@aura inhale. I tend not to look up books before I read them, but
Writers & Lovers by Lily King
Suggested mostly because it's next on my reading list haha. As far as I can tell, it's about a woman who is trying to be an artist, but life sucks and she's not writing as much as she wants to? Coming-of-age but for adults lol. It doesn't sound like much, but it's recommended by a friend whose taste is excellent and I can always trust them. Apparently this one is sad and funny and hopeful, in the way life is.
Babel by R.F. Kuang
Yes I already read this a few months ago yes I would be happy to reread it with friends. She's thick but she's delicious. It's historical fantasy set juuust before the first opium war, but England has ✨magic✨. Magic specifically powered by translation. The book follows an orphan plucked from China and groomed to study as a ✨translator✨ in Oxford. This one is about friendship, colonial resistance, how shitty academia is, and a lot of nerdery and politics about language and translation. CW for racism; parental death; physical, emotional, and colonial violence.
The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez
Another reread for me lmao. It's a frame story, a story within a story within a story. It shifts between first, second, and third POVs on a sentence-by-sentence level. It's kind of a lot to keep up with, but really fun once it's got its hooks in. It's about two outcasts trying to transport a dying goddess across the country, on the run from the emperor she escaped from. It's also about the Inverted Theater, where the lovechild of the Moon and Water performs. It's also about a man during something that's WW2 but not, thinking about the stories his lola used to tell. CW for graphic violence and death, imprisonment, and all that people go through under a tyrannical emperor
Queer Phenomenology by Sara Ahmed
I don't know much about this one, but it's non-fiction and othe title seems self-explanatory? Might be cool if anyone is in the mood to get brainy 🤓
Any of the Terry Pratchetts. We can probably spin a wheel to choose and it'll be fine? 💀
kalayo