Hello, friends! I’ve been battling a bit of Bad Brain™ lately—struggling to focus on writing among the billion other ways I want to spend time, missing a newsletter or two for totally normal reasons, and feeling like “well, the streak is broken, I’m clearly terrible at this, time to abandon the endeavor entirely!!” So I’m trying to embrace Greta Johnsen‘s 87% Club mentality, get back on the metaphorical horse, and let good enough be good enough. Today I have a few books to tell you about, plus the week’s haiku, and some photos of what I’ve been up to. Next Monday the miscellany will return as usual.1 Let’s get into it!
The week in books
As You Wake, Break the Shell by Becky Chambers (October 13, 2026)
Becky Chambers is one of my very favorite authors, and in anticipation of her new novel I was planning to re-read the entire Wayfarers series. But then one of my coffee shop regulars unexpectedly lent me their advance copy of As You Wake, Break the Shell, so I threw those plans out the window and dropped everything to crack it open immediately. This story takes place in a post-Earth universe where people have made their homes on other planets and small moons. It follows one woman who pilots an enormous interstellar creature called a rorqual and another who owns a plant shop and knows how to make medicine. In dual alternating timelines, we learn about these two, their respective pasts, and their shared future. I won’t go into the plot details, but I will say that Chambers writes with such care and heart that the horribly difficult conditions her characters live in almost sound appealing. You might not want to suit up in full hazmat whenever you go out into the toxic air surrounding your home, but I bet you’ll want to spend time with the people who populate this world. Despite all the loss they face, the sense of community and support here is truly gorgeous. The book doesn’t release until October, but I will absolutely continue to shout about it until then. Get your preorders and library purchase requests in now!
Girl’s Girl by Sonia Feldman (June 2, 2026)
I was fully prepared to place a hold on this buzzy recent release and wait forever for a copy after my book club chose it for our August discussion. But then I spotted it at my local library, just sitting there all cute and available on the “popular new books” display, and don’t you love when the Reading Gods have your back like that? Me too. This is also a sapphic love story, albeit a very different one from the Becky Chambers—here we’re on Earth, specifically in the Midwest, for the span of one summer. Our protagonist, Mina, has been spending lazy, uncomplicated days with her best friends, Margaret and Eleanor, but when her relationship with one of them moves into more-than-friends territory, everything is thrown into disarray until she can figure out how to address the situation. And that’s kind of all that happens? This is a vibes book to be sure. Feldman is digging into a very specific time in a very specific type of girl’s life, picking at ideas about friendship, communication, self-discovery, self-expression, coming of age, performance, and queerness, and I’m still trying to decide if she succeeds at what she’s trying to do here. There were aspects of the storytelling that I appreciated, that felt genuine and tangible to me, but something about the tone also left me cold, with a bit of the ick. Clearly I need more time to mull; I’m excited to discuss this one with friends and further tease out my thoughts and reactions. If you’ve read it, hit me up and let’s talk.
The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Shawn Harris (2022)
This middle-grade science fiction graphic novel has been on my radar since it came out a few years ago thanks to Liberty Hardy’s enthusiasm. I’ve been filing it away as a gift idea for my nephew once he got old enough, and though it’s recommended for ages 8-12, I decided his 7th birthday this past weekend was the right time. Being the cool aunt and thorough person that I am, I read the whole thing in one sitting before gift wrapping so I’d be ready to discuss it with him. And what a ride! The action opens with a startling discovery by Earth’s top scientists: RATS ARE EATING THE MOON! At the rate they’re going, the whole thing will be gone in just a few short days. So the experts prepare their secret weapon—the titular cat—for launch, with the directive to stop those rats, save the moon from destruction, and restore balance to Earth. Along the way we meet a stowaway robot, a vengeful supercomputer, the queen of the moon, and many other colorful characters. There are puns and running gags and even a sea shanty or two. Split into a few chapters at a time, this would make a great bedtime read-aloud with littles.
Fish Tales by Nettie Jones (1983, rereleased 2025)
I love the lore of this novel’s publication. It was acquired by Toni Morrison when she was an editor at Random House and it ended up being one of the last things she worked on there before leaving to focus on her own writing. Though it didn’t receive a ton of attention back then, it was reissued last year to a bit more buzz—I remember hearing about it from Sara Hildreth as one of her most anticipated (re)releases of 2025. And now it’s a book club pick for The Stacks, which is what finally spurred me to give it a try. The narrative centers on Lewis Jones, a young Black woman bouncing between New York and Detroit, leading a life of embodied freedom and sexual experimentation. She is divorced from but still lives with her ex, at least part of the time, and she’s always going out and dancing, and doing drugs, and having a lot of sex with people of all genders. I’d call this a novel in vignettes—it’s basically a collection of Lewis’ exploits and encounters. What I’m less clear on is the overarching takeaway, if Jones intended one, so I’m looking forward to the podcast discussion episode about it to hopefully help fill in my gaps.
Right now and upcoming
I’m currently in the middle of some nonfiction about creativity that is making me want to get back into art more seriously; and also a new novel in translation narrated by the non-human observers of a Brazilian tobacco-farming family. Next up is one of my most anticipated releases of the year, which also happens to be the Gretagram book club pick for August!
What are you reading right now?
If you purchase a book through the bookshop.org affiliate links in this post, I earn a small percentage commission. This is an easy way to support my work at no additional cost, and I appreciate it very much. ♥︎
Haiku round-up
This poetic form, containing seventeen syllables in a five-seven-five pattern, originated in Japan. I’ve been writing one each day since the beginning of 2024 as an exercise in structured creativity. Here are this week’s poems:
Monday, August 10
You feel like you’re fine but when you open your mouth your worries spill out
Tuesday, August 11
What a luxury to fully secure one’s own oxygen mask first
Wednesday, August 12
The shaman ascends raising her staff to call down a divine vision
Thursday, August 13
Though pathway be blurred, persist through angry downpours Slow and steady home
Friday, August 14
A tea metaphor— and kindness, like honey, to sweeten the bitter
Saturday, August 15
Ten thousand times three Experts in Ball comma Skee My brother and me
Sunday, August 16
The two wolves inside: one clamoring for strength, speed one in need of rest
Until next time
I’ve been on a few adventures since my most recent visit to your inbox!
We wandered around Atlanta a bit before the Metric, Stars, and Broken Social Scene show that I mentioned last time. I liked this painted sign outside of Disorder Vinyl.
We browsed through used treasures at Huzzah Books in Boone—
and then spent an evening with my brother-in-law and his fiancée at a lovely little cabin whose yard featured some incredible shrooms.
I’ve been running consistently, slowly putting my living space back together (and working on photo essay about That Whole Thing to share soon), working, reading, spending time with the cats.
Still, always, looking up.
See you next week, and until then, just feel better (it’s easy)!
♥︎ Emily
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higher powers willing / with a vengeance / if it kills me