This month’s Fantastic Strangeling Book Club choice is so, so good. It’s The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean.
I devoured this atmospherically creepy and gorgeous novel. Well, not literally. But after reading the book I kind of wanted to. In fact, I loved it so much I made my own book house inspired by the cover and only got glued to it four times.
A truly unique premise in a dark fairytale that kept me guessing until the end. Want a taste?
Out on the Yorkshire Moors lives a secret line of people for whom books are food, and who retain all of a book’s content after eating it. To them, spy novels are a peppery snack; romance novels are sweet and delicious. Eating a map can help them remember destinations, and children, when they misbehave, are forced to eat dry, musty pages from dictionaries.
Devon is part of The Family, an old and reclusive clan of book eaters. Her brothers grow up feasting on stories of valor and adventure, and Devon—like all other book eater women—is raised on a carefully curated diet of fairytales and cautionary stories.
But real life doesn’t always come with happy endings, as Devon learns when her son is born with a rare and darker kind of hunger—not for books, but for human minds.
Eerie. Unsettling. Beautiful. Heartbreaking. Fascinating. A story about the complexities of family, of neurodivergence, of impossible choices, of parenthood, of misogyny and consumption. It’s a modern take on vampires and like nothing else I’ve ever read. I immediately knew I needed to share it the moment I finished it.
The first chapter is the perfect appetizer that will leave you hungry for more, and the rest of the of the book is a tasty feast of dark treats to consume. (I’m so sorry about the food puns. I can’t help myself.)
Need more than one book to get you through the month? SAME. August has some fantastic new releases and a few of my favorites are:
All of This by Rebecca Woolf – A provocative and complicated memoir about the complexities of grief, desire and being human. The most gorgeous prose in an honest and fascinatingly authentic voice. I loved it so much I wrote the blurb for it.
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy – An utterly unexpected, raw and hilarious and heartbreaking memoir by the star of iCarly and Sam & Cat. She candidly shares her struggles as a former child actor – including eating disorders, addiction and a very complicated relationship with her dysfunctional mother…and how she took control over her life. Dark, hilarious, maddening, hopeful…all the things you want in a good memoir. I loved it so much that I’m doing an online book event with her and you need to come.
The Last Karankawas by Kimberly Garza – An emotional novel about a tight-knit community of Mexican and Filipino American families in Galveston, Texas. It reads more like a collection of short stories than a novel.
The Liminal Zone by Junji Ito – Another outlandish body horror manga from the award-winning and relatively twisted mind of Junji Ito. Guaranteed to make you say, “What the shit am I reading?” but in a good way.
Paris by Andi Watson – A sweet, quick sketch about two star-crossed young women who fall in love in Bohemian Paris in the 50s.
And now I’m going to open up the FS facebook page to discuss last month’s book (Florida Woman by Deb Rogers) but if you don’t do facebook you can check out my thoughts in the comments. And it’s always the perfect time to join the club if you’re looking for a great monthly read with fascinating books.
Happy reading!