[How it Works](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/how-it-works/) [Bookshop](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/books/bindery/) [Publishing](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/publishing/) [Team](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/team/) [Contact](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/contact/) Log in or Sign up Tender Is the Flesh Agustina Bazterrica Sarah Moses Save to Your Books [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/87137/9781982150921) [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1982150920?tag=a3afb18a) 100% of affiliate revenue supports Left Unread Books **Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans—though no one calls them that anymore.** His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the “Transition.” Now, eating human meat—“special meat”—is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing. Then one day he’s given a gift: a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he’s aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost—and what might still be saved. Show more Get the Bindery app * * * Posts about this title from Left Unread Books [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Jul 9](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [Tender is the Flesh: It's time to face the truth](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/9rrfm9z6AyNpbIvJC8cH/) * * * 1 book 3 [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Jun 22](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [Tender is the Flesh: How Can I Be Complicit When I'm Afraid?](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/xhpYu5IUxfu2SzAtWAzZ/) * * * 1 book 5 [3](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/xhpYu5IUxfu2SzAtWAzZ/#comments) [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • May 26](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [Are you really an abolitionist? Be honest.](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/5j1IOPTs1U8PSoHN8hp4/) * * * 3 books 14 [1](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/5j1IOPTs1U8PSoHN8hp4/#comments) [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Apr 30](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [Publishing Updates](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/SclFP2ZLfp2tVZqBP0fg/) * * * 5 books 7 [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Feb 23](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [Ok, I have a little more to say! You ready?](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/KpVY3K9u0bc7DYW1D8Q3/) * * * 1 book 12 [3](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/KpVY3K9u0bc7DYW1D8Q3/#comments) [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Apr 19 2025](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [Deconstructing Whiteness in Literature](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/iayHIg7cwDhstLlV6TZs/) Let's talk about writing white stories. "Explore your own identity with the same bravery and meticulous care you think we're asking you to use while exploring ours. The good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly." * * * 3 books 18 [3](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/iayHIg7cwDhstLlV6TZs/#comments) [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Apr 6 2025](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [Authors, I want to publish your books!](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/HQuWSvocryPv1XnKondb/) Pitchfest starts in three days and I am VERY determined to find our next publication! So, to help you help us both, here is a detailed look at exactly what I'm looking for. * * * 18 books 9 [1](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/HQuWSvocryPv1XnKondb/#comments) [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Mar 24 2025](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [Authors: It is Pitchfest time! Bring me your books!](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/GWM4G7IFhhiOKhMshevz/) There is another Pitchfest quickly approaching and I want to make sure you have all of the information you need to participate! So authors, check this out for a list of the type of manuscripts I am looking for! And good luck everyone!!! * * * 24 books 9 [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Jan 6 2025](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [Writing From The Human Experience](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/6O8erA7V4dPsCyiYsOP8/) Witnessing violence, while eye-opening, is not enough to really incentivize people to pursue change. They also have to see the humanity of the people experiencing that violence. And that needs to be reflected in our writing. * * * 17 books 16 [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Nov 26 2024](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [How white authors are ruining dystopian literature](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/SU2NZHVsZarqvDY2JErn/) I am being criticized again for asking white authors not to erase Black people in their stories. So... let's talk about it. What is the point of dystopian literature and how are white authors failing us all? * * * 13 books 33 [5](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/SU2NZHVsZarqvDY2JErn/#comments) [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Nov 9 2024](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [Book bans are on the rise. And if there is one thing we can count on, it is that a Trump presidency will only make America's problems worse. Everything we know about Project 2025 and their plans for education, race and gender studies, and the continued suppression of any progressive thinking, we can pretty comfortably guess that book banning is going to be on the rise.\\ \\ And this isn't shocking. Literature/art always plays a part in a people's liberation. Always.