The Books I'm Reading Now
I'm listening to Lauren Groff's newest novel about a colonial servant girl in the wilderness, The Vaster Wilds; I'm reading Emily Austin's upcoming novel about a quirky main protagonist Interesting Facts about Space; and I'm reading Kiley Reid's upcoming college-set novel dealing with race, privilege, and more, Come and Get It.
What are you reading these days, bookworms?
01 The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff
The world, the girl knew, was worse than savage, the world was unmoved. It did not care, it could not care, what happened to her, not one bit. She was a mote, a speck, a floating windborne fleck of dust.
In Lauren Goff's The Vaster Wilds, a servant girl has fled her colonial household in the brutal aftermath of plague and starvation.
She discovers that she is capable of craftiness and cleverness in the wild, as she puts distance between herself and her past by diving deep into the unforgiving wilderness.
She is uneducated but thoughtful and considers issues of faith and the faulted holy men who have introduced her to it; this is a brutal existence buoyed only by thoughts of the past and wonder at the mysteries of the natural world.
I'm listening to The Vaster Wilds as an audiobook.
Groff is also the author of Fates and Furies, Matrix, The Monsters of Templeton, and other novels.
02 Interesting Facts about Space by Emily Austin
In Emily Austin's Interesting Facts about Space, Enid is obsessed with space, and she could talk all day about black holes and the universe.
She loves true crime podcasts and dates a variety of women from dating apps. But she's trying to come to terms with the death of her absent father--and build relationships with her estranged half-sisters.
Enid us exploring a new love interest when she becomes consumed by the idea that someone is following her. Is this a paranoia inspired by her podcast listening? Or is someone really after her?
I received a prepublication edition of this book, scheduled for publication January 30, courtesy of NetGalley and Atria Books.
03 Come and Get It by Kiley Reid
In Kiley Reid's upcoming novel Come and Get It, the author of Such a Fun Age offers a story set in 2017 at the University of Arkansas.
Millie is an RA coping with students' large and small concerns. She's got her sights set on graduating and settling down with a job and a house of her own.
Then Millie is offered an unusual opportunity that might allow her to achieve her goals sooner than she'd dreamed. But the side hustle is more complicated than Millie ever imagined--and the students under her watch in the dorm are making for unforeseen challenges as well.
I received a prepublication edition of this book, scheduled for publication January 30, courtesy of NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam.