The Seattle Public Library’s Summer Book Bingo, which runs from May to September, is my Super Bowl. Each year, the library announces a new bingo card with different reading prompts on the squares, and readers can turn in their completed cards for a chance to win prizes in a drawing—a bingo can get you a commemorative tote bag, while a blackout can win one of several prizes, such as a Create Your Own Series subscription to SAL’s 2025/26 Season. Every bingo card is created by a local artist, with this year’s adorable card designed by illustrator Marlowe of Odd Rabbits. This year's program was also created in collaboration with King County Library System, so KCLS patrons can join the fun.
As someone who grew up with the Scholastic Book Fair and participated in Barnes and Nobles’ youth summer reading program to earn free books as a kid, the challenge is a welcome dose of nostalgia. It’s not often we get rewarded for reading in adulthood, so I’ll take any chance I can get! I wait all year for the bingo card to be announced and then obsessively plot my reading list the second it’s out.
This year, my fellow Stranger staff culture writer Audrey Vann and I are sharing our hand-picked list of recommendations with you. We’ve got it all: lesbian cannibalism, an apocalyptic novel told from the POV of a pet crow, children who spontaneously burst into flames, a romance with a lumberjack, a treehouse in the woods, goblin-like babies, female Sasquatches, and so much more! We hope you have as much fun reading our guide as we did putting it together. Happy Book Bingo season to all who celebrate! —JULIANNE BELL
Key: ⭐ Read & recommend | ★ Plan to read
BINGO SQUARE: Suggested by a Library Worker
⭐ After Tonight Everything Will Be Different by Adam Gnade
I picked up this slim Bread & Roses Press-published “food novel” after seeing it displayed as a librarian pick at the Capitol Hill library and being enticed by the delicious-looking burrito on the cover. The book’s title comes from a line in one of my all-time favorite films, the sumptuous 1998 Italian American masterpiece Big Night (starring a young Stanley Tucci, watch it if you haven’t yet!), and author Adam Gnade uses it to summarize the misguided hopefulness of the American Dream. Each chapter revolves around the memory of a different food, from scrambled eggs to nacho cheese Doritos and from eggplant parmesan to boxed brownie mix. As a connoisseur of lowbrow food, I loved how the sensual, unpretentious descriptions elevated even the most humble of processed snacks and how all these meals added up to tell a gritty, soulful coming-of-age story. JB
★ A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter
You can get a good book recommendation from a library worker in numerous ways: asking in person, submitting a form through their Next Five Books program, or—the antisocial way—by combing through their online lists of staff favorites. I came across the 1938 memoir A Woman in the Polar Night (suggested by librarian Abby B.) on the nonfiction staff picks list and quickly put it on hold. The book chronicles Austrian painter Christiane Ritter’s year spent living in a tiny hut with her husband on an Arctic island north of Norway. I love books about lonely women, frigid weather, and remote living, so I can’t wait to dive into this one. AV
Other Ideas:
★ All Fours by Miranda July
★ Feeding Ghosts by Tessa Hulls
★ The Girls by John Bowen
★ Thunder Song: Essays by Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe
BINGO SQUARE: SAL Speaker (Past or Present)
⭐ In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
This memoir by past SAL speaker Carmen Maria Machado permanently altered my brain chemistry when I first read it—I burned through the first 100 pages effortlessly in one day and it began to seep into my dreams. Machado recounts her experience of falling for a charismatic but dangerous woman in her MFA program at the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop and becoming ensnared in an emotionally, mentally, and physically abusive relationship. Working under the definition of "archivist" as "master of the house," Machado never lets you forget that she is the one in control of this story—the architect of the "dream house" and her own memories. She implements a variety of formats—e.g. “Dream House as Lesbian Cult Classic” and “Dream House as Bildungsroman”—and uses footnotes to fairy-tale tropes and her own memories to link her narrative to a greater folk-tale tradition and mythology, drawing the reader’s attention to the conspicuous gap left by the lack of queer stories (especially ones about abuse) in history and literature. This book will gaslight you, dazzle you, and change your perception of the world. JB
★ Matrix by Lauren Groff
I’ve been itching to read a book about nuns lately, and 2021 SAL speaker Lauren Groff's newest book, Matrix, fits the bill. Set in the 12th century, this historical novel follows a seventeen-year-old girl sent to England to be the new prioress of a destitute abbey. Historical fiction tends to intimidate me a little, but, I think the elements of feminist utopia, magical realism, and queer subtext will add a fresh take to the genre. Plus, the back of the book describes it as a “defiant and timely exploration of the raw power of female creativity in a corrupted world,” so you can count me in. AV
Other ideas:
⭐ Bluets by Maggie Nelson
★ Land of Milk and Honey by C. Pam Zhang
