Hello!
Earlier this year, I decided to read and review on Amazon and Goodreads four books released the same day as Windfall. It's a way of rooting for writers going through the same thing as me at the exact same time. It’s also a way for me to worry less about how my book is doing in its first month out in the world, by 1) having a stack of good books to read, and 2) focusing on lifting up other writers. (Not that any of these writers needed my boost! They’re all amazing on their own.) And it has helped me get in the habit of reviewing more of the books I read, one of my 2023 goals. I've seen firsthand how important quality crowd-sourced reviews are for authors, especially debut ones like me.
Here are my reviews of four books released the same day as Windfall. All are novels, wonderful in their own ways—and very different! I thought I'd share my reviews here, in case any of you are looking for a Valentine’s Day gift for your sweetheart, or a title to add to your library holds.
PLEASE REPORT YOUR BUG HERE - By Josh Riedel
Ethan Block is a 24-year-old millennial tech worker living the startup dream in 2010 — long days and the promise of a big payoff from a popular dating app about to be acquired by the Facebook-like entity known as The Corporation. But his work is accompanied by deep loneliness, lingering heartbreak over his split with his girlfriend, and the dawning and soul-crushing understanding that the mission statement he's writing for DateDate is as empty as The Founder's promise to vest Ethan when the app is acquired.
The book takes a sci-fi turn when Ethan discovers that the app is embedded with technology that allows travel to other dimensions. No spoilers, but the plot hinges on this discovery as Ethan tries to recreate and ultimately understand the mysterious bug.
Please Report Your Bug is written by a Silicon Valley insider—Instagram's first employee—who peppers the book with love letters to San Francisco. There are delightful details about the natural beauty of the Bay Area, as well as not-so-flattering accounts of the effects of gentrification and the tech lifestyle on a vibrant yet flawed city. (Particularly eye-rolling yet funny is the protagonist's coffee and taco snobbery.)
The book will appeal to readers who enjoyed the memoir "Uncanny Valley" by Anna Wiener or the novel "Severance" by Ling Ma.
VINTAGE CONTEMPORARIES - By Dan Kois
Emily is a young college graduate in New York City in the early 1990s, when she meets another young Emily, a woman with more ease in New York City's seedier side. The story traces the lives of these GenXers in the early days of their careers as writers, artists and activists — and how they drift apart and come back together as they approach their 40s.
It is a poignant look at the intensity of friendship in our early 20s, and how much work it takes to become a human being whose talent matches our taste. The book is a sweet nod to how these early friendships and life experiences and the art and culture we consume shape the adults we become.
Readers who like Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin will enjoy the multi-decade (and multigenerational) friendship at the heart of the book, as well as the insider peek into New York literary life. It's also reminiscent of Writers & Lovers by Lily King.
I KEEP MY EXOSKELETONS TO MYSELF - By Marisa Crane
What happens in a society where you must wear your shame literally on your sleeve? In Marisa Crane’s brilliant novel, this is the world Kris and their child must navigate. As Shadesters, they walk the world marked by an extra shadow, a punishment for their alleged crimes, in an authoritarian society that has lost its humanity.
This is a deep look at grief and its multigenerational ripples, coupled with a story of resistance to the status quo, as well as an examination of how queer families must often build a chosen family. There’s plenty of raunch—Kris mourns a lost lover and Crane does not hold back with the sex scenes. There’s also a tender story of rising over and over agin to the occasion of parenthood.
The book will appeal to readers who liked The Argonauts, the memoir by Maggie Nelson; Ursula LeGuin’s novel the Left Hand of Darkness; and the precocious voice of Swiv in Miriam Toews’ novel Fight Night.
THE REUNION - By Kayla Olson
Liv Latimer is a former teen star who grew up on camera, and has returned to the spotlight with a reunion show — and possible reboot — of the series that made her famous. She reunites with her cast mates 20 years after their show premiered. Much has changed, but it turns out they haven't outgrown their youthful crushes, jealousies or most importantly, their deep friendships.
This is a fun romance about second chances at love and careers and friendship. It's impossible not to cast all the characters in your head as you're reading—here's hoping for an on-screen Reunion starring some of the cast members from classic CW shows! But you'll like this book even if you didn't have whole OC-themed playlists on your iPod in 2004.
Readers who liked the novel Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld and the memoir I'm Glad my Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy will enjoy The Reunion.
All of the books I mention in this newsletter can always be found in my Bookshop list of recommended reads.
I've been on a fiction jag, so up next are four upcoming nonfiction books by authors who I know, and whose books I'm excited to read, review and cheer on in person when they appear at Powell’s in the coming weeks: Wolfish by Erica Berry, The Great Displacement by Jake Bittle, Blood Money by Kathleen McLaughlin and Under the Henfluence by Tove Danovich.
Love,
Erika
PS: I did an interview about Windfall on OPB, the local NPR affiliate. It was such a pleasure to talk to Dave Miller, one of the smartest, best-prepared interviewers around. Listen to it here.
THE NEWS
All the links…
I'm baffled by the backlash to the 15-Minute City, the design concept that suggests nurturing equitable, climate-friendly neighborhoods can offer people most of what they need within a 15-minute walk, transit ride or bike ride of their home. (I live in one, after all. I can sing its virtues!) Some reading suggestions, if you, too, are curious about why this threatens to become another battle in the culture wars.
Is the tiny little neighborhood the city of the future?
Countering the false claims that 15-Minute Cities are actually 'climate lockdowns.'
Why the 15-Minute City may not translate to all North American cities.