Horror! Memoirs! Cannibalism! (Winter Reading Wrap-Up)

december - february

This was my first winter living in New York, and of course it was the coldest winter the city has had in years. But with the snow outside my window and a hot mug of tea in my hand, I managed to finish six books this snowy season—some better than others.

It’s interesting to me that three of these books were centered around eating in some form. I’ve recently recovered from an eating problem (not quite disorder, it wasn’t that serious), and while my body is much healthier now, I’m still getting used to the way I look in the mirror. I guess a part of me subconsciously chose these books to explore the changes I’ve been facing in my own life.

Without further ado, here are the six books I read from December 15th - February 15th.

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The Vegetarian by Han Kang
☆☆☆☆☆

“Time was a wave, almost cruel in its relentlessness.”

I’d had The Vegetarian on my radar for some time. It’s popular on BookTok (the horror and weird-lit side, at least) and I finally bought and read a copy. It was not at all what I expected.

The synopsis is simple—a woman chooses to go vegetarian. This decision spirals into bizarre events as the people around her try to assert control over her body and her decisions. It’s unnerving, uncomfortable, and fascinating. For anyone worried about animal violence (given the name and genre), there is only one scene you should worry about, towards the middle of the book, in a childhood flashback.

The characters are all immensely dislikeable, which was the point. The book’s main theme is control, whether that’s sexually, familial, through marriage, patriarchy, or gender. The ending is surreal and a little confusing, but if you’re a fan of magical surrealism, this one is for you. It’s a quick read, too.

Though I give it five stars for its excellent prose and unique concepts, I’m not sure I can say this book really stuck with me.

TWs: sexual assault, brief animal violence, domestic violence

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Spread Me by Sarah Gailey
☆☆☆

“Exhaustion, she realizes, is only unpleasant when one has to resist it. But when succumbing is an option—when everything is still and quiet and there’s no reason to push the strong arms of sleep away—exhaustion is ecstasy.”

If I had to pitch this book, it would be “The Thing, but make it sexy”—which the book itself repeatedly beats you over the head with. (The characters must put a dollar in a jar every time one of them references John Carpenter’s The Thing, which gets old very fast.)

A team of queer researchers, isolated in the desert, uncover a strange specimen. The specimen, and the virus it carries, take a sexual interest in one of the researchers. As the characters start to succumb to the virus one by one, Kinsey (the researcher of interest) must decide whether her mutual attraction to the virus is worth dooming the whole world.

The mystery was enough to keep my interest, but the characters are forgettable and flat. The book simply isn’t long enough to fully explore most of the themes it presents, leaving me feeling dissatisfied. Still, it’s a wild and entertaining ride. I recommend it to people who enjoy explorations of sex in fiction and weird-core plots.

Overall, I can’t say this book stuck with me, either, and I finished it feeling very meh about it.

TWs: sexual content, body horror & gore, mentions of suicide

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Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History by Bill Schutt
☆☆☆.5

“There is no definitive answer as to why cannibalism provides us with such stimulation, although what is clear, and what remains extremely disturbing for me, is our increasing desensitization to violence and gore - a trait that does not bode well for the future.”

If you’ve spoken to me at all in the last two months, you’ll have heard me list strange and unnerving cannibalism facts. That’s because of this book.

Bill Schutt takes his readers on a wild journey from the bizarre behaviors of invertebrates to the controversy around humanity’s history (or, lack thereof) with ritualistic cannibalism. The first half of the book, where he focuses on the animal kingdom, was much more interesting to me. Did you know it’s not actually that common for female black widow spiders to eat their sexual partners? Or that some fish accidentally swallow their newborns??

In the latter half of the book, Schutt tackles the debate on whether or not ritualistic cannibalism actually occurred among humans anywhere in the world. As an Indigenous person, this half of the book fell flat for me and I slogged through it. This was a topic he clearly struggled with and I wish he’d just left it out of the book instead of trying to spotlight ‘every side’ of the issue, with the leading voices on ‘every side’ being white anthropologists. Indigenous people are tired of being research subjects. Stick to the bugs and the crabs, dude.

I recommend reading the first half and skipping the rest.

TWs: discussions of racism & colonialism, graphic descriptions of violence, cannibalism (duh)

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Paper Doll by Dylan Mulvaney
☆☆☆☆

“As for the other bad thoughts, well . . . I’m gonna go ahead and forgive myself because I was in some shitty situations. I did my best. It wasn’t always enough. I’m still here.”

I’ve already posted the full review (that you can find here), but I’ll add that I really enjoyed Mulvaney’s memoir. It comes with essays, fun graphics, and lots of interpersonal growth. What’s not to love?

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Mistborn: The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
☆☆☆.5

“Somehow, we'll find it. The balance between whom we wish to be and whom we need to be. But for now, we simply have to be satisfied with who we are.”

I’ve loved reading the Mistborn trilogy, but something about this final book felt off to me.

It was still enjoyable, of course. I loved the cast of characters (TenSoon and Sazed, my boys), the worldbuilding was always fascinating, and the cryptic writings each chapter opens with have always been my favorite parts. The conclusion felt satisfying, and I’m definitely interested in reading the sequel series, Wax & Wayne.

But there was something about The Hero of Ages that felt rushed to me. The dialogue has always had cheesy moments, especially between the main cast, but the dialogue in this book felt wholly awkward at times. Vin and Elend were especially inconsistent. It seems like Sanderson tried wrapping up Vin’s character arc by having her think about her past and scenes from previous books, which would’ve been fine had he chosen the right moments for her to do so. Instead, Vin was thinking about dresses and her social standing during high-stakes tactical missions. I don’t remember this being normal for her, and it felt out of place, almost like the inner monologues were added last minute.

Still, I would recommend Mistborn to anyone interested in fantasy. I’ve heard great things about Wax & Wayne, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that series lands for me.

TWs: suicide, torture, child death

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The Glutton by AK Blakemore
☆☆☆☆.5

”Strange, she thinks, perhaps even perverse, that we are denied the measure of ourselves that we may take of others.”

After swallowing a golden fork, a man becomes insatiable no matter what or how much he eats. As legends of him spread across France, readers get to hear his side of the story. Did he really eat live animals? And did he really eat a baby?

Both coming of age story and horror novel, The Glutton easily became my favorite read this season. The author follows the styles of Cormac McCarthy and Sally Rooney, and leaves quotation marks behind. Combined with the lyrical prose and wide cast of characters, this would’ve been very confusing had I not reread some pages a few times.

The protagonist, Tarare (based off a real person, by the way), is hopeful, naive, and kind, which makes his journey both heartbreaking and frustrating. It was exceptionally well written. This book did stick with me, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys literary fiction or dark themes.

TWs: domestic violence, animal death, child death, references to anti-semitism, sexual content

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Thanks for reading. Let me know if you read anything interesting this snowy season by leaving a comment below! I’ll be back again in May with a spring reading wrap-up. Stay tuned!