⭐ Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
BINGO SQUARE: Grief
⭐ Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
In Our Wives Under the Sea, Miri’s marine biologist wife Leah returns from a disastrous deep-sea submarine mission irrevocably changed in ways that are difficult for Miri to quantify or express to others—Leah begins to behave strangely, locking herself in the bathroom to soak in the tub for hours and craving salt water. As Miri struggles to come to grips with her mysterious new reality, we learn more about her loving relationship with Leah and what their life together was like through fragmented flashbacks. The book somehow manages to perfectly capture the absurdity and ineffability of grief, as well as the sense of loss and heartbreak. It also reawakened my childhood fascination with the deep sea. Not everyone will enjoy the ambiguity of this novel, but it instantly became a new favorite for me, and I was left thinking about the characters long after I’d turned the last page. JB
⭐ Lucy Gayheart by Willa Cather
I cannot overstate how special this book is to me. Like many of Willa Cather’s novels, Lucy Gayheart (1935) tells the story of the eponymous heroine and her search for freedom and dedication to art. Lucy moves from a small, snowy town in Nebraska to New York City to be a big-time piano accompanist. Just as the eighteen-year-old begins to settle into her new life and begins a risky love affair, Lucy suffers an unimaginable loss that leaves her yearning for her innocence. The novel tackles a particular type of grief as she’s haunted by questions of “what could have been?” I have never read another work of fiction that more accurately represents the loss of optimism as a young person. AV
Other ideas:
⭐ Another Country by James Baldwin
⭐ Death Valley by Melissa Broder
⭐ Moshi Moshi and Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
BINGO SQUARE: PNW Nature
★ Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buckman
I am only a few chapters into this book, which I found via the library’s book bingo suggestion list, but I am already obsessed with it. The elevator pitch is as follows: An intelligent, wisecracking, Cheeto-loving pet crow in Seattle named Shit Turd (S.T. for short) fights to rescue humanity (which he refers to as “MoFos”) from a zombie apocalypse, accompanied by a stupid, slobbery dog named Dennis. I mean, how can you NOT want to read this? Did I mention it’s laugh-out-loud funny and told in first person from the crow’s point of view? There are also many references to the Seattle setting that are sure to make locals smile and nod in recognition. Read it to get over your The Last of Us withdrawals. JB
★ Nature Obscura: A City's Hidden Natural World by Kelly Brenner
In Seattle, we are lucky to live amongst a plethora of mountains, beaches, and trails, yet many of us live in apartments that look out to dumpsters, scaffolding, or a sad patch of grass soiled by the neighborhood dogs. (Is this the grass that Gen Z is always telling me to touch!?) Seattle-based naturalist, writer, and artist Kelly Brenner’s urban, whimsical nature guide teaches city dwellers how to engage with nature, regardless of where they live, by spying on overlooked creatures like spiders, crows, slime molds, and water bears. AV
Other ideas:
★ The Curve of Time by M. Wylie Blanchet
★ Egg and I by Betty MacDonald
★ The Living by Annie Dillard
BINGO SQUARE: Censorship
★ The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa
I plan to use this category to finally read this book I snagged at a used bookstore in Texas a couple of years ago. The dreamlike story concerns an unnamed novelist on a dystopian island where an unknown force causes people to mysteriously lose all of their memories tied to a common object or concept, like “perfume” or “birds,” and all of those things are then forcibly removed. However, a few people rebel by hanging on to their memories and attempting to evade the so-called Memory Police. The protagonist must help her editor, R, who remembers some of the forgotten objects, by hiding him in a secret room in her home. It’s kind of like Lois Lowry’s The Giver for adults, showing the eternal significance of art and storytelling in our lives (and why authoritarian regimes want to do their best to quash them, which is sadly very relevant given recent funding cuts). Plus, a movie adaptation starring Lily Gladstone is currently being made, so if you read it now, you can be ahead of the curve. JB
★ Cinema, Censorship, and the State: The Writings of Nagisa Oshima, 1956-1978 by Nagisa Oshima
The only film by the Japanese New Wave director Nagisa Oshima I’ve seen is 1976’s In the Realm of the Senses, and it was enough to scare me away from his other movies. While there are many boundary-pushing moments in the erotic art film, the one that is forever burned into my brain is when a man puts a peeled hard-boiled egg into a woman’s vagina and asks her to push it out. It’s sort of amazing in an absurd kind of way, but not even the king of filth himself, John Waters, has gone this far. Unsurprisingly, his films have been banned, censored, and altered worldwide (In the Realm of the Sensesremains banned in Japan to this day!) This collection compiles over 40 of Oshima’s writings that cover “the economics of film production, the ethics of the documentary film, censorship (both political and sexual), and the relation of aesthetics and social taboos.” AV
Other ideas:
★ For the Sun After Long Nights: The Story of Iran's Women-Led Uprising by Fatemeh Jamalpour and Nilo Tabrizy
BINGO SQUARE: Author from Another Continent
⭐ The Birds by Tarjei Vesaas
Despite my general aversion to male authors, Norway’s Tarjei Vesaas is slowly becoming one of my all-time favorites. His 1957 novel The Birds is a delightful character study of outcast siblings and their mundane life in rural Norway. Mattis is an imaginative, sweet-natured man who is riddled with social anxiety. His older sister, Hege, who longs for independence from her brother, hides her depression by compulsively knitting sweaters (same, girl). Their routine life gets shaken up as Mattis decides to become a self-employed ferryman on his janky boat, and Hege falls in love with a lumberjack. Needless to say, tension, whimsy, and sexual exploration ensue. AV
⭐ Butter Honey Pig Bread by francesca ekwuyasi
I devoured this lovely debut novel by queer Nigerian Canadian writer francesca ekwuyasi this week and highly recommend it. The nonlinear story is split into four parts named for each of the titular foods and alternates between three different characters’ narratives: mother Kambirinachi and her twin daughters Kehinde and Taiye. Kambirinachi believes she is an ogbanje, a non-human spirit said to plague a family by repeatedly dying and returning in a new reincarnation, and fears that she and her loved ones are being punished for her defiant decision to remain tethered to the realm of the living. Her twins are inseparable until a traumatic childhood event drives them apart, and each copes with her burdens differently as an adult: Kehinde cultivates a career as an artist and seeks to start a family of her own, whereas Taiye parties, plunges into hedonistic hookups with a series of hot women, and pursues a deep passion for food at culinary school. The prose is swoon-worthy and full of sensual, delicious food descriptions, with touches of magical realism. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Nigerian Canadian performer Amaka Umeh, whose buttery voice and realistic accents added an extra layer of enjoyment. JB
★ The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
One thing about me is that I’m a total slut for any story that could be described as “psychosexual/homoerotic obsession.” It’s like catnip to me—I just can’t get enough. So when I first heard about The Safekeep by Dutch author Yael van der Wouden, I immediately filed it away in my mental TBR list. The book takes place during the summer of 1961 in the rural Dutch province of Overijssel and follows the “desire, suspicion, and obsession” between the orderly control freak Isabel and her brother’s messy, intense new girlfriend Eva. Isabel’s initial paranoia about Eva gives way to passion as the two are stuck in close proximity in the same house for a summer. It was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize, so my expectations are high! JB
Other ideas:
★ Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide
⭐ Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
⭐Country Girls by Edna O’Brien
BINGO SQUARE: Suggested by an Independent Bookseller
★ The Lamb by Lucy Rose
I bought this book on sight after spying a handwritten employee recommendation at Elliott Bay, and though I haven’t gotten the chance to read it yet, I think this prompt will be the perfect opportunity to take it off my bookshelf. The synopsis describes it as a “gothic coming-of-age tale” about Margot, who lives in a secluded cabin in the woods with her mother. Her beloved “Mama” has a nasty habit of taking in “strays,” caring for them affectionately…and then cooking them up for dinner. One day, a beguiling stray named Eden wanders in during a snowstorm and awakens new feelings of desire in Margot, forcing her to reevaluate what she wants from life. Um, lesbian cannibalism? Female rage? A plot that sounds like Shirley Jackson meets Yellowjackets? Consider me sold! JB
★ Reflections in a Golden Eye by Carson McCullers
Luckily, my partner Brett is an independent bookseller (at Pegasus Book Exchange), so I didn’t even have to get up from the couch to receive a meaningful book recommendation. He knows that I love midcentury female authors, arty erotic novels, Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, and old Hollywood lore, so it only makes sense that he’d suggest the queer classic Reflections in a Golden Eye by Carson McCullers (which was later adapted into a film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando). I’ve seen the novel categorized as “grotesque fiction,” so maybe that’s how I should start describing my taste in books. AV
Other ideas:
★ Anima Rising by Christopher Moore (recommended by Eric at Pegasus Book Exchange)
⭐ Bunny by Mona Awad (recommended by Josie at Pegasus Book Exchange)
★ Above Us the Milky Way by Fowzia Karimi (recommended by Elliott Bay Book Company)
BINGO SQUARE: Flower on the Cover/In Title
⭐ Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson
This prompt might bring to mind a cheery read, but if you’re in the mood for something darker, allow me to suggest this quick, easy horror novella. Lovelorn literature professor Rosemary moves to a small town after breaking up with her cheating boyfriend and quickly becomes smitten with Ash, a charming cottagecore femme who sells her own handmade candles, cupcakes, and soap at the farmers market and who seems suspiciously perfect in every way. Little does Rosemary know that her bisexual awakening will lead her down a treacherous path to something unspeakably sinister. Does this book have the most beautiful or original prose I’ve ever read? No, but it was a fun time and I inhaled it right up to the twisted ending. JB
