Books Like These
These are the types of stories I'd love to work on as an editor!
So I read 64 books in 2025, and that’s not even including all the essays I graded or authors I worked with. I think it’s safe to say I love words. But the words I read for fun and the stories I like to develop are often two different beasts.
This month, I’m sharing three of my favorite recent reads. Because THESE are the types of books I want to help bring into the world more in the future!
The Country of the Blind (Andrew Leland)
I am always here for a memoir that is curious in nature. This text is grounded in so many questions as the author explores every facet of blind culture throughout the United States. But ultimately, Leland’s writing circles around this one answer: “This is something blind people have said (but really shouldn't have to), over and over, to the sighted world around us: we're still people. We don't see, or see very well, but aside from that, we're just like you. The failure to appreciate this basic fact, that someone's difference does nothing to alter their humanity, is the wellspring of all discrimination, alienation, and oppression.”
Seriously, everyone should read this book!
After Hours at Dooryard Books (Cat Sebastian)
You probably know Cat Sebastian for You Should Be So Lucky. But she’s been writing queer romance for almost a decade. This latest story is a slow burn in the midst of a politically broken world. As Sebastian writes in this book, “Outside these doors is chaos. Appalling men are elected president. Every day’s headlines are worse than the last. All year, it’s been like that, and it isn’t getting better. But it will. Meanwhile, there are donuts and a pot of coffee and work to be done: maybe not enough to tip the scales, but there anyway.”
More queer love stories always. Especially ones like this!
The Phoenix Pencil Company (Allison King)
People often ask me how I build my TBR list, and Reese’s Book Club rarely lets me down. This specific story explores how memories are passed down among family lines, especially in the midst of cultural barriers and the onset of dementia. Add a little magical realism and trying to figure out how to come out to your grandmother, and voila!
“If our stories will be lost, no matter how hard we try to preserve them, then the only thing that really matters is the people in our lives, and how we treat them in this moment in time.”
This month’s author highlight
If you haven’t yet, please check out Kathy Rowe-Guthrie on Substack or Instagram. Her memoir When We Were Gay is still looking for a publishing home, and it explores Kathy’s own coming out story combined with the journey of supporting her trans husband Marcus. Anyone who wants to learn more about how to be a better ally to our trans family needs to read her work!