs charms never get old to me. Long live Crocs—I don’t care what you say!!)
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
Dragged in the latter half for me but otherwise an excellent mystery. Felt similar to The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry, but more British because I listened to the audiobook.
Off the bat: the fatphobia in this book is pernicious. It’s the absolute laziest type of linking physical qualities with intellectual merits. I should honestly knock another star off for how pervasive and useless it is to the plot.
There are 8 days and 8 witnesses to inhabit in order to solve a murder. It’s a perfectly competent mystery. Well executed in it’s conceit, clever in it’s revealing, and enjoyable to listen to as an audiobook.
The ensemble I’ve selected is one that I would wear to a ball. The characters would definitely judge me for it (pants?! bold…) but that’s half the fun. :)
Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily R. Austin
What a relief—finally, I read something that doesn’t seem like it was “weekly-critiqued” to death at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop.
Very funny, very sad, very easy to read and very challenging simultaneously. Bravo.
Sapphic humor! Also sign me up!
The premise of this book made me laugh before I even began: Gilda, an atheist and a lesbian, falls through a series of events that lead her to become a receptionist at a Catholic Church. While there, she pretends to be the receptionist she replaced (who died) via email to her friend. Hilarity and tears ensue.
This book is written with so much neurosis it’s peeeeeerfect. It reads exactly what it’s like to have anxiety.
The clothes selected here are what I imagine Gilda might wear to hide the fact that she’s definitely not pretending to be Catholic to get a job. There’s something about a wrap skirt that announces: “I could answer the phone and honor the holy spirit.”
Easily the most inventive thing I read this year—would 100% recommend—felt like several of the characters warranted a bit more exploration, thus the 4 stars.
Okorafor is so damn inventive—I’m deeply jealous. This book centers around a series of characters who navigate an alien ‘invasion’ that begins on the coast of Lagos, Nigeria. I really wish we’d been able to spend time with more of them, but the ones that are explored in depth are rich and rewarding to get to know.
I was very torn on what to select for outfit here—who to center it around?! In the end, I elected something that felt Anthony inspired: bright and flowing, with room for all the effects of his musical beats flying through through the air and some shoes that would let me run across Lagos without tripping.
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
The first line alone is worth reading, lol.
This is a classic romance—high stakes misunderstandings, people hiding just the right (or wrong) specific things to create drama, the yearning—and it’s equal parts a modern one. I found the protagonist intensely relatable and her chronic illness was painted with tremendous care. Eva was a real person, brought to life with perfect clarity from the page. The endless pop culture references did start to grate on me—it felt gratuitous at a certain point—but not enough to ruin it, certainly.
For outfit, we’re going for ‘vampire romance stan’ in honor of Eva’s vampire erotica series; I am happy to be a supportive white fan lady 🫡 . The Marni skirt is one that I got at Century 21 (the store, not the real estate company) in FiDi before it closed for good. I’ll never get a deal like that again (cue wistful sigh).
⭐⭐⭐ 3-stars: not mad about ‘em.
Interesting structure; overly lengthy to the point of being tiresome by the end. The latter half is especially exhausting, rehashing everything we’ve come to know and beating it so much I felt a bit insulted (as if the author didn’t expect me to be able to make the leaps required and needed help, maybe some folks do, idk).
I didn’t realize until putting this post together just how many books I read that center around a murder. Troubling…
Anyway! I was attracted to this book since it was an epistolary (a book in the form of letters) and I think that’s just a fun structure to play with. Unfortunately, the author doesn’t seem to think we’re capable of keeping track of what goes on in those letters, so there’s a shoe-horned “explainer” detective group who reviews them at different points and basically summarizes findings from them so you don’t have to do the work of figuring out who committed the crime yourself.
I found the whole thing excruciating by the end, but I wasn’t mad I took the ride. If you need something a bit different to read, this is a good choice.
The characters aren’t exactly described it tremendous detail so I instead tried to create an outfit that felt like what I’d wear to a local theater production, at their matinee, since the characters are all members of one. (An ensemble to meet an ensemble cast, ho ho I am just too clever.)
