Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative by Melissa Febos

Summary from Goodreads: Memoir meets craft masterclass in this “daring, honest, psychologically insightful” exploration of how we think and write about intimate experiences—“a must read for anybody shoving a pen across paper or staring into a screen or a past” (Mary Karr).

In this bold and exhilarating mix of memoir and master class, Melissa Febos tackles the emotional, psychological, and physical work of writing intimately while offering an utterly fresh examination of the storyteller’s life and the questions which run through it.

How might we go about capturing on the page the relationships that have formed us? How do we write about our bodies, their desires and traumas? What does it mean for an author’s way of writing, or living, to be dismissed as “navel-gazing”—or else hailed as “so brave, so raw”? And to whom, in the end, do our most intimate stories belong?

Drawing on her own path from aspiring writer to acclaimed author and writing professor—via addiction and recovery, sex work and Harvard night school—Melissa Febos has created a captivating guide to the writing life, and a brilliantly unusual exploration of subjectivity, privacy, and the power of divulgence. Candid and inspiring, Body Work will empower readers and writers alike, offering ideas—and occasional notes of caution—to anyone who has ever hoped to see themselves in a story.

So Melissa Febos and her wife Donika Kelly (yo, go read some of Donika’s poetry) are local to me, so when Body Work went up on Edelweiss I pretty-pleased my way into a digital galley approval. And WOW. Such a thought-provoking, juicy book about craft and personal narrative. As such, I was about 75% through the e-galley from Catapult when this book came out in paper. I so needed to underline and highlight (seemingly) every, single word that I bought a copy and started over from the beginning.

Ugh, so good. An incredible examination of why memoir is not encouraged as a genre (navel-gazing) or is seen as “lesser” writing. Febos offers 6 long memoir-essays as a way to use writing to sort of sort through trauma or personal examination of one’s experience or publish work from those experiences and how one might go about shaping that writing.

“Writing is, like gender or dominatricing, a kind of performance. But the craft of writing is primarily an art of making decisions.” – p 36

“Even to write unspoken words multiplies them, makes us less alone” -p 110

I loved Febos’s Girlhood, this one’s another incredible installment in what is surely going to be an incredible body of work over her lifetime.

Many thanks to Catapult for approving me for the digital galley.

Dear FTC: I started on a digital galley, but then I started over with a paper book when it released (which I bought from my local indie because it was signed).

Black Love Matters: Real Talk on Romance, Being Seen, and Happily Ever Afters edited by Jessica P. Pryde

Summary from Goodreads: An incisive, intersectional essay anthology that celebrates and examines romance and romantic media through the lens of Black readers, writers, and cultural commentators, edited by Book Riot columnist and librarian Jessica Pryde.

Romantic love has been one of the most essential elements of storytelling for centuries. But for Black people in the United States and across the diaspora, it hasn’t often been easy to find Black romance joyfully showcased in entertainment media. In this collection, revered authors and sparkling newcomers, librarians and academicians, and avid readers and reviewers consider the mirrors and windows into Black love as it is depicted in the novels, television shows, and films that have shaped their own stories. Whether personal reflection or cultural commentary, these essays delve into Black love now and in the past, including topics from the history of Black romance to social justice and the Black community to the meaning of desire and desirability.

Exploring the multifaceted ways love is seen–and the ways it isn’t–this diverse array of Black voices collectively shines a light on the power of crafting happy endings for Black lovers. Jessica Pryde is joined by Carole V. Bell, Sarah Hannah Gomez, Jasmine Guillory, Da’Shaun Harrison, Margo Hendricks, Adriana Herrera, Piper Huguley, Kosoko Jackson, Nicole M. Jackson, Beverly Jenkins, Christina C. Jones, Julie Moody-Freeman, and Allie Parker in this collection. 

Black Love Matters is a fantastic essay collection about Black romance, written by authors and readers and edited by Jess Pryde (who you might know from the “When in Romance” podcast, and she also has her own piece in the book). While not an exhaustive exploration of Black romance in all it’s forms, the collection has a good range. The collection jumps in the deep end right away with an essay from the legendary Ms. Beverly Jenkins, then one from podcaster Allie Parker, there’s one that’s more scholarly from Julie Moody-Freeman (host of the “Black Romance Podcast”), one that’s a sweet memoir from Jasmine Guillory, then the Black Latinx experience growing up in the Dominican Republic with Adriana Herrera, then Kosoko Jackson (really looking forward to his Berkley debut in February!), and on and on. This was a great collection to read while between subject visits in clinic. And if you aren’t familiar with many of the authors in this collection, many of them have new or upcoming books in 2021 and 2022. This is a book that should be on the TBR for all romance readers in 2022!

