Hi, lovelies. Here’s my month in books, movies, television, games, and podcasts.
Books
The standout read of the month was most definitely Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia — a book that has received well deserved praise since it’s publication.
When Noemi Taboada receives a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin describing some terrible doom and begging for help, she travels to High Place, a house located deep in the Mexican mountains. The site of once booming silver mining community, High Place and the surrounding community is now run down and giving in to decay. The family themselves are for the most part cold, distant, and strange — and hiding some dark secret.
Mexican Gothic is a masterfully told story, building an unsettling tension into every moment that Noemi is in the house. Noemi herself is also a new favorite heroine. As a debutant accustomed to attending glamorous parties in the city, she’s caught off guard by the remoteness of the house. In addition to the glamour, though, she brings wit, intelligence, and determination. However cold or controlling the family may try to be, she matches them with her own will, not allowing herself to be overcome by them or anything else. A genuinely fantastic book.
The Good House by Tananarive Due is an utterly fantastic horror novel. Angela Toussant inherited the Good House from her grandmother, a woman well known in the small Sacajawea, Washington, community for her “healing magic.” When Angela returns with her son for summer vacation, she hopes to draw on some of that magic to heal her broken marriage. Instead, a surprising and violent tragedy strikes, driving her into a deep depression. Years later, she returns with the aim of healing her own emotional wounds, only to instead begin to notice a pattern of tragedies that may all be connected to something restless living within her old family property.
Octavia E. Butler’s Fledgeling is the story of a 53-year old black vampire who looks like a 12 year old girl. When the story opens, Shori has no memory of who or what she is — all she knows is that she is wounded, starving, and lost. As she heals, she begins to dig into her past in an attempt to discover who she is and who tried to kill her. This is one of the most fascinating portrayals of vampires that I’ve read, presenting a unique complex culture with found families based on symbiotic relationships between vampires and humans. There are so many layers here work unpacking: genetic manipulation, power structures, interesting family structures with polyamorous love, and racism, among other things. It makes for a fascinating storyline with complicated, interesting characters. One of those books that’ll go onto my favorites list.