\\ \\ Obviously our hope is that our worst fears won't be realized. But in the now, we need to buckle up under the assumption that they will be. So here are some of the books I think you should get onto your shelf now. I have a list of fiction books that will help you to wrestle with the world as we know it and to dream about what it can be, and a list of non-fiction that will give you practical and actionable ideas about how to prepare to fight for a better world.\\ \\ **FICTION**\\ \\ **Parable of the Sower:** When global climate change and economic crises lead to social chaos in the early 2020s, California becomes full of dangers, from pervasive water shortage to masses of vagabonds who will do anything to live to see another day. Fifteen-year-old Lauren Olamina lives inside a gated community with her preacher father, family, and neighbors, sheltered from the surrounding anarchy. In a society where any vulnerability is a risk, she suffers from hyperempathy, a debilitating sensitivity to others' emotions. Precocious and clear-eyed, Lauren must make her voice heard in order to protect her loved ones from the imminent disasters her small community stubbornly ignores. But what begins as a fight for survival soon leads to something much more: the birth of a new faith . . . and a startling vision of human destiny.\\ \*\*Parable of the Talents: \*\*In 2032, Lauren Olamina has survived the destruction of her home and family, and realized her vision of a peaceful community in northern California based on her newly founded faith, Earthseed. The fledgling community provides refuge for outcasts facing persecution after the election of an ultra-conservative president who vows to "make America great again." In an increasingly divided and dangerous nation, Lauren's subversive colony--a minority religious faction led by a young black woman--becomes a target for President Jarret's reign of terror and oppression. Years later, Asha Vere reads the journals of a mother she never knew, Lauren Olamina. As she searches for answers about her own past, she also struggles to reconcile with the legacy of a mother caught between her duty to her chosen family and her calling to lead humankind into a better future.\\ \*\*Kindred: \*\*Dana’s torment begins when she suddenly vanishes on her 26th birthday from California, 1976, and is dragged through time to antebellum Maryland to rescue a boy named Rufus, heir to a slaveowner’s plantation. She soon realizes the purpose of her summons to the past: protect Rufus to ensure his assault of her Black ancestor so that she may one day be born. As she endures the traumas of slavery and the soul-crushing normalization of savagery, Dana fights to keep her autonomy and return to the present.\\ \\ **Tender is the Flesh:** His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the “Transition.” Now, eating human meat—“special meat”—is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing. Then one day he’s given a gift: a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he’s aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost—and what might still be saved.\\ \*\*Fledgling: \*\*Octavia E. Butler's final novel is the story of an apparently young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly unhuman needs and abilities lead her to a startling conclusion: She is in fact a genetically modified, 53-year-old vampire. Forced to discover what she can about her stolen former life, she must at the same time learn who wanted—and still wants—to destroy her and those she cares for, and how she can save herself.\\ \\ **Broken Earth Trilogy:** A season of endings has begun. It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester. This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy.\\ \\ **NON-FICTION**\\ \\ **Let This Radicalize You:** Longtime organizers and movement educators Mariame Kaba and Kelly Hayes examine some of the political lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the convergence of mass protest and mass formations of mutual aid, and consider what this confluence of power can teach us about a future that will require mass acts of care, rescue and defense, in the face of both state violence and environmental disaster.\\ \*\*We Grow the World Together: \*\*In We Grow the World Together, abolitionists and organizers Maya Schenwar and Kim Wilson bring together a remarkable collection of voices revealing the complex tapestry of ways people are living abolition in their daily lives through parenting and caregiving. Ranging from personal narratives to policy-focused analysis to activist chronicles, these writers highlight how abolition is essential to any kind of parenting justice.\\ \*\*Defund: \*\*A collection of illuminating interviews with leading abolitionist organizers and thinkers, reflecting on the uprisings of summer 2020, the rise of #defund, and the work ahead of bridging the divide between reform and abolition.\\ \\ **Unbuild Walls:** Unbuild Walls dives into US immigration policy and its relationship to mass incarceration, from the last forty years up to the present, showing how the prison-industrial complex and immigration enforcement are intertwined systems of repression. Incorporating historical and legal analyses, Shah’s personal experience as an organizer, as well as stories of people, campaigns, organizations, and localities that have resisted detention and deportation, Shah assesses the movement’s strategies, challenges, successes, and shortcomings. Featuring a foreword by Amna A. Akbar, Unbuild Walls is an expansive and radical intervention, bridging the gaps between movements for immigrant rights, racial justice, and prison abolition.\\ \*\*Freedom is a Constant Struggle: \*\*Reflecting on the importance of black feminism, intersectionality, and prison abolitionism, Davis discusses the legacies of previous liberation struggles, from the Black Freedom Movement to the South African anti-Apartheid movement. She highlights connections and analyzes today’s struggles against state terror, from Ferguson to Palestine.