How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith III

I learned a lot in the chapter about Blandford Cemetery and in following Clint’s deep dive into the Sons of the Confederacy as well as the not-so-great nor so hidden past of the Daughters of the Confederacy. It’s really affecting to process in real-time his own understanding of a stance of people who are so genuinely misguided and rooted in things they are unwilling to contend with. People don’t want to be the bad guy. Too often that means just burying yourself into safe lies that you make feel nice and doing nothing.

Clint is my favorite kind of academic. The kind of guy who understands deeply a subject matter spanning centuries with more nuances than can make anyone comfortable and he can encompass that in storytelling without getting lecture-like nor dumbing it down. He can teach without drawing attention to what’s unknown in his readers, just by clear, concise informing. It’s really astonishing. I’m so thankful for this book and his work and his research and I selfishly can’t wait for more from him.

Grimrose Girls by Laura Pohl

Phew. Whoa. I was not expecting to plow through this 400+ page book so quickly but it was paced so well and the story was so compelling. This was a blast to read and any qualms I have are very minor compared to the sheer enjoyment.

The story is written by a Brazilian author and set in contemporary European boarding school meets murder mystery meets grim fairy tales and it’s just the right kind of self-aware about itself without being overbearing. It’s told in four POVs which can be disorienting at first but quickly makes it easier to understand and meet the breadth of the school. I was happy to see the somewhat catty characterization of the girls in the friend group amongst each other because it felt fairly lived in and real. Each girl (apart from newbie Nani) had a different relationship and view of Ariane, the one who died. And they each deal with it a different way. And they each go to others outside of their friend group for some perspective/relief, which was a nice change.

It’s also refreshing to get in the heads of four girls, none of whom are strictly hetero. There is trans representation and aro/ace rep and good, non-overbearing relationships present while the heart of the story is really about the girls and what they’re dealing with and uncovering.

Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann

It’s really difficult to find fiction books centering non-white ace stories, so I was eager to snap this up. While I have some issues with the writing style — a little too o-m-g contemporary and the protagonist is a little too self-aware while making SUCH blatant tropey mistakes it gets genuinely frustrating — the relationships at the heart of the story worked well for me in all their messy uncertainties.

Alice is a college sophomore uncertain about her future with pressures from overachieving parents to be, well, overachieving. Her two best (and pretty much only) friends are getting married soon. Her girlfriend has just broken up with her for not wanting to have sex. Enter a new guy at her workplace she develops an immediate and confusing crush on, and enters almost as immediately into a genuine connection with, causing her to spiral for the whole book about what relationships mean to her and what she prioritizes, and what she wants her relationships to be moving forward. It’s a nice examination of changing friendships, new relationships, and how not to deal with interpersonal problems.