★ The Magical Language of Others by E.J. Koh
After sorting through my bookshelves and Goodreads “Want To Read” lists for books with flowers on the cover (there are not as many as you might think!), I finally remembered local poet E.J. Koh’s memoir, The Magical Language of Others, which features a woman hiding behind two large white flowers on the cover. (Magnolias? Anemones? Camellias? I’ll probably be able to tell you after I read the book!) In what’s described on the jacket as a “powerful and aching love story in letters,” Koh reconciles with her parents’ absence in her childhood when they moved to South Korea and left her and her brother in California. Fast forward to adulthood, when Koh finds a box of Korean-language letters from her mother that she begins to translate, finally understanding her mother’s yearning for love and forgiveness. AV
Other ideas:
★ The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes
★But Not Too Bold by Hache Pueyo
★The Manor of Dreams by Christina Li
★Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour
⭐ How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
BINGO SQUARE: Intergenerational Friendship
★ Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa
This book reeled me in with its pretty cover and promise of a heartwarming story about an unlikely friendship. Sentaro is a middle-aged ex-con and failed writer with a drinking problem. He works at a sweets shop and spends his days making dorayaki, a traditional dessert featuring sweet bean paste sandwiched between two puffy pancakes. After Sentaro reluctantly hires a septuagenarian woman named Tokue, he discovers that she makes the best sweet bean paste ever despite her disfigured hands, and the two form an unexpected bond as she teaches him her craft. I’m crying already! JB
★ The Pachinko Parlor by Elisa Shua Dusapin
Last year, I read Elisa Shua Dusapin’s debut novel Winter in Sokcho and was completely enraptured by the novel’s quiet tension and hazy atmosphere. So, I was determined to make her second novel, The Pachinko Parlor, fit onto my book bingo board—I didn’t have to stretch the rules because it’s apparently about an intergenerational friendship. The book, which one Goodreads reviewer described as “depressed Studio Ghibli,” follows 29-year-old Claire as she divides her time between tutoring a 12-year-old named Mieko, lying on the floor at her grandparents' house, playing Tetris, and generally feeling a lack of purpose in her life. Gradually, Mieko and Claire's relationship grows into a strong familial bond unlike anything they’ve previously experienced. AV
Other ideas:
★ The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
⭐ Summer Book by Tove Jansson
BINGO SQUARE: New-to-You Format
⭐ Couplets by Maggie Millner
I had trouble thinking of what to read for this category, since I already love audiobooks, e-books, and graphic novels (a few of the alternative formats suggested by SPL). In any case, if you’ve never read a semi-autobiographical novel told in rhyming verse before, may I suggest Maggie Millner’s debut? This book follows an unnamed 28-year-old woman in Brooklyn who harbors secret fantasies about lesbian sex and begins a torrid affair with a woman, resulting in a cataclysmic breakup with her longtime boyfriend. The text explores themes like sexuality, queerness, polyamory, love, and second adolescence, all within the confines of couplets, which is an especially remarkable feat when you take into account how free-flowing the subject matter is. It’s a super-fast read and one that left a lasting impression on me. JB
⭐ Second Hand Love by Murasaki Yamada
Regrettably, I almost made it to the age of 30 without giving manga a chance—I’d long held the assumption that manga was about nerd stuff (superheroes, etc)—but after reading this collection by feminist artist, essayist, and poet Murasaki Yamada, my mind has been completely changed. Second Hand Love compiles two of Yamada’s books from the 1980s, which display her minimalist illustration style and poetic storytelling about feminine rage, loneliness, and motherhood. Not only did I find this new format to be stylistically exciting, but it was a thrill to read a book in reverse. Did I Google “how to read manga” before I started this book? Well, yes! AV
Other ideas:
⭐ Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila Heti (audiobook)
⭐ The Diary of Anaïs Nin by Anaïs Nin (diaries)
★ Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria by Sigmund Freud (case study)
★Angels in America by Tony Kushner (play)
⭐ On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden (graphic novel)
BINGO SQUARE: Dystopia
⭐ Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Okay, this book is not exactly new or obscure—it’s received countless accolades and came in ninth on the New York Times’ list of the 100 best books of the 21st century last year. I finally got around to reading it late last year, and predictably, it blew my mind. The book introduces us to a group of innocent young students in the ‘90s at an English boarding school where something unspeakable is not quite right. As we watch them grow up, the heartwrenching truth about their lives gradually comes into focus. I can honestly say I’ve truly never read a book quite like this before. I recommend going in knowing as little as possible and skipping the 2010 movie starring Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, and Andrew Garfield—I haven’t seen it but cannot fathom how a film adaptation of this story could possibly be satisfying. JB