\\ \*\*The Will to Change: \*\*Everyone needs to love and be loved—including men. But to know love, men must be able to look at the ways in which patriarchal culture keeps them from understanding themselves. In The Will to Change, bell hooks provides a compassionate guide for men of all ages and identities to understand how to be in touch with their feelings, and how to express versus repress the emotions that are a fundamental part of who we are.\\ \\ **Hope in the Dark:** Hope in the Dark was written to counter the despair of radicals at a moment when they were focused on their losses and had turned their back to the victories behind them and the unimaginable changes soon to come. In it, she makes a radical case for hope as a commitment to act in a world whose future remains uncertain and unknowable.\\ \\ **They Were her Property:** Bridging women's history, the history of the South, and African American history, this book makes a bold argument about the role of white women in American slavery. Historian Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers draws on a variety of sources to show that slave‑owning women were sophisticated economic actors who directly engaged in and benefited from the South's slave market. Because women typically inherited more slaves than land, enslaved people were often their primary source of wealth. Not only did white women often refuse to cede ownership of their slaves to their husbands, they employed management techniques that were as effective and brutal as those used by slave‑owning men. White women actively participated in the slave market, profited from it, and used it for economic and social empowerment. By examining the economically entangled lives of enslaved people and slave‑owning women, Jones-Rogers presents a narrative that forces us to rethink the economics and social conventions of slaveholding America.\\ \\ **Hood Feminism:** Today's feminist movement has a glaring blind spot, and paradoxically, it is women. Mainstream feminists rarely talk about meeting basic needs as a feminist issue, argues Mikki Kendall, but food insecurity, access to quality education, safe neighborhoods, a living wage, and medical care are all feminist issues. All too often, however, the focus is not on basic survival for the many, but on increasing privilege for the few. That feminists refuse to prioritize these issues has only exacerbated the age-old problem of both internecine discord and women who rebuff at carrying the title. Moreover, prominent white feminists broadly suffer from their own myopia with regard to how things like race, class, sexual orientation, and ability intersect with gender. How can we stand in solidarity as a movement, Kendall asks, when there is the distinct likelihood that some women are oppressing others?\\ \\ - **If you are accessing this list from somewhere other than Bindery, please also support our efforts to educate and bring change by subscribing. You can do so for free, or by subscribing at a paid tier to help fund our own publishing efforts.**\\ - **If you are already a part of our community, consider upgrading to at least the $5 so that you can take part in the publishing process of more Black and brown books. As you know, our paid subscribers help to fund our publishing efforts and take a more active role in bringing those books to life.**\\ \\ ​](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/iXHFzCEOnmLlJUjqzusK/) [Books you should buy while you still can](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/iXHFzCEOnmLlJUjqzusK/) We are all concerned that with a second Trump presidency, we are going to be facing a massive rise in book bans. So I have put together a list of books that I think everyone should read in light of the fights ahead of us. Check them out and grab whatever you think will benefit you! * * * 16 books 20 [5](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/iXHFzCEOnmLlJUjqzusK/#comments) [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Oct 24 2024](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [The five most disturbing books I read this year!](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/3pwWwOuFl3d7uv9Q67wt/) I don't know about you, but I have a habit of falling in love with the most disturbing books. And even more troubling... I have made a habit of making sure everyone in my life has read them! So here are the five most disturbing books I read in 2024. * * * 7 books 2 [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Feb 14 2024](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [Do we read too much into books?](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/ZH05EM9WXjaAGB4dfi7L/) Replying to @kale #booktok #blackbooktok #readwithmichael #writewithmichael #readingispolitical #writingispolitical #bipocauthors #tenderistheflesh * * * 1 book [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Feb 14 2024](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [Hopelessness is the point!](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/lAOxUL2GTdWfwLNVB9Ol/) Replying to @sarah #booktok #blackbooktok #readwithmichael #writewithmichael #readingispolitical #writingispolitical #bipocauthors #tenderistheflesh * * * 1 book [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Feb 13 2024](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [The real point of Tender is the Flesh](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/DtOBEdoePKfBB90ynEaY/) #booktok #blackbooktok #readwithmichael #writewithmichael #readingispolitical #writingispolitical #bipocauthors #tenderistheflesh * * * 1 book [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Dec 18 2023](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [Black and brown dystopian recommendations](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/fsuFkA4JW3ZtsnDnSxsu/) #BookTok #blackbooktok #bipocauthors #readwithmichael #writewithmichael #octaviabutler #brokenearth #marrowthieves * * * 8 books Posts about this book from across Bindery [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Jul 9](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) \\ \\ Upgrade for $12 or login](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/9rrfm9z6AyNpbIvJC8cH/) [Tender is the Flesh: It's time to face the truth](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/9rrfm9z6AyNpbIvJC8cH/) * * * 1 book 3 [Books Right Now\\ \\ Rashi Dembi\\ \\ • Jun 28](https://booksrightnow.binderybooks.com/) Join for free [There's something very satisfying about spending the summer reading horror! Here are the books that I recommend for your Summerween reading list!