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USA Today
21-03-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Trans Rights Readathon starts: 11 books to read, from romance to nonfiction
Trans Rights Readathon starts: 11 books to read, from romance to nonfiction Every day is one you can support and read trans authors, but readers have a special excuse to pick up new books this week. It's the third annual Trans Rights Readathon, a yearly call to action and reading challenge that ends on Trans Day of Visibility. This year, the challenge goes from March 21-31. The creators recommend booklovers participate by reading and reviewing works by trans, nonbinary, 2Spirit and gender nonconforming authors, as well as supporting the community by donating to local or national organizations. In 2023, the Trans Rights Readathon raised over $234,000 for trans-supporting organizations and recorded over 2,600 participants. 11 books to read for the Trans Rights Readathon If you're looking to add some titles to your TBR for this year's Trans Rights Readathon, we have suggestions for books written by trans and nonbinary authors. They range from romance to sci-fi, literary fiction to fantasy. Some are recent releases and others are oldies-but-goodies. 'Stag Dance' by Torrey Peters 'Stag Dance' is a collection of one novel and three stories from the bestselling author of 'Detransition, Baby.' In the titular novel, restless lumberjacks plan a dance under the condition that some of them will attend as women. In 'an astonishing vision of gender and transition,' the publisher writes, the axmen are caught up in a strange rivalry, jealousy and obsession. The other short stories feature a gender apocalypse, a secret romance between Quaker boarding school roommates and a party weekend on the Las Vegas strip that turns dark. 'Woodworking' by Emily St. James Released earlier this month, 'Woodworking' is about a 35-year-old recently divorced teacher who comes out as trans in small-town South Dakota. As she grapples with her transition, she finds an unlikely friend in 17-year-old Abigail, the only trans girl at Mitchell High School. Abigail reluctantly agrees to help Erica through her transition, remembering the loneliness she experienced when she was going through the same. 'Before We Were Trans' by Kit Heyam 'Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender' is the kind of nonfiction read that's so narrative it feels like fiction. Stories of gender nonconforming fashion, wartime stage performance and the untold identities of famous historical people portray the complexity of gender across time and throughout the world, pushing back against the notion that people fit neatly into the categories of male or female. 'Model Home' by Rivers Solomon 'Model Home' is billed as a 'new kind of haunted-house novel' interrogating the legacy of segregation and racism in suburban America. The story follows the three Maxwell siblings who grew up as the only Black family in a gated Dallas neighborhood, also tormented by strange and unexplainable demonic happenings in their house. When their parents' death forces the now-adult siblings to return, they begin to uncover the supernatural forces at play. 'Paper Doll' by Dylan Mulvaney The actress and content creator's debut memoir gives readers a more intimate glimpse behind her 'Days of Girlhood' social media series and transition. Mulvaney unpacks the transphobia, backlash, acceptance and, ultimately, joy in this reflection of her pre- and post-transition life. 'A Gentleman's Gentleman' by TJ Alexander Wish 'Bridgerton' was more queer? This newly released trans Regency-era romance is for you. 'A Gentleman's Gentleman' follows the eccentric recluse Lord Christopher Eden who receives abrupt word that, to keep his family fortune, he must take a wife by the end of the courting season. First on the list of his many problems? He isn't attracted to women. Second? He has to move to London. And then he meets James Harding, the distractingly handsome new valet, whose presence threatens to upend it all. 'Bellies' by Nicola Dinan 'Bellies' follows a young couple, Tom and Ming, as they move in and out of each other's lives in early adulthood. Tom has recently come out as gay and is quickly drawn to Ming, a magnetic playwright. But shortly after they move in together, Ming announces her intention to transition. It changes the dynamics of both their relationship and their broader friendship circle. Together and apart, Ming and Tom must navigate new questions around identity, gender, relationships, intimacy and heartbreak. 'Pet' by Akwaeke Emezi From the award-winning author of 'You Make a Fool of Death with Your Beauty,' Emezi's genre-expansive debut follows two best friends who grow up in a city that touts the fact that there are no monsters anymore. But when they meet Pet, a horned, clawed, multicolored creature, the friends must reckon with what they've been taught and how to protect each other in a society in denial. 