I feel personally attacked by the protagonist, recalling how unbearably introspective and exhausting I was to be around when I first started college.
The characterization in this is thorough and engrossing but simultaneously monotonous. So it felt like it dragged on for the better part of 100 years… 🤷♀️
This is a Bildungsroman about a Turkish-American girl named Selin beginning her freshman year at Harvard University, centering primarily on the myriad ways she will embarrass herself or completely ignore her own interests in an effort to impress her older crush/penpal, an older mathematics major, named Ivan. There is a particular kind of pain that you can only endure when you are forced to look in the mirror at yourself, and boy howdy did this book just make me look at myself… woof.
As an audiobook, this book is roughly 14 hours and frankly the entire story could’ve been told in 7. I doubt I would’ve finished reading it if I hadn’t listened to it, because through several of those hours it’s a slog. Batuman’s prose is, at times, some of the most compelling I’ve read but that doesn’t warrant extending the story past the length required to tell the tale. I’ve also become aware that there’s a sequel which I desperately need to resist reading but will also probably inevitably read.
The outfit here is “I would wear this during finals and think about the fact that the guy I like saw me in it and wonder if he liked it and later regret that that was something I spent time worrying about.” I ended up consigning these Outdoor Voices leggings after one wear because they were cutting me off at a weird length. Fun colors though!
Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller
She gets a bonus star for all the beautiful descriptions and making it feel like something is happening enough for me to have read the whole thing, but tbh this probably a 2 star read.
Baffling characterizations throughout to no terribly meaningful conclusion.
I genuinely barely remember reading this, so I should probably knock it down to 1 star and I should probably just avoid lit fic in general because I always walk away thinking “so wtf was the point exactly.”
The premise here is fairly simple: Frances is researching some architecture in the English countryside. She meets a couple that is equal parts alluring, mysterious, deceptive, and damaged. She spies on them. She talks to them. Things don’t add up and eventually she dies, but reveals a secret she learned about them before she does. There are passages that are really beautiful. There are story beats that are genuinely thrilling. There is a sense of mystery that keeps you hooked and then… nothing. I recall enjoying it when I read it enough to keep reading, but as you can tell, there’s very little I gained from it in retrospect.
For ensemble, I’ve selected something that feels suited to a hazy summer day in the English countryside. I expect a bee might mistake me for a flower, and that whomever I was with would chase me into a lake to get away from it. Impractical, but fun to imagine.
More a history of the history of a myth than a newly uncovered finding or new take.
I love learning about the elements that come together to create a mythology, particularly in the ‘Wild West’, which manages to shape our American identity still to this day. It’s the kind of myth and folklore that really gives you a glimpse into our collective unconscious. Jung jumps for joy thinking about how we think about the Benders.
The Benders are homesteaders that people grow to be distrustful of. They have reasons to, and some of the reasons they invent. As the title suggests, they are believed to be responsible for several gruesome murders and their cabin (the site of the crimes) becomes an object of lurid fascination—the 19th century equivalent of those people who drive by JonBenét Ramsey’s house or buy John Wayne Gacy clown performance memorabilia.
It’s an interesting lens with which to explore the history, but it’s incredibly dry in parts, and feels wholly invented in others because of the reconstructed conversations. I wouldn’t put it to the top of my TBR, but it’s worth a read.
For ensemble, we’re aiming for prairie. Something that would feel at home near a wagon. The best I can do is breaking out the FARM Rio skirt again and coupling it with boots. Fun combo! I liked the effect it had of toughening up an otherwise pretty traditionally feminine cut.
The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff
I really wanted to love this; I liked it. It’s prose has the texture of what I’ll refer to now forevermore as “Iowa Writer’s Workshop Syndrome”—which is the tendency in modern lit to favor these extended, purple descriptions of things at the expense of telling an actual story. No idea if this author attended, and it isn’t unbearable to read even if it is an Iowa product, but it’s certainly a book that thinks a lot more of it’s writing than it does of the experience of someone reading it.
Or maybe I just have bad taste! Could be.