\\ \\ 1) The Blood Year Daughter by G.G. Silverman - In G.G. Silverman’s debut fairytale-horror collection The Blood Year Daughter, a woman builds husbands out of gravel and slaughterhouse feathers, two sisters eat cinnamon-scented pieces of their mother, and a charming doctor’s murdered brides whisper warnings to his newest wife.\\ \\ 2) Kill Your Darlings by Yuvashri Harish - A fun, fast-paced YA horror about a teen girl facing the horrors of misogyny, racism, an evil witch, and her horde of monsters.\\ \\ 3) We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer - A haunting debut about two homeowners whose lives are turned upside down when the house’s previous residents unexpectedly visit.\\ \\ 4) Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica - Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans—though no one calls them that anymore.\\ \\ 5) What Feeds Below by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne - The darkness isn’t empty. It’s hungry. At the edge of the City of the Void, a massive chasm extends miles into the earth, its treacherous terrain overrun with vicious monsters and carnivorous plants. For orphaned best friends Petra and Jade, guiding treasure-seeking tourists down into the Void is the only way to earn enough to pull themselves up out of the slums for good.\\ \\ 6) Come Closer by Sara Gran - The new voice in Amanda's head, the one that tells her to steal things and talk to strange men in bars, is strange and frightening, and Amanda struggles to wrest back control of her life. Is she possessed by a demon, or is she simply insane?](https://booksrightnow.binderybooks.com/item/LHDngdmY0PUV7iLalxuQ/) [Summerween Book Recs ✨](https://booksrightnow.binderybooks.com/item/LHDngdmY0PUV7iLalxuQ/) * * * 6 books 3 [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Jun 22](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) \\ \\ Upgrade for $12 or login](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/xhpYu5IUxfu2SzAtWAzZ/) [Tender is the Flesh: How Can I Be Complicit When I'm Afraid?](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/xhpYu5IUxfu2SzAtWAzZ/) * * * 1 book 5 [3](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/xhpYu5IUxfu2SzAtWAzZ/#comments) [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • May 26](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [Are you really an abolitionist? Be honest.](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/5j1IOPTs1U8PSoHN8hp4/) * * * 3 books 14 [1](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/5j1IOPTs1U8PSoHN8hp4/#comments) [Wild Card Reads\\ \\ Samia (bookaroundandfindout)\\ \\ • May 4](https://thebookaroundlounge.binderybooks.com/) Join for free [Do you wanna read more diverse authors ? I got all the recs for you - check out these books in all d](https://thebookaroundlounge.binderybooks.com/item/kRYfHukGVpNYqsG65tbs/) Do you wanna read more diverse authors ? I got all the recs for you - check out these books in all different types of genres to dive into authors who deserve to be highlighted! #bipoc #bipocbookstagram #bookrecs #diversereads #explore * * * 8 books 1 [2](https://thebookaroundlounge.binderybooks.com/item/kRYfHukGVpNYqsG65tbs/#comments) [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Apr 30](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) \\ \\ Upgrade for $5 or login](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/SclFP2ZLfp2tVZqBP0fg/) [Publishing Updates](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/SclFP2ZLfp2tVZqBP0fg/) * * * 5 books 7 [Rachel Skye Reads\\ \\ Rachel\\ \\ • Apr 4](https://rachelskyereads.binderybooks.com/) Join for free [A book rec list for my hair stylist who likes queer feminist books that suck you in.](https://rachelskyereads.binderybooks.com/item/zpy7QVuKxUGbcnKn6LSX/) [Recs for Kristin](https://rachelskyereads.binderybooks.com/item/zpy7QVuKxUGbcnKn6LSX/) * * * 7 books 4 [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Feb 23](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [Ok, I have a little more to say! You ready?](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/KpVY3K9u0bc7DYW1D8Q3/) * * * 1 book 12 [3](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/KpVY3K9u0bc7DYW1D8Q3/#comments) [Kurryreads\\ \\ Kerry\\ \\ • Sep 15 2025](https://kurryreads.binderybooks.com/) Join for free [Hispanic Heritage Month - Thriller, Mystery, & Horror Book Recommendations](https://kurryreads.binderybooks.com/item/IYzjSul4HT6OcjfdQvaL/) Hispanic Heritage Month Thriller Mystery & Horror Book Recommendations 📚📖 #hispanicauthors #latinxauthors #horrorbooks #thrillerbooks #booktok * * * 24 books 1 [Boneyard Picnic\\ \\ Natalie Meagan\\ \\ • Aug 17 2025](https://boneyardpicnic.binderybooks.com/) Join for free \\ \\ Upgrade for $5 or login](https://boneyardpicnic.binderybooks.com/item/9jBJDAG2n0He6QfoIaAX/) [Book Bag \| Books I Can't Stop Thinking About](https://boneyardpicnic.binderybooks.com/item/9jBJDAG2n0He6QfoIaAX/) Let's talk about the books that once I finished them, they decided they weren't finished with me. * * * 15 books 3 [1](https://boneyardpicnic.binderybooks.com/item/9jBJDAG2n0He6QfoIaAX/#comments) [Sunny's Book Truck\\ \\ CJ\\ \\ • Aug 15 2025](https://sunnysbooktruck.binderybooks.com/) Join for free [Poll:\\ \\ Are any of these on your TBR?