Recommended Reading: Books Are Magic Staff Book Swap

What happens when a fiction reader dabbles in poetry and a fantasy lover tries out translated lit? For National Reading Month, we challenged our staff to recommend books for one another, pushing us to read outside of our usual reading tastes. Along the way, we each sampled new genres and discovered hidden gems that we might not otherwise have picked up. Read on to find new genres and books to stretch your reading horizons too!

The Gray House, Mariam Petrosyan

Recommended to: Jacs

Recommended by: Aatia

A few weeks before this book exchange idea came out, I was telling Aatia about a book I read and she asked “was it a campus novel?” to which I responded “...wait…what’s a campus novel?” Turns out it’s exactly what it sounds like, and despite not knowing that term previously, a lot of books I really love are campus novels! Enter The Gray House. This 736-page monster is magical, and engaging from the start. I am a big horror fan, so there’s nothing I love more than a big, creepy house and some sinister goings-on, but this book adds a nice fantastical touch. Though I would have probably never come across this book normally, it definitely speaks to me on many levels. Aatia really got me on this one.

—Jacs

Comemadre, Roque Larroquy

Recommended to: Julia

Recommended by: Natalie

When it comes to translated literature, I don’t really know where to start, but it’s a genre I’m always looking for recommendations in. Luckily, Natalie is a big reader of translated lit, and she picked the perfect weird little book for me! Comemadre is a dark, satirical novella told in two parts: one in 1907 as a group of scientists embark on an ethically questionable experiment, and the other part in contemporary times as an artist blurs the line between himself and his art. It’s vulgar and uncomfortable in all the best ways, asking questions about transcendence and progress. I’d definitely recommend this novella to others looking to dabble in translated writing! Thank you, Natalie!

—Julia

Shadow Life, Hiromi Goto and Ann Xu

Recommended to: Nick

Recommended by: Isabel

I almost never read graphic lit. I’m not sure why, I enjoy it when I do but I never really know where to start. I asked Isabel, a graphic guru, for something that would have me clamoring for more. Shadow Life was a great place to start. Its simple (and also not so) black and white illustrations and its complicated theme were just what I was looking for. Like a beautiful novela Shadow Life was poignant and compelling. And like a great novela I read it in one sitting, my favorite kind of book!

—Nick

A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan

Recommended to: Lindsay

Recommended by: Mike

I pride myself on the fact that I am willing to read any type of fiction novel…except music/band books. To me, music is a fully auditory experience, so if I can’t hear it, I just don’t get it. And that is exactly why I have been putting off reading this book, even though Mike has told me numerous times that it is a spectacular read! I know this novel is more than just about music, it’s a full story with complex characters and a robust plot, but if there are bands involved, I want to hear them. So I’m excited to be given this book to read as “homework,” because without this fun experiment I may have continuously pushed it off forever. Let’s see if I can *feel* the music!

—Lindsay

Nothing But the Music, Thulani Davis

Recommended to: Amali

Recommended by: Denise

It’s been way too long since I read a collection of poetry, so when Denise handed me this skinny, beautiful book, I couldn’t contain my excitement! In artfully crafted verse, Davis captures the music, the emotion, the politics, and even the backstage drama of the East Coast avant-garde music scene. This is a must-read for any jazz and funk lover! In her poem titled “T-Monious,” she writes: “For Ruby, Nellie, Pannonia / Four fingers down one up / Ninths pyramid of course / High under his slap-and-fly feet / And laugh too.” The pieces in this collection exude the musicality of the performers that serve as inspiration. This book will never leave my bedside table. Thank you, Denise!

—Amali

Lean Against This Late Hour, Garous Abdolmalekian

Recommended to: Colleen

Recommended by: Serena

I always feel I need to be reading more poetry, I just never know where to start! Luckily Serena is our poetry guru, so I was super excited to see what she’d recommend. I accidentally kind of got two recommendations because she had mentioned Tethered to Stars to me casually – we both are fans of the cosmos – and I thought this was the book she recommended for this project, but it turns out she really chose Lean Against This Late Hour. Lucky me!

LATLH is from renowned Iranian poet Garous Abdolmalekian, and this collection is his first to be translated into English. These poems capture life in the aftermath of the Iran-Iraq war, living amid but also transcending horrendous violence. There are unspeakably sweet moments, so intimate, and precious. As are there moments of pain, of fracture, of death. I love that each poem has the original lines in Persian opposite the English words. These beautiful little reflections, reaching out like trees in a pond. And my favorite pieces, all marked with stickies, hold an element of deep knowingness, as if Abdolmalekian is speaking to us from just beyond this world.

—Colleen

My Heart Hemmed In, Marie NDiyae

Recommended to: Aatia

Recommended by: Nick

I saw Jordan Peele’s Get Out five times in theaters. I loved how the film explores black consciousness and fear. Nick’s pick for me was, in this way, perfect for me.

What about My Heart Hemmed In bears comparison to Peele’s work? Translated from the French, My Heart Hemmed In follows Ange and Nadia, two long-time teachers living and working in a close knit community. They are justly proud of their accomplishments as educators and of their firmly middle-class standing. All that changes as the town slowly and eerily begins to turn on them and the shame of being cast out makes their own relationship tense and suspicious. NDiyae built dread and foreboding that kept me turning the pages and the social commentary in this book is well-done. Pick this one up if you enjoyed The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani or Assembly by Natasha Brown, as this one offers an even more engaging and unbelievable tale at a slower pace.

—Aatia

Fight Night, Miriam Toews

Recommended to: Jacque

Recommended by: Colleen

Due to my “Children’s Book Supervisor” title (and natural love for #KidLit), I don’t read a lot of contemporary adult fiction, so I was so flabbergasted when Colleen gave me a multigenerational story. This is a story about three generations of women living in the same house, but mostly focuses around the grandmother and her granddaughter; their relationship was so endearing and reminded me a lot of my own. The grandmother is feisty, adventurous, frank, and youthful despite her age. Personally I was like, “check, check, check, and check” — this seriously checked off all of the boxes regarding my own grandma. Fight Night was such a joy to read because a flood of crazy, humorous memories that were forgotten in the abyss of my brain ignited, and for that I am grateful. I believe Colleen was destined to recommend this book for that heavenly reason. I hope it brings back happy memories of your loved ones too.

—Jacque

Eat What You Watch, Andrew Rea

Recommended to: Natalie

Recommended by: Michael C.

MC and I discovered our shared love of extravagant meals when we exchanged duck confit recipes for Thanksgiving. We're always talking about food, glorious food! I also really love movies, so it was only natural that he got me a cookbook for movie lovers. This book has everything from the grits featured in My Cousin Vinny, to the ramen from Tampopo! I've got my eye on a few recipes (I'm looking at you "Prison Gravy" from Goodfellas) and I can't wait to try them!

—Natalie

Migrations, Charlotte McConaghy

Recommended to: Denise

Recommended by: Amali

It was such a pleasant surprise to receive Migrations from Amali (who has also selected this book as her staff pick!). Migrations is a haunting, lyrical telling of a young woman’s journey following the last of a bird species on what may be their final migration to Antarctica. Set in the devastation of climate change that has killed off most wild animals, the whole book feels like it exists in a haze, tonally on point with the mysterious, conflicted inner world our protagonist lives with. As someone who spends a lot of time reading nonfiction, it’s been a while since I’ve read an epic, stirring narrative story that unravels itself so masterfully like this. Thank you Amali for this wonderful recommendation!!

—Denise