Mikaela Brewer, Contributing Writer

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Book: A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

 

"First, Ruth Ozeki is a novelist, filmmaker, and Zen Buddhist priest...I'm in awe. This book bridges conversations about suicide, writing, friendship, generational trauma/relationships, history, quantum physics, myth & magic, climate change, and what it means to be alive across time and space. What does it mean to be a life? To be a time being? This story has become one I frequently lean on in my own work and writing.

 

Though the story isn't a thriller, I couldn't put it down. It follows a novelist, Ruth, on the shores of BC, who finds sixteen-year-old Nao's dairy washed ashore from Tokyo. Assuming it's debris from the devastating tsunami in 2011, Ruth reads the mysterious contents of the diary, unsure if Nao is still alive for more reasons than the impending waves. 

 

A Tale for the Time Being is breathtaking, astonishing, and unforgettable. More about it here!"

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​Hailey Hechtman, Contributing Writer

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Book: Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xóchitl González.

 

"This novel is fast paced yet thoughtful, weaving back and forth through time exploring the life of an artist and a student, decades a part yet interconnected by their love of art and their strive to be seen. 

 

Anita de Monte’s character is strong, passionate, ambitious and lives to bring beauty in the world, all the while facing countless barriers that she busts through because at her core she has an unshakable belief in herself. 

 

Her counterpart in the future Raquel, is less certain and yet is still drawn towards something beyond the surface and throughout the story becomes more grounded in who she is and what she wants. 

 

It is a story of women believing in themselves in spite of the many voices surrounding them telling them not to and yet they bloom. This book gives you a summer burst of energy while also encouraging you to reflect on who you are and how you show up."

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Gillian Smith-Clark, Editor-in-Chief​

Book: In the Midst of Life: Tales of Soldiers and Civilians by Ambrose Bierce

 

"Escape—escape was his last chance—his last desperate, hopeless, dangerous chance.” 

– Ambrose Bierce, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. 

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"My summer reading recommendation is a collection of short stories by the enigmatic and mysterious American journalist, writer and poet, Ambrose Bierce. I discovered an old paperback version of this book on my father’s bookshelf as a child and was instantly captivated by both the title and the cover art–long before being old enough to fully understand the subtleties of the content.  It’s a book I’ve gone back to many times over the years, and Bierce’s views on the brutal realities of warfare and his scathing critique on the romanticization of war are particularly relevant now.  A masterful storyteller with an acerbic and often cynical wit, Bierce was better known as a journalist than a writer or poet during his lifetime. Bierce’s stories are both emotionally powerful and masterfully crafted, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is one his most famous pieces and an excellent introduction to his work."

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Abbigale Kernya, Managing Editor

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Book: Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin

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Normally, I would never have picked up this book on any occasion. Horror, thriller, and any sort of psychological torture is not my typical go-to. However, after having forcefully read this book for another book club, I found myself with no choice but to face my fears and read it and, as you might have guessed, I was obsessed.

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I read the majority of Cuckoo while lounging around the water at my boyfriend's cottage surrounded by forest, and for the first time in a long time, I felt like a book was coming alive. Thankfully, it isn't, as Felker-Martin writes a horror novel following a group of queer kids forcefully sent off to conversion camp in the middle of Utah's woods where they come face-to-face with a fight for their lives that's out of this world. It's creepy, it's horrifying, it's intense, and forced me to step outside of my comfort zone with the biggest reward: a new genre on my reading bucket list.

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Felker-Martin writes characters so vile and utterly deplorable it's almost a refreshing break from the typical "morally grey" characterization of modern fictional villains that seem to be afraid to be truly evil. The pacing, the dialogue, the eery foreshadowing...it's perfect. I cannot recommend this book enough, though I do suggest reading it by a lake for maximum effect and check trigger warnings beforehand.​

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