\\ \\ Hi nerds,\\ \\ Last night we held our second installment of the Sunny's Salon—a monthly addition to our event programming that is like a book club with no assigned reading. We kicked off the night by doing a 15 minute reading sprint with some lofi music playing in the background and then went into a larger discussion centered around or Last, Now, and Next. It was so fun hearing about what people were reading or had on their radar (weirdly three people wanted to read Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh next) and seeing where reading taste overlapped and differed. Below you will find 50 (!) book recommendations gathered from the Yuma community.\\ \\ \\ \\ - **_Endling_:** Set in Ukraine, an eccentric scientist breeding rare snails crosses paths with sisters posing as members of the marriage industry to find their activist mother. As Russia invades, they embark on a wild journey with kidnapped bachelors and a last-of-its-kind snail. This darkly comic novel explores survival, love, and hope in times of encroaching darkness.\\ \\ - **_Hot Girls with Balls_:** In this outrageous and deeply serious satire, two star indoor volleyball players juggle unspoken jealousies in their off-court romance ahead of their rival teams’ first rematch in a year.\\ \\ - **_Mayra:_** An eerie, hypnotic debut about friendship, desire, and memory set against the sultry backdrop of Florida’s swamplands.\\ \\ - **_Empire of Pain_:** A grand, devastating portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium and whose reputation was destroyed by OxyContin.\\ \\ - **_Say Hello to my Little Friend:_** _Scarface_ meets _Moby Dick_ in _Say Hello to My Little Friend_ following a young man’s attempt to capitalize on his mother’s murky legacy—a story steeped in Miami’s marvelous and sinister magic.\\ \\ - **_I'll Make a Spectacle of You:_** This heart-pounding horror debut from Beatrice Winifred Iker takes listeners to Bricksbury University, the oldest and most storied HBCUs in the nation. But as one student is about to find out, a long history comes with a legacy of secrets.\\ \\ \\ \\ \\ - **_Before Elvis:_** In this thought-provoking book, the Black musicians who influenced Elvis Presley's music finally receive recognition and praise.\\ \\ - **_Nineteen Minutes:_** Jodi Picoult pens her most riveting book yet, with a startling and poignant story about the devastating aftermath of a small-town tragedy.\\ \\ - **_Pageboy_:** With this evocative and lyrical debut, Oscar-nominated star Elliot Page captures the universal human experience of searching for ourselves and our place in this complicated world.\\ \\ - **_Follow My Voice:_** This spellbinding #BookTok sensation from internationally bestselling author Ariana Godoy follows a nineteen-year-old battling agoraphobia as she forms an unexpected connection with the host of her favorite college radio show.\\ \\ - **_Wild Love_:** She's been driving him wild for years. The good kind of wild. The bad kind of wild. But mostly, the kind of wild that comes with wanting your best friend's little sister and knowing you can't have her.\\ \\ - **_The Possession of Alba Díaz:_** When a demonic presence awakens deep in a Mexican silver mine, the young woman it seizes must turn to the one man she shouldn’t trust…from bestselling author Isabel Cañas.\\ \\ \\ \\ \\ - **_The Colossus of New York_:** Here is a literary love song that will entrance anyone who has lived in—or spent time—in the greatest of American cities.\\ \\ - **_Is Mother Dead_:** A cat and mouse game of surveillance and psychological torment develops between a middleaged artist and her aging mother.\\ \\ - **_The Metamorphosis:_** This is not just a novel about physical transformation but also a deep reflection on alienation and loneliness.\\ \\ - **_Time and Time Again:_** In this debut YA speculative romance perfect for fans of Rachael Lippincott, two queer, disabled, Jewish teens find themselves stuck in a time loop--and falling love.\\ \\ - **_The Fellowship of the Ring:_** One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.\\ \\ - **_The Library at Hellebore:_** A deeply dark academia novel from _USA Today_ bestselling author Cassandra Khaw, perfect for fans of _A Deadly Education_ and _An Education in Malice_ who are hungry for something more diabolical.\\ \\ \\ \\ \\ - **_A Resistance of Witches:_** As World War II rages around her, a witch abandoned by her coven must journey to find a book of unspeakable power before it lands in Nazi hands.\\ \\ - **_Ruthless Vows:_** The epic conclusion to the intensely romantic and beautifully written story that started in _Divine Rivals_.\\ \\ - **_Tender is the Flesh:_** Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans - though no one calls them that anymore.\\ \\ - **_Our Share of Night:_** A woman’s mysterious death puts her husband and son on a collision course with her demonic family.\\ \\ - **_Heart of Darkness:_** The story is narrated by Charles Marlow, recalling his obsessive quest to locate the ivory trader Kurtz, who has become ensconced deep in the jungle managing a remote outpost. As he ventures further and further down the Congo, Marlow finds himself and his surroundings become increasingly untethered.\\ \\ - **_Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed:_** A "harrowing, incendiary" exposé of the real Kennedy Curse—the family’s generations-long legacy of misogyny, murder, and mayhem.\\ \\ \\ \\ \\ - **_The Summer I Turned Pretty:_** As the summer seasons pass, Belly has to choose between two brothers who love her…and she’ll have to break one of their hearts.\\ \\ - **_Releasing 10:_** A devastatingly raw, achingly beautiful love story that will rip your heart out and patch it back together.\\ \\ - **_Tropic of Orange:_** Irreverently juggling magical realism, film noir, hip hop, and chicanismo, _Tropic of Orange_ takes place in a Los Angeles where the homeless, gangsters, infant organ entrepreneurs, and Hollywood collide on a stretch of the Harbor Freeway.