Fun + weird reads
Vampires, Hollywood drama, alternate lives ...
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
Like any classic horror ride, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires lulls you into a false sense of security first. Patricia’s life is on the line — or at least it feels that way. It’s her turn to lead the discussion for book club and she hasn’t read the book. Starting with that relatably stressful but ordinary situation, author Grady Hendrix takes Patricia and the other ladies of Book Club on an epic adventure that refreshes horror tropes with believable characters and subtle social commentary on invisible labor. The comp title line for this book is “Steel Magnolias meets Dracula,” so definitely pick it up if that sounds like your jam.
Floor Sample: A Creative Memoir by Julia Cameron
If you ever wondered how Julia Cameron created her signature tools (Artist Dates and Morning Pages), it’s all here. Cameron details her struggles as an addict-writer, her tumultuous marriage to Martin Scorsese, and her endless capacity to fall in love with new creative forms. Honest without being gossipy, Floor Sample is a full-throated artist’s story from the patron saint of everyday creativity herself.
(Content warning: Cameron is honest about the ups and downs of her life and creative journey, sparing no detail in her accounts of alcoholic binges and depressive episodes. If you struggle with mental illness and/or love someone who struggles with mental illness, those passages may be tough to read, or they may make you feel less alone, or a mix of both. I leave the decision to pick up this read at your discretion.)
This is a read for anyone who loves a unique memoir, Hollywood stories, and/or creative journeys.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
We all have those turning points in life that make us wonder later … “What if?” What if I had gone to a different college, pursued another career, committed to that relationship, made the crazy (or sensible) choice instead? When Nora finds herself in the Midnight Library between life and death, she can choose to see how any possible version of her life could have played out. But as she chases down her big “mistakes” one by one, Nora starts to realize that the alternate versions of her life that haunted her aren’t what she pictured at all.
This is a read for people who like a magical twist in their fiction but ultimately look for quiet, intimate stories about the human experience. For fans of Alix E. Harrow and Aimee Bender.