They say the kids aren’t reading anymore. But while the publishing industry has certainly changed over the past several decades—thanks to the ubiquity of e-readers, the rise of audiobooks, and, yes, the widespread influence of BookTok—it’s still trucking right along, churning out more titles than most of us could ever hope to read.
Nowadays, the real challenge is figuring out what titles are actually worth your time. So we’re bringing back our regular recommendation feature that’s based on what we’re actually reading right now. (Our books enthusiast Lacy Baugher Milas is cursed/blessed with the inability to read one thing at a time—finally, a win/failing from which everyone can benefit!)
As always, we invite you to contribute your own responses and recommendations in the comments—the best way to find out what’s worth reading is to hear from the people who are turning the pages.
Fruit Fly by Josh Silver
The adult debut from the author of the dystopian YA HappyHead novels, Fruit Fly feels as though it’s the kind of book that will be very similar to R.F. Kuang’s Yellowface, which is an exploration of many hot-button topics in publishing surrounding race, classism, white privilege, tokenism, and who gets to tell stories about marginalized identities. And, to be fair, it’s not…not about that, but it’s also much darker and more disturbing. Fruit Fly follows the story of Mallory Maddox, an author whose debut was a bestseller, but who has struggled to write anything since.
Convinced by the internet that the hot publishing trend of the moment means she must pen something “sad and gay,” she ends up on Grindr in an attempt to chat with the gay men in her neighborhood and mine material from their lives. A series of truly unbelievable events that would never happen in real life leads her to Leo, a young gay addict who occasionally dabbles in sex work to feed his desire for methamphetamine and struggles to remain housed. Fascinated after she inadvertently discovers him bloody and beaten on the street, she befriends him and then commits some casual literary vandalism by turning his dangerously tragic life story into a novel called Slay.
Told via both their perspectives, the book is both ridiculous and biting, full of instantly quotable lines (“Virginia Woolf would have loved Grindr”), deeply unlikable characters (you will hate everyone), and an increasingly outlandish, outrageous plot (Mallory eventually pretends to be Leo’s therapist!). While you’re likely to either love or hate this story—this isn’t a tale with much middle ground—its super compelling, propulsive plot means you’ll also struggle to put it down either way.
Love You To Death by Jenna Levine
Jenna Levine is known for her delightfully lighthearted paranormal romances. If you’ve heard of her, it’s likely because of the My Roommate Is a Vampire series, which kicked off with a charming story about a human artist and the adorably polite vampire she ends up sharing an apartment with, and spawned two sequels set in the same universe. (Those are My Vampire Plus One and Road Trip With A Vampire, for anyone curious.) And her latest, Love You To Death, also involves the dead, but in a very different way.
Feeling like nothing so much as a riff on the late, lamented Showtime series Dead Like Me, Love You To Death follows a grim reaper named Daniel, who made a deal to collect souls instead of going to Hell. A century later, however, he’s kind of burned out by the whole deal, at least until he meets Lucy. Hit by a bus at 28 years old, she’s not ready to let go of the life she feels like she had barely started living. A deal is struck: Lucy gets to live until her sister’s wedding (and clean up the mess she’s left behind) if Daniel can observe her to learn more about humanity and report back to his superiors. That they fall for each other won’t surprise anyone, but their charming grumpy/sunshine relationship has some top-notch banter and offers a surprisingly warm message about making the most of the time that’s been given to us.
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