July 2020 Book Reviews

An informal solo series reviewing everything FBC founder Renee reads each month.
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Mentioned in this episode:

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Genres: Horror, historical fiction
Read if you like: mushrooms, The Shining by Stephen King, the amount of body horror on Santa Clarita Diet (TV show)
Also of note: This is an #ownvoices story set in Mexico with an overlapping theme of colonialism throughout the book.
FBC rating: 4.5 stars

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

Genres: Contemporary fiction, romance
Read if you like: soap operas featuring nosy relatives, stories about people pushing back against tradition, lavish settings
Also of note: Honestly, this is excellent for anyone stuck at home and wants to experience a little bit of travel through a book.
FBC rating: 4 stars

No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know about Domestic Violence Can Kill Us by Rachel Louise Snyder

Genres: Contemporary non-fiction
Read if you like: award-winning longform journalism, novel approaches to social issues, well-researched non-fiction that reads easily
Also of note: Podcast interview with the author forthcoming!
FBC rating: 4.5 stars

The Book of Rosy: A Mother’s Story of Separation at the Border by Rosayra Pablo Cruz and Julie Schwietert Collazo

Genres: Memoir
Read if you like: The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya, #ownvoices alternatives to American Dirt, a book with a little bit of hope in an otherwise awful situation, stories about immigration
Also of note: Learn more about Immigrant Families Together here.
FBC rating: 3.5 stars

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

Genres: Historical fiction, contemporary fiction, with a flair of mystery
Read if you like: stories of women finally realizing their worth, Mad Bad and Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed, Dickens if he weren’t a misogynist asshole
Also of note: This won’t be released until spring of 2021 but you can preorder it!
FBC rating: 4 stars

Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias by Pragya Agarwal

Genres: Non-fiction
Read if you like: Stuff You Should Know (podcast), meta-analyses of research on stereotypes, Ken Burns documentaries but in book form
Also of note: While this book contains an immense amount of research, it isn’t much more than a dense literature review.
FBC rating: 2.5 stars

It is Wood, It is Stone by Gabriella Burnham

Genres: Contemporary fiction
Read if you like: The Not Wives by Carley Moore, The Affairs of the Falcóns by Melissa Rivero, books with a strong sense of place or books about Brazil
Also of note: If you’re into deep character studies of deeply flawed women, this is for you.
FBC rating: 3.5 stars

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

Genres: Contemporary YA fiction
Read if you like: Caribbean food, strong and healthy teenage friendships and authority figures, feel-good #ownvoices coming of age stories
Also of note: This was our July book of the month for our FOOD theme!
FBC rating: 5 stars

Renee Powers

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Renee Powers founded Feminist Book Club in 2018 to provide a space for intersectional feminists to learn, grow, and connect. When not reading or running the biz, you can find her drinking coffee and trying unsuccessfully to teach her retired racing greyhound how to fetch. Favorite genres: feminist thrillers, contemporary literary fiction, short stories, and anything that might be described as "irreverent"