⭐ The Wall by Marlen Haushofer
I am forever in debt to Portland Mercury/EverOut arts writer Lindsay Costello for recommending this one to me last year. The highly underrated feminist dystopian novel follows an unnamed middle-aged woman who becomes encased by an invisible wall while staying at her cousin’s alpine hunting lodge. With no option but to cope, the woman begins to adapt by farming, logging, and caring for the surviving animals, ultimately converting the dystopian landscape into a utopia for herself. The Wall was written in 1963, yet the writing is extremely fresh, relevant, and captivating. This one is perfect for readers who don’t think they like science fiction. AV
Other ideas:
★ Heroes and Villains by Angela Carter
★ The Last Man by Mary Shelley
★ Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
★ Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
⭐ I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
⭐ Yours for the Taking by Gabrielle Korn
BINGO SQUARE: Found Family
⭐ Nothing to See Here by by Kevin Wilson
I didn’t have high expectations for this book when I first picked it up, but it unexpectedly became one of my favorite reads of 2024. The slacker protagonist Lillian harbors an unrequited crush on her ex-best friend and former boarding school roommate Madison, but they haven’t spoken for years—until one day, when Madison unexpectedly reaches out asking for a favor. She’s now the glamorous wife of an old-money Southern politician and wants to hire Lillian as the governess for her new husband’s misfit twin stepkids Bessie and Roland, who have a peculiar affliction…They literally spontaneously burst into flames when they become agitated or upset. Lillian initially accepts the job out of necessity but helps the strange, awkward siblings with unconventional strategies to manage their fiery emotions and starts to find purpose in her life by caring for them. It’s wildly original, moving, hilarious, and sweet without being at all saccharine or sentimental, delivering lessons about love, family, and the superiority of Dolly Parton. I recommend the audiobook version, as narrator Marin Ireland’s lackadaisical Southern drawl and deadpan delivery really bring the story to life. JB
⭐ Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid
On the surface, Jamaica Kincaid’s Lucy is a simple story about a 19-year-old from the West Indies who moves to the US to work as an au pair for a wealthy white family. But through the titular character’s expressive internal dialogue, Kincaid brings large-scale themes like colonialism, imperialism, racism, and sexism to a deeply personal place. This isn’t the type of found family story with a happy ending, but rather an exploration of a woman’s rage at feeling confined by family ties.
Other ideas:
★ First Love: Essays on Friendship by Lilly Dancyger
★ Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin
⭐ Family Meal by Bryan Washington
⭐ Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
BINGO SQUARE: Resistance
⭐ Disobedient by Elizabeth Fremantle
If the words “Negroni…sbagliato…with prosecco in it” pronounced in a suave English accent mean anything to you, then you’ll understand why I needed to listen to the audiobook of this novel as soon as I found out that it was read by queer heartthrob Emma D’Arcy. (They also narrated the audiobook for our “buddy read” suggestion Fair Play by Tove Jansson!) Thirst aside, the book itself is a fascinating historical fiction take on the early life of the brilliant Italian baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi, the first woman to become a member of the Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence in a time when female artists were virtually unheard of. After being sexually assaulted by painter Agostino Tassi, Gentileschi seeks vengeance and channels her rage into the iconic masterpiece Judith Slaying Holofernes. (Be warned that this book contains graphic descriptions of rape.) JB
★ Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde’s essays are far from unknown, but in my opinion, they are so good that they will always remain underrated. I read her Cancer Journals a few years ago while I was recovering from thyroid cancer, and her reflections on rage, the medical system, and mortality made me feel deeply comforted and seen. I am looking forward to cracking open her essay/speech collection Sister Outsider this summer to read resistance-encouraging works like The Transformation of Silence Into Language and Action and The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism. AV
Other ideas:
★ A Short History of Trans Misogyny by Jules Gill-Peterson
★ It Was Vulgar & It Was Beautiful by Jack Lowery
★ The Will To Change by Bell Hooks
⭐ How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
BINGO SQUARE: Humor
⭐ French Exit by Patrick deWitt