'The Prospects' by KT Hoffman In this baseball romance, Gene is proud of the quiet, underdog career he's built as the first openly trans professional baseball player. But when his former teammate and current rival Luis is traded to the Beavers, it dampens the once-perfect outlook he had. They can't put their differences aside – on or off the field. After a curveball twist, the pair finds themselves spending more and more time together, realizing the tension between them might be something more than loathing. 'Light from Uncommon Stars' by Ryka Aoki Called 'dark but ultimately hopeful' by Publishers Weekly, this speculative story starts with a deal with the devil – Shizuka Satomi has promised to sell the souls of seven violin prodigies before she can escape damnation. And she's found her final candidate in the form of a talented young transgender runaway. But Shizuka's plans to lift the curse come to a screeching halt when she becomes infatuated with an interstellar refugee and retired starship captain that catches her attention. 'Felix Ever After' by Kacen Callender This YA romance novel centers on Felix Love who, despite the last name, has never been in love. He wonders if happily-ever-afters apply to him as he grapples with his identity as a Black, queer, transgender teen, all while an anonymous student begins sending him threatening and transphobic messages. But when a revenge plan goes awry, Felix finds himself in something of a love triangle that catapults him on a journey of self-discovery. Looking for your next great read? USA TODAY has you covered. Taste is subjective, and USA TODAY Books has plenty of genres to recommend. Check out the 15 new releases we're most excited about in 2025. Is dystopian your thing? Check out these books that are similar to 'The Hunger Games' and '1984.' Or if you want something with lower stakes and loveable characters, see if a "cozy mystery" or "cozy fantasy" book is for you. If you want the most popular titles, check out USA TODAY's Best-selling Booklist. Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY's Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you're reading at cmulroy@
Chicago Tribune
01-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Biblioracle: Oprah and I agree that you should read ‘Dream State' by Eric Puchner
I'm a little miffed at Oprah right now. I had a plan to be the first person to publicly proclaim Eric Puchner's new novel 'Dream State' as a great book that everyone should read. I noted the planned publication date (March 25) in my calendar and scheduled my work accordingly. So, imagine my surprise when I saw Oprah on the CBS Morning News on Feb. 18 announcing that the next installment of her book club would be 'Dream State' by Eric Puchner. Apparently, if you're Oprah and you're excited about a book you can get them to move the publication date up a month. Anyway, Oprah and I agree that 'Dream State' is a novel you should read. I've long been a fan of Puchner's work, having recommended his first novel 'Model Home' (2010) to numerous readers in this space over the years. Puchner writes about families and relationships as well as any writer I can think of. The depth of engagement with his characters, along with the scope of the story spanning 50 years Puchner brings to 'Dream State' make for a powerful reading experience. To demonstrate what kind of novel this is, the marketing copy gives away what seems like a major plot point right up front. Cece and Charlie are getting married at Charlie's beloved family vacation home in Salish, Montana. Cece, currently unemployed, is at the house, alone for a month before the wedding to make final arrangements while Charlie is busy as an anesthesiologist at a Los Angeles hospital. Charlie has asked Garrett, his best friend from college, who lives in Salish and is working as an airport baggage handler following an (as yet) unrevealed life setback, to check in on Cece to make sure she isn't lonely. Garrett will also be officiating the wedding, a decision Cece cannot understand, given how strange and off-putting Garrett seems. But Cece feels a strange and powerful connection to Garrett, while Garrett feels as though Cece may be the key that unlocks the rest of his life. When the moment comes for Cece to choose who she will spend the rest of her life with, she goes with Garrett. Lesser novelists would build interest around the reveal, but Puchner is fascinated by the consequences, rather than the decisions themselves, and the consequences of Cece and Garrett's betrayal of Charlie are profound. If you really think about it, isn't all the drama of our lives to be found in the consequences? Why shouldn't that be the stuff of a compelling reading experience? After nine years, the old friends try to reconnect, an act that brings not just the adults, but their children, Jasper (Charlie's son) and Lana (Garrett and Cece's daughter), into orbits