\\ \\ - **_Atmosphere:_** An epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s space shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.\\ \\ - **_Starving Saints:_** A transfixing fever dream of medieval horror following three women in a besieged castle that descends ravenously into madness under the spell of mysterious, godlike visitors.\\ \\ - **_Black Salt Queen:_** Filled with passion, romance, betrayal, and divine magic, _Black Salt Queen_ journeys to a gorgeous precolonial island nation where women—and secrets—reign.\\ \\ \\ \\ \\ - **_American Scare:_** A vital exposé for both our history and our present day, _American Scare_ tells the riveting story of how the Florida government destroyed the lives of Black and queer citizens in the twentieth century.\\ \\ - **_Can't Get Enough:_** Hendrix Barry lives a fabulous life. She has phenomenal friends, a loving family, and a thriving business that places her in the entertainment industry's rarefied air. Your vision board? She’s probably living it.\\ \\ - **_Ship Fever:_** The elegant short fictions gathered hereabout the love of science and the science of love are often set against the backdrop of the nineteenth century.\\ \\ - **_Lapvona:_** In a village buffeted by natural disasters, a motherless shepherd boy finds himself part of a power struggle that puts the community’s faith to a savage test.\\ \\ - **_Smothermoss:_** A haunting, imaginative, and twisting tale of two sisters and the menacing, unexplained forces that threaten them and their rural mountain community.\\ \\ - **_Everything is Tuberculosis:_** A deeply human story illuminating the fight against the world’s deadliest infectious disease.\\ \\ \\ \\ \\ - **_City of Quartz:_** In _City of Quartz_, Davis reconstructs L.A.’s shadow history and dissects its ethereal economy.\\ \\ - **_The Coin:_** A bold and unabashed novel about a young Palestinian woman's unraveling as she teaches at a New York City middle school, gets caught up in a scheme reselling Birkin bags, and strives to gain control over her body and mind.\\ \\ - **_How to Read a Book:_** A heartfelt, uplifting novel about a chance encounter at a bookstore, exploring redemption, unlikely friendships, and the life-changing power of sharing stories.\\ \\ - **_Razorblade Tears:_** A Black father. A white father. Two murdered sons. A quest for vengeance.\\ \\ - **_All the Dangerous Things:_** A totally gripping thriller about a desperate mother with a troubled past.\\ \\ - **_Lock Every Door:_** A young woman whose new job apartment sitting in one of New York’s oldest and most glamorous buildings may cost more than it pays.\\ \\ \\ \\ \\ - **_Compound Fracture:_** A queer Appalachian thriller that pulls no punches—following a trans autistic teen who's drawn into the generational struggle between the rural poor and those who exploit them.\\ \\ - **_This is Me Trying:_** Inevitably drawn back together by circumstance and history, Beatriz and Santiago navigate grief, love, mental illness, forgiveness, and what it means to try to build a future after unfathomable loss.\\ \\ - **_You Weren't Meant to be Human:_** _Alien_ meets _Midsommar_ in this chilling debut adult novel from award-winning author Andrew Joseph White about identity, survival, and transformation amidst an alien invasion in rural West Virginia.\\ \\ - **_Bright Young Women:_** Don’t miss this “breakneck thriller” that examines “our culture’s obsession with serial killers and true crime” ( _Harper’s Bazaar_) as it follows two women on the pursuit of justice against all odds.\\ \\ - **_The Changeling:_** With a new introduction by Karen Russell, the 40th anniversary edition of _The Changeling_ is a visionary fairy tale and a work of mythic genius by one of our best writers.\\ \\ - **_Choke:_** Victor Mancini, a medical-school dropout, is an antihero for our deranged times.](https://sunnysbooktruck.binderybooks.com/item/P7WfIPf3S2q1NS4tNJ2v/) [What Sunny's Customers Are Reading](https://sunnysbooktruck.binderybooks.com/item/P7WfIPf3S2q1NS4tNJ2v/) What we're reading in Yuma * * * 12 books 5 [Kurryreads\\ \\ Kerry\\ \\ • Aug 14 2025](https://kurryreads.binderybooks.com/) Join for free [Ultimate Guide to Spooky Season Reading v2](https://kurryreads.binderybooks.com/item/8tHZjNYAvQi0eW9n04Qv/) Replying to @Kerry \| Booktok 📖 Ultimate Guide to Spooky Season Reading - Version 2 📚👻🔪 Timestamps: 00:28 Stranger Than Fiction 00:39 Witchy 00:47 Creature Feature 1:03 Dark Past-Potentially Paranormal 1:14 Possession 1:19 Slashers 1:32 Haunted House 1:42 Eco Horror/Plant Horror 1:48 Supernatural 1:57 Demonic/Occult 2:06 Cosmic 2:13 Folklore 2:26 Speculative 2:35 Young Adult 2:46 Paranormal 2:55 Psychological 3:03 Crime 3:13 Historical Fiction 3:29 Cult 3:43 Vampires 3:51 Weird Girl/Feminine Rage 4:00 Sci-Fi 4:08 Cannibalism #guidetospookyseasonreading #spookyreads #horrorbooks #cultbooks #paranormalbooks #hauntedhousebooks #possessionbooks #creaturefeature #booktok #booktoker #bookrecommendations #whattoread #vampirebooks #speculativehorror #youngadulthorror #folklorebooks #ecohorrorbooks #scifihorrorbooks #slasherbooks #scarybooks * * * 55 books 2 [Boneyard Picnic\\ \\ Natalie Meagan\\ \\ • Aug 13 2025](https://boneyardpicnic.binderybooks.com/) Join for free \\ \\ Upgrade for $5 or login](https://boneyardpicnic.binderybooks.com/item/O9s9UMOkXKGrn1IXzuQR/) [Book Bag \| Extreme Horror](https://boneyardpicnic.binderybooks.com/item/O9s9UMOkXKGrn1IXzuQR/) Ok, on this installment of my book bag series, we are talking extreme horror that I "enjoyed" and stayed with me long after finishing the final page. * * * 6 books 4 [Madisoncanread\\ \\ Madison\\ \\ • Aug 8 2025](https://madisoncanread.binderybooks.com/) Join for free [And Then I Woke Up - A different take on a zombie apocalypse. Had my staring at the wall when I finished\\ \\ Wake Up and Open Your Eyes - The Great Reawakening is coming and your far right family members are not safe\\ \\ Birdbox - An invisible monster is causing people to take their lives in horrific ways. The stress this book put me through\\ \\ The Memory Police - Little by little things begin to disappear. Most of the population forgets these things existed, but some remember. The memory police, make those that remember disappear as well. This is slow moving and quietly horrific.