One’s Company (literary fiction)
Ashley Hutson
This is for you freaks who love tales of obsession. This debut takes comfort television to a whole other realm. After suffering a tragedy, Bonnie finds comfort in the 1970s hit sitcom Three’s Company. A few years after the tragedy Bonnie wins the lottery (cool right!? Wrong.) With her winnings she decides to buy a property in the middle of nowhere and reconstruct the set of the show. She then proceeds to live the rest of her life out cyclically as characters from the show. This one is absolutely for the weird girls, for the ones with hyperfixations, who just want to be left alone, who love their favorite things a little too much. I found this to be absolutely brilliant. Comfort and pathology come nose to nose in an epic faceoff and it becomes clear in the end which one wins. This is an Anaiis certified must read.
Thank You for Listening (contemporary romance)
Julia Whelan
A sparkling contemporary romance from Julia Whelan. This is Emily Henry for audiobook lovers. Of course, it is no coincidence as the brilliant Ms. Whelan narrates all of Henry’s books. In this story, a former actress-turned-audiobook narrator struggles to come to terms with a traumatic event in her past. As she is watching her best friend’s acting career take an upward trajectory, she commiserates about the downturn her own career has taken. Her life is made only more complicated after a night to remember in Vegas with a mysterious Irish stranger. When she accepts a new romance novel project to pay for her grandmother’s care after being staunchly anti-romance, chemistry between her and her co-narrator could spell disaster. Now this summary may sound formulaic (and maybe it is a bit), but I personally don’t think there’s anything wrong with a genre romance being a genre romance.** Listening to this felt like a breath of fresh air, I smiled, I kicked my feet, I teared up, I gasped. The relationships felt complex and layered, the conflict was interesting, the lore went deep, the characters were just so so so much fun. There isn’t much more I can ask for from a contemporary romance comedy—this checked all the boxes. I highly recommend that you listen to this one rather than read a physical copy. Whelan does a wonderful job.
**I decided to include a quote from the book here because it does a better job scolding romance haters than I can in this small paragraph. (HEA stands for happily ever after):
“Of course there should be an HEA. I’m so sick of this question. It’s a romance! That’s the deal we make with our readers. It’s misogyny, plain and simple. You don’t see anyone telling mystery readers they’re silly and unserious for wanting to know by the end of the book who the murderer was. Fuck off.”
The Dry Heart (literary fiction)
Natalia Ginsburg
Do you yearn?
Have you ever been done so, so dirty by someone who chased you?
Have you ever dated a man shorter than you and let him wrong you?
Boy, do I have the book for you. Natalia Ginsburg traces a visceral arc of how a person can go from a girl who is so desperate to be loved that she will do almost anything, to a woman who kills her husband in cold blood (don’t worry it’s not a spoiler). I won’t lie to you this is a brutal read. There are lines in this book that stripped me bare and left me feeling empty. Ginsburg communicates the protagonist’s feelings in ways that feel subliminal—this woman will get right under your skin and you will love her for it. The incredibly short novel (only 88 pages) is part psychological thriller and part character study. Don’t let the length fool you; this packs a punch.
