The Books I'm Reading Now
I'm reading a witchy novel from Cherie Dimaline, VenCo, scheduled for publication tomorrow; I'm reading Looking for Jane, Heather Marshall's debut novel that links multiple timelines and women's ongoing fight for body autonomy (also scheduled for publication tomorrow); and an upcoming book club book for me, Solito, which is poet Javier Zamora's memoir of his harrowing journey from El Salvador to the United States at age 9.
What are you reading these days, bookworms?
01 VenCo by Cherie Dimaline
When I read the premise of Cherie Dimaline's VenCo, I may have actually squealed in delight. (No pressure to live up to my significant internal hype, Dimaline!)
Young Métis Lucky St. James is on the verge of snapping--and that's before she finds out she's going to be evicted from her Toronto apartment.
Then a mysterious power begins calling to her. She breaks into the wall to find a silver spoon, engraved with the word SALEM. Unlikely as it may seem, this spoon connects her to a vast network of witches and her ancestors--through a front company, VenCo (an anagram of "coven").
Dimaline's VenCo offers witch hunters, a best-friend road trip, the dark magic of New Orleans, feminism, and a dramatic showdown.
I received a prepublication audiobook version of this book courtesy of Libro.fm and HarperAudio. VenCo is scheduled for publication February 7.
If you like stories about witches, you might also like the books on the Greedy Reading Lists Six Wonderfully Witchy Stories and Six More Wonderfully Witchy Stories to Charm You.
02 Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall
It all comes down to having the right to make the choice. Every child a wanted child, every mother a willing mother.
Looking for Jane is a story of three timelines linked through decades by a mysterious letter and enormously important recurring dilemmas for women through the ages: unexpected pregnancies; searches (and fights) for bodily autonomy and securing their health; and weighty choices with repercussions that reverberate.
Looking for Jane is Heather Marshall's debut novel. It's scheduled for publication February 7.
I received a prepublication edition of this book courtesy of NetGalley and Atria Books.
03 Solito: A Memoir by Javier Zamora
Solito is one of my book club's reads for this spring, and I'm listening to it as an audiobook.
In Solito, the poet Javier Zamora shares the story of his grueling journey from El Salvador to the United States at age 9.
His loving grandfather shakily sends him off on a planned two-week trip through Central America and Mexico to meet up with his parents. The trip lasts seven weeks and involves challenge after challenge.
Solito includes hired "coyotes" with dubious experience and intentions; groups of fellow journeyers who betray, bond, or simply disappear; hours and days of desperate thirst and hunger; brushes with death; the hollowing, youthful loneliness of being away from family; and the bright danger of guns and detention centers--and the constant pressure of remembering to keep up ongoing deceptions to avoid them.