I READ THIS FALL.
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The Chosen and the Beautiful
BY NGHI VO
The Great Gatsby entered the public domain in 2021, and I'm so glad it did, because it allowed for masterpieces like this one to be published! Centering the story around tennis player and New York socialite Jordan Baker allows for new adventures to take place between the lines of the Gatsby canon. Vo has reimagined Baker as a bisexual Vietnamese immigrant, adding fascinating tension and context to the love and loss she experiences throughout the book — I found so much of my own heart in this well-rounded protagonist.
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Tiny Habits
BY BJ FOGG
Change is hard, but Fogg's humorous and understanding approach to habit-building made it easy. Sometimes veering into cheesy or overly-"relatable" territory – as self-help is wont to do — the personal anecdotes rarely distracted from the book's core goal: to make the impossible feel tiny. Those who enjoyed James Clear's Atomic Habits will recognize some of these methods, but the workshop-like format and actionable step-by-step advice is what makes Fogg's writing stand on its own.
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Nightbitch
BY RACHEL YODER
Nightbitch centers around a single simple premise: woman turns into dog. Nice. As a longtime fan of feral women and the stories we tell about them, I picked up this novel without a second thought. Yoder's imaginative, sparkling prose immediately transported me into the inner world of the story's protagonist and held me hostage there as she transformed. More than just a simple story of metamorphosis, Nightbitch has something important to say about motherhood, art, and what we can become when we let go of convention and fear.
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Horrorstör
BY GRADY HENDRIX
Hendrix's out-of-the-box horror novel cast a whole new light on all the post-move IKEA shopping I did this fall. The story, which takes place in a Scandanavian home goods emporium, follows the (misadventures) of five workers as they attempt to figure out the store's mysterious goings-on over the course of one insane night. Will they survive what lies below the showroom floor? I couldn't put the book down until I found out! And the book itself, which co-opts the look and feel of an IKEA catalogue, sends the story to new heights.