that will continue for the rest of their lives. I will not share more of the plot because seeing how Puchner braids the individual threads into a whole and moves these people through time is one of the chief pleasures of the novel. We check in with these characters at different moments when the price of previous decisions are coming due. The looming atmosphere of a warming and burning planet changing the landscape these characters inhabit brings additional emotional urgency to the occasion. We learn the truth of what derailed Garrett after college, and how Charlie coped (and didn't) with losing Cece. It is a novel about marriage and friendship and parenting and the way those acts overlap for these people who love — and also sometimes hate — each other. Oprah knows her stuff, but remember, I was there first. John Warner is the author of 'Why They Can't Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities.' Twitter @biblioracle Book recommendations from the Biblioracle John Warner tells you what to read based on the last five books you've read. 1. 'The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman' by Ernest J. Gaines 2. 'A Constellation of Vital Phenomena' by Anthony Marra 3. 'Fire Exit' by Morgan Talty 4. 'All-Night Pharmacy' by Ruth Madievsky 5. 'Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow' by Gabrielle Zevin — Anne, S., Chicago Sigrid Nunez's 'The Friend' looks like the right book for Anne. 1. 'The Splendid and The Vile' by Erik Larson 2. 'Demon Copperhead' by Barbara Kingsolver 3. 'Eat Pray Love' by Elizabeth Gilbert 4. 'Vincent and Theo' by Deborah Heiligman 5. 'The Celestine Prophecy' by James Redfield — Laura P., Belvidere For Laura, I'm recommending a novel with some history attached, 'The Good Lord Bird' by James McBride. 1. 'Tell Me Everything' by Elizabeth Strout 2. 'March' by Geraldine Brooks 3. 'The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook' by Hampton Sides 4. 'The Grey Wolf (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #19)' by Louise Penny 5. 'The History of Sound' by Ben Shattuck — Jeff S., Highland Park This novel doesn't precisely align with any of the books here, and yet the Biblioracle forces are calling on me to recommend it: 'Matrix' by Lauren Groff.
The Independent
18-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
'Hello, Eric, it's Oprah.' Author Eric Puchner is latest member of Winfrey book club
Eric Puchner is a well-regarded fiction writer whose new novel, 'Dream State,' tells a story about life's unexpected and improbable twists. Weeks before the book's release, Puchner himself received some very surprising news, from Oprah Winfrey, who told him that she had chosen 'Dream State' for her book club. 'I got a phone call from a number I didn't recognize," the author said during a recent interview. 'When the caller said she was Oprah Winfrey I nearly dropped the phone I was so baffled. I was expecting to talk to my publicist, and at first, I didn't believe her. But then she started to talk in that inimitable way.' The 54-year-old author is an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University who hopes the Winfrey endorsement might mark a shift from years 'toiling in obscurity,' wishing only that he could attract enough readers to keep writing. 'Dream State' is the fourth book from Puchner, whose previous works include the story collections 'Music Through the Floor' and 'Last Day on Earth' and the novel 'Model Home,' a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2011. Puchner's latest work, published Tuesday, is a love triangle among two old college friends and the woman they both have wished to marry. Set mostly in Montana and California, the 432-page narrative extends half a century from his characters' early years to approaching old age as all contend with their feelings for each other and how they imagine they might otherwise have turned out. 'This is the kind of book you won't want to put down written by a brilliant storyteller,' Winfrey said in a statement. 'Spanning fifty years, 'Dream State' is an exquisite examination of the important relationships we have in our lives — love, marriage, friendship — and how life can turn out so differently than we expected.' Puchner is a Baltimore resident who says the book was inspired in part by a disastrous wedding he once attended that he re-imagined for 'Dream State' and by a house in Montana that he and his wife and two children stay at in the summer. The book touches upon the damages caused by climate change that he has witnessed over the years in Montana, whether drought or hotter temperatures. 'I know that I wanted to write about this place that I love and what was happening to it,' he says. Winfrey established her book club in 1996 and currently presents it in partnership with Starbucks. Her conversation with Puchner took place in a Starbucks in the Empire State Building and the video podcast can be seen on Winfrey's YouTube channel.