Black Love Matters is out today!

Dear FTC: I read a digital galley from the publisher via Edelweiss and I have a copy on pre-order at my store.

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa, translated by Louise Heal Kawai

Summary from Goodreads: A celebration of books, cats, and the people who love them, infused with the heartwarming spirit of The Guest Cat and The Travelling Cat Chronicles.

Bookish high school student Rintaro Natsuki is about to close the secondhand bookstore he inherited from his beloved bookworm grandfather. Then, a talking cat named Tiger appears with an unusual request. The feline asks for—or rather, demands—the teenager’s help in saving books with him. The world is full of lonely books left unread and unloved, and Tiger and Rintaro must liberate them from their neglectful owners. 

Their mission sends this odd couple on an amazing journey, where they enter different mazes to set books free. Through their travels, Tiger and Rintaro meet a man who leaves his books to perish on a bookshelf, an unwitting book torturer who cuts the pages of books into snippets to help people speed read, and a publishing drone who only wants to create bestsellers. Their adventures culminate in one final, unforgettable challenge—the last maze that awaits leads Rintaro down a realm only the bravest dare enter…

The Cat Who Saved Books is, on the surface, a cute fable(?) about a withdrawn teen who inherits his grandfather’s secondhand bookshop and is tasked by a talking cat to help him save books. Rintaro has been raised by his grandfather, but now that his grandfather has passed away Rintaro’s aunt has determined it would be best if Rintaro closed the shop and moved in with her to finish school. Rintaro is very much grieving his grandfather and the quiet, orderly life they led but can’t really muster the will or energy to do anything about his situation. But then one day a talking cat appears in the bookshop and goads Rintaro into helping him save some books. Over the course of three adventures – one in the company of a classmate, Sayo – Rintaro slowly comes out of his grief to make some decisions about his future.

This was such a quiet, deceptive book about the love of books and reading and about grief and loss. It reminded me a little of Miyazaki’s Spirited Away in the way that the task-based adventures occurred in a liminal/spiritual space yet brought a lot of meaning to the real-life situations of the characters.

The Cat Who Saved Books is out now!

Dear FTC: I read a digital galley of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss.

Everything and Less: The Novel in the Age of Amazon by Mark McGurl

Summary from Goodreads:

How Amazon has changed literature

As the story goes, Jeff Bezos left a lucrative job to start something new in Seattle after being deeply affected by Kazuo Ishiguro’s Remains of the Day. If a novel gave us Amazon, what has Amazon meant for the novel? In Everything and Less, acclaimed critic Mark McGurl discovers a dynamic scene of cultural experimentation in literature. Its innovations have little to do with how the novel is written and more to do with how it’s distributed online. On the internet, all fiction becomes genre fiction, which is simply another way to predict customer satisfaction.

With an eye on the longer history of the novel, this witty, acerbic book tells a story that connects Henry James to E. L. James, and Faulkner and Hemingway to contemporary romance, science fiction and fantasy writers. Reclaiming several works of self-published fiction from the gutter of complete critical disregard, it stages a copernican revolution in how we understand the world of letters: it’s the stuff of high literature—Colson Whitehead, Don DeLillo, and Amitav Ghosh—that revolves around the star of countless unknown writers trying to forge a career by untraditional means, adult baby diaper lover erotica being just one fortuitous route. In opening the floodgates of popular literary expression as never before, the age of Amazon shows a democratic promise, as well as what it means when literary culture becomes corporate culture in the broadest but also deepest and most troubling sense.

Ehhhhh….this isn’t what I thought it would be. (Parul Sehgal’s New Yorker review is great and crystallizes a lot of what I was thinking while reading.) Everything and Less is much more economic theory-heavy than I anticipated, and far-less data-driven.