This witty dark comedy is the literary equivalent of a Wes Anderson film, filled with a quirky cast of characters and humor as dry as a martini. The wealthy Manhattan widow Frances Price and her codependent adult son Malcolm go bankrupt, scrape together the last of their cash, and abscond on a cruise to a friend’s loaned apartment in Paris, along with their trusty cat Small Frank (who Frances believes to be the reincarnation of her late lawyer husband). Hilarity ensues. Read it while sipping a Corpse Reviver #2 (a cocktail that makes a cameo in the book). JB
★ The Collected Cathy Comics by Cathy Guisewite
If you are ambitious enough to complete all 24 bingo squares before September, then you need to reward yourself with a few easy reads. I’ll be reading a collection of the long-running gag-a-day comic strip created by Cathy Guisewite. Unlike many other books in this list, these comics are far from timeless. I am fully expecting to roll my eyes at the strips about food guilt and the ol’ ball and chain called marriage. But just like watching a ‘90s rom-com, turning off your mind and enjoying the dated jokes can provide an incredibly cozy experience. This book is best served with a pot of Celestial Seasonings Raspberry Zinger. AV
Other ideas:
★ The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford
⭐ Little Weirds by Jenny Slate
⭐Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
⭐Anything by Samantha Irby
BINGO SQUARE: Disability
⭐ All’s Well by Mona Awad
A couple of years ago, I began experiencing chronic illness and agonizing pain flares out of seemingly nowhere overnight and found little to no representation of my experience in art. I already loved Mona Awad’s freaky weird girl lit fic books Bunny and Rouge, so when I heard that her novel All’s Well had a protagonist plagued by excruciating chronic back pain, I was all in. Miranda Fitch is a former actress who was injured in an onstage accident while performing in All’s Well That Ends Well, effectively putting an end to her promising stage career and breaking up her marriage. Years later, she’s a bitter, cynical college theater director hanging on by a thread and constantly popping painkillers. She’s obsessed with the idea of redeeming herself by staging a student production of All’s Well That Ends Well, but the cast is determined to go over her head to put on the far more popular Macbeth instead. One night, after three mysterious men in a bar grant Miranda a blessing, everything in her life starts to go bizarrely well for a change, and she begins to exact revenge on everyone who hurt and underestimated her. This fever dream of a book does an incredible job of depicting what it’s like to live with chronic pain, showing how it can rob people of their dreams and how women in pain are doubted, blamed, and gaslighted by the medical field (and basically everyone else) at every turn. JB
★ The Hearing Test by Eliza Barry Callahan
In Eliza Barry Callahan’s semi-autobiographical novel The Hearing Test, a woman keeps a record of the year that she was diagnosed with sudden deafness. This book is often compared to the works of experimental novelist Rachel Cusk, so I am looking forward to spending an afternoon getting lost in Callahan’s lyrical prose and shapeshifting ideas that are not just thought-provoking but quite humorous and playful. AV
Other ideas:
★ Disability Intimacy: Essays on Love, Care, and Desire edited by Alice Wong
★ True Biz by Sara Novic
⭐ Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
BINGO SQUARE: Great Escapes
⭐ Living in the Woods in a Tree: Remembering Blaze Foley by Sybil Rosen
I believe that book bingo categories are up to interpretation, so, depending on what type of books you like, this category could mean an exhilarating jailbreak thriller or, like for me, a cozy memoir about a country music icon. Written by Blaze Foley’s long-time girlfriend, Sybil Rosen, this book serves as a roadmap through their relationship, which included escaping to the idyllic Georgia woods to live in a treehouse. AV
Other ideas:
★ The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
★ August by Judith Rossner
★ Abigail by Magda Szabó
★ The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington
★Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
BINGO SQUARE: Monsters
⭐ Feast While You Can by Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta
I can’t stop screaming about this book to everyone I know. It’s a horror romance written by a married lesbian couple and follows Angelina Sicco, a femme dyke who adores her small, sleepy Italian hometown Cadenze and her loyal mutt My Dog. She’s also navigating her confusing feelings for her brother Patrick’s sexy butch ex-girlfriend, the village pariah Jagvi. Amidst all this, a strange monster known as “the thing from the pit,” which has haunted the Sicco family for generations, begins to infiltrate Angelina from the inside out, feeding on her memories and wresting control of her body…and Jagvi’s touch might just be the only thing that can protect her. It’s both absolutely terrifying and blisteringly hot. If you fuck with Carmen Maria Machado or Julia Armfield, trust me—you need this in your life. JB
★ The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing
At this moment in time, on our doomed planet, the ethics of having children are on everyone's mind. Doris Lessing’s 1988 novel The Fifth Child can either provide answers or complicate the dilemma even further. The story follows a couple and their four children in 1960s England who are committed to their life of domestic bliss until their fifth child is born—a baby boy with “goblin-like” features, an insatiable appetite, and super strength. The family’s inability to love him brings to mind the gothic classic Frankenstein and further ponders: how can you reject someone who didn’t ask to be born? AV
