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May 12th New Releases

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As the weather gets warmer, I can't wait to be reading next to a pool. Here are some new releases that come out this week that would be great candidates, wherever you are reading!

Make Me Better by Sarah Gailey
Why it interests me: I'm always down for a new book from Sarah Gailey, especially the weird girl ones. This one seems culty? My preorder is in the mail!

We Dance Upon Demons by Vaishnavi Patel
Why it interests me: contemporary fantasy speaking to reproductive justice.

The Bone Door by Frances White
Why it interests me: It's supposed to be queer and fat positive. It's fantasy but leans horror, so I did decide to put it on hold at my library, though fantasy hasn't been appealing lately.

Coyoteland by Vanessa Hua
Why it interests me: Contemporary fiction exploring hypocrisy in upper class progressive culture.

Electric Shamans at the Festival of the Sun by Monica Ojeda
Why it interests me: Set in the near future at a pseudo-spiritual festival.

A Siege of Owls by Uchenna Awoke
Why it interests me: clifi with magical realism set in rural West Africa.

June Book Club: An Arcane Inheritance by Kamilah Cole, Week 1

I'm excited to discuss a new book with you all: An Arcane Inheritance by Kamilah Cole. This book is in one of my all-time favorite sub-genres: dark academia. I'm a big nerd and I love to read out school (especially in my own free time when I have no such deadlines or stress on myself).

Here is my schedule for discussion:

So, now on to my thoughts on the first section. I'm so glad that the section (that I had sectioned out on length) ends with the scene in the bookstore, because that scene is the one I best remember from my first read back in January. While we get a hint of the unknown creepiness that lurks in the tattoo in the mirror scene, it was when the backwards E pops back up that I knew we were in for a fun secret.

As this is my 2nd read, I am definitely reading with new eyes (but no spoilers from me for later sections!). On my first read, I remember having some issues with this section that do get cleared up satisfactorily later. So if you're on the fence, I'd recommend keep going.

A couple of themes that stood out to me:

Classism/privilege

While both classism and racism are prominent in this book, I do think it's helpful to address them separately. The classism discussion specifically seems to be around privilege: and how when we have privilege, we are often ignorant to the advantage we have. Ellory sees this a lot in her classmates who assume she has the same background as them, and when they discover otherwise, see the difference as a burden (scholarship students? ewww).

Racism/tokenism

It is not shocking to any of us that Ellory would encounter racism at such an institution. But there were two specific instances that occur in this first section of the book that I think highlight a nuanced approach and can be particularly enlightening, especially to us white folk.