Fang Fiction, Kate Slayman-London
Fang Fiction is the first vampire book I have ever read besides Twilight (I know I know), and I was not disappointed. That Slayman-London is a Swiftie was evident from the author description (justice for Reputation, heart-eyed emoji), as well as two of her characters being named Taylor and August, and with feminist writing and nods to Twilight itself, I could not have asked for anything more. (Except maybe a Grey’s Anatomy reference? Then my world would have come full circle.) Slayman-London’s book follows Tess, a Columbia PhD literature student who drops out after experiencing a sexual assault. While working nights at a hotel, one of the vampires from her favorite novel comes seeking her help, and Tess is pulled into a new world that she knows intricately well, and even manages to stumble into some romance on the way. Other reviews have described this novel as a mix of Twilight and Buffy fan fiction, which probably means it is time for me to sit down and watch Buffy! (I know I know).
Between Two Kingdoms: What Almost Dying Taught Me About Living, Suleika Jaouad
I first discovered Suleika Jaouad on Instagram years ago through her writing prompts about surviving, and living with, cancer. When I saw her memoir in a Moroccan bookshop, I had to get it. Although I do not typically enjoy memoirs, I knew from perusing Jaouad’s Instagram that hers had a shot at being that rare exception (much like Educated by Tara Westover, who also provided a blurb for Between Two Kingdoms). Jaouad was diagnosed with leukemia shortly after graduating from university, and she intimately describes the years of sickness that followed, recording her most inner and private thoughts and feelings, as well as her longings to just be well – and to never have had to enter the realm of the sick in the first place. She also writes about the many, many letters and emails she received over the years, mostly in response to a New York Times column she wrote before becoming too sick to write, and the last third of the book follows her in remission along an immense cross-country road trip to visit many of the people who wrote to her while she was in the hospital. And about my reading world coming full circle? She binge watched Grey’s Anatomy from her hospital bed.