October 2020 Book Reviews

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

The Searcher by Tana French

Genres: Contemporary literary fiction
Read if you like: rural settings and classic rural characters, fish out of water stories, Tana French’s breathtaking skill of writing lush, vivid settings
Also of note: Our podcast interview with Tana will publish this week!
FBC rating: 3.5 stars

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik

Genres: biography
Read if you like: biographies that tie together pop culture and a person’s history, reading more about the Supreme Court and how they make their decisions, democracy
Also of note: This reads a bit like a scrapbook, with lots of art and artifacts, and less like a traditional biography.
FBC rating: 3.5 stars

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

Genres: Western novella
Read if you like: quick reads about queer librarians in the wild West, books that race through the plot, books that start as a great idea and then don’t really execute
Also of note: Honestly, this book wasn’t that great, but it was fun.
FBC rating: 2.5 stars

The Lady Upstairs by Halley Sutton

Genres: fiction, noir
Read if you like: Jessica Jones, Veronica Mars, revenge against Harvey Weinstein
Also of note: Interview with the author coming soon!
FBC rating: 4 stars

You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria

Genres: Romance
Read if you like: Jane the Virgin, diverse Latinx representation, romance novels with tons of heart (and heat)
Also of note: This was one of our members’ top suggestions for Latinx Voices month!
FBC rating: 4 stars

The Beauty in Breaking by Michele Harper

Genres: Memoir
Read if you like: yoga memoirs a la May I Be Happy by Cyndi Lee or Love You Hard by Abby Maslin, medical dramas a la E.R. or Grey’s Anatomy
Also of note: I really wanted this to have a bit more depth.
FBC rating: 3 stars

Written in Starlight by Isabel Ibañez

Genres: YA, Fantasy
Read if you like: the first book in this series Woven in Moonlight, Indiana Jones movies but wish they starred a magical teenage girl instead, Bear Grylls but in the Amazon
Also of note: Check out our interview with the author here!
FBC rating: 4 stars

Somewhere in the Unknown World by Kao Kalia Yang

Genres: Memoir, Non-fiction
Read if you like: After the Last Border by Jessica Goudeau, The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya, learning more about the refugee experience
Also of note: Interview with the author coming soon!
FBC rating: 4 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"