Somehow this book manages to be boring, a feeling that I consider a crime for a book to create. The premise is anything but boring: a young servant girl escaping from the colonies, trying her best to survive, and find some way to live in a landscape—both natural and political—that does not seem to want her to. The prose… le sigh. How many times can my eyes run across the term ‘hot liquid shit’ before I gouge them out. Once again, I guess I just shouldn’t read lit fic. There is so much time spent indulging in these lengthy, meandering passages about the earth and the sun and every other natural thing in nearby proximity to no actual point. Coupled with this insatiable need to inform me about every bowel movement this young girl has (or doesn’t) while struggling to survive is just painful. Not painful in a haunting way that I continue to think about, not painful in a condemning way that makes me evaluate myself, not painful in a way that moves me—just painful in the way that sitting in the waiting room only to then sit in the littler waiting room at the doctor’s office is painful, the boring kind.
[Editor’s note: I had the great misfortune to witness some excerpts of this book, and it exhibits a fascination with excretory bodily functions that clearly is intended to effect a kind of visceral realism, but which instead renders the narrative off-putting in a manner which ought only be described as obsessive or fetishistic.]
For ensemble, I’ve selected something that I think could endure a very lengthy hike. Which is as close to this premise as I ever want to get. I’ve made repairs to the AllSaints pullover at least 6 times now since I got it in ~2010; mending is king, folks!! Remains my favorite pullover and I wish I’d bought several other colors.
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
Inventive certainly but took very little time into reading to figure out, then spent the latter half feeling “long” even though it was brief. Not sure how many times I can read someone repeating “the dead don’t walk” before I also lose my mind lol.
Two retellings of The Fall of the House of Usher in such close proximity! Unfortunately for Kingfisher, I think I preferred Mike Flanagan’s imagining. Nevertheless, this was a very clever retelling and one that I would absolutely recommend to folks who enjoy horror.
Fungus plays a central role in this version, so the outfit I’ve selected is “what if I were a fantasy mycologist.” The look is totally impractical for actual science or fungus-examining, but the construction of the knit in both the sweater and skirt remind me of the networks mushrooms build underground to talk to each other. It’s allllll connected.
⭐⭐ 2-stars: a little mad about ‘em!
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
I'm sure to some folks this was a scandalous or upsetting read—especially when it was first published. At this point, we're so desensitized to violence I suppose, I don't think anything that occurred in this book exceeds violence I would expect in a procedural crime drama on network TV. It's like a bizarre novelization of something you could find on an episode of Criminal Minds.
I'm going to keep this spoiler free (so: vague), but the "twist" ending is such a lazy trope in modern media that it's hard not to just audibly sigh to yourself at it as it's revealed at the end of the novel. Again, something that might've been upsetting (or intriguing, I guess) to some in 1984 just feels pointless at best (and dangerous at worst) in 2024. I suppose this novel might've been part of making this kind of twist a trope, and thus proves it's actually quite a novel addition to the horror canon or some kind of enduringly powerful metaphor for how we conceive of "who commits violence", but, wowwww, I actively felt my interest level drop to the lowest levels possible as I finished reading it.
I’m glad it was as short as it was, and the writing style is compelling enough to keep you reading. It is genuinely disturbing to read something written in the style of a slice-of-life, somewhat "bouncy" nostalgic, faux-memoir that has the content this does. I suppose that must've been what made me finish it.
Le sigh. I'm sure someone can tell me why I'm wrong—feel free, lol.
I don’t have much to add here to my review other than my husband-to-be is a fan of Banks’ sci-fi series and hasn’t read this book yet, so I can’t wait to argue with him if he likes it. :)
[Editor’s note: I’ve read quite a bit of Banks’ non-sci-fi writing as well, and while my reactions thereto have not quite been the unadulterated irritation JM has experienced at The Wasp Factory, I found myself rather puzzled at Walking on Glass and The Steep Approach to Garbadale.]