As I read through the book, it seemed like a number of things that have happened in The Book World which were only made possible as Amazon grew and changed weren’t included in the book. Although McGurl notes some KDP-enabled scandals like #cockygate, he doesn’t touch upon “book stuffing” or those internal hyperlinks that hop readers to the end of the book file, thereby making it look like the reader has read more pages (since it’s a pay-by-pages-read scheme), or the #copypastechris plagiarism fiasco (in appreciation of her work, the enterprising reader who uncovered the plagiarist was sent a sword by Nora Roberts herself in thanks), or the Omegaverse stuff (which I still don’t really understand). When McGurl jumps into the genre deep-end that has been enabled through KDP, he zeroes in on the Adult Baby Diaper Lover (ABDL) sub-genre without noting that romance authors who include trigger or content warnings as part of the book description are often delisted and sent to the “dungeon” where books cannot be found through search, only through the direct link. There’s a graphic (see screencap) where he has a timeline of books for both romance and literary fiction novels (aka “Alpha Billionaire” vs “Beta Intellectual” romane) using the marriage plot trope. On the romance side he appears to skip directly from Pride and Prejudice to Fifty Shades of Gray, while on the lit fic side he jumps from Hemingway to I Love Dick in 1997 and a cluster of novels around 2011; it’s kind of a big omission to skip Heyer, Harlequin, Roberts, etc. There are also small inconsistencies that cropped up throughout the text which should have been caught and challenged by editors – the Twilight series hasn’t been a trilogy since August 2, 2008 – as well as the mistake of repeating the fabled Bezos-Ishiguro anecdote that has long since been debunked.

If you like the theory angle, you might like the book. Some of it is kind of interesting once you get used to the style.

Everything and Less is out now.

Dear FTC: I read a digital galley of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss.

The Wit and Wisdom of Bridgerton: Lady Whistledown’s Official Guide by Julia Quinn

Summary from Goodreads:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn comes a highly designed, colorful collection of quotes, wit, and wisdom from Lady Whistledown and the most memorable characters of the much-loved Bridgerton books, now a series created by Shondaland for Netflix.

A collection of the most dramatic, romantic, and memorable quotes from the charming characters of the Bridgerton world, The Wit and Wisdom of Bridgerton is the perfect gift for fans of the Bridgerton series and the groundbreaking Shondaland/Netflix adaptation. With her signature wink and nod, Lady Whistledown herself will act as readers’ familiar and trusted guide, introducing each character’s most memorable quotes.

Each chapter in the book will highlight a different character from the Bridgerton series and include a new introduction from Lady Whistledown, quotes from the character, and things other characters have said about them over the course of the entire series. Fans will get a 360-degree view of each of their favorite personalities, with new commentary and takeaways from Lady Whistledown.

From Daphne, to Simon, to Penelope, to Colin, fans will enter the Bridgerton world in a completely new way with a fresh and intimate perspective of each character. Readers will relive the twists and turns of the books, taking (or not taking) the advice on love, family, etiquette, and fashion from the most beloved and unforgettable voices from Bridgerton. With an introduction from the creator of the Bridgerton world and #1 NYT Bestselling author Julia Quinn, The Wit and Wisdom of Bridgerton is a highly designed keepsake and unique addition to the Regency-set series.

This is pretty enough. Not much original material, but would be a nice present for a super-fan. The book is very front-loaded toward Bridgerton characters we’ve already met (or soon will, given some of the press material that’s already been released for Season 2) in the Netflix adaptation – in Anthony, Colin, and Daphne’s chapters there are also little sections about each of their spouses (Kate, Penelope, and Simon, respectively) and those chapters are somewhat longer in general whereas the chapters get shorter starting with Eloise (Benedict’s is a bit longer, sandwiched between Anthony and Colin) and contain little specific information about the other five Bridgerton spouses (Sophie, Phillip (who we have actually met on the show), Michael, Gareth, and Lucy), just some mentions in passing, compared with the other three. There’s also a chapter at the end for Violet (but contains nothing from the lovely short story, Violet in Bloom) and one for Lady Danbury.

The Wit and Wisdom of Bridgerton is out today.

Dear FTC: I read a digital galley from the publisher via Edelweiss.

Bibliophile: Diverse Spines by Jamise Harper, illustrated by Jane Mount

Summary from Goodreads:

It’s time to diversify your reading list.

This richly illustrated and vastly inclusive collection uplifts the works of authors who are often underrepresented in the literary world. Using their keen knowledge and deep love for all things literary, coauthors Jamise Harper (founder of the Diverse Spines book community) and Jane Mount (author of Bibliophile) collaborated to create an essential volume filled with treasures for every reader:

• Dozens of themed illustrated book stacks—like Classics, Contemporary Fiction, Mysteries, Cookbooks, and more—all with an emphasis on authors of color and authors from diverse cultural backgrounds
• A look inside beloved bookstores owned by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color
• Reading recommendations from leading BIPOC literary influencers

Diversify your reading list to expand your world and shift your perspective. Kickstart your next literary adventure now!