\\ \\ Pink Slime - A plague is taking over, and one woman and the boy she baby sits refuse to leave this city.\\ \\ Dungeon Crawler Carl - "The apocalypse will now be televised" is an pretty accurate description\\ \\ The Unworthy - Violent end of the world cult gets disrupted by a new member\\ \\ Tender Is The Flesh - Virus makes animal meat poisonous for human consumption, resulting in legalized cannibalism\\ \\ **ON MY TBR**\\ \\ Over Growth\\ \\ The Girl With All The Gifts\\ \\ Severance](https://madisoncanread.binderybooks.com/item/f4DCLr3JvtIVuo4s7mLN/) [The End Is Near - Book Recs](https://madisoncanread.binderybooks.com/item/f4DCLr3JvtIVuo4s7mLN/) * * * 8 books [Madisoncanread\\ \\ Madison\\ \\ • May 23 2025](https://madisoncanread.binderybooks.com/) Join for free [To get to know my taste, these are 10 of my favorite books of all time. You may notice that most of these have been published within the last few years and honestly? My taste has evolved so much since joining the bookish social media world. I feel like I've truly found my people and it's been such an amazing journey to finally get here. In no order, I'd short circuit trying to rank these.\\ \\ \\ \\ 01. **Long Way Down - Jason Reynolds**: There is no other book where I got to the end and turned back to page 1 to experience the book again. _15 year old Will is out for revenge after his brother, Shawn has been murdered. This story takes place on an elevator and at each floor he gets visits from different people in his life trying to convince him not to do it_. This story takes you through a range of emotions, and I think this is one of the most important and impactful stories I've ever read.\\ \\ 02. **Nightbitch - Rachel Yoder:** What I think is the most important book that I read at the perfect time in my life. It was a few months after the fog of postpartum depression lifted. I read this and something clicked for me and it's one of those that changes your brain chemistry. _A stay at home mom who's lost all identity to motherhood and thinks she might be turning into a dog._ There's a certain scene that actually changed my parenting style and I implement it to this day. (Without spoiling, it's the park scene when she and her son start running like dogs IYKYK. It's my favorite scene, I was bummed that it was so short lived in the movie.)\\ \\ 03. **Tender Is The Flesh - Agustina Bazterrica:** I get 1 of 2 comments whenever I mention how much I love this book and it's either "How could you possibly enjoy something so disturbing?" or "That book isn't disturbing at all" - This book for me, shows the real depravity of humans and it has nothing to do with the "forbidden meat" of it all. The symbolism of this topic in fiction has been talked to death so I won't but I think it's just how far we will take said depravity that makes this so disturbing for me. The ending of course leave a lasting impact too.\\ \\ 04. **Confessions - Kanae Minato:** Every single thing this author does means something, which makes her such a powerful author. The chapters are long but this is one to take your time with, anyway. _Middle school teacher takes revenge on 2 of her students who she believes took the life of her 4 year old._ The fact that this isn't a fast paced thriller just adds to the building dread of it all leaving the climax having you trying to find something to hold onto.\\ \\ 05. **Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn:** I am an Amy Dunne apologist. I read this 14 years ago and there hasn't been a day since, that I'm not thinking about the cool girl monologue.\\ \\ 06. **Mary: An Awakening of Terror - Nat Cassidy:** If a perfect horror novel exists, it's this one. _Mary is an unremarkable woman going through scary changes in her body, moves back to her small creepy town and then begins seeing horrifying ghosts._ Nat Cassidy is an author where you can just tell he puts everything into his novels. You see it in his forewords/afterwords and partly those are my favorite parts of his books. I think this is the book that solidified horror being my favorite genre. \\ \\ 07. **The Only Good Indians - Stephen Graham Jones:** The king of the most vivid, suffocating, atmospheric writing. It's not often that an author can write jump scares that work, but here we are. _4 Indigenous men go elk hunting in sacred ground and now something is coming after them for revenge._ A side note, I also just love listening to the author talk about horror. You can tell how much he cares.\\ \\ 08. **Alls Well - Mona Awad:** My queen of weird literary horror. _Theatre director suffering with chronic pain, has a strange night with 3 individuals and starts getting whatever she wants and takes out her revenge._\\ \\ 09. **Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman:** I know this one doesn't seem like it would fit here but Eleanor showed me my favorite type of main character (Mary and Strange Sally Diamond as well)\\ \\ 10. **The Lamb - Lucy Rose:** It feels wrong to include a book that came out in 2025 but I couldn't leave it out. _Margot and her mama live in a cabin in the woods where they consume certain people that knock on their door._ This book is brutal and completely devastating. It's shocking that this is a debut novel.](https://madisoncanread.binderybooks.com/item/kPHs1BhK1gBTbOSYS3ZY/) [GOD TIER BOOKS](https://madisoncanread.binderybooks.com/item/kPHs1BhK1gBTbOSYS3ZY/) * * * 10 books 2 [Madisoncanread\\ \\ Madison\\ \\ • May 22 2025](https://madisoncanread.binderybooks.com/) Join for free [My favorites shelf ♥️🙌🏻](https://madisoncanread.binderybooks.com/item/1O9BSi15qWcpw3HUYbNl/) My favorites shelf ♥️🙌🏻 #madisoncanread #horrorbooks #thrillerbooks #favoritebooks #bestbooks #toptierbooks #godtierbooks * * * 16 books [Boneyard Picnic\\ \\ Natalie Meagan\\ \\ • Apr 28 2025](https://boneyardpicnic.binderybooks.com/) Join for free \\ \\ Upgrade for $5 or login](https://boneyardpicnic.binderybooks.com/item/XTkIzITQV84QWg2at6fD/) [Book Bag \| Gross Out Books](https://boneyardpicnic.binderybooks.com/item/XTkIzITQV84QWg2at6fD/) A few books that grossed me the heck out! * * * 6 books 4 [1](https://boneyardpicnic.binderybooks.com/item/XTkIzITQV84QWg2at6fD/#comments) [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Apr 19 2025](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [Deconstructing Whiteness in Literature](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/iayHIg7cwDhstLlV6TZs/) Let's talk about writing white stories. * * * 3 books 18 [3](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/iayHIg7cwDhstLlV6TZs/#comments) [Bookwyrm Ink\\ \\ Bookwyrm Ink\\ \\ • Apr 17 2025](https://azthiabookwyrm.binderybooks.com/) Join for free \\ \\ Join for free or login](https://azthiabookwyrm.binderybooks.com/item/F2igu8Q7FUW3tC9R4Xx4/) [Books that will make you rethink history and society. 🤔📚](https://azthiabookwyrm.binderybooks.com/item/F2igu8Q7FUW3tC9R4Xx4/) Books that will make you rethink history and society. 🤔📚 * * * 5 books 3 [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Apr 6 2025](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [Authors, I want to publish your books!](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/HQuWSvocryPv1XnKondb/) * * * 18 books 9 [1](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/HQuWSvocryPv1XnKondb/#comments) [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Mar 24 2025](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [Authors: It is Pitchfest time! Bring me your books!](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/GWM4G7IFhhiOKhMshevz/) * * * 24 books 9 [Boozhoo Books\\ \\ Naomi\\ \\ • Mar 16 2025](https://boozhoo.binderybooks.com/) Join for free [Hello Friends, \\ \\ I had a great chat earlier with fellow tastemakers about women in horror, our favorite reads and upcoming releases we are looking forward to (I tagged many of them in this post!)\\ \\ If you weren't able to make it, you can check it out on Youtube here\\ \\ Follow the other tastemakers on Bindery here:\\ \\ Aubrie\\ \\ Natalie\\ \\ Steph\\ \\ We had so much fun and hope to get together again soon! If you have any topics you'd love to hear us discuss, drop your suggestions below!\\ \\ **BOOKCLUB ANNOUNCEMENTS**\\ \\ As you know Women in Horror and Good Day To Read Indigenous (book clubs found on Discord here have their books picked out through May! \\ \\ Next week, I will be planing the reads for the remainder of the year. $12 and $25 subscribers get to nominate books, so look out for that post tomorrow!\\ \\ Quiet Time Book Club will meet tomorrow at 5pm PST/8pm EST on Zoom.](https://boozhoo.binderybooks.com/item/IguMEsnQYCKyqE0en6TP/) [RECORDING: Women In Horror Panel](https://boozhoo.binderybooks.com/item/IguMEsnQYCKyqE0en6TP/) YouTube link to Women in Horror Celebration, all of the (most of the) books discussed, info about our Discord bookclubs * * * 62 books 2 [Bookwyrm Ink\\ \\ Bookwyrm Ink\\ \\ • Jan 27 2025](https://azthiabookwyrm.binderybooks.com/) Join for free \\ \\ Join for free or login](https://azthiabookwyrm.binderybooks.com/item/170cVNIau8v9keKPdziH/) [Atlanta also had some great book options!!](https://azthiabookwyrm.binderybooks.com/item/170cVNIau8v9keKPdziH/) Atlanta also had some great book options!! I didn't buy anything beyond food though,😅 I officially couldn't carry more. * * * 6 books [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Jan 6 2025](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [Writing From The Human Experience](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/6O8erA7V4dPsCyiYsOP8/) * * * 17 books 16 [Neon Moons\\ \\ Keisha\\ \\ • Jan 2 2025](https://neon-moons.binderybooks.com/) Join for free [Favorite Books of 2024!!!](https://neon-moons.binderybooks.com/item/iMNur4UoeAcXqYfAISAC/) Don't look for a long, thought-out list. This is all the round-up I got today because it's hair day. I forgot 4 books, a textbook, and a lot of comics 😅 Happy New Year!!! * * * 21 books 3 [2](https://neon-moons.binderybooks.com/item/iMNur4UoeAcXqYfAISAC/#comments) [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Nov 26 2024](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [How white authors are ruining dystopian literature](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/SU2NZHVsZarqvDY2JErn/) * * * 13 books 33 [5](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/SU2NZHVsZarqvDY2JErn/#comments) [Trash Panda’s Universe\\ \\ Trash Panda Leon\\ \\ • Nov 20 2024](https://trashpandas.binderybooks.com/) Join for free [Tender is the Flesh Book Review](https://trashpandas.binderybooks.com/item/tqmC8rUakJbIihKlhHSy/) #tenderistheflesh * * * 1 book [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Nov 9 2024](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [Books you should buy while you still can](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/iXHFzCEOnmLlJUjqzusK/) * * * 16 books 20 [5](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/iXHFzCEOnmLlJUjqzusK/#comments) [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Oct 24 2024](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [The five most disturbing books I read this year!](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/3pwWwOuFl3d7uv9Q67wt/) * * * 7 books 2 [Left Unread Books\\ \\ Michael LaBorn\\ \\ • Feb 14 2024](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/) [Do we read too much into books?](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/ZH05EM9WXjaAGB4dfi7L/) Replying to @kale #booktok #blackbooktok #readwithmichael #writewithmichael #readingispolitical #writingispolitical #bipocauthors #tenderistheflesh * * * 1 book