Reese’s book club pick: City of night birds by Juhea Kim

People on goodreads has gone off the deep end with this one. The book currently has a 2,96 rating and falling because people who have not read the book has given it one star review solely because the protagonist is a russian ballerina. It makes me want to read it even more. I hope i love it.

Painting a vivid portrait of the Russian ballet world, where cutthroat ambition, ever-shifting politics, and sublime artistry collide, City of Night Birds unveils the making of a dancer with both profound intimacy and breathtaking scope. Mysterious and alluring, passionate and virtuosic, Juhea Kim’s second novel is an affecting meditation on love, forgiveness, and the making of an artist in a turbulent world.

GMA book club: The last one by Rachel Howzell Hall

The Witcher meets N.K. Jemisin in a new series from NYT bestselling author Rachel Howzell Hall where a young woman awakens in a field with no memory and learns that the world is dying—and that she is the only one who can save it from an evil, destructive force…herself.

At 512 pages, this is not a a book I would pick up, especially after not likeing the Witcher and never having read a single Jemisin book. Sounds intriguing enough to those who like the genre I bet.

Read with Jenna:

Throughout her celebrated career, Mary Oliver has touched countless readers with her brilliantly crafted verse, expounding on her love for the physical world and the powerful bonds between all living things. Identified as “far and away, this country’s best selling poet” by Dwight Garner, she now returns with a stunning and definitive collection of her writing from the last fifty years.

I think this is a very fitting pick, for a very busy season.

Belletrist: Darkly by Marisha Pessl

There’s nothing special about Dia Gannon. So why was she chosen for an opportunity everyone would kill for?

Arcadia “Dia” Gannon has been obsessed with Louisiana Veda, the game designer whose obsessive creations and company, Darkly, have gained a cultlike following. Dia is shocked when she’s chosen for a highly-coveted internship, along with six other teenagers from around the world. Why her? Dia has never won anything in her life.

Sister snake by Amanda Lee’Koe

Sisterhood is difficult for Su and Emerald. Su leads a sheltered, moneyed life as the picture-perfect wife of a conservative politician in Singapore. Emerald is a nihilistic sugar baby in New York, living from whim to whim as she freely uses her beauty and charms to make ends meet. But they share a secret; once they were snakes, basking under a full moon in Tang Dynasty China.

Razor-sharp, hilarious, and raw in emotion, Sister Snake explores chosen family, queerness, passing, and the struggle against conformity. Reimagining the Chinese folktale “The Legend of the White Snake,” this is a novel about being seen for who you are—and, ultimately, how to live free. 

I made it out of clay by Beth Kander

In this darkly funny and surprisingly sweet novel, a woman creates a golem in a desperate attempt to pretend her life is a romantic comedy rather than a disaster.

At first everything seems great. The golem is indeed protective—and also attractive. But when they head out to a rural summer camp for the family wedding, Eve’s lighthearted rom-com fantasy swiftly mudslides into something much darker.

Expected publicaaton december 10th.

Private Rites by Julia Armfield

From the award-winning author of Our Wives Under the Sea, a speculative reimagining of King Lear, centering three sisters navigating queer love and loss in a drowning world.

If you know Julia Armfields writing, you won’t need to know more than that to run and get this one.