A Collection of Short Stories Centered on Indigenous Life
When spring rolls around here in the South, my mind immediately goes to short stories. I love being able to dip in and out of a collection. One of my most anticipated collections of the season is Waiting for the Long Night Moon.
Waiting for the Long Night Moon by Amanda Peters
Amanda Peters came onto the scene with her debut novel, The Berry Pickers, which won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence and the 2023 Barnes & Noble Discover Prize. Readers from around the world fell in love with her writing, so of course, we have all been highly anticipating her next book, Waiting for the Long Night Moon.
Peters is of Mi’kmaq descent, and these stories mostly center the familial connections between Indigenous communities. Many of the stories are ruminating on themes around grief—the loss of family, culture, community—but they each approach the idea from different perspectives. The stories never feel thematically repetitive or overdone. The stories dovetail well together, creating such a fulfilling reading experience.
As a couple of highlights, in the first story, “Tiny Birds and Terrorists,” a woman goes into the woods with her grandfather as she’s grieving the loss of her baby daughter. She feels adrift, but spending time with her grandfather helps ground her again. She then joins a group of activists fighting for clean water and finds healing with other Indigenous water protectors.
“Three Billion Heartbeats” follows a young woman trying to navigate the city after moving there for college. Before long, she’s trapped by a violent relationship. Without going into spoilers, this story highlights the murdered and missing Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit (MMIW) crisis.
For audiobook fans, the audiobook is beautifully performed by Megan Tooley and Ussani Taylor. Tooley performs her selection of stories with such attention to the characters and the depth of their emotions. She has this way of capturing the relationships between characters. Ussani Taylor performs a handful of stories from the perspectives of men and boys. These stories are challenging, but Taylor does a fantastic job of embodying these characters and their lives.
That’s it for this week! You can find me over on my substack Winchester Ave, over on Instagram @kdwinchester, or on my podcast Read Appalachia. As always, feel free to drop me a line at kendra.d.winchester@gmail.com. For even MORE bookish content, you can find my articles over on Book Riot.
The following comes to you from the Editorial Desk.
This week, we’re highlighting a post discussing why it’s worth pursuing “underconsumption” in your reading life. In this era of amassing special and deluxe editions and crowding your shelves for the Tok, challenge yourself to consider a scaled-back approach to the bookish life. Read on for an excerpt and become an All Access member to unlock the full post.
One of the things that has provided some comfort for me during the recent horrors is underconsumption content on TikTok. Whether it’s Project Pan or the fact that, according to the Fashion Transparency Index, there is currently enough clothing on earth to clothe the next six generations, it’s a welcome break from being told what I should be buying. As a child, I used to adore watching TLC’s Clean Sweep. As an adult, I think I could probably stand to put all of my possessions out on a tarp on the lawn every so often. TikTok is an engine for consumerism, but somehow, it’s managed to plant a seed in my brain that goes against its own interests.
The why of underconsumption is a belief that we simply do not need all of the things that we have. It’s also a good way to build a practice of taking a breath before we chase that dopamine high of buying a new thing, of finding joy in the things that we create for ourselves. It’s made me look at how many of my hobbies don’t lead to the creation of anything new, not even ideas.
Of course, for some of us, underconsumption is an economic necessity. Most of us don’t live the lives we see reflected on our various feeds. With the will-they-or-won’t they of massive tariffs on many products coming in from other countries, the reality is that things are likely to get more expensive. This “trend” is really just showing how to make the most of what you have. Many books on shelves in the United States are printed in China, but are currently exempt from tariffs.
Why am I ruining a pure, good thing for you in these times, you ask? I’m going to try not to. I am simply here to offer suggestions that I myself will have trouble following. We strive for progress and not perfection. I am pretty sure that if I deleted the Libby app right now, heaven forbid, I would have enough unread books in my home to get me through an entire calendar year.
Sign up to become an All Access member for only $6/month and then click here to read the full, unlocked article. Level up your reading life with All Access membership and explore a full library of exclusive bonus content, including must-reads, deep dives, and reading challenge recommendations.