Associated Press
18-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
‘Hello, Eric, it's Oprah.' Author Eric Puchner is latest member of Winfrey book club
NEW YORK (AP) — Eric Puchner is a well-regarded fiction writer whose new novel, 'Dream State,' tells a story about life's unexpected and improbable twists. Weeks before the book's release, Puchner himself received some very surprising news, from Oprah Winfrey, who told him that she had chosen 'Dream State' for her book club. 'I got a phone call from a number I didn't recognize,' the author said during a recent interview. 'When the caller said she was Oprah Winfrey I nearly dropped the phone I was so baffled. I was expecting to talk to my publicist, and at first, I didn't believe her. But then she started to talk in that inimitable way.' The 54-year-old author is an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University who hopes the Winfrey endorsement might mark a shift from years 'toiling in obscurity,' wishing only that he could attract enough readers to keep writing. 'Dream State' is the fourth book from Puchner, whose previous works include the story collections 'Music Through the Floor' and 'Last Day on Earth' and the novel 'Model Home,' a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2011. Puchner's latest work, published Tuesday, is a love triangle among two old college friends and the woman they both have wished to marry. Set mostly in Montana and California, the 432-page narrative extends half a century from his characters' early years to approaching old age as all contend with their feelings for each other and how they imagine they might otherwise have turned out. 'This is the kind of book you won't want to put down written by a brilliant storyteller,' Winfrey said in a statement. 'Spanning fifty years, 'Dream State' is an exquisite examination of the important relationships we have in our lives — love, marriage, friendship — and how life can turn out so differently than we expected.' Puchner is a Baltimore resident who says the book was inspired in part by a disastrous wedding he once attended that he re-imagined for 'Dream State' and by a house in Montana that he and his wife and two children stay at in the summer. The book touches upon the damages caused by climate change that he has witnessed over the years in Montana, whether drought or hotter temperatures. 'I know that I wanted to write about this place that I love and what was happening to it,' he says. Winfrey established her book club in 1996 and currently presents it in partnership with Starbucks. Her conversation with Puchner took place in a Starbucks in the Empire State Building and the video podcast can be seen on Winfrey's YouTube channel.
The Guardian
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The best science fiction, fantasy and horror
Old Soul by Susan Barker (Fig Tree, £16.99)A chance encounter between two travellers who've missed their flight reveals a strange connection: each is haunted by an unexplained death. Although Jake's best friend Lena died in London a decade ago, while Mariko's twin brother died more recently in Japan, the circumstances were similar. In both, a rare physical condition that should have been known since birth was only found postmortem. Both had been recently involved with a female photographer, a European in her 30s or 40s, who disappeared soon after the death. Jake suspects it was the same woman and is determined to track her down. Through the testimony of others, the mystery deepens, as the story moves back and forth in time, from Japan to Germany, from rural Wales to the artistic circles of 80s New York, and Jake assembles a picture of a seemingly ageless woman behind a series of inexplicable deaths. An immersive, stunningly weird tale that closes like a trap round the reader. Model Home by Rivers Solomon (Merky, £18.99)Can a house that's never been lived in before be haunted? Gender-fluid Ezri and their sisters carry scars from terrible experiences as the only Black family in a gated community in Dallas. The parents remain after their children are grown. When phone calls go unanswered, Ezri, now settled in London, fears the house has killed them, and must go back to Texas to confront the truth about the past. A disturbing, brilliantly twisty psychological horror exploring family dynamics, memory, gender identity and sexuality. Mother of Serpents by John R Gordon (Team Angelica, £13.99)The latest from the award-winning author has something of the feel of classic Stephen King. The set-up is traditional: married couple with a small child leave their familiar urban environment to relocate to a spooky old house on the edge of a strangely silent forest in rural Maine, where the little boy speaks of nocturnal visits from an 'owl lady' who warns of danger. But this is a same-sex marriage and the stay-at-home spouse is a Black poet who fears his husband will attribute his increasingly weird experiences to the return of an earlier psychotic break. The fully realised, believable main characters exist in the real world, and the strong writing and specificity of detail make for a gripping read, with a genuinely original monster. Symbiote by Michael Nayak (Angry Robot, £9.99)The author of this debut novel has worked at an Antarctic research station, and excels in capturing the wonder as well as the fear it inspires. The first volume of the Ice Plague Wars series opens with the arrival of Chinese scientists – one dead – at the American station. They are seeking refuge, but the US and China are at war, so they must be confined until a military authority is informed. And the Chinese have brought something incredibly dangerous with them: an infection spread by touch, triggered by extreme cold to ignite a murderous rage in the host. A grim, violent tale, as hard to resist as the rapidly evolving symbiote. Waterblack by Alex Pheby (Galley Beggar. £20)The conclusion to the Cities of the Weft trilogy begins some years before the events of the first book, introducing new characters and a fresh angle on the power struggle between the Master of Mordew and the Mistress of Malarkoi. The right of those magical god-like rulers to exist is contested by an Assembly with a different view of reality, gearing up for the Eighth Atheistic Crusade. Their chief target is Nathan Treeves, returned to a life-in-death as the Master of Waterblack, the underwater city of the dead. There is much to enjoy, but it doesn't work as well as the first two volumes, marred by occasions when the omniscient narrative voice becomes a hectoring bore, and the apocalyptic finish dribbles away into appendices.