The outfit is what I would wear to visit my scary wasp shrine, if I had one. I don’t, don’t worry. The way this Bottega Veneta dress drapes makes me look like a honeybee, but I don’t mind, lol. The silk is really well handled, and it doesn’t hurt that it’s thrifted, so I have nothing to worry about if a drop of blood were to stain it (jk jk).
The Quarry Girls by Jess Lourey
Competent but ultimately predictable. She cites Mare of Easttown at the end and that influence shows in how odd the pacing becomes.
Moments of quality writing but ultimately underwhelming. Can’t recommend.
The premise is standard thriller fare: young woman is killed in small town. Her friends try to figure out who did it. It puts them in grave danger. There’s red herrings abounding, and you learn about how awful all the men in town are as a result.
I remember very little about this book outside of the fact that it’s set in Minnesota and there’s tunnels under everyone’s homes in the neighborhood because of the cold. I found that terrifying as a prospect in and of itself. It felt like experiencing the first half of the movie Barbarian for a second time.
Once again, the outfit I’ve selected is purely based on temperature. I felt cold reading this book, and I know I would feel cold in a Minnesota winter. Bundle me up!!!
Has the benefit of two leads who are locked into an odd ideological back and forth that’s equal parts exhausting and fascinating to listen to them try to reason about. Has the unfortunate effect of revealing Shriver’s own obsession—what I imagine to be the effect of exhausting mental gymnastics—with just being a contrarian to be one.
Witty it is not, but it wasn’t the worst satire I’ve ever endured either.
I really need to stop trying to give Shriver a chance to impress me, because while We Need To Talk About Kevin remains one of my favorite novels of all time, all of her other work betrays a really rotten and frankly pathetically transparent basic-boomer-parent type of centrism that is exhausting to try to navigate. I stand by my initial review, in that it is sometimes funny and revealing to watch the primary characters get locked into these really tired arguments about cancel culture—they live in a dystopian near future where it’s illegal to call anyone “stupid” essentially—but it’s not funny enough that it’s really worth reading nor is the conclusion you’re meant to draw from their arguments at all worth believing.
“Wasn’t the worst satire I’ve ever endured either” is also damning by faint praise, because there’s very little satire worth enduring. It’s the literary equivalent of wanting congratulations for doing a funny impression of your friend at a dinner party.
For ensemble, I’ve created a look that I think an English Lit department professor might wear. A cardigan? Check. A controversial book tote? Also check. I think Pearson (the protagonist) would be proud, but I also really don’t care. :)
The New Republic by Lionel Shriver
Thank You for Smoking if everyone was somehow worse? Exhausting. Would’ve benefited from significantly more editing. Characterization was ofc strong and the writing was good overall but not Shriver’s best. A lot of recycled themes from The Mandibles that are far more nuanced and interesting in that novel. The fatphobia shining through was especially unbearable by the end.
Suffers even worse from Shriver’s exhausting insistence of blatantly pontificating through her characters, all of which are especially insufferable in this novel. The protagonist, Edgar—reporting on terrorism in Portugal because he hates his job as a lawyer and wants to feel something again by becoming a reporter—is especially exhausting and his point of view becomes so tiresome it’s hard to say it’s even worth picking the book up, let alone finishing it.
The outfit I’ve created in this case is one that I did, in fact, wear in Portugal. Lovely country! Very hilly—you will regret not having tennis shoes packed. Highly recommend a visit.
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca
Quick to read - and I mean that not entirely as a compliment.
Some of the ideas are interesting—and some of the lines or moments in the stories are even compelling. But it doesn’t really ever come together.
Very meh. A fine weekend read on vacation, lol.
I’ve had scarier or more thrilling experiences reading a Goosebumps book. This should honestly be a 1-star but I liked how inventive one of the stories was just enough to be generous, lol.
This book includes 3 ‘horror’ stories; the titular “Things Have…” premise is that there are two lesbians who meet online and their relationship worsens through a series of boundary-breaking requests in a series of emails. There’s animal cruelty and body horror, which, in and of themselves aren’t things that can’t be written about, but they are explored with absolutely no skill, and thus feel really bad to read. The other two stories are so unremarkable that I can’t even recall the premises beyond a hazy vision; the first is a young teen crucifying himself for some reason, and the second is an older man enduring torture by his neighbor to avoid being rude. They are just as pointless as my summary portrays.
