What to read next: upcoming titles

 Pre-Orders

I found a very good list of YA books to look forward to this week and went on a big of a pre-ordering splurge. I chose Hot Dog Girl because the main character’s intense awkwardness reminded me of how I felt all through high school (and still do now, more than I like to admit). I followed it up with These Witches Don’t Burn because I liked the way it echoed Amanda Lovelace’s feminism and it seems like a cute, spirited work with girl power vibes. Next, I chose two LGBTQ+ titles: Red, White, and Royal Blue (since I’m on a bit of an English history kick with Richard III these days) and We Contain Multitudes because its Whitmanian title pleased my English-teaching sensibilities and the epistolary nature links it to Because you’ll never meet me.

I followed these up by finally pulling the trigger (clicking the “pre-order with one click!” button) on Mostly Dead Things – because how can someone with my research history resist fiction rooted in (hoofed in? finned in?) taxidermy? This led, as it does, to other things that I had to have… in the future. The Doll Factory mentions the Great Exhibition in its description – so, again, sold because of my past research! On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous got added for two reasons: 1.) its focus is Vietnam, which has been one of my recent interests and 2.) it’s epistolary. I wish I was clever enough to pen a novel in letters; I certainly love to read them. 

Wildhood joined the ranks because I really enjoyed Wild Moms: Motherhood in the animal kingdom, and this seemed like a natural extension of that. I added Blood Sugar because it comes from the same press as King's Joyland, which I have enjoyed so far, and because I love October-themed reads!