Quiz: What Book Should I Read Next?

Avery’s family is moving south, into the small town where her grandmother is dying of cancer. They’ve been estranged for some time, and Avery is skeptical of the move as a queer Black girl who doesn’t know what she’ll find. Her mother and grandmother clash and fight but won’t tell her any of the drama, and family secrets and rivalries seem to lurk behind every corner, but no one will tell her a thing. As she struggles to get through, she makes fast friends with two girls in town. But as a romance begins to simmer, and secrets begin to escape a wall of silence, will Avery be able to face the truths she uncovers? This is a superb young adult contemporary novel about friendship, queerness, generational trauma, and family, wrapped up with both romance and mystery.

Content warnings for racism, police brutality, violence, terminal illness, sexual harassment, emotional abuse, homophobia, outing.

What better way to celebrate Women in Translation month than by digging into this contemporary novel by an Italian author that’s perfect for Elena Ferrante fans? A woman lies in a hotel room reminiscing about her difficult relationship with her sister, Adriana. While it’s partially the story of her marriage, the main narrative is all about her and Adriana, who showed up at her apartment one night seeking shelter for herself and a son no one knew existed. Their relationship is fraught and argumentative, reminding me often of Lenu and Lila in the Neapolitan novels, but they’re bonded by growing up with their difficult parents.

Content warnings for use of the g-slur, terminal illness, death/grief, ableism, homophobia, medical trauma

This book is part true crime and part biographical tribute. Rivera Garza’s sister was murdered in 1990 by her abusive ex, but despite there being plenty of evidence, the police abandoned the case. In unpacking the story of her sister, drawing from her diaries, the case file, and much more, Garza tells the tragic story of her sister’s life, paying it tribute. She writes of the painful grief of her and her family after the case was abandoned, and also writes an emotions-driven condemnation of the way that gendered violence has become normalized and ignored in Mexico for way too long.

Content warnings for misogyny, murder, sexism, rape, domestic abuse, abortion.

The Nampeshiweiset series begins when teenager Anequs finds a dragon’s egg. Her remote island has been able to see relative peace, for a while, even in the midst of Anglish colonization and rule, but now they’ve caught their attention. The Anglish don’t agree with Anequs’s people on how a dragon should be raised and bonded with its partner, and they have strict laws. If Anequs can’t succeed at their dragon school on the mainland, her dragon will have to die. This new book is in a classic Western fantasy style — an unexpected outsider is chosen and pulled into a magical school — but written from an Indigenous perspective. Anequs will work hard to succeed for the sake of her dragon, but on her own terms, while maintaining her Indigenous identity and beliefs. Lovers of classic fantasy will eat this one up!

Content warnings for racism, ableism, homophobia, violence, anti-indigenous prejudice and violence, animal death.

In the highly anticipated first novel for adults from the author of The Poet X and With the Fire on High, protagonist Flor Marte can predict the day someone dies. Which makes it upsetting when she tells her family she wants a living wake, a party for everyone to celebrate her long life. Her sisters wonder if she’s hinting at her own death. Or is it someone else’s? All four sisters have secrets, from their personal motivations and grudges to the states of their marriages, and cousins Ona and Yadi are also facing their own issues. Acevedo traces the lives of all these women leading up to the wake, telling a Dominican American family epic through the intertwined stories of these sisters and cousins.

Content warnings for child abuse, grief, miscarriage, sexual violence, violence.

In a disturbingly feasible near-future dystopia, incarcerated people are given an option: they can join a sport where they’ll regularly battle to the death, and if they make it three years without dying, they’ll be freed. The catch, of course, is that the nature of the sport, and the manipulation of the producers, generally guarantee that no one makes it that long. In this cycle of brutal violence, as cameras stream their every move and conversation to the public, Loretta Thurwar and Hurricane Staxxx want their gang to be different. They want to be able to trust one another. To create a gang whose very existence is protest against the system. This is an action-packed drama, a queer love story, and a rebellious thought-provoking challenge to incarceration and the way the public consumes stories of “justice.”

Strong content warnings for violence, sexual assault, torture, suicide, police brutality. Also warnings for homophobia, suicidal ideation, emotional abuse, racism, grief, ableism.