Other ideas:
★ Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer
★ Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova
BINGO SQUARE: Read in Public
⭐ Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen
I’m tempted to suggest the smuttiest, most ridiculous monster erotica I can dig up for this category, but I’ll settle for this hilarious book instead, because the cover is nearly as intriguing and is sure to inspire questions from onlookers. The dark comedy/horror novel alternates between multiple perspectives to tell the story of the cast of a Bachelor-type reality dating show called The Catch, filmed on a fictional Pacific Northwest island called “Otters Island.” Reluctant contestant Renee, the first Black woman to make it to the show’s final four, is dealing with her secret attraction to fellow contestant Amanda, a basic straight white girl influencer. Things take a turn when the cast and crew run into a cult that worships a giant female Sasquatch. It’s a lot of fun and delivers a razor-sharp satire of reality TV, with plausible details that seem extremely accurate to what must actually go on behind the scenes. Whether you’re a faithful member of Bachelor Nation or totally indifferent, I’m willing to bet you’ll have a great time. JB
⭐ The Riddles of the Sphinx: Inheriting the Feminist History of the Crossword Puzzle by Anna Shechtman
If you read this in public, you will not only look smart-as-hell but will also help share the feminist history of the crossword puzzle—something I knew nothing about until picking up this book. In this part memoir, part cultural analysis, crossword puzzle creator Anna Shechtman investigates the link between mental illness (particularly gendered “hysteria”) and puzzling. As a woman who uses crossword puzzles to relieve my anxiety, this book spoke to me deeply. AV
Other ideas:
★ Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
⭐ Dogs of Summer by Andrea Abreu
BINGO SQUARE: BIPOC Historical Fiction/Nonfiction
★ Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women, and Queer Radicals by Saidiya Hartman
I was captivated by the concept of this book after reading critic Parul Sehgal’s rave review for the New York Times. Academic and writer Saidiya Hartman explores in depth the “evolution of black intimate life that unfolded in Philadelphia and New York at the beginning of the twentieth century” and finds that many young Black women created bold new forms of love and intimacy that defied the social rules and expectations of the time, paving the way for “a cultural movement that transformed the urban landscape.” Because these pioneering women were largely forgotten and usually not documented properly by history, Hartman had to use unconventional research techniques at times. She cleverly reads between the lines of historical texts and archives to finally do justice to their stories and pay them the long overdue credit they so richly deserve. JB
Other ideas:
★ Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
★ James by Percival Everett
BINGO SQUARE: One Big Book
★ To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse by Howard Fishman
I have had this phone-book-sized tome sitting in a stack by my bedside for far too long, and it’s time for me to finally read it all the way through. (Side note: It was also displayed in Elliott Bay’s recommended book section, so you can also use it for that category instead! Up to you.) Ever since the moment I first heard her via a chance auto-play on Spotify, I’ve been completely obsessed with the midcentury musician Connie Converse, whose genre-defying, sui generis music seems to exist outside of time and space and who disappeared mysteriously in 1974. It turns out that musician and New Yorkercontributor Howard Fishman had a similar reaction upon hearing Converse for the first time—in fact, he at first suspected her to be a fraud and a marketing stunt because her music sounded too essential to be so unknown. So, he did what anyone else would do and embarked on an all-consuming 12-year quest to learn more about her enigmatic life, conducting hundreds of in-depth interviews along the way. What he uncovers is fascinating—it turns out Converse was a reclusive polymath who was extraordinarily ahead of her time, virtually originating the idea of the DIY indie singer-songwriter decades before that was a thing and buying her own recording equipment to use at home long before it was common practice. In classic ADHD fashion, I’ve only read part of it, but the chapters I’ve read flew by, and I’ve already learned so much about music history and genre from Fishman’s incisive, engaging commentary. JB
⭐ Too Much of Life: The Complete Crônicas by Clarice Lispector
I tend to feel overwhelmed by giant novels, so this 742-page essay collection is within my comfort zone while still providing a challenge. While Ukrainian-born Brazilian novelist Clarice Lispector is known for her stream-of-consciousness-style fiction works, Too Much of Life: The Complete Crônicas compiles Lispector’s weekly newspaper column where she meditates on everything from fame and fashion to friendship and death. I started this book in January and am only a quarter finished because I’ve been consuming it in a daily devotion style, letting each crônica sit with me and marinate. AV
Other ideas:
⭐ Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson by Camille Paglia
★ Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 by Sarah Schulman
BINGO SQUARE: Hope
★ Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
This is yet another book that I picked up on a whim and then failed to finish before my library hold expired, but I am set on completing it this summer. At first blush, a post-apocalyptic novel might not seem like an obvious fit for a category titled “Hope,” but Station Eleven follows a character named Kirsten Raymonde, who, after a swine flu pandemic wipes out most of civilization, travels through the sparsely populated wasteland with a ragtag band of actors and musicians calling themselves the Traveling Symphony. Their nomadic troupe performs Shakespeare plays and classic music throughout the Great Lakes region and runs into a dangerous cult leader who calls himself the Prophet. It’s a beautiful testament to the endurance of the human spirit and importance of art and community, even (especially!) at the end of the world, and couldn’t we all use a little more of that right now? JB
⭐ Gift From The Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s perennial classic asks the question: How does one make art in a life full of responsibilities? The writer, aviator, and mother makes a case for why every person should escape from their lives for a few weeks each year, preferably to a beach, to explore their mind and prioritize their artistic practice. Even though this book was written back in 1955, her wariness of technology and eye for beauty in the natural world will make you want to throw your cell phone in the ocean, Carrie Bradshaw-style. AV
Other ideas:
⭐ The Book of Delights by Ross Gay
⭐ Wintering by Katherine May
★ Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
BINGO SQUARE: Gender Bender
⭐ Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor
I chose this queer cult classic for a Pride-themed book club with a few friends several years ago and immediately wondered where it had been all my life. The main character Paul Polydoris is a horny, opportunistic bartender at the only gay bar in a small university town in 1993 and can change his body at will, a mystical gift that he uses to embody different genders and gain access to multiple scenes and myriad sexual partners. He cruises as a gay man at a leather club, becomes a riot grrrl, falls in passionate U-Haul love as a lesbian at a music festival, and experiences unfulfilling hetero sex as a straight girl. The book is peppered with delightful ‘90s pop culture references and contains things seemingly yanked straight from my brain that I’ve never seen represented in literature before, like an ode to the glorious gayness of Joan Jett’s cover of “Crimson and Clover” and the Raincoats’ cover of “Lola.” JB
The Loving Spirit by Daphne Du Maurier
★You may have read Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca, but you’ve likely never even heard of her debut novel, The Loving Spirit. Taking its name from an Emily Brontë poem titled “Self-Interrogation,” the novel explores a battle between gender roles and personal desires through the ambitions of a young woman who yearns for a life of adventure and freedom. My friend initially recommended this book to me with the following elevator pitch: “Basically, it’s about a woman who wishes she were a man and then she gets to be reborn as her own grandson.” I love to see this type of gender fluidity in 1930s literature. AV
Other ideas:
★ Decolonize Drag by Kareem Khubchandani
★ The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
★ Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf
★ Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
BINGO SQUARE: Buddy Read
⭐ Happy Hour by Marlowe Granados
If Gossip Girl were written by Eve Babitz and directed by Greta Gerwig, you might wind up with something like this whirlwind romp. 21-year-old Isa Epley lands in New York City and is ready to take on the metropolis with her blonde bestie Gala Novak. By day, the young, broke, and fabulous friends hustle to make rent through a series of odd jobs (selling clothes at the market, foot fetish model gigs). By night, they’re wannabe socialites partying with a stamina that even Charli XCX would envy, hobnobbing with a strange assortment of characters ranging from businessmen to celebrities. This book is a fizzy, sparkling French 75 of a novel, best read alongside your best friend on the patio of a cocktail bar. JB
★ The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu
Considering that this ancient Japanese novel comes in at a staggering 1182 pages, it would be suit several categories on your bingo board, including “one big book”, “author from another continent”, “read in public” (because you will look like a genius holding what’s widely considered the world’s first novel), or my preference, “buddy read”. This 11th-century text, written by the noblewoman, poet, and lady-in-waiting, Murasaki Shikibu, is a portrait of courtly life in medieval Japan through the eyes of the Shining Prince, Genji. They say that the best way to train for a marathon is to team up with a partner who will hold you accountable, so I will be using that same logic and forcing someone to read this one with me. AV
Other ideas:
★ Two Serious Ladies by Jane Bowles
★My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
⭐ Fair Play by Tove Jansson
⭐ Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly