Cold weather makes staying home and reading much more realistic. That is why we have are eight books from indie publishers that you should read!
GOOD WOMEN By Halle Hill
Are you in the mood for something genuine, comical and relatable all at once? Halle Hill has created a strong and memorable debut about twelve unique women in Southern Appalachia and their complex lives that waver in gray areas of morality and truth, and figuring out where they belong in the world through their individual situations.
GOOD WOMEN centers around the refinement of the Black female experience and the different paths taken, folding against the stereotype that there’s only one way to be as such. Hill’s work of art can and should be enjoyed by all readers.
WAYS TO DISAPPEAR By Victoria Lancelotta
Anguish, self-realization, solace and deep shadow work are all befitting themes to describe WAYS TO DISAPPEAR. This is not an easy collection of stories to sift through by any stretch – in fact, they may be best consumed privately, in the comfort of your own home as opposed to a public coffee shop or another area with distractions.
With the differing short stories dealing with deeply personal and oftentimes what can seem to be soul-sucking real-life experiences that tug at every heartstring, Victoria Lancelotta’s novel will leave quite the impact long after you’ve finished reading.
ALL WATER HAS PERFECT MEMORY By Nada Samih-Rotondo
ALL WATER HAS PERFECT MEMORY is a collection of essays told in memoir format that describes Nada Samih-Rotondo’s upbringing – including notable events such as her family escaping Kuwait when Iraq’s military forces suddenly invade, eventually finding a place as a new American and doing her best to cope with the challenges that come with being an immigrant in a not-always-so-welcoming country if you don’t appear a certain way, or have a certain background.
These events, while horrific and traumatizing in nature, helped shape the author into who she has become today. For fans of hard-hitting memoir material, this book is a must-have.
UNEXPECTED WEATHER EVENTS By Erin Pringle
This is another heavy read, and may not be for those who are more empathetic and sensitive to certain issues surrounding death, among other things. But more than anything else, UNEXPECTED WEATHER EVENTS deals with our sense of control – or rather, our illusion of such a thing. Instead, it shows how to weave through the cracks and do our best to fill them with gold, much like the Japanese art and philosophy of kintsugi.
THE RIVER, THE TOWN By Farah Ali
Baadal, the main protagonist here, is all too familiar with the avid drought in his local area, as well as the familial love and affection drought specifically displayed between his separating parents. Finding a reprieve and a possible way out from the despair he feels through an older divorced woman named Meena, the two of them run off together and try to make a better life for themselves. But the big dreams and goals they expected to have and carry out are vastly different from reality in The City.
Spanning over a thirty-year period, and with themes involving generational trauma, climate change, complex versions of grief and stubborn inner-dynamics between others overall, Farah Ali has created a masterpiece that binds it all together in one gut-wrenching and insightful tale.
WHEN MY GHOST SINGS By Tara Sidhoo Fraser
In this memoir, the author discusses her story of a brain-altering stroke in her early thirties that forever changes her perspective and introduces an alter ego character she names Ghost, who represents her healthier past before her brain shifted her life.
Aside from Tara Sidhoo Fraser being a formidable voice when it comes to queer and disabled representation, still much-needed in the publishing world, WHEN MY GHOST SINGS is a tribute to resilience, one’s true essence, the road to recovery and healing in the face of utter uncertainty.
WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO FEEL BETTER By Jody Hobbs Hesler
An older childless woman grapples with her seemingly empty life but comes across an opportunity for change. A murder is witnessed by a close neighbor. A remorseful, soon-to-be widower confronts his unfaithfulness. These are just a few tales from WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO FEEL BETTER that mean to play on deep emotion and fully immerse the reader in these situations as though they were actually there.
Taking place in parts of Virginia, Jody Hobbs Hesler delicately portrays a sense of longing, guilty consciences and the need for redemption in a tightly-woven set of stories displaying these themes and much more.
LANDSCAPES By Christine Lai
Penelope, the protagonist of this novel, is an archivist making ends meet in a withering English family estate, gradually destroyed overtime by shifting and uncertain weather conditions. Knowing the ultimate fate of it, she continues to document and catalog the property’s holdings.
When the brother of the estate’s co-owner comes to visit his childhood home, it triggers Penelope into that same dreadful event twenty years prior, when she was assaulted by him. The closer his arrival, the more anxiety-inducing and terrifying the entire debacle seems to be for her. LANDSCAPES is a solid debut about facing the past and attempting a new way out of the siphoning despair that arises from it.