Maybe you’ve read the previous Jane Mount book, maybe you haven’t. But now it has a cousin: Diverse Spines. So very pretty – and pint-sized compared to the first Bibliophile book. If your TBR wasn’t already groaning with titles, this book will help you make it so. And such fun profiles of BIPOC authors, bookstagrammers, and bookstores and bookstore owners ❤

Bibliophile: Diverse Spines is out now!

Dear FTC: I had to buy my copy of this book because I am not cool enough to have got a review copy.

Avidly Reads Guilty Pleasures by Arielle Zibrak

Summary from Goodreads: “My guilty pleasure wasn’t just reading low-brow fiction or even female-authored fiction, it was being femme itself.”

What is it about ribald romance novels, luxurious interior design, and frothy wedding dresses that often make women feel their desires come with a shadow of shame? In Avidly Reads Guilty Pleasures, Arielle Zibrak considers the specifically pleasurable forms of feminine guilt and desire stimulated by supposedly “lowbrow” aesthetic tendencies. She takes up the overwhelming preoccupation with the experience of being humiliated, dominated, or even abused that has pervaded the stories that make up women’s culture–from eighteenth-century epistolary novels to popular twentieth-century teen magazine features to present-day romantic comedies.

In three chapters–“Rough Sex,” “Expensive Sheets,” and “Saying Yes to the Dress”–that mirror the plot structures of feminine fictions themselves, this book tells the story of the desires that only the guiltiest of pleasures evoke. Zibrak reexamines documents of femme culture long dismissed as “trash” to reveal the surprisingly cathartic experiences produced by tales of domination, privilege, and the material trappings of the heteropatriarchy.

Part of the Avidly Reads series, this slim book gives us a new way of looking at American culture. With the singular blend of personal reflection and cultural criticism featured in the series, Avidly Reads Guilty Pleasures reclaims women’s experiences for themselves.

Ehhhhhhhh, this is pretty meh. I originally started with the DRC for Avidly Reads Guilty Pleasures, but decided I wanted to take notes in it so ordered the paper copy. It would have helped the author to use far more recent (and more numerous) examples than a 19th century novel that is not widely read, a 1980s romance novel (Sweet Savage Love) and 50 Shades of Gray. The recent rise of TikTok and the #spicybooktok hashtag make the examples here feel like historical artifacts (50 Shades is 10+ years old at this point and SSL is about 35 years old, if I remember correctly). So, once again, why are people positing themselves as experts on the romance genre when they clearly are not deeply read within the genre? I really don’t have any better opinion of the latter two-thirds of the book, except to note that there did seem to be gaps there are well. I understand that the books in this series are all quite short, but then maybe make the scope of the book narrow-focus as well.

Dear FTC: I started with the DRC of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss then bought a copy to take notes in.

Dark Archives: A Librarian’s Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin by Megan Rosenbloom

Summary from Goodreads: On bookshelves around the world, surrounded by ordinary books bound in paper and leather, rest other volumes of a distinctly strange and grisly sort: those bound in human skin. Would you know one if you held it in your hand?

In Dark Archives, Megan Rosenbloom seeks out the historic and scientific truths behind anthropodermic bibliopegy–the practice of binding books in this most intimate covering. Dozens of such books live on in the world’s most famous libraries and museums. Dark Archives exhumes their origins and brings to life the doctors, murderers, innocents, and indigents whose lives are sewn together in this disquieting collection. Along the way, Rosenbloom tells the story of how her team of scientists, curators, and librarians test rumored anthropodermic books, untangling the myths around their creation and reckoning with the ethics of their custodianship.

A librarian and journalist, Rosenbloom is a member of The Order of the Good Death and a cofounder of their Death Salon, a community that encourages conversations, scholarship, and art about mortality and mourning. In Dark Archives–captivating and macabre in all the right ways–she has crafted a narrative that is equal parts detective work, academic intrigue, history, and medical curiosity: a book as rare and thrilling as its subject.

I was really interested in Dark Archives because one always hears rumors about “human skin books” or, as they are properly known, anthropodermic bibliopegy. Rosenbloom’s team works to identify, trace, and confirm the existence of books bound with human skin and, far from being a creepy or salacious book, Dark Archives is very much about the archivist’s role and responsibility to care for and look after the provenance of these books. It is very much why are these books bound in human skin, why would someone lie about a book being bound in such a way (which is part of what her project does, test the binding to see if the claim is legitimate – if possible, since the test does destroy a tiny bit of the binding, some books are unable to be tested that way), and how does bodily autonomy and consent – or lack thereof – come into the process (Rosenbloom gets into deeded body programs and similar types of projects because, in theory, one could deed their skin to be tanned and used as a book binding).

Dear FTC: I bought my copy of this book.