The Renata Adler of Reading Newsletters (PBB#13)
Featuring coffee shop reads & favorite new releases
Welcome to Prettyboy Books! I’m glad you could join. I hope this newsletter exponentially increases your TBR and gives you something cool to suggest at your next book club meeting. I hope you’re reminded that reading is very cool and fun and it doesn’t always have to be super serious. I hope you find something to read that’s outside your literary comfort zone. And I really, truly, from the bottom of my heart, hope you order my book Goblin Mode. Thank you in advance :)
<3 McKayla
April’s Newsletter-Exclusive Mini Reading List
Coffee Shop AU: Cool books to read in a café
All of You Every Single One by Beatrice Hitchman
Wild Geese by Soula Emmanuel
Rosewater by Liv Little
Ghost Music by An Yu
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
March Reads
Follow me on Goodreads and Storygraph for more!
This Month’s Reads:
Endless Night by Agatha Christie - Recommend
The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie - Recommend
Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie - Recommend
The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft - Favorite
Towards Zero by Agatha Christie - Neutral
Fair Play by Tove Jansson, translated by Thomas Teal - Favorite
Mini Reviews
The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft - Favorite
This book is like if Milton’s Paradise Lost was funny and sexy and cool. The Extinction of Irena Rey has it all: dark academia vibes, cool mushroom facts, an eerie, primeval forest, a very cool narrative framing device, sex, a chandelier made of bones, cults, birds, hidden rooms, an ancient god in the form of a park ranger. I couldn’t put it down. Please read this book it’s such a good book.
Favorite March Book Covers
Favorite March Book Covers:
Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningham
Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon
The Observable Universe by Heather McCalden
Most Anticipated April Releases
April 2:
The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez: Literary icon Julia Alvarez returns with a luminescent novel about storytelling that reads like an instant classic.
Clear by Carys Davies: A stunning, exquisite novel from an award-winning writer about a minister dispatched to a remote island off of Scotland to "clear" the last remaining inhabitant, who has no intention of leaving.
We Loved It All by Lydia Millet: An incantatory, bewitching devotional to the vast and precious bestiary of the earth, it asks that we extend to other living beings the protection they deserve—the simple grace of continued existence.
Like Love by Maggie Nelson: A momentous, raucous collection of essays drawn from twenty years of Maggie Nelson's brilliant work.
A Good Happy Girl by Marissa Higgins: A poignant, surprising, and immersive read about a young professional woman pursuing an emotionally intense relationship with a married lesbian couple.
Habitations by Sheila Sundar: A young academic moves from India to the United States, where she navigates first love, a green card marriage, single motherhood, and more.
Village Weavers by Myriam J.A. Chancy: An extraordinary and enduring story of two families—forever joined by country, and by long-held secrets—and two girls with a bond that refuses to be broken.
April 23:
Funny Story by Emily Henry: A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.
April 30:
Real Americans by Rachel Khong: An exhilarating novel of American identity that spans three generations in one family and asks: What makes us who we are? And how inevitable are our futures?
A Magical Girl Retires by Seolyeon Park, translated by Anton Hur: A millennial turned magical girl must combat climate change and credit card debt in this delightful, witty, and wildly imaginative ode to magical girl manga.