Happy Disability Pride Month! I love seeing disabled people highlighted and celebrated across the internet. While we still have a long way to go when it comes to general disability awareness, it feels like we reach more and more people every year. If you’re looking for more general info about Disability Pride, check out my post “A Book Lovers Guide to Disability Pride Month”, which details a lot of different options for how you can support and celebrate Disability Pride! And if you’re looking for audiobook recommendations, check out “7 Fiction Audiobooks for Disability Pride”.
This week, we’ve been taking the Corgis out in the evening to the neighborhood dog park. They usually have it to themselves, and Gwen and Dylan spend a lot of time annoying each other and chasing Dylan’s pink ball around. This ball is one of Dylan’s favorite things in the world. (Yes, I have several of them just in case the worst should happen). Recently, Gwen has taken to dropping the ball down an impossibly deep, dark hole the neighborhood dogs have been working on for the last few months. Dylan waddles over and tries to reach his beloved toy. Thankfully, we have eventually retrieved every lost ball, but Gwenllian seems to take far too much joy in throwing it back in again. Good thing they are both so cute.
Bookish Goods
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New Releases
Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty | Narrated by Darrell Dennis
In his debut collection, Penobscot author Morgan Talty writes about a Native community in Maine. These twelve stories feature characters encountering mysterious things like a jar filled with a curse or a friend stuck with his hair frozen in the snow. Everyone and their mother’s brother has been gushing about this book and I can’t wait to listen!
Original Sins by Matt Rowland Hill | Narrated by Daniel Hawksford
Matt Rowland Hill grew up in the UK as a pastor’s kid. As he grows older, Hill realizes he doesn’t share the same faith as his conservative parents. Unsure of where to turn next, Hill finds himself feeling stuck, addicted to whatever he can get his hands on and attending too many funerals of his friends who have overdosed.
100 Animals That Can F–king End You by Mamadou Ndiaye | Narrated by Mamadou Ndiaye
On TikTok, there’s nothing like Mamadou Ndiaye explaining his latest fascination with yet another ferocious creature that will be more than happy to end you. Narrated by Ndiaye himself, listeners get to experience the audiobook equivalent of his videos on TikTok.
The Earthspinner by Anuradha Roy | Narrated by Maya Saroya
Waking from a strange dream, Elango feels the urge to create something new like nothing else he has crafted. The potter constructs a terracotta horse, but then doesn’t know what to do with it. Should he display it in a temple? Or maybe give it to the woman he loves? Whatever decision he makes, he knows that from the moment he makes the horse, Elango’s life will be forever changed.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin | Narrated by Jennifer Kim and Julian Cihi
The author of The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry is back with her new novel, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Sam Masur and Sadie Green start an epic partnership to create their masterpiece, Ichigo, a game that’s everything they always wanted. The novel spans thirty years, showing us the long after effects of their work. I’m always here for a novel about gaming, so I’m thrilled for this novel to finally be out in the world.
For a more comprehensive list, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
Easy Beauty: A Memoir by Chloé Cooper Jones
Chloé Cooper Jones is an academic working on her second PhD when she finds herself in a bar watching two men debate on whether or not she should exist. Oddly, she feels removed from the situation. How many times has she had to prove she’s worthy of existence? Far too many to count.
Jones was born with sacral agenesis, a condition that impacted her height and way of walking. Moving through the world as a visibly disabled person has meant Jones faces ableist comments from strangers on a daily basis. But this moment in the bar felt different. Was it because they were trying to be academic or did she just expect more of them? Jones starts searching for answers. She travels the world and enters the field of journalism just for a new challenge.
From its first few paragraphs, Jones’ prose captures your attention. As she performed the text, I couldn’t help but think of how fantastic her prose is, how each word has its place. Jones forced me to think about disability in a new way, questioning the way disabled people are forced to move through the world.
Ever since I finished this book, I haven’t stopped thinking about it. There’s an entire section of disabled motherhood, and Jones shares what it was like for her to surprise doctors when she wanted to have her baby. Admittedly, I found myself tearing up at different parts. Though Jones and I have different conditions, we both share many similar experiences, and I appreciated her thought-provoking takes on how those experiences impacted her life.
That’s it for this week! You can find me over on my substack Winchester Ave or over on Instagram @kdwinchester. As always, feel free to drop me a line at kendra.d.winchester@gmail.com. For even MORE audiobook content, you can find my articles over on Book Riot.
Happy listening, bookish friends!
~ Kendra