The outfit I’ve selected is something I’d wear just before getting fired from a receptionist job (which happens in the first story). They would miss me as I walked away because they’d never know where I got my Pottering Cat bag (spoiler: thrifted it).
The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith
The premise is more promising than the product imo. 🤷♀️
This book is part of a series, which baffles me because there’s not much that needs to be explored here. The premise is thus: there is a library in Hell that acts as a kind of DMZ. All unfinished stories end up there and are controlled by Claire, our Head Librarian. One day, a Hero from one of the stories escapes into the world. This is bad and she needs to retrieve them. Ramifications from Hell and Heaven ensue. I love libraries, and librarians (and I have a library degree) so Hackwith really had an easy time convincing me to read this on the premise alone.
Nothing especially compelling happens, which is a shame. But fortunately my outfit can be worn on a dizzying journey to Hell. I went for “a print that would surely confuse anyone who set eyes upon it” with the pants. They’re a silk-blend fabric and very soft; the kind of oversized jodhpurs look makes them especially bold. My mom grabbed them for me at Nordstrom Rack I think—always shocked at what she manages to find, but very glad for it.
Seeing several people call this “no plot just vibes” I have to wonder if they read the book—the plot is straightforward, lol. The “vibes” in question are Lana Del Rey Tumblr memes circa 2010: if you were a teen girl in a season of ennui back then, rest assured you’ve already read a blog post that offers the same experience as this novel.
2 stars for sooooome beautiful lines and being readable enough I didn’t dnf.
Picture it: a hazy, slightly blurry photo of a young woman in a slip dress. She’s falling into a lake somewhere. There’s song lyrics just beneath the image, which are vaguely depressing. The tags include #so-like-my-life, and #truth. Congratulations; you’ve read this entire novel.
Group of teen girls is obsessed with one teen girl. That teen girl goes missing. Why, how, and what made this happen. All is revealed, but in the most meandering way possible. Also, it’s in Florida. Not worth the time. A great cover wasted on a barely-middling book.
The outfit I’ve selected is one that I’d wear to endure the Florida humidity. Is it the cutest? Perhaps not. But there are benefits to not being the cutest — you don’t have teen girls obsess about you, for one!
⭐ 1-star: the only one, the worst one.
Technically DNF-ed but I had to roll on to warn anyone hearing good things about this book to beeline back the other direction; put it back on the shelf ladies. A lot of people I trust and respect when it comes to books recommended this to me.
I made it about 25% through; the structure itself is fine; the Socratic element is a good hook, and a different framing than you typically get with "self help" books. It also leaves a lot more room for interpretation; you can suss out values that apply to you and leave the rest that way far easier than with the more mainstream fare.
So, if you got value out of this, that's fine—get value wherever you can and I am but one woman with a hot take—but IMHO the intended learnings in this book at best apply to only the most privileged folks out there and the oversimplification of the psychology-cum-philosophy of Adler makes every nugget of advice feel paper thin.
Really shocked this is so popular, but I'm also consistently shocked that other schlock like How to Win Friends and co. remain so popular too. So many people to fleece with bootstrap theory, so little time...
Le sigh.
This book has the depth of a Minions meme on Facebook.
I feel like this must be a hot take, given how many people I genuinely respect have read and recommended it, but I resent that this was ever published. Sorry if you’re one of those people. If I could remove this book from existence, I would.
My outfit is what I would wear to the publishing house just before I shredded the manuscript. I picked up the Leifsdottir top on ThredUp to replace my skirt, which no longer fit. A fun, and lucky, little trade.
[insert festive sign-off here]
Hooooooo buddy. If you made it all the way down here, you’re a real one. Thank you again for the support on these silly posts; it’s nice to look back at this time of year.
Cheers to 2025—hopefully I have the good sense to DNF more and avoid the lure of lit fic, lol.
xoxo JM